Re-Opening..... 31st Oct for Beltane!

Cobweb Designs will be re-opening its doors on the 31st October, for Beltane (or Halloween -  which ever hemisphere you choose to associate with).

With a lovely selection of unique art, jewellery and gifts.

Keep your eyes out for a wider selection of cards and prints by Eirlysa,
and the limited edition collaborative jewellery series combing Eirlysa's and Michelle's talents.

We welcome you to come to the Gallery for Drinks and music from 6pm Oct 31st,

fancy dress welcome.

Waiting till spring!

Just a quick note to say that Cobweb Designs will be closed for the month of August, we will be re-opening in spring with more art and more pizazz. Using this time to make more, and catch up on some long overdue things...

Will keep abreast of any changes

regards,

the Cobweb girls

We are finally Open!!! Come and visit us soon!

YAY!.....

As of Winter Solstice on 21st of June, we opened our doors on that Longest Night, as a welcome to the new year, and our new journey in the business. We had a lovely evening of live music from local friends Hemlock (thankyou Penny, Gerard, Robyn, and Paul), with delicious food provided by Brendan, and Michael, wines donated by Winsor, Cygnet Art Hotel, and friends, and mulled wine that is to be remembered. Thankyou to the scores of friends and visitors who came to the launch the gallery, and thankyou to everyone who helped get us to that 'ready' stage... Marion, Debbie, Beate, Michael, and everyone else... you know who you are.

The opening went off a treat!, lovely weather, lovely people, Great art, and all that.

Thankyou especially to all the artists who got their art to us on such short notice. The gallery is full of unique and wonderful art, just as we dreamed it. Thankyou, Kaye, Steph, Claire, Debbie & Michael, Michelle, Beate, Marion, Eirlysa, Tina, Carol, Ed, Brendan, Susan and me... Michelle also.

Thankyou also to Claire Needham, contributing Cobweb Artist and photographer for the evening.... check out her website http://www.claireneedham.com/

It was a definately a night for family... for heart and hearth, and for us, the Cobweb Girls, that is what Solstice is all about... we were very lucky to have so many loved ones with us including my brother Brendan, visiting from Afghanistan.

                                                    

                                                                                                               

To welcome the world to Cobweb Designs, Susan spoke of the Solstice and the significance of opening on such a night, us being a 'night' gallery, where the work speaks of the depth of colour and life's experiences, and the cycles we are all subject to and in awe of. How the solstice, being the longest night of the solar year, brings people into their artistic self, and close to their families, by the warmth of the winter fires, and warm cuppa's. Stories are shared, ideas are made, and dreams are awaken, which in all, is a perfect time to make wonderful art, which is what Cobweb Designs is all about. Susan also introduced the guests to all the artists whose work features in the Gallery. With a toast to the 'new year' and to friends and family, and the wonder of creation, we said:

 Welcome To Cobweb Designs Cygnet, a place of Art, Jewellery, and the Esoteric.

Sketchy Miss

'Always the Clown'

(rough sketch, 6b pencil & my fingers, dimension's: around 21cm x 9cm-ish)

the making of an exhibition piece

1.

2.

3.

4.

Timing and waiting and making....

So... today is March...

I've been telling the world that we plan to open in March.... today is March!...
guess what.... we are definately not there yet.
still waiting on council, reno's, and other random things that stop us moving forward.

New time clock..... hope to be open end of March.... early April....

Have started daily schedule of studio time to build up some stock..
Rolling Mill arrived last Friday.... how did I live without them until now?....

Eirlysa is putting a painting into Southern Exposure... (Local art exhibition) its coming up really nice... good to get our work out there... no time to think about putting some jewellery in... im just not there yet.

Got some really nice ideas for some collaborative brooches... incorporating Eirlysa's art and my jewellery.... think its gonna be really cool...

Waiting on some stones to arrive from my Brother overseas... can't wait to see what I get to play with... am thinking I may need to buy a collet block and punch to add to my tool collection...

maybe soon.

cheers

Shell.

Here's the thing...

So.... I know that this is post no...2... but this is kindof the introductory post for me.... this is to give a bit of background on who we are, what we do, and what we are planning to do...

I am Shell... (Michelle), I have just completed my Diploma in Jewellery design. I am a bit of an arty person all round, dabbling in photography, digital manipulation, painting etc, but it is in Jewellery where my real passion lies... I love the alchemy behind shaping a simply piece of metal into wearable art... giving it shape and texture, adding gemstones or bone.... putting my mark on it... so to speak.... My jewellery is slightly macarbe, with pagan and old world undertones, I'm inspired by all things dark and unusual, and I like to give all my pieces meaning; whether that be an inspired story behind the piece, a tribute to the materials themselves, or some kind of Michelle type quirk.... (check out my Hinged Vampire Fang Ring, or my Shackle Rings)....

My work is grounded in real world objects; enhanced and adapted into jewellery. Most are based on gothic, Victorian, pagan or medieval themes, and other major themes that recur in my work are of attachment/ being bound, being grounded in mortality, and of life and death (Memento Mori).

Rather than going into detail on what my partner Eirlysa and my mother Susan will be bringing into the mix that is Cobweb Designs, and my family, I will let them to their own introductions when they have a chance (plus their work speaks for itself).... I will however give you a quick briefing on where we are in our business development to date...

Cobweb Designs is a dream my family and I have had for a long time.... It has been a desire of ours to have our own shop attached to our house where we can do our own thing, and be our own bosses.... We live in this quaint and aesthetically beautiful town of Cygnet in Southern Tasmania, and it is filled with Artists, musicians, cafe's and culture... my family and I moved here when I was 9 and 17yrs later I'm still here, and loving it... I work full time at the Red Velvet Lounge cafe, which is a great place for coffee and food, and lucky for me it is right opposite my new home.....

31 Mary St, or 'The Gallery', as my family and I like to call it, is (as you can see in the header picture of this blog), an extraordinary storybook style house/cottage/gallery..... and we are currently leasing it from a friend of ours who is also an artist, and has done a lovely job in restoring it to its current beauty.... in Feburary/March we will be officially purchasing the house, and will then open up an art gallery/studio as Cobweb Designs.... my jewellery studio is currently being constructed in a side room to the gallery, and we are in the process of painting walls and finding other 'ispired' artists to contribute their work to the gallery....

... our aim is to have a business that provides the customer with an entire otherworldy experience, full of wonder and enchantment... not only will they find quality and unique silver jewellery, they will see it being made.... they will get to explore the illustrative art of Eirlysa, whose enchanting women and creatures have so many hidden depths, hours are needed to truely enjoy each painting.... in the gallery there will only be hand made Tasmanian work that is alternative and feminine... Cobweb Designs underlying creed is to 'honor the goddess'... and the themes that will be explored within the work include the cycles of birth, death, and renewal.

So..... March is the month we hope to open.... of course, we will keep you updated on our progress.... over the last week we have started to re-paint the floor and one wall in the gallery (which was grey foor and white walls), and now we have 'seductress' red feature wall (specifically for Eirlysa's artwork), and a deep 'indian red' floor, which at the moment is looking a little too bright, so that might change again in time...


right...

off I go now.... to do more stuff....

cheers,

Shell x

Siren's Call -

From the beginning this little drawing always rebelled and wanted to be something other than what I was trying to achieve. So it sat on the shelf amidst the chaos and mess for over a year now, until finally it let me know what it wanted to be - a mermaid!

By no means finished yet, but getting there...slowly

E.