GraceInk Design (2024)

20/08/2023

Petal painting & Bookbinding workshop with excellent tutors, Sunshine & Cass. A great day exploring the power of the pH sensitive petal to create a variety of natural paints. Watching the colours change by adding lemon (acidic) and bicarbonate of soda (alkaline). Fascinating as the paper still needs to be mordanted just like naturally printing or dyeing fabric. Followed by binding the created papers into our own sketchbook to take away. Even the threads were naturally dyed. Lovely group of fellow artisans to create alongside.
-

10/08/2023

A wee trip to Newfoundland, Canada with the lovely and .sage - what a place!
-
jellybeanrowstjohns

02/07/2023

Excellent belated birthday present with the family at in Staunton Harold. I chose the colour scheme and we each came up with a design soon to grace my abode. Brilliant fun!
-

15/01/2023

Matthias Church is located in Fisherman's Bastion in Budapest. The Gothic style building is striking, especially because of it's beautiful patterned ceramic tiled roof. This is the last page of this sketchbook which started in Turkey back in summer 2022. I had meant to show off more of the roof, but started a little too large to show off much of the pattern, instead the page has turned into a patterned tile trying to capture different marks & shapes in chinagraph crayon, prismalo coloured pencil & HB pencil.
-

13/01/2023

The mini sketchbook made a reappearance for my trip to Budapest. The sketchbook itself is starting to fall apart from its repeated use, but fortunately it has an elastic strap that keeps all the pages together when not in use. As well as mini, I also whipped out the faithful uni pin fineliners in the finest nibs I have (0.05 + 0.1) and drew the main dome and one of the clocks from St. Stephen's Basilica. The cathedral was even more impressive on the inside!
-
🇭🇺

12/01/2023

New Year travels to Budapest, Hungary. Decided to pop away for a few days and remembered my sketchbook! Attempted to capture the architectural grandeur of the Parliament Building (Országház) using my faithful graphite stick (6B), situated on Kossuth Square in the Pest side of the city, on the eastern bank of the Danube River.
-
🇭🇺

10/12/2022

Hand-painted Christmas baubles created for my friend

19/08/2022

Final Day(s)
-
As the sunsets on a month away in Turkey learning about , I thought I would post a few photos from my final days in İzmir. I caught this beautiful sunset by accident as I was eating dinner & reading my book down by the waters edge. The best bit of İzmir was the views from the top of their historical elevator which was installed to help people get up the steep hills where many civilians live. A close second was the amazing engineering seen at Agora (the oldest bit of İzmir dating back to Ottoman & Byzantine eras). It's been quite a month of learning and creativity which I've really enjoyed - but I can't wait to get home for some cooler air!
-

14/08/2022

Day 22
-
Yesterday was the final day of paper marbling (ebru), where I learnt how to do a daisy, violet, and clove. What I learnt is that violets are difficult to get right...mine all look a little psychedelic! And daisies are a little simpler. It's been great learning lots of different types including battal, gelgit & şal. I also bought myself a kit, so that I can give friends & family a go when I'm home. I've also realised that I'm 6 days behind with my posts (should be day 28) but hey ho!
-

13/08/2022

Day 21
-
I haven't done much sketching in Turkey because I've been exploring other creative pursuits, such as felting, embroidery & paper marbling. However, here is a quick sketch I did of the rooftops of Nazilli. Just like the doors, the rooftops are quite different to those ones found in the UK. I love the masses of solar 'panels' (very useful in Turkey) & satellite dishes adorning the buildings.
-

11/08/2022

Day 20
-
Needle felting has been the order of the day. Never would I have thought that I'd get so into it, but with a little project inspired by the 'doors of Nazilli' as mentioned in a previous post and in abundance in the old part of town, I have so far created six tiled designs. Not really sure what I'll do with them on my return to the UK, but I'm enjoying creating all the different patterns. I also didn't break a needle today...which is surprising as I broke 5 last week...whoops!
-

10/08/2022

Day 19
-
Following a rest day, we got straight back into learning about with instruction on Bartin Işi Tel Kirma, which translates to metal breaking embroidery. Using a flat needle with two eyes & a thin metal ribbon, you go in a certain pattern on the cloth to create a cross shape. For this technique you don't use scissors, instead 'breaking' off the metal ribbon when you've finished a stitch. The back was just as pretty as the front! Following this was the opportunity to make & eat gözleme, a savoury Turkish stuffed turnover/pancake/flat bread with . I had mine with potatoes & cheese. It was hot hot hot in the kitchen, but alot of fun to make & delicious to eat. Especially with a glass of homemade limonata 🍋!
-

08/08/2022

Day 17
-
What a special day! The day started with some more paper marbling, where I was taught the techniques of Lale ebru (Tulip marbling) and Balgali ebru (shuggle/move the paper around when placing onto the kitre bath). We had a surprise visit from a beautiful bride who was waiting for her groom (rather nervewracking being so close to the ebru inks in a white dress 😬). Then in the evening, we were invited round to one of the tutor's homes for music therapy, cultural chat, art appreciation and amazing food - it was absolutely delicious! Finally capping off the evening with a trip to one of her neighbours to see the beautiful handmade crafts at . Amazing beaded bags, characters on the walls, crocheted clothing & intricate quilts! Plenty chai was drunk & interesting conversation had.
-

