I did some filming last month with Sky Living, creating two very simple nail art effects.
Wednesday, 21 September 2011
Friday, 2 September 2011
NAIL* PHILIA
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| Ryan Lanji |
As an honorary member of the nail industry, curator extraordinaire Ryan Lanji hosted the nail event of the year in my opinion. NAIL* PHILIA a celebration of all things nails which demonstrates just what this industry is capable of. I was thrilled to invited to take part in the amazing collaboration of some of the leading names within the industry, Like mobile manicurist The Illustrated Nail, who works with a range of musicians including M.I.A. and Nicole Scherzinger and Sophy Robson, who has worked with Louis Vuitton, Tom Ford, and Dior there was also Jenny Longworth who created "clock nails" for singer Jessie J's music video.
Primarily this event was made up of those familiar names in the world of session techs like Marion Newman who was instrumental in bringing together the two faces of this industry; nails and fashion. It was a shame that just a hand full of examples could be displayed from the very talented nail technicians and nail artists available thought out the industry and I hope if there is a next time those nail technicians that continue to educate and celebrate the industry will be able to show case their skills. “For the public” Ryan says this exhibition “will redefine everything they thought nails could be” and for that I am hopeful, it would be nice to have the industry popped in the spotlight for a change and perhaps have some different more extreme and artistic examples put on show for the world to admire. In the east end of London Degree Art.com is an intimate gallery in Bethnal Green and has opened its doors and welcomed the nail industry with open arms, I think this this exhibition shows the world another art form and tells them that we can join the ranks of the hair and fashion industry, as an art form nails can be celebrated and worn by all, I feel sure this is a moment in history to be celebrated.
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| MONOCHROME ROSES |
So enough of my musing let me tell you how I met Ryan. It was just four months ago I received an email from Ryan’s asking if I would be interested in Nail philia and if I would be able to come up with an installation for the gallery. We discussed this a little further and settled on these Monochrome roses. I wanted to show the different elements of nail design within one set, from nail art to acrylic design growing into jaw dropping fantasy application. These individual elements are represented using the rose, a familiar and beautiful object. Created in black and white so as not to confuse the techniques with colour, this piece takes you from salon viable nail art through to the more extreme 3D design. The nails are punched with a red rose to cast the eye on a journey from nail 1 to nail 10. Sophie Hanson made a cast of her own hands out of Wax.
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| TEMPTED |
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| Tempted? |
The second installation was created to represent the trends of today within a popular nail shape. This is animal print taken to the extreme. I use real snake skin within the nails, combined with traditional nail applications to make this a more wearable option. Using pigments to enhance the texture of the skin, I wanted to make this seasons trend an ultimate accessory. The hands where created by Sophie Hanson again and if you’re tempted by the bag this was on loan from Angel Jackson; Samaya mini box bag in Candy floss.
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| Megumi Mizuno in front of her installation |
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| Retrospective of work by Sue Marsh |
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| Sue Marsh |
The highlight for me though was to see Sue Marshes work all in one place, Sue, who in my opinion is one of the founders of fantasy nail art, displayed her life’s work including the nails for Alexander McQueen and the Spice Girls. Now retired from the nail industry, I spoke with Sue and she told me this is a great thing being done for the nail industry.
Alex Fox editor of Scratch magazines and one of the sponsors of the evening told me that ‘tonight we are making history, this is a good thing for the nail industry and we are all a part of it’.
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| Alex Fox |
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| Add caption |
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| NAIL* PHILIA |
Nailphilia is on from Thursday 1st - Sunday 25th September 2011 at DegreeArt.com’s Execution Room, 12A Vyner St, London E2 9DG.
Sunday, 31 July 2011
What I got up to in America Part 1
It's been just over a month since my return from the states, well actually if I am honest it's probably closer to 2 months, I know it's naughty of me but I think today the first day I have had to catch up with my blog. Last June I was delighted to join my good friend Carla in the USA again, where we put on a great class for the girls in Orlando. It is always amazing to work with nail technicians from different countries, not only do styles and taste
vary, but the the knowledge exchanged can be invaluable. I wanted to show you some of the exciting things the girls did on the 2 day be inspired design workshop. We cover a range of different design techniques.
