Hellooooooooooooooo!
As always it has been too long since I got on my wee bloggie.....I have been super busy making pretty things and meeting lovely people.
I live in Auckland now (and it rules my school!) but I will be at Craft 2.0 on the 18th of December.........below is my fancy interview for it....cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese xxx
December stars – Plastic Fairy
by sue on December 2, 2010
Samantha (Sam) Dew is Plastic Fairy
What sort of things will you be selling at Craft2.0 on December 18?
I have been hand stitching an abundance of weird and fabulous rings, necklaces and brooches. The images have been gathered from many different books, printed onto fabric then stitched and filled with teddy bear stuffing in order to create a wearable wee wonderful. There are pretty flowers, cute objects, beautiful animals, crazy body parts, big pieces, little pieces, a bit of something for everyone and anyone!
I have also made a whole new load of “book” brooches, magnets and cards. I take photographs of old and forgotten book covers and use the photograph itself to create the above mentioned treats. Maybe you used to have the book when you were little? Maybe your name is “June” and the “June Annual” takes your fancy? or maybe your best friend is a huge fan of Sooty…….
How did you get started?
I started Plastic Fairy because I wanted to make my own money in my own time so that I could then dedicate my spare time to helping animals. This is still the long-term goal behind my work but as my work has evolved it has turned into an enjoyable addiction. I love snuffling about in opp shops, picking up dusty old books and flipping through the pages to see what kind of fabulous new character is going to jump out at me. The possibilities are infinite and the more I make the more I want to make more!
Each itemdoes have its own wee story behind it because I can do my work anywhere. One piece may have been stitched on the beach while sitting with my three best friends and then the next would have been stitched on a rainy day, tucked up in bed listening to P J Harvey……What I really love is hearing the stories from my customers about why they want to buy it (oh! my mum just loves sparrows, or wow! my girlfriend is crazy about cats, or do you have any pandas? They are my favorite animal……)
Crafter/Maker, Designer… how would you describe yourself?
Hmmmmm……I guess I am a self-taught crafter……an image scavenger…….a dreamer…….a creative fruit bat……
What makes buying something from you special?
I have been selling at many markets lately and the feedback I have been getting goes a little something like this “oh my goodness, that is such a great idea, I’ve never seen anything like it, just wonderful” (talking about the “book” range)
Or ” you put so much detail into everything (packaging etc) it’s all so gorgeous, I just can’t decide which one to get!”
I put a lot of time and effort into each piece and the packaging for each item is a one-off original (a wee cardboard stand covered in pictures and text taken from a children’s book). People seem to appreciate this kind of approach. I think the love for what I do comes through in my work……people are also starting to see the time and patience that it takes to make one piece (I stitch while selling at fairs) and I think this gives the item more value for the customer.
How would you describe Craft2.0 to a friend?
I have only been to/sold at one fair so far but I would say that it is a fabulous fair held at the Dowse Gallery full of the most brilliantly cool hand made treats around. Its bustling with lovely sellers and excited customers, with a range of prices to meet everyones personal budget. A wonderful wee day out :)
What made you smile at the last Craft2.0?
I had a quick swoop around at the very start and was just so excited by all the different goodies up for grabs. I was seeing things that I had never seen before which was just so refreshing. I also loved the energy of each stall holder, we were all so excited to be there with our hard work on show, proud as punch and ready for a happy chat.
Do you have a website where we can find out more about you?
www.plasticfairy.blogspot.com
You can Facebook “Plastic Fairy” and up I will pop (I’m not sure if the thingy below will work, I just copy and pasted it….eeeek!)
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Plastic-Fairy/118250984867296
I have four online shops but am terribly bad at keeping them up to date………..these can be looked up via my blog :
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Fabric cuties for the neck
I will be selling these wee cuties along with many more stitched treats at Cassette Super Markets this Saturday!
Monday, October 4, 2010
Pretty New Critters For The Fingerrrrrs
These wee darlings sit on your fingers in such a way that you don't even know they are there because they are so light! BUT after a while they start to talk to you, they tell you cheeky fibs and secrets in other languages........shhhhhh and listen carefully......they only have tiny voices.......
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Sign Language Radness!