06/08/2022

Day 16
-
Today was all about the paper marbling (ebru) - in the morning we focused on bulbul yuvasi ebru (which also seems to be a name of a pastry), which I think translates as birds nests and is the swirly patterns. First of all you have to apply battal ebru (which I did last week), which is the random splodges and speckles. It's also possible to add gelgit ebru before the swirls, which is the straight lines applied with a biz (wooden handled metal stick tool) into the kitre (thickened bath water). In the afternoon, we tried hatip ebru, which is when you paint different shapes into the surface of the kitre using the biz. Hopefully I have all the names right!!
-

05/08/2022

Day 15
-
Mini sketchbook strikes again! Strangely I feel like I manifested the Turkey cultural residency as my previous drawing was of a 16th century jug from the Ottoman era at the Gulbenkian museum in Portugal (in May). Today's drawing is of oranges...there are so many fruit trees here lining the streets...so far I've spotted pomegranate, lime, lemon & fig. Oh and obviously olive too!
-

04/08/2022

Day 14
-
The cross-stitch (kanaviçe) is finally finished (I think 🤔). A stressful moment when I thought there was no more red thread...but fortunately some was found scurried away in the apartment that I'm sharing with my fellow students. Looking forward to displaying this on my wall of round things when I get home. Very happy with how the use of the ramshorn stitch has turned out with a few other flourishes. And even though the back is alittle messy, I quite like the chaos of it all!
-

02/08/2022

Day 13
-
After a morning of paper marbling, we took a trip back to the ancient city of Nysa in the evening. I used my 45 minutes to quickly sketch detailing on the columns...it was bliss & I wish I'd had a whole day. Can you spot the odd column out??!! Then we went up into the hillside to a village called Kavakli where the sun was setting, the light was dusky pink and the views spectacular. We even got to enjoy an evening meal of kofta (meatball) and fresh out of the oven bread...delicious.
-

31/07/2022

Day 11
-
Continuing with the door fascination, I went on a wander to find a nice doorknob to hang last week's felted piece from. Fortunately no one opened the door whilst I was taking photos...I did get a few curious glances though! In the second picture I found the colours used echoed in my surroundings and had to take a snap.
-

30/07/2022

Day 10
-
Just look at these doors...aren't they gorgeous! I'm having a bit of a love affair with the doors of Nazilli and as I haven't really got any exciting creative work to post today, I thought I'd post some beautiful doors instead. Enjoy!
-

24/07/2022

Day 5
-
Another fascinating cultural trip provided by Grampus Heritage, this time to Ephesus. Definitely the most touristy place visited so far but some beautiful stone work on display, history to be absorbed and a cheesy reenactment of gladiators fighting to observe. By far the best bit of the day was drinking wine and playing backgammon (tavla) in Şirince but maybe that's the alcohol talking!
-
🇹🇷

23/07/2022

Day 3
-
Started with embroidery/embellishment of the felt from yesterday followed by needle felting, involved a quick trip to the ancient city of Nysa (more beautiful stone work & stunning vistas) and ended with a wedding party (which involved lots of food & lots of dancing involving mainly the Bride and then the Groom appeared from his 'do' in the village towards the end...an amazing experience).
-

21/07/2022

Day 2
-
Today's activity on the cultural residency in Turkey was felting. Not the first time trying this technique but was interesting to learn alittle more about this traditional craft that originated in central Asia and dates back to 4th century BC. Used to make carpets, tents, shoes, hats & many more useful items...I hear that we will be exploring the technique further in the coming days.
-

21/07/2022

Day 2
-
Today's activity on the cultural residency in Turkey was felting. Not the first time trying this technique but was interesting to learn alittle more about this traditional craft that originated in central Asia and dates back to 4th century BC. Used to make carpets, tents, shoes, hats & many more useful items...I hear that we will be exploring the technique further in the coming days.
-

20/07/2022

Day 1
-
During the next month I'm taking part in a creative cultural residency in Turkey through Grampus Heritage learning about traditional Turkish crafts. Today involved cultural visits to Aphrodisias Museum & Archaeological Site and Hierapolis Archaeological Site...sites of beauty & wonder.
-

28/05/2022

Continuing with my mini holiday to the south of England...a proper seaside shop selling buckets, spades, flip-flops, shells & Union flags! This was in Broadstairs after a lovely walk along the coast.
-

27/05/2022

A mini holiday to Margate this week. Margate is a charming place...rough around the edges...and scattered with treats. One of them was this view from the place I was staying looking out towards gallery.
-

24/04/2022

A little skip back in time to my adventures in Lisbon, Portugal earlier this month. I went on a fantastic walking tour with a local through many backstreets & alleyways...I just love all the peeling paint, patterned tiles, pokey doors and greenery. Dreaming of going back to get lost in the beauty once again.
-

21/04/2022

As we come to end of daffodil season in the UK, here is a recent (ish) page from my sketchbook. These are the mini variety (also known as Miniature Narcissus) gifted to me earlier this year.
-

19/04/2022

Spent an amazing few days away in Lisbon, Portugal & painted tiles (azulejos) with .of.azulejos_
-
Sunflower and tester tile my design, geometric design was predrawn.
-

19/07/2021

Been working on something special for friends these past few days. Keeps me out of mischief! 😁
-

GraceInk Design

20/08/2023

10/08/2023

02/07/2023

15/01/2023

13/01/2023

12/01/2023

10/12/2022

19/08/2022

14/08/2022

13/08/2022

11/08/2022

10/08/2022

08/08/2022

06/08/2022

05/08/2022

04/08/2022

02/08/2022

31/07/2022

30/07/2022

24/07/2022

23/07/2022

21/07/2022

21/07/2022

20/07/2022

28/05/2022

27/05/2022

24/04/2022

21/04/2022

19/04/2022

19/07/2021

Address

Website

Alerts

Contact The Business

Videos

Shortcuts

Share