Pomegranate

02/09/2021

Love this.. the ingenuity of upcycling is fab! Tx

Old recycled telephone cords. Telephone Sheep by Jean Luc Cornec...

04/08/2021

Spent the afternoon at The Art Shack, just outside Shrewsbury, today. Although I do loads of creative stuff I was looking for somewhere I could spend some creative play time. Someone recommended The Art Shack so I've joined.
It's a beautiful workspace, stuffed full of crafting supplies. You just turn up for a morning or afternoon session and try out different techniques, undertake a self defined project or have something suggested by the talented artists that work there.
I have a project in mind, but I've been holding back working on it. I have a grounding in ceramics and a small kiln awaiting its first firing, once the She Shed arrives in November sometime.
I want to make a tiled backdrop to the wood burner in my lounge. So, today I started working on my ideas. The theme will be the dog walk i do with Banjo. It's a quiet route I have become very familiar with over the months as we help him with his dog reactivity. Its quiet but stunning. There are views across the fields, a stunning farm with old buildings with roof tops that have Doves roosting in lines along their ridges, secret Woodlands and mountains in the distance, golden fields of wheat and lush green potato crops in the foreground. Sometimes there are sheep, cows or horses munching the grass.. and even the a family of guinea fowl make an occasional appearance. .. Basically it's heaven... winter, spring and summer .. and probably autumn.
So, that's my inspiration.
Today I decided on the size of the individual tiles and started on a collage based on a picture I had on my phone.. I gave myself permission to play and have no expectations of having anything finished. I told myself just make and don't compare. And that's what I did. I'm mid way though making up my first mockup card tile.. long way to go .. I'll need 28 in clay. So this is going to be the sketchbook work needed before I even touch a ball of clay .. exciting!!
Toodle pip!
Tx

31/07/2021

Gosh, sorry for being so quiet this week, not sure where it went! Lots of news next week, I promise :) ... meanwhile, have a lovely weekend. I'll be aying with my new sewing machine... exciting! Tx

16/07/2021

Morning! Earlier in the week I went on a vintage road trip... cross country to look at a job lot of crockery, glass and silver for my antiques stall. Always a bit of a risk but in this case I was lucky and found that there were some great pieces of mid century studio pottery .. with marks from some pretty well known makers. Love a makers mark!
I'm processing it all at the mo so no photos yet as they have bern in some damk shed in Essex for a while :)
Hope you are having a lovely day.. gorgeous and sunny here in Shropshire...dont know if this is normal, but the worst of the weather seems to blow past our little patch of green and pleasant land .. or have I got my rose tinted glasses on ?
Hugs Tx

13/07/2021

Morning!
Interior designers are not immune to decoration failures.... In particular, I find it particularly difficult deciding how to redecorate my own bedroom ... it's embarrassing!
We relocated and moved into our new house about 6 months ago. Because we had no furniture for three weeks (long story) I took the opportunity to decorate half the house, which had been painted throughout, in a high sheen (grrrrr) neutral. The only room that didn't have a high sheen neutral, as the downstairs loo... which was high sheen neutral AND a depression inducing petrol blue, in high sheen (obvs).
Anyway, I repainted the lounge, spare bedrooms and half the dining room and loo with no problem at all... We needed ladders for the 2nd half of the dining room and they were in storage and the country was in lockdown... hence the 2nd half is still waiting.
You notice I did the spare rooms already, but the master bedroom didn't make it on the list? As I have said, I finding deciding on my own bedrooms decor very very difficult.
Having been inspired by a walk in my local churchyard, as you do, the rest of the house has been painted in the colours of Lichen that I saw there ... this includes two shades of a blue/grey/green, a neutral and then splashes of vivid yellow, deep terracotta red and finally some accessories in moss green....
Don't get me wrong, I have tried to rid my bedroom of it's 'oh so (high sheen) beige' pallet... I decided that I wanted to go blue and cream. Elegant, fresh and a bit coastal. I had been saving a textured, tweedy-dogtoothy fabric, which is blue, grey and cream. I love it. In the New Year I had it made up into roman blinds. I chose a lovely blue, call Boat House Blue, and spent a weekend painting a feature wall behind the bed. Then I hung up my collection of vintage mirrors and put up the new blinds. I dressed the bed to 'work with' and stood back.
Urgh! why was it doing NOTHING for me??
This isn't the 1st time... I have form... purple and grey, grey and yellow, blue and white etc etc... wallpapers I generally get right, except the time I chose a bold Scandi pattern in red, black and cream...
So, today I am in the process of rectifying my mistake. I think the problem with the blue and cream theme is that I am in the countryside, in a little cottage with stunning views. The house needs a more natural, grey tone pallet with pops of natural colours.
I have been pondering the problem for some time ... every blooming morning I scowl at the blue and sit wondering why my blinds don't look as fab as I imagined.
So, I've come up with a plan. Blue/grey/green combo on the walls, keep the blinds, add some trims in the other colours ... and bring the other Lichen inspired colours in with the accessories.
This morning I spent 30 mins embellishing the blinds ... and I'm already feeling more at peace.... ahhh
So, to all you lovely peeps who have decor disasters too... I feel your pain!
Have a lovely day :)
Tx

