Esther McLaughlin Creations

For when interesting things happen.

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Some new designs, some old designs, and some mixtures of the two. Been pretty productive recently. 

All these little treats are currently for sale in the Yorkshire Craft Centre at Bradford College.

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The seagulls are making another appearance… 

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Having a thing about kites…. 

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Bit out of practice so pretty pleased with this little chap. 

Anniversary gift for a collegues wife for their 7th (copper) wedding anniversary. 

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Getting my sanding muscles out for the first time in a while... 

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This is what my life has looked like for the past 2 months. I love it. 

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During my time at the Leeds Museum Discovery Centre documenting the bird skin collection I have seen and handled some amazing species of birds. There are SO MANY things I never knew existed - to the extent that I haven’t a clue what half of the ones I’ve taken pictures of are. I know, I know. I should’ve been writing them down as I went along so I could make a beautifully documented blog post about them. And if I’d been more productive and posted regularly then maybe that’d have been easier… But I’m not going back through thousands of birds to find the ones I photographed and write down what they all are now! Sorry. 

Even so, it’d be a disaster not to share a few of the beautiful things that I’ve seen. 

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Making a new piece for someone's sister for her birthday. Really enjoying using thick wire and simple shapes at the moment. 

Also getting pretty productive making things as christmas gifts but it's sod's law someone will see something they shouldn't if I post pictures so they will have to wait...

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Slowly finding homes for all the tiny little birds I have left... 

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Recently I took part in an gallery curating course at Leeds College of Art. It took place over 3 days and is the only course of its kind in the country in that it allows you to learn whilst working on a real exhibition. It was such a great experience. 

The exhibition we curated involved a group of photographs by the artists Boyd & Evans who were there for most of the set up and were extremely lovely. Their photographs are really very beautiful and seeing them online is nothing compared to seeing them span 21ft across a room. 

I think I want to be a curator. 

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The baby chickens have been living in the garage since they hatched. They're pretty loud studio sharers... 

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Still got so much stuff to use from over preparing for my degree show. Still got seagulls everywhere. 

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Made this last month, went down pretty well with the recipient. 

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With my stamping enthusiasm I realised I should probably get into gear and finish off the earrings my Mum's been asking for for ages! So here they are with a lovely felt mount and a hand stamped label :) 

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With everything having been so manic, I've been a rubbish blogger, and in trying to catch up have probably missed out lots of interesting things. My graduate exhibition is not one of those things. I'm so happy with the way everything turned out - really pleased I went with a grey block rather than a frame, really happy I framed the Cycle Path print, really pleased with the way that a plinth changes a lot. 

So very pleased, but also rather sad that it means it's the end of uni life. Now for being a proper person.... 

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As well as the 9 pieces in the postcard series I decided to include the cycle path piece to my exhibition. Although I spent nowhere near as much time on it, and it's really more fine art rather than applied art, I felt that it was a really important part of my journey towards having found something that I really love making. It was the piece that helped me realise that composition is enough. The content can be any old crap, but if the composition is right, it'll draw people in.