So I found this fabulous sign language dictionary in the oppy a few months ago and have turned the super awesome pictures into brooches.....educational and stylin!
Here we have "Leopard" "Giraffe" and "Owl" loads more to come xx
Jeepers, it's been too long AGAIN
.JPG)
I have started to make the stitched brooches a whole lot smaller and golly gee they are just the cutest! Here are some of my new treats :) xx
Monday, August 2, 2010
Friday, July 30, 2010
Pretty Little Lovelies
YUS!
I did it, I actually made a dent in my list of things to do.......
These wee book cards are going on Etsy today.....I really like 'em
Mip Mip
xx
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Oh time, where do you go?
Eeeeeeeeekkkk!
Plastic Fairy is naughty, she is just so very very naughty!
I have started this blog. I have started a website. I have joined four online shops to sell my goodies. And yet I never have the time to make them pretty or informative or exciting.
I go to the op shops and find new books, scraps of fabric and crazy frocks.
Yesterday I found the time to sew anatomical hearts onto my new 50 cent red mini skirt but what about the land of webs and blogs?
I am a terrible mother to my craft.........
I woke up today and decided to fix everything, to set aside the winge and start with a new and improved KAAAPOW!!
So far I have played chase with the dogs, drank two cups of coffee, talked online to my hoodle friend in Sydney and sewed new white extensions into my hair.........
Its nearly lunch time.......I have to make hummus out of those chickpeas that are soaking.......I really like the book that I'm reading ("Snail" by Eric Dando)......my sister gave me four new cd's to listen to and she wants to watch a movie tonight.......
Uh oh
xx
Plastic Fairy is naughty, she is just so very very naughty!
I have started this blog. I have started a website. I have joined four online shops to sell my goodies. And yet I never have the time to make them pretty or informative or exciting.
I go to the op shops and find new books, scraps of fabric and crazy frocks.
Yesterday I found the time to sew anatomical hearts onto my new 50 cent red mini skirt but what about the land of webs and blogs?
I am a terrible mother to my craft.........
I woke up today and decided to fix everything, to set aside the winge and start with a new and improved KAAAPOW!!
So far I have played chase with the dogs, drank two cups of coffee, talked online to my hoodle friend in Sydney and sewed new white extensions into my hair.........
Its nearly lunch time.......I have to make hummus out of those chickpeas that are soaking.......I really like the book that I'm reading ("Snail" by Eric Dando)......my sister gave me four new cd's to listen to and she wants to watch a movie tonight.......
Uh oh
xx
Monday, July 26, 2010
Auckland Art and Craft Fair
Wowzers!
I had such a blast selling at the Fair on Saturday....the place was jam packed with lovelies and everything was all glowy and warm and fuzzy and oh so nice.
Big hugs to all who were involved!
xx
I had such a blast selling at the Fair on Saturday....the place was jam packed with lovelies and everything was all glowy and warm and fuzzy and oh so nice.
Big hugs to all who were involved!
xx
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
My wee interview for Auckland Art and Craft Fair
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Artist Interviews: Plastic Fairy
Samantha Dew is the creative artist behind Plastic Fairy — a maker of interesting curiosities and is based in Wellington. The Auckland Fair will be her Auckland début and we are very excited to have her join us. We love her super cool brooches!
How long have you been doing your craft?
I have been taking photos and mucking about with animal collage for years. I started making badges about nine years ago, then doll jewellery, t.shirts and purses. Over the last year I have been making "book" brooches, cards, magnets and necklaces, as well as hand stitching an assortment of stuffed fabric brooches. I tend to go through phases with my craft and have just rediscovered my love for purse making over the last month. I also tweaked my old doll bracelet design and like it a lot more now.
How did you get started?
In 2000 I was living in Melbourne. I worked at a catering company full time and had developed an obsession with dolls, the creepier the better. After work I would either op shop for more plastic people or shoot a roll of film of the ones I had recently dragged home. I started to know how the lighting in my backyard worked, what time to shoot and which dolls showed the most personality. I turned a bunch of my photos into greeting cards with the idea of sending them to friends and family back home. One day I took them into work to show my fabulous boss, Tim and he loved them. Without me knowing, he took the cards across the road into a great little shop called Shop Sui. When he returned he said "Hey Tiger, Sylvia from Shop Sui loves them, you've got your first order". After that I decided to contact other shops and after a while I had a number of places stocking them. Whenever I had a new product I would take it to Sylvia first. She usually liked and stocked my creations and always encouraged me to get them into other shops.
