I really enjoy finding a new purpose for something that would otherwise have gone into the trash and saving it from landfill.  In both of shops I reuse, recycle and upcycle materials where I can.

Atelierinparis

Nostalgi

Upcycle: “to process (used goods or waste material) so as to produce something that is often better than the original”

Upcycling is a term that was born in the mid-1990s and has grown increasingly popular in recent years. It means that you take a product and re-use it in a way that retains or even improves the quality of the item. As someone with a DIY business, it is smart to make the choice to upcycle materials because it’s good for your business image and good for the earth around you.

Here are the top ten reasons to use upcycled materials in your handmade business: Go to Handmadeology

Don’t you just love Pinterest ? I’ve only just started playing with it and it’s addictive

Here is one of boards. Voluptuous Violet

I miss Paris today. I miss the homeliness of Paris …I woke up feeling a longing for the white snow on the rooftops outside my little studio window in the cubicle.

I miss my dark dungeon, with its odour of oldness and mold and even miss the creepy feeling that lashes me when I go there to work on my never- ending arts project.

I miss the fresh no- nonsense food, the culture, the artists and especially, the realness of Paris.

I miss not knowing the language and guessing what people are saying.

I miss seeing something new and the ordinary down the streets of Asnieres with my daughter.

I miss the walk to the park with its topiary trees, gardens and boulie men.

I miss the newness of the place plus the old familiar places I like to go to.

I miss not being able to play and sit in the gardens around the corner where Vincent sat and created.

I miss the little art/design ateliers down in Bastille with their windows full of  high design handmade, one- off  pieces of jewellery, glassware, sculpture, furniture and funky home-wares.

I miss knowing that every time I stroll through the Louvre I still, haven’t seen it all and will need to come back.

I miss not being able to visit Camille , Manet Doré, Degas, Cézanne, Rodin, Monet , Picasso, Renoir, Rousseau ,Gauguin, Lautrec,Valadon, Bernard,Matisse, Rouault,Brâncuş’, Dufy,  Picabia, Braque, Metzinger , Delaunay, Arp , Chagall, Duchamp, Ernst ,Soutin,e and Masson for the day.

I especially miss the closeness to Modernism, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Fauvism, Symbolism , Art Nouveau, Primitivism (art) Modernism, Cubism, Puteaux Group, and my favourite ,Dada, and Surrealism The art squats, street art and local artists with avant guard ideas. I miss my most loved Pompedou gallery.

I miss the trips to Dave’s parents. I even miss,the rattly old one person lift we squeeze into,going up to the apartment. I miss their welcome and sitting at the table eating delectable foods with the now, familiar Eiffel, out the window .

I miss Champs. Montmartre, cemeteries , beautiful old buildings and new places I haven’t seen before.

I also miss the things I haven’t done, or seen yet, in Paris.

I miss the smells ,textures and sounds when living,in Paris. Even, the nightmare trains I don’t mind anymore.

I miss the nostalgia of Paris. There are triggers in Paris, that send me back to my childhood in Australia. It’s usually only something small that will set this feeling off, like the simplicity of design in the everyday domestic object, or the rawness and feel of a well made cotton dishcloth or tea-towel.The aroma and taste of fresh foods straight from the farms and markets.

I especially get this nostalgia when Dave and Amy come home from the patisserie across the road with the morning baguette or my favorite Frasier cake. All this will send me back to my childhood  in Australia when everything was more authentic, honest and more, homely than it is today.

Paris is just like a comfortable old jumper to me now. I do miss Paris today…

My French- inspired handmade shop Atelierinparis

“Another Bunch of Dirty Collages” created from found materials I picked up off the streets in Paris.

My little collages are 8×6 inches – 19 x 14 cm.

I dirty up 180gsm.water colour papers with an old dye recipe then use bits and piece Ive collected over the years. My latest series of images I have recycled labels from a bottle of French Champagne we had in Paris last Xmas, lettering from advertising on packaging, found postcards, vintage book pages, vintage wallpapers, fabrics and stamps with paints, pens and inks and acrylic sealers.I find the process of collage is very relaxing .It frees me up and lets me play.

What things do you collect for creating ?

To view my Collages

About Collage

A collage (From the French: coller, to glue) is a work of formal art, primarily in the visual arts, made from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole.

