Last year I started work on a series of screen prints inspired by traditional Bulgarian dolls and costumes. I was very lucky that my Bulgarian friend bought me back some lovely wooden dolls from her summer holiday in Bulgaria. It was great to be able to see them in real life rather than just searching the internet for images. These two designs are based on the dolls and were intended to be part of the Masquerade exhibition last Autumn. Unfortunately I couldn't get them finished in time so I was really happy when the RBSA Gallery craft shop approached me about including my Polish and Bulgarian inspired screen prints in their Melting Pot exhibition. It was exactly the motivation I needed to get new cards and prints finished and ready for the first exhibition of 2014.
Other than the dreaded tea towels something else that's been giving me a headache lately is recycled card. I usually buy A4 white recycled card from Eco Craft, screen print two designs at a time, then fold each sheet of A4 card using a bone folder before cutting it in half to make two A6 cards. But since Eco Craft have changed to a heavier weight of white recycled card I've found it's not as easy to fold, every sheet has to be scored first which takes longer and doesn't look as nice. So I've switched to coloured recycled card which is a little easier to fold. And I know I need to find a new card supplier, it's on my to-do list.
My friend told me about a Russian tin doll she had as a child in Bulgaria. I'm not sure if her memories of it were good, I think that she would have preferred the choice of the different toys I took for granted growing up in the west. The Russian tin doll clearly doesn't have the same significance for her as it does for me. To me it's a fragment of a wonderful culture very different from my own so I was excited to actually find the dolls on the internet. Even better than the dolls is the packaging they come in with it's beautiful Russian lettering and vintage style illustration. For my Russian doll I tried to keep some of the original elements but I also wanted to create something new. The actual tin dolls are red, blue and yellow with black outlines but I only wanted to use two colours so chose crimson and metallic blue. I originally screen printed them for Christmas but I'm hoping to continue with the theme and create a collection of designs inspired by Eastern European dolls and toys.