Describe what you create?
I print my photographs of dolls, animals, plants and retro cuties onto fabric then use the fabric to make oodles of different things such as badges, purses, t.shirts, stuffed brooches and sew on patches. I have just started to use my collages in the same way and am very excited about releasing the new treats! I hunt down great images from old books too and after printing them onto fabric I hand stitch them into a brooch. I never know what I'm going to find in an old medical journal or forgotten childrens book about insects, which is half the fun. I created a range of "book" brooches, necklaces, cards and magnets over the past year and have been having a lot of fun with them. I photograph fabulous book covers (the older the better although cheesy Mills and Boon covers are veeeery popular too) then shrink the photos down and turn them into the above mentioned products. The photo is waterproof and is mounted onto thick cardboard with felt on the back (the cardboard is actually a page taken from a babies picture book). I like to recycle and reuse as often as possible and use the pages of old novels to make wee envelopes for the mini greeting cards. People tend to squeal with delight when they see them which is always nice to see :)
What inspires you?
Animals, mother earth, old books, broken dolls, music, retro fabric, strange plastic toys, the words from old fashioned childrens books, deep sea creatures, National Geographic magazines, bike rides around the country side... the list goes on.
What are your favourite materials to use?
Why are they your favourite? I love snipping up books because theres always an element of surprise when flicking through an unwanted science book from 1982 or a lost picture dictionary from the 70's. Photographs are my favorite thing to work with because the image was created entirely by me which is always rewarding. Its great to find a grubby old doll, clean her up, take some snaps then look at whats happened...sometimes theres this incredible wee character coming through in the photos that you just don't see in real life, almost as though her personality was hiding and only the camera could find it....Collage is another great medium and I never know whats going to happen until I've glued a dogs head here and some bird wings there......
What would you say is your biggest achievement to date?
It may sound naff but any sale or compliment is an achievement however if I really think about it then I would have to say it was my first exhibition of doll photographs in Melbourne. I had spent so much time squirrelled up in my room, looking at photos, reshooting this and resizing that... after a while the impact of the photos was sort of lost on me. Anyway, I hung 100 cd sized photos up in this fabulous wee cafe called Tomorrow, put $35 price tags on each one, knocked back a champagne and waited for the guests to arrive. About one hour into the exhibition my boyfriend came up to me and said "you've just sold $1500 worth of photos" I nearly fell over.
Do you have any future plans for your work?
I would like to sink my teeth into more festivals and fairs, New Zealand to start with then Australia. If things went well I would like to have a sniff about London and New York because I have some friends living there that could help me out and steer me in the right direction. Woot!
Where are your favourite places on-line?
Ooohhh, theres so many.I love www.blip.fm (check out dj MollyMoo cause, well ummm...cause thats me)
http://www.stumbleupon.com (so many things to discover!)
http://www.vhemt.org
http://www.vegpeople.com
http://www.etsy.com
http://www.textsfromlastnight.com (silly and sometimes feral fun on there)
What kind of music do you enjoy listening to while you work, if any?
I usually just plug myself into my ipod and set it to shuffle...... the results vary... ADCD, Beruit, Ween, Bjork ....but lately if I put on a cd its usually The Smiths, The Chills, Hikoikoi, Massive Attack or The Stranglers.
If you could go back in time and give on piece of advice to yourself when you started, what would it be?
Keep up the momentum! I've lost a few leads and potential shops simply because I wasn't onto it enough....or I let my day job rule me....
What do you enjoy doing when you aren't busy making your wares?
Feeding the neighbours cow grass from my mouth, bike riding around the country side with my camera, baking vegan sweets and yummy pita pockets, wizzing up a batch of hummus, attempting to invent a chocolate chelsea bun, writing to my friends and making them mixed cds, watching films in bed with headphones on, dressing up in bad taste frocks, drinking tequilla with orange wedges and cinnamon instead of lemon and salt, tending to the garden, garage saleing with my mum, walking the dogs from down the road, putting random words into the blipfm search bar, saving my flatmate from the weta or spider or mouse in her room, brushing my cat, rescuing baby hedgehogs, writing letters to the government about how silly they are to mine etc etc
Artist Interviews: Plastic Fairy
Samantha Dew is the creative artist behind Plastic Fairy — a maker of interesting curiosities and is based in Wellington. The Auckland Fair will be her Auckland début and we are very excited to have her join us. We love her super cool brooches!
