The 'Enchanted Darkness' Scarf

Happy Friday Everyone! Hope you've all had a great week and have got something exciting planned for the weekend. I'm going to see Breakfast at Tiffany's in theatre tomorrow, which Pixie Lott is starring in. (And if she's anything like she is during her concerts she will be totally amazing!) Well anyway whether you're a creative soul or not, or maybe you sometimes like to see how designers/makers start a piece of art, I've got a lil surprise for you.

Over a year ago I started my first few paintings based on the sealife collection which you can now view on my website sukisabur.co.uk. At the time I was kind of going along with my sketches and very first ideas and didn't really have a complete idea of what the collection would include. I didn't even have a title! But whilst I was designing and painting I was documenting my progress with each new design. As I'm kind of awkward and like to do things the hard way by drawing everything to scale and painting it by hand rather than using technology that would be much more efficient, it takes me a couple of weeks to finish a painting. (Baring in mind that I still have the editing to do on the final design which can take up to another week.)

So I thought it was time I revealed my first ever scarf for the 'Underwater Escapade' collection! Yes I finally thought of a name for my second collection. Even though I've currently decided that this one won't be getting made as a final product as I felt that the colours weren't quite suited to the rest of the collection and I wanted to refine my designs, I still wanted to share my progress and show how it all began.

I wrote a similar post back in January about the third scarf in the collection, 'Storm in the Sea' which you can read here. I hope you enjoy looking through the pictures and let me know if you have any questions. Happy weekend! xo

Sew Much Crafting

So you may have seen my new listings on Etsy/my latest Instagram posts/Updates on Twitter or maybe read my previous blog posts. A while back I started making these cute makeup bags (they can be used as a clutch bag, coin purse, storing your phone etc) as my plan was to make them with my own printed fabric. It turned out that the plain ones actually looked really pretty and so many people told me they loved them. So I decided to make a few more in different colours, and I've since been keeping busy by making a batch of them for a craft fair I have coming up next week.

They are now available in two sizes, the small ones come in three different colours of satin, and the bigger ones are available with three different velvet fabrics. I chose a collection of colours that I felt would go with my new 'Underwater Escapade' collection of silk scarves and pocket squares. If you have read the stories on my website sukisabur.co.uk then you'll hopefully get the mood I've tried to create. And if you haven't paid a visit then by sure to check it out here!

So I wanted to keep a brief photo diary of these bags whilst I've been busy making them and I decided to add this as a post for anyone who wants a sneak peek of the materials I use/how they're made/what I've been doing since I've been pretty quiet on social media recently. And if you're looking to make these yourself I'm sure you can find some great tutorials on Pinterest or YouTube. xo

My Insta-Diary

Birthday cake for breakfast anyone? Since my birthday I've been binging on lots of sugary things, especially as January is a very popular month for birthdays in the family. My breakfast normally consists of anything chocolatey and a strong coffee. I've just recently discovered flavoured syrups for my coffee and they are so amazing for the cold, frosty mornings when you just want to stay in bed all day. I'm in love with a gingerbread flavoured syrup which I've been adding to my morning coffee errryday!

Since Christmas my days have been occupied with me coming up with new designs, sampling products, ordering stock and prepping for the next few months. I've got some exciting things coming up which you guys will find out about nearer to the time. Even my Instagram has been fairly quiet-can you believe it?! So here's a few snaps that I've posted so far this month. I'm loving my plate which you can buy from Art Rookie here. xo

My Insta-Diary

So the past couple of weeks has been so busy full of completing new designs, editing, and basically just spending so much time in my workspace doing whatever I'm required to do that day. If you follow me on Instagram you'll know that I'm always uploading new photos of my designs, my desk, what I'm doing, and what inspires me.

So here's a few of my fave images that I've put up in the past couple of weeks. The top left shows a couple of illustrations when I'd just started them. I then slowly started adding features and then adding a print on the scarves. This takes a lot of time and there's so many moments where I just don't feel that a piece of my work is even good enough to show anyone. But a lot of the time I'll keep working on the same design and eventually I end up liking it.

I even uploaded photos of my desk where I'm using products with my own designs that are available on Society6 and Art Rookie, which I'm absolutely loving! The quality of these products is so good and of course they are printed only after orders, which makes them very unique!

If there's one other thing I love taking photos of, it's the beautiful pattern and colour of the skies that rarely occurs. The most simplest things like this can give me so much inspiration throughout the day, and I've kept a collection of these photos from over the years.

Anyway here's a selection of my favourite Instagram posts over the past fortnight. If you'd like to see more of the photos of my inspirations, workspace, or how I create my illustrations just drop me a comment below. Hope you all have a lovely festive weekend before Christmas, xo