Day one was all about acrylic, creating these spectacular fantasy flowers. This part of the day gave the nail technicians an opportunity to hone their product control, we worked with acrylic creating these petals and leaves to help with inspiration and creativity. The morning was an exercise to develop product control and develop design placement.
There was a wide range of skill levels some producing stunningly intricate pieces, some surprising them selfs with their creations, but there were a few who didn't use acrylic at all at work, so for them this was a perfect opportunity to work with a material and really see what it can do. I am always saying that even though the fantasy work looks amazingly complicated, once it has been broken down it is really very easy, and a satisfying thing to do.
We continued in the afternoon and did some design nails, working with the acrylic we we're able to put all the newly learnt skills with design placement to the test. Also working with texture and depth, I was happy to show the girls a couple of great nails ideas for the salons. Ones that can't fail to impress the clients, which ultimately is the point isn't it.
Day 2 was all about Gel, we really got all sticky and played with hard coloured gels, gel paints and used the ARABELLA forms to create some very handy embellishments.
All the girls on Day 2. We all enjoyed the gel so much, I am planning to return for an Ultimate Gel event this October with Carla, it is two days of gel extravaganza, we plan to help techs get the very best out of gel, create some inspirational and creative nail designs and Jim McConnell from Light Elegance will unlock the mysteries of Gel and answer all those unanswered questions! More information will be available on my website.
I will be posting part 2 of my trip very soon, about how I got to work with IBD at the premier show, who I got to meet, and what I thought about the competition.
vary, but the the knowledge exchanged can be invaluable. I wanted to show you some of the exciting things the girls did on the 2 day be inspired design workshop. We cover a range of different design techniques.
Day one was all about acrylic, creating these spectacular fantasy flowers. This part of the day gave the nail technicians an opportunity to hone their product control, we worked with acrylic creating these petals and leaves to help with inspiration and creativity. The morning was an exercise to develop product control and develop design placement.
There was a wide range of skill levels some producing stunningly intricate pieces, some surprising them selfs with their creations, but there were a few who didn't use acrylic at all at work, so for them this was a perfect opportunity to work with a material and really see what it can do. I am always saying that even though the fantasy work looks amazingly complicated, once it has been broken down it is really very easy, and a satisfying thing to do.
We continued in the afternoon and did some design nails, working with the acrylic we we're able to put all the newly learnt skills with design placement to the test. Also working with texture and depth, I was happy to show the girls a couple of great nails ideas for the salons. Ones that can't fail to impress the clients, which ultimately is the point isn't it.
Day 2 was all about Gel, we really got all sticky and played with hard coloured gels, gel paints and used the ARABELLA forms to create some very handy embellishments.
All the girls on Day 2. We all enjoyed the gel so much, I am planning to return for an Ultimate Gel event this October with Carla, it is two days of gel extravaganza, we plan to help techs get the very best out of gel, create some inspirational and creative nail designs and Jim McConnell from Light Elegance will unlock the mysteries of Gel and answer all those unanswered questions! More information will be available on my website.
I will be posting part 2 of my trip very soon, about how I got to work with IBD at the premier show, who I got to meet, and what I thought about the competition.
Monday, 20 June 2011
Top tips for the nail art pen
The nail art pen is specially designed to be used with water based acrylic paint. They are perfect to create thin lines and fine swirls. If your not comfortable using a brush, then this is a fantastic tool to get fine details into your nail design.
I thought it was time to bring you some Top Tips for your nail art pen.
1. Water down your acrylic paint so it is the consistency of milk.
2. Make sure your paint has a high pigment content, so as you water it down it doesn't loose the depth of colour.
3. Dip the pen into the paint, so the well fills up completely.
4. The nail art pen will only work on a rough surface. Make sure the surface of the nail has been buffed.
5. Make sure you keep the nib of the pen clean, if you allow it to dry out to much it will clog and prevent the flow of paint. Dip nib into a glass of water and wash.
6. Clean the paint out of the pen by washing it through with water.
7. These pen work the same way a caligraphy pen does, but these nibs will work with a thicker pigmented fluid.
8. When you receive you pen you will need to insert the nib into the end of the holder.
Available from www.sambiddle.co.uk. For more information email info@sambiddle.co..
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Location:UK
Thursday, 16 June 2011
Friday, 13 May 2011
Beauty UK - a success!