How long have you been doing your craft?
I have been taking photos and mucking about with animal collage for years. I started making badges about nine years ago, then doll jewellery, t.shirts and purses. Over the last year I have been making "book" brooches, cards, magnets and necklaces, as well as hand stitching an assortment of stuffed fabric brooches. I tend to go through phases with my craft and have just rediscovered my love for purse making over the last month. I also tweaked my old doll bracelet design and like it a lot more now.
How did you get started?
In 2000 I was living in Melbourne. I worked at a catering company full time and had developed an obsession with dolls, the creepier the better. After work I would either op shop for more plastic people or shoot a roll of film of the ones I had recently dragged home. I started to know how the lighting in my backyard worked, what time to shoot and which dolls showed the most personality. I turned a bunch of my photos into greeting cards with the idea of sending them to friends and family back home. One day I took them into work to show my fabulous boss, Tim and he loved them. Without me knowing, he took the cards across the road into a great little shop called Shop Sui. When he returned he said "Hey Tiger, Sylvia from Shop Sui loves them, you've got your first order". After that I decided to contact other shops and after a while I had a number of places stocking them. Whenever I had a new product I would take it to Sylvia first. She usually liked and stocked my creations and always encouraged me to get them into other shops.
Describe what you create?
I print my photographs of dolls, animals, plants and retro cuties onto fabric then use the fabric to make oodles of different things such as badges, purses, t.shirts, stuffed brooches and sew on patches. I have just started to use my collages in the same way and am very excited about releasing the new treats! I hunt down great images from old books too and after printing them onto fabric I hand stitch them into a brooch. I never know what I'm going to find in an old medical journal or forgotten childrens book about insects, which is half the fun. I created a range of "book" brooches, necklaces, cards and magnets over the past year and have been having a lot of fun with them. I photograph fabulous book covers (the older the better although cheesy Mills and Boon covers are veeeery popular too) then shrink the photos down and turn them into the above mentioned products. The photo is waterproof and is mounted onto thick cardboard with felt on the back (the cardboard is actually a page taken from a babies picture book). I like to recycle and reuse as often as possible and use the pages of old novels to make wee envelopes for the mini greeting cards. People tend to squeal with delight when they see them which is always nice to see :)
What inspires you?
Animals, mother earth, old books, broken dolls, music, retro fabric, strange plastic toys, the words from old fashioned childrens books, deep sea creatures, National Geographic magazines, bike rides around the country side... the list goes on.
What are your favourite materials to use?
Why are they your favourite? I love snipping up books because theres always an element of surprise when flicking through an unwanted science book from 1982 or a lost picture dictionary from the 70's. Photographs are my favorite thing to work with because the image was created entirely by me which is always rewarding. Its great to find a grubby old doll, clean her up, take some snaps then look at whats happened...sometimes theres this incredible wee character coming through in the photos that you just don't see in real life, almost as though her personality was hiding and only the camera could find it....Collage is another great medium and I never know whats going to happen until I've glued a dogs head here and some bird wings there......
What would you say is your biggest achievement to date?
It may sound naff but any sale or compliment is an achievement however if I really think about it then I would have to say it was my first exhibition of doll photographs in Melbourne. I had spent so much time squirrelled up in my room, looking at photos, reshooting this and resizing that... after a while the impact of the photos was sort of lost on me. Anyway, I hung 100 cd sized photos up in this fabulous wee cafe called Tomorrow, put $35 price tags on each one, knocked back a champagne and waited for the guests to arrive. About one hour into the exhibition my boyfriend came up to me and said "you've just sold $1500 worth of photos" I nearly fell over.
Do you have any future plans for your work?
I would like to sink my teeth into more festivals and fairs, New Zealand to start with then Australia. If things went well I would like to have a sniff about London and New York because I have some friends living there that could help me out and steer me in the right direction. Woot!
