Magnetic Attraction

I have created a new Ferromagnetic ring for the supremely creative fashion designer Charlotte Booty.

                                                                                  Macramé work from Charlotte Booty

 I wanted to make her a piece that would have unique properties, as her textile work pushes the boundaries to create three dimensional "fabrics". See more of her work here.

The beautiful patterns she creates in her macramé are by utilising materials in repetition such as cable ties, leather and chain. They seem to me to form naturally like iron filings in a magnetic field. The new Ferromagnetic ring is set with magnetic Haematite, I hope she enjoys using it to explore her surroundings, testing and picking up more found objects for her inspiration.

If you are interested in learning more about commissioning a unique piece, get in touch! Email me at info@jademellor.com and I'll be happy to answer your questions :)

Mellor/Booty Bag

I'm really enjoying collaborating with fashion designer Charlotte Booty at the moment. Her garments push the boundaries utilising unconventional embellishments but still really wearable through their carefully considered design and construction. The opportunity of creating pieces using her beautiful crochet skills has been a joy, and combined with my studies at the moment into Mesolithic hunter-gatherers has resulted in this bag which combines her intricate textiles with sturdy leather, metal jump rings, nuts & bolts and natural stone.

I have made it big enough to accommodate my big sculpture books (regular totes are frustratingly a tad to small) and a few other essentials for a modern hunter gatherer existence. I think I may eventually make several liners in different colours so I can change it as they will show through nicely in the open weave. 

The Other Side of The Button

Tools from the trade, Silk Museum, Macclesfield

"The old craftsmanship will survive. There is room for it in the modern world....The man who builds a boat for his own sailing and the woman who embroiders a quilt for her own home are getting satisfaction far beyond that given by any passive pleasure. Making things is a good life." W.B. Honey

Jade Mellor "Fasten" Necklace, Resin, metal powder & leather. One-off 2013

The Button Project exhibition is still available to check out at Macclesfield Heritage Centre. With around 300 buttons each hand made by a range of artists, designers and crafts people it is a showcase for personal skill and the joy of creating an object which is beautiful as well as functional.

The museum curator, Annabel Wills, says "The great thing about The Button Project is the way that it brings together the historical collections with contemporary artists. The town has its beginnings in the button trade, and Macclesfield silk buttons were all handmade. Today's makers help to keep that heritage very much alive."

One of my photos from a recent trip to Greece, a collection of ancient Fibulae brooch style

fasteners

Life Before Buttons

"Unlike most modern brooches, fibulae were not only decorative; they originally served a practical function: to fasten clothing, such as cloaks. Fibulae replaced straight pins that were used to fasten clothing in the Neolithic period and the Bronze Age. In turn, fibulae were replaced as clothing fasteners by buttons in the Middle Ages. Their descendant, the modern safety pin, remains in use today." Wiki

Decorative and functional fibulae brooches were used to fasten clothing before buttons. 

After Buttons (clothing fasteners go electric! Well we all know of Lightening zips)

Selection of zips used in garments by Elsa Schiaparelli, a pioneer in this new garment fastening technology. Many of these pieces didn't survive or were in a fragile condition due to the unstable nature of the early synthetic  materials. Images courtesy of V&A curating dept.

I made this necklace to show the harder edge of buttons. Cast from a selection of old pressed metal buttons, they would fasten functional clothing for working in. Made to be used and last, they showed their quality by having the companies name written on the button, like a designer label or branding motif today. Cast as a one off in resin combined with metal powder, the rest is made from leather and secured with a small steel hook at the back.

 Lots of beautiful sewing machines, some huge and industrial, some small and neat for intricate work (in Macclesfield's Silk Museum)

Wood and metal printing block in Macclesfield's museum, it is full of  beautiful objects like these used in their textiles production, often displayed "in situ".

Here's my button which you can see at the exhibition at Macclesfield's Heritage Centre until 8th Aug.

Macclesfield's SIlk Museum has plenty of ephemera from the old silk production on show. These original tags were a sign of quality for their products-made in the style of sealing wax-just like my resin and silver trompe l'oeil button!

The Button Project has been the work of glass artist Victoria Scholes. I'm so glad she had the idea and passion to create this exhibition, bringing together so many people who love making things. 

Pins & Needles

​My very good friend (& talented textile designer) Nat Stoker and I were on a bit of a last minute mission to find a smart but interesting scarf for a certain occasion recently. Looking at the scarf designs available on the high street most of them seemed to fall into two categories: Bright and flowery or skulls. Skulls. Skulls. 

Now I don't mind a bit of noggin anatomy but there are other ideas to use for interesting, bold, edgy motifs. This is where green fingered Natty (her apartment balcony is spilling over with a forest of foliage), was inspired by her visit to the Royal Horticultural Society Flower Show to create this design.

Nat says: "What particularly caught my eye was an incredible display of cacti, with their natural, prickly symmetry perfectly designed for surviving in harsh landscapes." 

These bold cacti and spicy succulent silhouettes combined with a trans-seasonal colour palette make for something really fresh and different. 

Her design now features in an online competition via Front Row Society so if you have a spare minute and like this original design show her your support and give her your vote!

​VOTE HERE

 for Nat Stoker's Pins and Needles Design