This week I finally got the hang of Instagram. I tried it out when I first got my iphone and didn't really pursue it but a friend recommended I give it another look and now I'm hooked. To me it's a lovely visual alternative to Twitter, plus the Instagram community seems very friendly and inclusive. Take a look, I'm @redrubyrose and I'd love to follow you too!
I'm steadily adding a few new fabrics and bag styles to my Etsy shop this week, only held back by the rather glum November weather which makes photographing a bit more tricky. Here goes:
Wood for the Trees in a lovely taupe/black/white colourway, plus a blue silk lining.
Delicate blue fronds feature on this pods clutch, would work well for a winter wedding.
Lupin, a retro mid-century styled print and one of two larger bags. Also has a sweet blue Liberty lining and chain handle.
Finally, stylish Argyle suede with optional suede handle and pretty green cotton lining. More to follow....
Thought I'd share some pics from my recent trip to Italy. It was a lovely time of year to go, warmer than the UK but cool enough to do good walks and sit on the beach without frying. We based ourselves in the North West, firstly La Spezia to visit the Cinque Terre and then Lucca and Viareggio.
View of houses in Viareggio. We were there a week before the region was sadly hit by a massive landslide and flooding, causing widespread damage.
Orange groves on the streets of La Spezia.
The night after a storm in la Spezia before the street cleaner arrived. He later told us he had picked up 413 oranges. Now that's attention to detail!
Fabulous fiat.
Equally fabulous bike.
Sandcastles are sooo last season. Now it's all about owlcastles.
Fabulous sunset in Viareggio.After a month off in August and a catch-up with custom and wholesale orders I'm now settling down to create some new pieces. First off, an update on the arrows design, in hot turquoise blue and contrasting red/orange arrows.
Blue Arrows clutch, $85 on Etsy
Next up, I'm smitten with this chevron stripe fabric in yellow and grey. The clutch is rounded with a long cross-body chain and a sweet birdie patterned lining
Chevron stripe clutch, $85 on Etsy
Finally, I promised to make some larger style bags for a customer and here's a little selection I worked on over the weekend. She's getting first dibs but I'll be listing the others on Etsy soon.
As for all these yellows and blues... it's not such a seasonal palette I know, at least not for the Northern hemisphere as we head into autumn. However, it seems as though we may be getting our Indian summer after all, the UK weather forecast for the rest of the week predicts hot things. Wonderful!
It's been a busy couple of months with custom and wholesale orders and as summer unfurls I've decided to briefly close up shop at the end of this month and dedicate the whole of August to other projects. Namely, learning basic video editing, recording and writing tracks for the new Cue Fanfare album and creating new designs. Exciting! I'll be back online in September, hopefully with lots of new designs and energy to share. Wishing you a fabulous summer!
Last week I went to a Textiles fair in Dorchester, Dorset and found this amazing vintage fabric featuring bold blooms and exotic birds and butterflies. It was one of those 'I don't want to cut it' moments when I made my first bag, but the details and colours are so gorgeous that it can stand up to cropping into the design.
Bloomsbury Belle, clutch bag with silk lining $85
New Red Ruby Rose activity has been a bit thin on the ground this month, I've been dividing my time between wholesale/custom orders and visiting my parents who haven't been in the best of health of late.
My mum and I have been for some rejuvenating walks in the Blackdown Hills, revisiting old haunts and finding new trails and unexpected Spring treasures.
Apple blossom in the garden and scenery along the Blackdowns Herepath.
Hestercombe Gardens, a classical romantic English garden at the foot of the Quantocks, designed by Jekyll-Lutyens.
Ferns and follies at Hestercombe
Eerie pines at Otterhead Lakes
Woodland walk at Otterhead
Black swans at Otterhead
An amazing walk up to Wych Lodge (Swan Lake) with swathes of bluebells, cowslips, butterflies, ancient meadow and rare marsh orchids.
A windy Spring garden
Still lives
Last autumn I posted some thoughts about iphone toy camera apps. I was tentatively dabbling with hipstamatic and then settled on Plastic Bullet which I've been happily using ever since. Some of these images have been influencing and inspiring my textile designs, which resulted in Red Giant Software (the developers of Plastic Bullet) kindly featuring Red Ruby Rose on their blog.
They've now got two new iphone apps, Noir for brooding cinematic pics and Movie Looks for video colour tints. I've been playing around with Noir and it is very nice indeed, I like the simple clean interface and moody results.
I'm aiming to be a little quieter on the Red Ruby Rose front over the summer, I do have some new fabrics and styles to list but feel it's also time for a bit of holiday and time on the music side of things.
Queen Anne's Lace, embroidered silk clutch bag
Blue Belle, embroidered linen clutch bag
I've added two new clutches to the shop today, both with a bridal flavour. The top design is a pretty embroidered silk, in person the embroidered details are raised in cream and sparkly silver, very tactile. I love the pale cornflower blue of the Blue Belle clutch, and it has chunky embroidery which makes for a nice contrast.
Had to grab a bit of sunshine today, such amazing weather for early April.
All the cherry blossom is blooming...
..with the shadows on the ground making striking patterns.
These were taken on Mother's Day, Magnolia blooms and Mum and I looking like shadowy Hitchcock characters....
...and the Somerset countryside. It was rain and showers and everything looked hyper-green like a scene straight out of Tolkien.
Thought I'd share some fabulous pics that Adriana sent to me of her wedding clutches. Photos by Lina Jang photography and the full blog post is over at Tammy Golson Events. Adriana's a stunning bride and it looked like a wonderful day!
New Red Ruby Rose silk scarf collection, modelled by Kerry, photographed by Toby Farrow
I launched my first collection of silk scarves last year, fully aware it was a learning curve, both in the response to the designs and also the size and price. The feedback was that although lovely, they were on the expensive side. So, with this in mind I've gone back to the drawing board and created a brand new collection.
The new scarves, although smaller in size are versatile; they can be worn as a hair band, bandana or bow, corsage, belt or wristlet.
Anchors silk scarf, $48
Birds on a wire silk scarf, $48
Mandala silk scarf, $48
They come with their own trimmed down bespoke gift box too which makes them lighter for posting. Designs to start with, including Morpho butterflies and Forest Lights and five new patterns. More to follow!
