Joe (Betty) Carstairs

When I heard that Marlene Dietrich had nicknamed Carstairs "the Pirate" my ears pricked up. Back in 2008, I had a real thing for dressing up in Pirate garb! A very good friend even created a treasure hunt around Norwich for me to follow!

I'm definitely intrigued by Carstairs...she was doing androgeny back in the 1920s - long before Bowie became Ziggy Stardust. She led an extremely bohemian life in London and Paris, before escaping to Whale Cay in the Bahamas.

In 1934 "Joe" Carstairs became the fastest female speedboat racer in the world. After that, the publicity she got was more to do with her being a cross-dresser who favoured women. After an affair with Dolly Wilde - the niece of Oscar - she dallied with a string of actresses, Tallulah Bankhead among them.

But the love of her life was a rare thing indeed - a leather man-doll, about a foot high that she was given as a gift. His name was Lord Tod Wadley. Wadley was a boy who would never grow up. Carstairs had dozens of studio portraits made of her doll: one shows him alone with his reflection in a mirror and is labelled "Narcissus". Wadley was everything to Carstairs: companion, protector, alter ego. She showered him with gifts: suits from Savile Row, shoes from Italy, golf clubs, cowboy outfits, sailor's suits, a wristwatch that ticked. Poems were written and sculptures made in his honour. "We're like one," she said. "He's me and I'm him. It's a marvellous thing. If everybody had a Wadley there'd be less sadness in the world." What I particularly admire about this is her refusal to live a conventional life and her reluctance to grow old gracefully ... it seems like her childlike wonder and restlessness was ever present. And there's a lot to be said for only needing a doll to make you happy!

Sources: http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/1998/sepoct/lsjournal/book_review/book_review_1.html
http://www.richmondreview.co.uk/features/summer01.html

Studio spruce up

I've been having a bit of a spruce up in my studio - in preparation for my Imac arriving! Made some curtains to celebrate and now it's framed by them, as if on a stage! Had resisted the lure of getting a Mac for some years and but I've finally bit the bullet. No regrets at all..it is beautiful and just so responsive *sigh*. Below are some pics - the last one I took just now:

Tea cosies, a hot water bottle cover + a corsage ...

Here's what I've been making recently:-


The hot water bottle was a present and I have made two tea cosies, here's my favourite ... which I have decided to keep:


Will put this one below on Etsythis weekend:



Been updating Folksy too ... Dawanda is getting there with stock aswell ... phew hard work all this listing lark!!! Almost forgot ...also been making crocheted corsages again:

Favourite Illustrators

There are too many to list in one go but someone I keep checking in on (her blog is consistently brilliant!!!) is Viviane Schwarz ...do check her out here The pic is from this blog - just to give everyone a taster of what they can look forward to! Obviously this is for promotional purposes only, it's copyright protected so - even thought it's an ace pic ...no nicking anyone!!! Check out her Shark and Lobsters book - it's my favourite! I shall be keeping up the artist name checks - so look out for your name here soon all you arty ones!!!

Adventures of Jemima

Hoppy New Year to one and all - a time for reminiscing ... so here goes:

When I was a little girl I had a rag doll who was life size - actually she was bigger than me for a time with hair made out of wool and a big wide open expressionless face. One of the things I did while I was off the radar for a bit was to make a mini version of her for my desk to cheer me up when I was feeling demotivated or dispondant. I ended up giving her to my Mum for the top of the Christmas Tree in the end, but this is a pic I found of her not long after I made her - which is why she's only in her undies! I have just uploaded 3 prints I did of her in some hand-drawn settings to Etsy: here ... as if she was off on some wild adventures ...particularly liked the idea of a brocolli forest or beaches with giant pine cones instead of shells. The magic flying skipping rope also seemed like a good idea at the time...! I'm going to revisit this again this year and make a set for her and do an animation maybe - be good for me to get back into animation anyway!

Get your applications in to World Book Night - Deadline Tues 4th Jan!

Thought I'd post some of what I wrote in my application to become a book-giver on World Book Night (Sat 5th March 2011) I chose Beloved without hesitation:-

If ever anyone could harbour any illusions as to the impact of slavery, then this book will blow them cleanly and effortlessly out of the water. A beautifully eloquent book with imagery so vivid it positively burns the retina of your imagination. The song 'Strange Fruit''s immediately conjured in my mind when I think of this book and its endless pathos... I believe this book both deserves and must be read by all those wanting to feel they have experienced (if only vicariously) something of the horrors of the slave trade.

I'm back!

Ok, so I know this may appear two years and 4 months in the pipeline...I suppose it is! Many of you probably gave up hope a long time ago, but I'm finally back on the blogging bandwagon. The break was much needed to get my career on the road ...and now I'm back refreshed and raring to go with even more energy than before! Uh oh!

Sure my ridiculous new smart (note-HTC!) phone should help me keep it going this time and I shall try and give you some catch-up posts so that you can see that I haven't been idling my time away these past two years...

Actually, it's been crazy-hectic, but also lots of fun along the way...promise to be back with a bit of a picture diary of my doings...!!!

Ohh... such a great book!

I really did like this book and just thought I'd share the love - read it if you are feeling philantropic but feel like directing some of the man-love towards the green stuff as well, as it's man doing good by man - through nature. Spurred me to get planting some apple trees on the allotment ...