08/07/2021

Pride of place... so pleased that this stunning punch of orange has wafted back onto my stand at after a quick rewire.
My stall at Csmbrian Emporium is in Oswestry. It's where I sell an eclectic mix of retro home accessories and upcycled items.
This lamp is for the Mid Century Modern officianados out there.
The base was made by renowned British studio potters Robert and Shiela Fournier. The oversized, barrel shaped shade is original to the piece.. and quite frankly it's simply amazing that its survived, undamaged.. we have had it rewired in a bright orange cord, to complete the piece.
Price £180... similar sold in USA for $780.. so this is a real snip.
Ping me for more details.
Hugs
Tx

08/07/2021

Today I am excited.. as I am going to collect a 1960s lamp which I've just had rewired..

07/07/2021

Its been busy busy at Pomegranate Central... alongside creating my online shop I've been out hunting down lots of lovely goodies for my antiques stall. This morning I finished off reupholdstering the seat pads of some ugly dining chairs.. feeling very excited about reuniting them to the actual chairs.. but before I can do that they still need a few extra coats of paint and a layer of wax.. work in progress is still work :) ... puppy is worn out by all the progress lol
Hope you are having a lovely day.
Hugs Tx

01/07/2021

Morning!
Yesterday I had fun with my trusty heat gun. All the prepping for the table and chairs project is now complete. So, now all that needs to be done is the transformation!
In between the drying times I will also be working on turning scraps of fabric in to lovely things :)
Bit misty outside today but at least that will mean i wont be tempted to wander off onto other things... and the hayfever will be kept at bay.
Have a lovely day!
Tx

30/06/2021

Did lots of prep yesterday... equipment assembled for next step.. love an upcycle project 😁

29/06/2021

Morning! I often take Banjo our rescue dog out for a quiet morning walk. It's just nice to get out and arrange my thoughts for the day. He has a bit of an issue with dogs... so we chose nice secluded parts to pootle around.. here we are emerging into civilisation.
So, where did my thoughts take me today?
Firstly I'm need to take some more photos for my website. Then im off to Welshpool. The shop that has taken some if my cushions wants more, so they can create a feature display.
When I get back from there I'm going to get on with my next upcycle .. a horrid oak table and chairs. The plan for the table is to strip the dark lacquer off the top and do a bleaching technique... then wax that and paint the legs a neutral colour.
The chairs will be painted a contrasting olive colour and then the seats will be reupholstered. I have this lovely embroidered linen, which is a sample book piece of a Sandersons fabric. The bold flower was embroidered as individual flower, instead of part of a more complicated design. This was done just for the pattern book. As these were surplus and never made it into a book, I picked them up for a song a few years ago.. I knew a perfect use would be found one day.. and now they will have their moment, as new seat pads.
Right I had better get on with it hadnt I?
Toodle pip!
Tx

24/06/2021

Morning!
Light rain here today, which is a relief for my hayfever symptoms phew! This didn't stop me getting on with things though... despite accidentally taking unflattering pictures of myself whilst dealing with a runny nose lol.
Here's a little arty group of cushions. I took lots more when I set up by our local castle ruins.. yes we have our very own castle in our village!
Well, when I say castle, I mean a pile of rocks left over from when the Marcher Lords were fighting over this patch of land... thanks to them we have a very picturesque place to sit and admire the Berwen mountains in Wales and the Shropshire Hills in England.
Have a wonderful day!
Tx