Tools of beauty

Now my studio is nearly complete Im able to hang my tjaps and wallpaper blocks properly on custom made racks on the wall. Problem is my collection is larger than my wall space. Some of the square tjaps are now stored like this in my spare wall hung units and the free form and larger ones - mostly the big florals and pairs are wall hung.
And of course my love affair with wallpaper blocks is ever present...
These beautiful antique blocks are massive in scale, some are over 2 ft in width alone and are all intricate metal pins and lines set into a huge slab of wood - oak was commonly used.

 They are the hardest to print with but often the most beautiful patternwise.  Im making a small batch of special large fabric hampers to stock in my shop at Christmas (yes Im thinking that far) which I will use these blocks for.

Surveying the after effects of the wettest July on record on my garden  -which is lush to start with and now has become a dense jungle. Perhaps a drier September will mean I can cut back and prune but in the mean time my children love the ability to lose themselves (literally) in it.
As fairly typical with long narrow London gardens you need to screen the neighbours and city noises out - in my case we`re having trouble making out where our own house is from the back of the garden. Perhaps its time to thin the bamboo out..

Summer is in full swing but a humid wet one at that. It dampens my mood somewhat and makes being creative difficult.
However Ive decided to make some plushies (an unusual term if you`re English) out of my owl linocut.

I printed some in yellow and red and then block printed some fabric for the backing. Naturally being me I forgot to sew my label into some of them - something I only realised after I had stuffed and sewed them up...