Where are your favourite places on-line?
Ooohhh, theres so many.I love www.blip.fm (check out dj MollyMoo cause, well ummm...cause thats me)
http://www.stumbleupon.com (so many things to discover!)
http://www.vhemt.org
http://www.vegpeople.com
http://www.etsy.com
http://www.textsfromlastnight.com (silly and sometimes feral fun on there)
What kind of music do you enjoy listening to while you work, if any?
I usually just plug myself into my ipod and set it to shuffle...... the results vary... ADCD, Beruit, Ween, Bjork ....but lately if I put on a cd its usually The Smiths, The Chills, Hikoikoi, Massive Attack or The Stranglers.
If you could go back in time and give on piece of advice to yourself when you started, what would it be?
Keep up the momentum! I've lost a few leads and potential shops simply because I wasn't onto it enough....or I let my day job rule me....
What do you enjoy doing when you aren't busy making your wares?
Feeding the neighbours cow grass from my mouth, bike riding around the country side with my camera, baking vegan sweets and yummy pita pockets, wizzing up a batch of hummus, attempting to invent a chocolate chelsea bun, writing to my friends and making them mixed cds, watching films in bed with headphones on, dressing up in bad taste frocks, drinking tequilla with orange wedges and cinnamon instead of lemon and salt, tending to the garden, garage saleing with my mum, walking the dogs from down the road, putting random words into the blipfm search bar, saving my flatmate from the weta or spider or mouse in her room, brushing my cat, rescuing baby hedgehogs, writing letters to the government about how silly they are to mine etc etc
Monday, June 7, 2010
Crazy creative weekend
Woah! This weekend has been crazy, bonkers, mad with the making of things! My clunky gardening fingers have been fumbling about with itsy bitsy running rabbits, sausage dogs, snails, nests, eyeballs and birds......I stitched non stop for hours upon hours....so much that I went googling for "Crafter Hand Exercises" at about 1am......
BUT it's a good thing because now I have twenty brand new cutie rings to sell for the FIRST TIME EVER at Craft2.0 this Saturday............eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!
BUT it's a good thing because now I have twenty brand new cutie rings to sell for the FIRST TIME EVER at Craft2.0 this Saturday............eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!
Friday, June 4, 2010
Book cuteness!
I've been snuffling about the opp shops again and found this fab wee book for 20 cents. Not only is it cute but it's a "So High" book which made me giggle oh so much :)
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Brooch Fest
.JPG)
Ooooohhhhh! The brooches are gathering momentum! My fingers are stiff and my eyes can't really see right now.........oh needlework how you make me moan.....
Monday, May 31, 2010
Doll Sculptures
I've been at "art school" for the last six months. It ended on Friday and after wrestling with stinky pencils and lameasaurus pastels I discovered that I love making 3D thingys......so my ruling teacher let me throw away my pencil case and rip into some dolls........literally.
This wee piece is one of my favorite special ones. The heart is full of hair...sadly its not real hair though, just a silly ole wig....
xx
Pretty dolls for your neck
My latest crafting obsession has been brooches but a few nights ago I started to play around with the idea of necklaces..........and now I'm hooked on that.
Rings are being tinkered around with now toooooooooo
xx
Flickrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Well last night I made a wee Flickr account.......I'm not sure how I'm going to keep up with all this fancy pants online activity......
www.flickr.com/photos/littlechickpea
That was supposed to be a link but its gone all poos and won't work....
www.flickr.com/photos/littlechickpea
That was supposed to be a link but its gone all poos and won't work....
Tis I......
Oooooooooooohhhh.......here we go......
I am Sam and Sam is Plastic Fairy and Plastic Fairy makes things............
At the moment she is making this blog but it's not going very well because things like this take some getting used to......
Other bloggies look like fun.....Sam wants Plastic Fairy to make this one fun.....
Lets give it a try shall we?
xx
I am Sam and Sam is Plastic Fairy and Plastic Fairy makes things............
At the moment she is making this blog but it's not going very well because things like this take some getting used to......
Other bloggies look like fun.....Sam wants Plastic Fairy to make this one fun.....
Lets give it a try shall we?
xx
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