I Collect and Create Therefore I Am
‘Creative minds are rarely tidy’ Carl Jung
There’s so much satisfaction to be had from creating something yourself, even if the results are not 100% professional, you did it, you created it, it has a part of you in it, it is unique.
That’s what inspires me to collect and create, to have something that no one else has, something unique, something with a piece of me in it.
On my travels, my walks, my visits to the beach, I am always on the lookout for anything collectible, be it pine cones, flowers, an unusual pebble, sea glass, anything in fact, some of it is thrown away on returning home but most of it is used in some way.
Use your imagination
My first attempt at being creative (well, apart from the necklaces we made as children from melon seeds!) was making curtains, metres of curtains, over twenty metres in fact, I had never sewn anything before yet alone on a sewing machine, how difficult could it be?
Nothing fazed me, was it easy? no, did I know what I was doing? no.
I bought the fabric, a sewing machine, thread, curtain heading tape, pins and the fun began.
It took a while and plenty of unpicking and redoing but I did it, the results were impressive, more amazing was the fact that I was only twenty years old and had managed this from scratch with no experience whatsoever.
It’s part of the package
After my first success, it was quite a while before creativeness hit me again, but when it did, it stayed for good.
The treasure trove called ebay
Buy and sell on ebay
I’m quite the ebay addict, both buying and selling, at one time, I had a nice little business going, my passions were fabric, artist’s rare exhibition posters, works from Greek artists, carpets and mid-century furniture, yes big stuff but a parcel never went missing!
Half my house must be decorated and furnished with my ebay winnings.
Whatever turned out to be no good, or not of use to me, I resold, I was never out of pocket.
Sold to the highest bidder
ebay is a great place for finding things when I am on one of my “Projects”, high-end, designer fabrics which cost the earth in the shops, ebay has for next to nothing, £100 and more a metre fabric can be found for £10 or so; well known interior designers, after finishing custom jobs, sell off the remnants and shops sell off discontinued stock and samples.
Cheap and cheerful cushion covers
It’s surprising what you can make with just one metre of fabric, that is all it took to make these colourful cushion covers.
Cheap and cheerful cushions
I have piles of fabric, when I see something I like I buy it, something will always be made with it.
This yellow and blue fabric, which took my fancy years ago, I only recently used for cushions for my garden, it may take me awhile, I need to get into the ‘Just do it’ state of mind but when the creative urge hits me, I have the goods, I’m prepared!
Blue and yellow fabric
Before recovering
Work in progress
Blue and yellow go well together
Also take note, in the above pictures, of the use of the ubiquitous wooden pallets, painted white and converted into bench and table, waste not want not.
My most precious find was a large piece of Timney Fowler fabric “Porticos”.
Timney Fowler
I love the Palladio Style, ideas for it come and go but then I think of something else to do with it, I don’t want to waste it as I shall never find it at such a bargain again.
Timney Fowler fabric “Porticos”
Below are some more examples of how I used my treasured ebay fabrics, I could, have course, taken things to the local upholster but where’s the fun in that?
I like to do things for myself, maybe I need to be in control!
Best foot forward
I transformed this boring beige footstool using ‘Fredensborg’, a sumptuous silver grey heavy velvet from Designers Guild, part of my ebay winnings.
Boring beige footstool
I rubbed the legs down a bit with sand paper and painted them silver, then sanded again, gently, to produce the “Distressed” look.
Transformed! Sumptuous silver – grey velvet footstool
Tarting up student digs
A chair I renovated for my student daughter, for her flat in Athens, was found for me by my friend H.A, again, sanded down, painted white, sanded again then I padded out the seat a bit with old cushion innards and covered in the black cotton velvet.
In need of some tender loving care
And the end result
The chair in Athens
A really quirky thing I did for my daughter (isn’t she a lucky girl ) are these two chairs, cheap formica, around 30 Euros each, a roll of feature wallpaper, Rome scenes, and a pot of Mod Podge, Mod Podge is brilliant, glues, seals and varnishes all in one go, there are the options of matte, gloss and even glitter!
I can’t remember why the man from the wallpaper site asked me what I was going to do with the paper, anyway, when I told him he was very interested and asked to see the results, he was so impressed he put the picture up on his site, I can’t for the life of me remember the site to show it to you.
Cheap formica kitchen chair
Now, chic Italian
Athens apartment
Below, this was a battered, sun – faded rattan chair which had seen better days.
A tin of gloss black spray paint and a touch of kitch animal print furry fabric and it was as good as new.
As good as new
Becoming adventurous in my daughter’s bedroom
With some jet black cotton velvet (An ebay bargain, of course), I covered two chairs for my daughter’s bedroom.
The armchair is antique and came all the way from the Greek Island of Syros.
Antique chairs, recovered
The other chair was found in my Mother-in-law’s store room, an old dining chair by the look of it.
The chair from Syros was only re-covered, didn’t want to touch anything else and spoil it.
