Alfred Russel Wallace

With so much about Alfred Russel Wallace happening at the NHM and the new BBC Bill Bailey programme about him, I thought it was high time I put up a couple of pictures of my natural historians that I made for my MA show. I chose to make a few of the natural historians from the past that I found the most interesting to look at, and had personal or  professional stories that grabbed my attention. (which admittedly is a lot of them) Wallace is described as  'An intrepid explorer and brilliant naturalist, Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913) co-published the theory of evolution by natural selection with Charles Darwin in 1858 and was one of the most celebrated scientists of his era' (NHM Website )























I also made Mary Anning, the female fossil hunter based in Lyme Regis, and Evelyn Cheesman, who had guts- as in bravery and adventures with spiders and snakes- Please have a read ; http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/science-of-natural-history/biographies/evelyn-cheesman/)

 Have a look here at an old blog post for my figurine of Friedrich Welwitsch.

New Moby Dick Necklace

Pressed ceramic Moby Dick earthenware necklace (http://bysaw.bigcartel.com/product/moby-dick-necklace)

Book Title Brooches

Some designs I've been doing for fun, they're carved into plaster and then the clay is pressed in, and measure around 2.5 cm across.

Spirit Specimen Drawn Tiles

 Here's a few of my wall tiles based on the London Natural History Museums Spirit Collection. Its called that because the specimens are kept in alcohol, not because all the little and large creatures are magically stored with their animal and plant spirits floating around them, but it's a nice name, and gives my work an unintentionally mystic title. The alcohol has to be topped up constantly as it is forever evaporating, which apparently is a bit of a boring job as there are thousands and thousands of jars to do.

The original pen and ink sketches for these tiles are reproduced on my Spirit Collection tableware, that you can see (here bysaw.bigcartel.com)and I'm currently making a new batch of tiles for an exhibition later this year at the Ruthin Craft Centre. Here's the first of many....

Independent Tableware Museum Drawings

My tableware got a lovely mention in the Independent Magazine today on their 'Reccomended' page... (http://www.independent.co.uk/property/interiors/what-to-do-see--buy-the-reclaimed-tile-company-sophie-alice-wiltshire-joanna-basfords-secret-garden-graham-nash-8551804.html)

Mugs and bowls with this Spirit Collection design are available from my online shop- bysaw.bigcartel.com, where I've been experimenting with new products and prints, using sketches taken at my time in the Natural History Museum storage areas, which have been sitting neglected in sketchbooks and illustrator files. It's such a buzz getting a load of transfers through in the post, (which could have something to do with the strong chemical smell of the sheets)  and seeing the images away from the computer screen and on a product.

Moby Dick

The start of some Moby Dick themed brooches....and some based on a childhood hero of many many people- Geoff Keegan who ran Byker Grove with some of the mightiest facial hair that 90's TV had to offer!

Winchester Bindery Mugs

I have just loaded the kiln with a batch of mugs which were a commission for Winchester based book binders The Winchester Bindery...this is a photo of them before they've been fired, so you can still see the blue backing of the transfer paper, which will burn away in the kiln. Here's the design of College St..