I recently teamed up once again with Satya James and Donatella Parisini to shoot Satya's new collection inspired by the swashbuckling ladies of the high seas and infused with some beautiful gypsy elements. Once again the glorious Miss James has outdone herself in creating an absolutely divine collection of womens-wear that's both playful and absolutely delicious.

In prep for this shoot I spent a couple of days with Satya in her studio customizing hats that had been shaped by the lady herself and Amanda Dudley and making a gypsy pirate inspired headdress to use as props.

The shoot itself went beautifully - as things always do with Donatella! We commenced the day in her gorgeous studio in Suffolk Park and I started applying makeup that integrated the colours from the collection while the lovely Jarrah Hustler set to work styling Satya, Carmen and Lakita's hair. Donatella and her lovely assistant Byron captured some beautiful studio shots after which we descended on an amazing lunch prepared by the lovely Lousie before heading down to Brunswick. Here the luscious ladies really got into character - commandeering a local fishing boat whose lovely owner was kind enough to take us out of the harbour so we could really get into the spirit of things.

All in all another wonderful shoot with some of my favourite ladies - I'm very much looking forward to seeing the results!

xxx

 I absolutely love the current trend of pastel hair colours and the light blonde/pink is a sure favourite of mine - I was besotted with a wig this colour over summer in England and recently decided to get my hands on some and beautify them. Today I finished the first which is now sitting happily in the window of the The Silver Lining in Mullumbimby patiently hoping someone will buy her and whisk her away on some magical adventures....

I wanted to stick with a sweet delicate look this time around so have decorated the wig with a variety of crocheted doilies and some white lace which I've embroidered using iridescent sequins, pink and white beads, faux pearls and teeny tiny clockwork cogs. To tie them in with the over look I also sewed embellishments into the hair once I had finished styling.

This summer saw the first of my close friends tying the knot as my beautiful & amazing friend Olivia became Mrs. Burchell at a sweet, intimate ceremony at Lubstock Festival in Leicestershire. Definitely not the conventional type, Olivia decided to swap the traditional 'white wedding' for one swathed in golds and purples with a flock of fairy bridesmaids, & my god did she look stunning! I wanted to make her something special to wear on her big day so set to work making her a pair of wings of her own. I used the frame of an old pair of fancy dress wings & covered then in some lovely creamy gold embroidered fabric by Laura Ashley. I then sewed on pieces of crocheted  doilies, flowers and trimming which were then embellished with gold & purple beads & a numerous amount of individually sewn on sequins. As a finishing touch I attached a number of creamy coloured leaf skeletons and a small bouquet of white and purple paper flowers which I'd lightly spayed with a hint of gold. Visit the Arts & Crafts Gallery for more photos.

I've just finished a new pair of fairy wings to be part of the display at The Silver Lining in Mullumbimby. The frames are made of wire, I covered them in 2nd hand fabrics  that I found in charity shops, embellished them with doilies, sequins, beads and small pieces of mirror, and have sewed ribbons in which can be tied around the shoulders to make straps.

For quite a while now I've wanted to make a big old wonky top hat out of tatty playing cards. I found some beautiful old worn cards at a market in Sydney but thought I'd better do a test run first...just in case, and here its is! have also been playing with wire and fabric scraps again - this time to make flowers. All I need to find now is some good clips to attach them to so I can start putting them in people's hair...

Over the last few days I've been reunited with a sewing machine so thought it the perfect opportunity to try and make a dress out of all the bits of material I've been collecting from charity shops. After a couple of days of trial and error it's finally finished and I'm pretty happy with the result :)