Here's some photos of my latest box - very steampunk influenced. It's called "He called her a bitch when she left him to go traveling." It measures 12x8x4 inches.

Steampunk Timetravellers by Leandra Holder

These are what I've been making for the last week - they can be worn as brooches, as there's a strong rollover pin clasp on the back, or can be displayed in a cabinet (as I do with my own.) I sell them for £69.99. The idea came from thinking about how I would love to revisit previous decades, but with the knowledge I have now. What fun I could have! Then I remembered H. G. Wells and his time machine, films I've loved like 12 Monkeys ... and they just grew from that. The faces are between an inch and an inch and a half tall, and like the hands, are handcarved from polyclay which was fired in my kiln. All the keys, insides of watches, cogs and screws are attached with very super strong Araldite. I designed them to look vintage - I wanted the timetravellers and their time machines to look used - as if they have had many adventures together - some of them a little too thrilling perhaps. Hope you like them as I loved making them. If you want to buy one then go to my website - www.leandraholder.co.uk Thanks for looking!

My latest assemblage boxes - Hope Street Market - by Leandra Holder

These are boxes 2 and 3 - they are both called "Hope Street Market" - they were Christmas presents for my daughters. They are a mixture of found and made items. The dolls in these are vintage plastic dolls that have been stripped and redressed with clothes I have made. Everything else was made by myself - the tiny cakes, the skulls, the arms and legs etc. These assemblage boxes are about the recession and how it is even more difficult at the moment for an artist or craftsperson to make a living from their work. But I always live in hope - hence the title.

Sefton Open Runner-Up 2008

Well what a great weekend I have had! Was feeling a little down about the credit crunch/recession and that people have been spending less because of it. I realise as well as anyone, that feeding the belly has to come before feeding the soul. So money has been a wee bit tighter than usual. But I keep on creating my art for myself because it makes me happy - then this weekend I received such a boost - I was a runner-up in The Sefton Open Art Exhibition. I received a cash prize, plus The Atkinson Gallery are buying my piece for their permanent collection! Apart from the money being very welcome - as I can restock my clay supplies and get some more shadow boxes made-up, it is also an amazing confidence booster. To know that others actually get my art and I am not just making it for my own satisfaction makes me so happy. If you are in the Merseyside area in the next six weeks than do pop in The Atkinson Gallery on Lord Street Southport - it's a really interesting exhibition (though I say so myself.) You'll find it on the top floor and there are some wonderful artists exhibiting. It finishes on the 9th of November 2008. Below is the text that goes next to my piece.

Inside The Blue House by Leandra Holder

Inside The Blue House is a shadow box in mixed media – the doll is slip cast porcelain with real hair. The jewelled skulls are hand carved bisque fired porcelain and there are various found items used too.

This piece evolved from the artist’s long standing interest in the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo and the annual festival of The Day of The Dead. The blue house of the title is Frida Kahlo’s house. Frida is at work in her studio – ignoring Diego Rivera at the window. On the windowsill are a fawn and an elephant – this is Frida and Diego – as are the love birds on top of the open cage. Littered around the studio are cigarettes, alcohol and pills – all used by Frida to help relieve the constant pain she was in because of the terrible accident she suffered to her back when young. On Frida’s back is a monkey – she had monkeys as pets and often included them in her paintings – but it is also symbolic of her understandable dependence on drugs. Frida’s diary was published after her death and that too is on the studio floor. There’s the Communist / Soviet Union army badge of the hammer and sickle on the back wall – this is to indicate Frida’s communism, but also her reputed short lived affair with Leon Trotsky. The mirror reflects Frida’s own image back at her and was used constantly in her art - as her pain and her own life were always at the centre of her work. There are American dollars peeping from behind one of the paintings – this is to show the constant struggle that Frida had, like most artists, as she tried to make a living from her art.

Latest Charm Bracelet

Here's a photo of my latest creation - Carnival Time Charm Bracelet - £129.99 - as with all my work, this is a unique piece. I often explore the same theme over and over again, but each one is different to the one that went before. This is meant to conjure up the joy of carnivals - whether it's a masked ball in Venice or a street carnival in Rio or Notting Hill. There are seven, handmade by myself, bisque fired porcelain heads which measure approx. an inch in length. These are all dressed-up with masks or make-up ready to attend the carnival and are individually painted and varnished by myself. There are lots of interesting vintage and new goldtone charms too, as well as rhinestones and sparkly crystals. As with all of my fuller bracelets this works well as a necklace too, just by adding an extension chain (let me know when you buy this if you would like a free extension chain.) Enjoy the carnival!

Sefton Open Art Exhibition

Well I was thrilled this morning to open my post and learn that I have been accepted to exhibit at the annual Sefton Open Art Exhibition! Here's a photo of my entry, it's called In The Blue House - and shows the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo at work in her studio. I made the Frida figure from porcelain slip in a mold I made myself. I've used real hair, made the tiny clothes and painted her with acrylics (she even has the famous mono-brow and the hint of a moustache.) The Day of The Dead style skulls are hand carved bisque fired porcelain - and inside the hollow ones I have put tiny lights. If you look in the background you'll see Diego Riverra, her husband, looking through the window - and on the windowsill are a fawn and an elephant - this is Frida and Diego. Scattered around her studio are bottles of booze, cigarettes and drugs - as Frida needed these to help her endure the horrendous pain she was in after the life changing traffic accident she had as a very young woman. At her feet on the floor is her diary - this was published after her death. And on her back is a monkey - Frida kept monkeys as pets and often featured them in her paintings - but the monkey on her back also symbolises her understandable dependence on painkilling substances. Hope you like it as much as I loved making it.