Swamp monsters and origami... launch night!

It was a bit worrying whether or not we'd be able to get everything put up safe and soundly because of the crazy weather - but team Frilly managed it nonetheless!  Despite a deluge of bad circumstances trying to knock us off course (bandstand at Bridgnorth being closed off because of someone stealing the lead from the roof, staff sickness, weatherproofing issues, etc!) we put up all your hard work from the past few weeks in Bridgnorth and Ercall and last night was the launch.

We'll say more about this all and scan in your comments - but in the meantime, here's a selection of images from last night.  It was fab to see all the young people again!  To see more on this project, have a look at the blog.

snapshot of being busy

Next week we reach the culmination of our Telford & Wrekin and Shropshire project with the outdoor installation of the young people's work.  It's been a really interesting project for us - combining new techniques we've not worked with before (sculpting with cling film and car tyres), and new activities (including a weekend retreat to Wales!) which was all new territory for us!

Whilst all the work has been made by the young people involved, we've been doing the finishing touches and will be installing the work next week in time for the exhibition launch.  Speaking of which, it's next Thursday evening.  We'll be taking a tonne of photos - so expect some creepy swamps and various zombie body parts along with beautiful origami installations in pruned gardens!

As I write this, Kirsty is busily coating origami creations in wax to make them a little bit more substantial (and SO PLEASING TO TOUCH!) having already PVAed the few masks that remained plain.  Later on today we're going to add some finishing touches to signs the group made whilst we were in Wales.  We're also going to construct some kaleidoscopes/looking-glasses today from recycled plastic cones and glasses lenses and old tin cans.  We're not ENTIRELY sure what the end result will be, so I should probably get on with figuring that out right now!

Happy Birthday to Frilly!

Hurrah!  We've made it through our first year - and in such a blur that we actually managed to miss out on our birthday itself.  Kirsty was looking through accounts and numbers and suddenly said, 

You do realise it was our birthday last week?  Frilly is 1!

Obviously, in my overworked endofyear brain I probably just grunted back at her - but we did decide it would be a useful moment to pause and reflect.  The past year has been mostly manic, and unsurprisingly stressful - but it's also been an amazing time for us.  We've met SO MANY new people and organisations, we've worked with a LOT of different people, and we've made some awesome things.  Above all, we've had a lot of fun! In a snapshot, here is team Frilly in the past 12 months.  Kirsty has experimented with various shades of orange, and Adrienne has had long, medium, short, then medium hair starting off black then bleached all the way back to white (with some pink and grey thrown in for good measure.)

We've worked with lots of people and made lots of things in the last year, including: 

• decorated and moved into our awesome studio with Lee Allen
• secret codes
• cardboard kinetic sculptures
• multisensory classroom environments
• films
• animations
• books
• websites
• blogs
• pillow heads
• photographic alphabets
• nail signs
• cling film sculptures
• outdoor installations
• zines
• maps
• resin embedments
• modelling clay self portraits
• lifesize interpretive bodies
• masks
• mini sensory environments
• learned how to letterpress 

And here's the visual evidence as a quick rundown - not in any order!

Frilly began in response to a very unpleasant situation and was our way of moving forwards and continuing to produce work and engage audiences in a variety of fun activities.  We had no idea where our first year would take us, and would never have been able to guess the range of people we would work with or the types of projects we would be involved in.  Our first year has been awesome, and we've really loved it all...

..but now I wonder what we'll be blogging about this time next year?!