The dining chair I sanded down, rubbed on a bit of gold paint with a sponge, adding more until I had the desired effect and covered with the seat with black velvet.
Vintage guilt mirror frame, ebay find
To complete the look of this room, I returned to ebay, bought an old gilt picture frame, took it to the glazier who put a mirror in it and the art deco sunburst mirror I found and bought for a song on French ebay, which was the perfect finishing touch for above the bed.
Art nouveau sunburst mirror
You’ve been framed
I’ve done up quite a few picture frames, cheap plain, unpainted wood frames, a lick of paint and a little “Distressing”, why take it to the framers when you can do it yourself?
Various picture frames
These are postcards I had bought at the Acropolis Museum, Athens, I bought a pack of dirt cheap plain wooden frames, “Distressed” them, and Bob’s your uncle!
Postcards from the past
All the above pictures are also for my daughter, Nais.
Walls of art
Art for art’s sake
Maybe my most passionate passion; art, I am running out of wall space.
Greek art: Mitaras, Fassianos, Tsarouchis, Kokkinidis
Rare exhibition posters, vintage Greek artists stuff, lithographs, silk screenings, you name it, I collect it, I’m addicted.
Vintage exhibition posters. Fassianos
Fornasetti, Miro, Dali, Varlamis.
Vintage exhibition posters; Mitaras, Fassianos, Matisse.
Art on a shoestring, I’m not revealing my sources, I assure you though, they’re legal.
Bits and bobs
Other bits and bobs collected are sea glass from Loutraki beach, at the moment I have them in jars which I use as doorstops, eventually, when I have enough, I’m thinking of using them to make a mosaic table for the garden.
Notice the Eiffel tower bottle at the back, also filled with sea glass, another great ebay find, originally held cognac, a Paris souvenir I should imagine.
Sea glass
Pebbles are also a thing that I collect, I bring them home from the beach a few at a time as they are heavy, sometimes I leave a trail behind me because I have taken too many to carry and ditch them one at a time along the way…Susan was here!
These I put around the urns in the garden, others display in bowls and others are waiting to be painted.
Pebbles and urns and angels
Memories of the Greek sea
Picked up on a Greek beach
The corner under the stairs was made more interesting by my collection of baskets, most bought on holidays in France, they are all used, for the beach, clothes waiting to be ironed, dirty linen and beach towels, I love baskets!
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket
The sweet little lamp is covered with Fornasetti fabric which usually costs an absolute fortune but not if you search ebay.
Flowers I don’t really collect, I am not a flower person, the sea is my passion, but I did collect some everlasting flowers which grow near our house and made a beautiful May wreath with my granddaughter Melina.
It now hangs outside above the kitchen door.
May wreath made from everlasting flowers
These Birthday roses from a dear friend, I pressed between the pages of a big fat book.
Birthday roses
I forgot about them for a year or so, came across them and decided to create a picture, my original idea was to paint leaves and stems, but then thought to myself ‘how boring’, had another think, and came up with this.
Pressed roses at strategic points
The cream-coloured shade on this little Marks & Spencer lamp had become so dirty, so I cheered it up a bit with felt tip pens!
Adding a bit of colour to a cream lampshade
This is not one of my better bits of handy work; I can’t see it lasting long.
Much better in pillar box red
I told you, this wouldn’t last long, as it is today; pillar box red, much better I think.
My pièce de résistance
I came back to this blog post to edit and to add my latest blast of creativity, I just had to show it to you, I consider to be my pièce de résistance, a plain cream Queen Anne chair, bought for a song at a cheap Greek chain store, more or less ignored for years.
I had lockdown brainstorm; ‘I can take that from innocent to slutty’, and I did.
Plain and simple cream Queen Anne chair
I rummaged through my fabric box and found the black velvet, used in my daughter’s bedroom, and the sumptuous silver – grey, heavy velvet from Designers Guild, would tart things up nicely.
I first sprayed the wooden frame silver with a can of my son’s aluminium spray paint for car and bike wheel trim (He doesn’t know I used it, he will now if he reads this!).
Spray paint is a marvelous invention
When the paint dried, I sanded it down, to produce a worn out distressed look, well, we are thinking slutty here after all.
I covered the back with the black velvet, and the seat with the silver – grey, then, using a hot glue gun, stuck on silver braid to conceal the staples.
Hot glue gun
Et, voila! one decadently slutty chair, I love it.
one decadently slutty chair
From rags to riches
Looking good
I am now going around the house, looking for more boring objects to transform into something more interesting.
There are many other things that I have done but can’t show because they have been spirited away by certain family members, I shall take that as a compliment!
Some little things, I make all the time, such as my laundry spray, lemon essential oil, pure alcohol (vodka will do) and water, poured into a spray bottle, used when ironing, it makes everything so fresh-smelling.
The message here for you in this post?
Let your creative juices flow.