Beauty UK in Birmingham is now over and what an amazing show it was. This was my first show as Be Inspired, working with Rebecca Orme from Creative Ten, we managed to pull off something quite special.
We set out to create a stand with a unique concept, both Rebecca and I wanted to bring nail technicians something different. Unlike any other stand at the show, we created a living space, complete with a pot of tea, rugs and throws, a tray filled with nail products as if someone had just gotten up and left the room, about to to return and carry on using her acrylic and making something stunning on the ARABELLA forms.
Why you ask? Why go to so much trouble...well we know that most nail technicians are like us, and want to carry on creating amazing nail designs day and night, I have sat in a similar living room, (literally as most of the items where from my own home), and worked on my ARABELLA forms, watching DVD's and checking out the steps in Scratch Magazine. The whole ethos of the stand at Beauty UK was to show the nail tech how good they can be, we didn't want to show them the same old demonstrations, but instead bring them some cool things to work with and make their nails amazing. To Inspire them, yes dare I say it, we wanted to give them some ideas and tools to go away and develop their designs.
Not only that we launched the amazing nail art pens, the pigments including the new gold and silver colours, and the 'creating inspiration together' roadshow.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad2
We set out to create a stand with a unique concept, both Rebecca and I wanted to bring nail technicians something different. Unlike any other stand at the show, we created a living space, complete with a pot of tea, rugs and throws, a tray filled with nail products as if someone had just gotten up and left the room, about to to return and carry on using her acrylic and making something stunning on the ARABELLA forms.
Why you ask? Why go to so much trouble...well we know that most nail technicians are like us, and want to carry on creating amazing nail designs day and night, I have sat in a similar living room, (literally as most of the items where from my own home), and worked on my ARABELLA forms, watching DVD's and checking out the steps in Scratch Magazine. The whole ethos of the stand at Beauty UK was to show the nail tech how good they can be, we didn't want to show them the same old demonstrations, but instead bring them some cool things to work with and make their nails amazing. To Inspire them, yes dare I say it, we wanted to give them some ideas and tools to go away and develop their designs.
Not only that we launched the amazing nail art pens, the pigments including the new gold and silver colours, and the 'creating inspiration together' roadshow.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad2
Nail Art Pens
So how many of you have a problem getting those thin lines with a skinny striper? Do you wish you could create the swirls and spirals within minutes.......well now you can create fine detail with ease, using just paint!
These unique nail art pens have been especially designed to be used with acrylic water based PAINT making them easy to use and reuse. You don’t need to buy any additional inks or special nail art paints just use what you have at home. There are pens like this on the market for nail art, and I got my self some from China, but when they arrived I had to go spend a small fortune on inks and then found I needed to spend time cleaning out the nibs between each colour, it all got very frustrating and time consuming.....so I set out to find a pen which could be used wit the paints I already had. It took a while but.....to cut a long story short, these are perfect for the job.
It couldn’t be simpler; all you need to do is water down your paints ratio 10:4, (make sure you have paint with high pigment content, or use air brush paint) and simply dip your nib in and ‘be creative’.
You can use your pen to draw outlines of petals and flowers, highlight faces, enhance your designs with fine details, draw swirls and loops…and so much more. These pens create a fine edged line, and if you find it hard to use a stripping brush, well this just might be the answer for you.
Now available at www.sambiddle.co.uk on the be creative page.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad2
These unique nail art pens have been especially designed to be used with acrylic water based PAINT making them easy to use and reuse. You don’t need to buy any additional inks or special nail art paints just use what you have at home. There are pens like this on the market for nail art, and I got my self some from China, but when they arrived I had to go spend a small fortune on inks and then found I needed to spend time cleaning out the nibs between each colour, it all got very frustrating and time consuming.....so I set out to find a pen which could be used wit the paints I already had. It took a while but.....to cut a long story short, these are perfect for the job.
It couldn’t be simpler; all you need to do is water down your paints ratio 10:4, (make sure you have paint with high pigment content, or use air brush paint) and simply dip your nib in and ‘be creative’.
You can use your pen to draw outlines of petals and flowers, highlight faces, enhance your designs with fine details, draw swirls and loops…and so much more. These pens create a fine edged line, and if you find it hard to use a stripping brush, well this just might be the answer for you.
Now available at www.sambiddle.co.uk on the be creative page.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad2
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