My Cherished Collections

WARNING- IMAGE HEAVY

Collecting seems to come quite naturally to me, which is strange because I don't hoard, I'm not very sentimental and I don't have any interest in the art of collecting. Hah! However, I seem to have this natural magpie instinct to gather, organise and display stuff.

Caseys Elegant Musings is hosting a week long tour of a selection of Creatives personal collections, including my own. Please stop by and support this delicious online experience of beautiful photography and intriguing nicknack's.

And without further adieu... MY COLLECTIONS!

You'll notice that a vast amount of what I've collected has in fact been started or donated by my grandparents (who are both Creatives) but i have added to them, organised them and given them my own purpose and definition so they are very special to me. Either way, this post is dedicated to them and for entrusting me with their collections and their future repurposing and incarnations. I am grateful for the inspiration and materials they have passed onto me.

Nail Polish

I'm starting with this one because it's the most random. To collect polish is no different to me from collecting paints, its just that nail varnish tends to come in a million more interesting ready made colours, effects and finishes. And that's before you've even started exploring nail art and sculpture! If i need inspiration i just look at my magical fingertips and away i go!

I have quite a few more, but these are all my favourite colours and finishes. I cant wait to start playing with Frankenpolishes, which is where you start blending half used bottles with each other to make your own unique colours and finishes.

Keys

This is my collection of old rusty keys. My step-grandad gave me these and I've begun adding my own. The collection is much larger then shown but these are my favourites and ones which stick out as particularly interesting.

I like the colours in the rust, the shapes, the mystery. Nobody knows where these keys were from or what they're for. Most were found in the ground when gardening, or in lofts or boot fairs. I love how some of them have numbers and long gone addresses or names attached, little leather key rings or special engravings. I want to display them one day or make a wind chime out of them but want to draw and appreciate them just as they are for a while longer.

Threads

When i was about 10 i remember my grandmother teaching me to sew and insisting i kept every loose thread and clipping 'for later'. This is why:

Amongst these huge balls of thread and clippings are the remains of decades worth of embroidery projects, hand sewing, party dresses and upholstery... holidays of my childhood, stupid cushions i made with camels on them and curtain tie backs... all bundled together into these beautiful nests of glittery thread. I use them for direct inspiration or i drag them over mixed media canvas and let the threads sink into the paint and create these pretty cobwebs of silk and metal. My grandmother uses hers to created her own fabric, flattening the threads together and sewing over the top. So many uses and most people throw this stuff in the bin, but just look at how magic it is!

The longer pieces of thread i keep wrapped around card or on their spools and use them for lots of things. Sewing, obviously, but also sewing on paper, jewellery making, gift wrapping, mixed media art. Even taking photographs of it all and using them as the main focus themselves- creating puffy abstract clouds of thread which are entirely unique and can never be completely replicated.

Found Objects

When i got my married i was generously given my grandmothers collections as she no longer wanted them and wanted me to embrace my creative side and put them to good use. As a textile artist she had collected a huge mass of beads, threads, fabrics and of course 'found objects', which i blended with my own meagre collections and created super collections of strange unwanted bits and bobs, broken toys, loose gems, single earrings, old coins, lace butterflies and many other things. I spent long hours of my childhood and even adulthood perusing these collections and now they're mine, all mine! I challenge you not to be inspired when looking at this...

Each thing has a story, an idea, a purpose. Even down to the smallest shell. Some of the stuff is genuine junk. Some things are very personal, even my wedding earring is in there (i lost the other). Other things could be worth something in the antiques market, but i don't care enough to check. My main passion for keeping these things are the priceless ideas they give me and the way they complete difficult pieces of work or enhance a bland hairband which no wad of money could provide.

Broken Jewellery

I never cry over a broken necklace. Just look at what it provides!

Buckles

Now these are proper collector things. These are my belt buckles. Mostly sourced by granny again but a few are my own. She says some of them are Victorian, some are Edwardian and Art Deco... I find these so interesting because they're not something people consider as precious these days. I have no idea what i could use them for, if i was to use them, but it just like the history of these objects and how they're all the same but look so different.

Fabric

The piece-de-resistance! The fabric. Oooooh

Generally everything is colour coded and folded neatly but here are the tubs open and exposed.

Notice how i save even small scraps. If you're working on ATCs or Inchies these little gems of fabric are essential. Rather then hack into a massive piece of cloth just dig around in the scrap box and find a little off cut and use that- create a whole new form of art from the unwanted and unloved! Its very refreshing....... and cheap....

I hope you enjoyed my tour. I did want to show my paper ephemera, vintage photographs and postcard collection too but the memory card on my camera was full by that point so i took it as a sign to stop. Maybe another day.

Feel free to share your own collections. It's great fun.