Su Blackwell - Books telling stories

Born in Sheffield, a grduate of the RCA, Su Blackwell is based in her London studios where she creates fabulous things, mainly out of paper.

Here are some examples of her book scultures, where elements of the page are cut out and brought to life. Also shown are some of the installations that were feature in the exhibition at the Bronte Parsonage Museum in Haworth last year.

Not only are these pieces a thing of wonder from a practical perpective, they are so delicate and fragile, they bring the story to life, characters and scenes literally jump of the page. They also evoke the imagination of our inner child. As a child I spent many an hour sat in the top branches of a willow tree, or in 'fairy' dens in the bushes where I would create whole series of fairytales. These works by Su transport me right back to those times.

Su's blog

Mad Hatter's Tea Party and Village Fete - May 2009

Gaynor and Peter are very creative people. Peter is Head of Art at a high school, and Gaynor is a window dresser for House of Fraser. Needless to say their wedding was not going to be run of the mill.

Firstly the bride wore green, Vivienne Westwood. In fact the bride, groom and bridesmaid all wore Westwood. Gaynor made her own veil from netting which she pinned to a white bowler hat, she also made her bridesmaid's headpiece.

Following the service at St. Mary's church (my home parish) guests rode a vintage double decker bus to Lyme Hall for a Mad Hatter's Tea Party, with giant cups and saucers and mini cakes. The room was dressed in a riot of wild flowers collected and arranged by Gaynor's boss Shirley.

The wedding breakfast and evening reception was held (again home turf) at Mellor and Townscliffe Golf Club. The room was dressed as a village hall might be for a summer fete with rosettes and bunting. Tables were decorated with herbs and antlers from Lyme Park stags. Each guest was given a jar of commemorative preserve as a gift.

Finally, the wedding cake was the first of it's kind that I had seen and sorry ladies, but it has yet to be bettered. Guinness and chocolate cupcakes topped with brightly coloured frosting, chocolate buttons and berries. MMMMMMMM.