A Room of One's Own

It’s an exciting time here at Vagabond Romantics HQ. After nearly 8 months in beautiful rural Wales I am finally starting to feel like I’m putting down roots. And accordingly, I am leaving my adorable 19th Century weaver’s cottage for bigger and brighter pastures. Just down the road.

Moving house is always fraught but this transition had more than its fair share of drama. Having fallen in love with a countryside idyll complete with adjacent waterfall only to have it snatched away, I am now staying in the bustling market town of Machynlleth to a larger and slightly more modern (Georgian era) flat. I will grieve for my original slat floors, oak beams and cosy woodburner, but consolation comes in the form of a self contained office.

That’s right, very soon Vagabond Romantics will be opening its doors to the public as a gallery, workshop space and craft salon!!! And it’s possible that I literally could not be more excited about it. The office is comfy and wonderfully light with a view over Mach’s town centre and iconic stone clock tower. It’s the perfect space for everything from workshops to sales to open studio evenings and crafting with friends over a glass of wine of an evening, and my commute is down the stairs! There is even an antique shop on the ground floor who will be keeping an eye out for quirky bits and pieces I can use in my art.

Our online presence is likely to remain low key until I have a chance to unpack and settle in, but expect Vagabond Romantics to hit the internet like a tonne of exceedingly glamorous bricks in the near future. And if you happen to live local to Machynlleth, look out for our grand opening event coming soon!

Market debut

Today is Vagabond Romantics' first outing at the local market in the old Welsh capital of Machynlleth. I'm sharing a stall with a local beekeeper who is also debuting his new mead - I'm hoping I will be so busy with customers that I won't have too much time for sampling!

As well as my own altered art and wearable collage, I will be selling a carefully curated range of craft materials including colour-coordinated bead boxes and "Bags of Inspiration". These are themed (eg, How Does Your Garden Grow?, Nautical but Nice, Steampunk, Nostalgic Childhood) and offer a range of 50+ items including craft papers, card blanks, mini-envelopes and tags, ephemera, found objects and embellishments combining the new, the vintage, and the hand-decorated. They are perfect to get you started on your own altered art project, or for all sorts of cardmaking, papercraft, decoupage, scrapbooking, and mixed media work!

Forgotten treasures...

Even as a little girl growing up in smalltown America, I was already nostalgic. I fantasised about a history more interesting and distant than my own. I dreamed of a rambling family home with a dusty attic full of long forgotten treasures. With my work I have begun to piece together the precious objects I believe I could have found there.

I am a daydreamer, my mentor is the magpie, my talent lies in imagining possibilities and unleashing the hidden potential of objects around us, from discarded curtain rings to a tattered book, from a battered suitcase to a torn dress. My work is an old-fashioned response to an ever more challenging world, an alchemical process that transforms the forsaken into heirlooms of the future and hopefully in the process surrounds us with beauty and creates a new sense of occasion that is often lost in our hectic, on-demand world.

Vagabonds live a carefree, often nomadic life, Romantics long for adventure and shape the world with their idealism. Vagabond Romantics, then, signifies the many journeys that are woven together into the fabric of our lives, our memories, and our dreams.