A collage may include newspaper clippings, ribbons, bits of colored or hand-made papers, portions of other artwork, photographs and other found objects, glued to a piece of paper or canvas. The origins of collage can be traced back hundreds of years, but this technique made a dramatic reappearance in the early 20th century as an art form of novelty.

The term collage derives from the French “coller” meaning “glue”.[1] This term was coined by both Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso in the beginning of the 20th century when collage became a distinctive part of modern art.

Walking my way across the surface I use coloured wools and wires as I would my paintbrush or charcoal, adding, whatever interests me at the time including, advertising papers, cards and packaging from Paris

RUE PIERRE

OOH LA LA

HEARTS IN PARIS

TOURISTS

Each one is a tiny 3.5″x2.5″ – 9x7cm and they come snuggly displayed in a clear acrylic card holder

MATERIALS
Indigo blue denim
canvas cloth
wire
press stud
button
paris clothing label
originalParis stamp
Colored wools
found fonts
Acrylic sealer and more….

SIGNED and DATED by the artist

I really had fun creating these pieces and were created with a lot of care

Vintage French Bridal Headdress- Lace -Art Deco- Iridescent Glass Beads. I found this gorgeous bridal headdress at a market in Asnieres, when living in Paris.

It has been created from vintage French lace in the shades of Ecru with scatterings of tiny pearl beads and clear glass or crystal iridescent crystal beads that shimmer and change colour in the light. The lace has been shaped and formed over cotton covered millinery wire armature with satin ribbon wound around parts of the inside wire to finish.

It seems to sit back on the crown of the head with the 3 petal style pieces sit just at side of the high cheek area in front of the ears. I can’t be sure but, going by my research it looks to be Art Deco. It has no labels and is not hand stitched.

The beads have all been attached with milliners glues and stiffeners.

Would be beautiful with a vintage or antique lace veil draped over

Do you have any information about this bridal head dress?

Recently Sold to a lovely person in London, England

“MADEMOISELLE COLLETTE ”
Hand-made brooches with French Mademoiselle’s wearing 1950’s “Mode Française” I made the brooch from archival boards recycled from my framing pile and French paper I found in Paris.
Brooch approx. 1.5’x 2.5” – 3.4 x 6cm.
Brooch pin nickel free.

Buy Here

If you are into vintage Art Deco music sheets with gorgeous pictures, old books, vintage cordial labels, handmade doilies reclaimed and dyed in bright colours and more… Pop over to my Nostalgiand go to the clearance segment in left menu.

I also have over 100 other vintage items to browse at Nostalgi

$6.71 AUD – $7.00 USD

 

Art Deco Sheet Music 1923 …                              

$7.67 AU – $8.00 USD

Vintage drawing- Crayons

$7.67 AUD – $8.00 USD

Original Vintage Ephemera

$7.67 AUD – $8.00 USD

Vintage Book- The Bond Street Story

$9.59 AUD – $10.00 USD

Vintage Hand Bag – Shilton

$9.59 AUD – $10.00 USD

Art Deco Serving Tray -Cake Server

$9.59 AUD – $10.00 USD

Vintage Game Pieces – Wooden Animals

$7.67 AUD – $8.00USD

VINTAGE Clip-On Screw Earrings

$9.59 AUD – $10.00 USD

Vintage Doiley – Shabby

$9.59 AUD- $10.00 USD

Vintage Doiley – Shabby

$9.59 AUD- $10.00 USD

Nostalgi – Vintage Pre loved Reclaimed “Good ol’e Days”

INSPIRATION I named this piece after a little cathedral I ventured into on “Rue Genivieve” in Asnieres France also, my French name is Genivieve.This gorgeous assemblage necklace is one of a kind. I created it from an antique broken rosary I found in Paris.

In the middle of the mother of pearl beads, lay a silver cross with Jesus and the word “Italy” stamped on the reverse, next to the cross I have added a vintage filigree piece where 2 crystal beads sit for shine.  Finished off with a vintage silver chain for a double fall.

Length -18 inches – 46 cm.

Simple, yet stylish, old world charm with a contemporary French feel.

You won’t see this anywhere else!

My one-of-a-kind jewelery and other handmade  Atelierinparis 

I love this site How make your own jewelry