If 2020 had kept to the script we would be welcoming people to Kingsey Church for Bucks Art Weeks. With the arrival of Coronavirus so much of life has moved online. Whilst I have mixed feelings about the invasion of Google classroom in to my home, in other areas being online is a good thing. Bucks Art Weeks has moved online this year. Each day sees a different theme and artists are invited to contribute on a daily basis - as many or just a few posts as you like. 

The Bucks Art Weeks website https://www.bucksartweeks.org.uk/ has a lot of information about artists and is a great resource for looking at lovely things or even thinking about your for Christmas shopping.

I have a section on the website https://www.bucksartweeks.org.uk/galleries/2020/elizabeth-bond (you may need to copy and paste the links as I am not good at links). I have featured some of my leather and ecclesiastical work within my gallery.

I know that there is a lot of uncertainty about the future. This will pass and life will go on. For some of us it will be a little bit tougher but we will all emerge at some point.  

Stay safe everyone.

I am really pleased to be able to share my recent commission for a green stole. Pictured here is Margot Hodson about to be licensed in her new role as Associate Minister in Shill Valley and Broadshire Benefice on Monday 9th September. 

It is lovely for me to help bring a vision to life, from those initial ideas and conversations, looking at fabrics, sampling and then working towards the final design.

Here is a close look at the different elements. The stole is lined with light cream silk and is reversible.

I love the background green. It is such a rich colour and rather wonderful to use in a design.

Over the past few months I have undertaken a lot of repairs. Increasingly these repairs are on a lot of cherished items. Bag repairs have been a real feature, from split handles to replacement zips. Each repair brings with it different challenges to work out the best way of bringing the item back to life. I have always enjoyed finding out how to do something as much as seeing the item repaired.

Featured below are a few of the items that I have repaired.

This mitten belonged to a beloved family member who died young. When the tear appeared the owner thought they would not be able to wear them again. This picture shows the before and after.

These grey boots were a favoured pair and have seen a lot of wear and tear. Unfortunately an escalator took a bite out of the right heel. Alas, is not always possible to make all repairs invisible, but the impact of the damage can be ameliorated.  The boots also had a spa treatment to help give them a new lease of life.

This satchel is now getting ready to start a PhD. It is being passed from mother to daughter, and was used by the mother whilst at school. It came in for a spa treatment and re-stitching. It had received a lot of stitching and care over the years as you will see from the first photo.  It also had the original name tag in the front pocket too. We think the satchel has been in the family for somewhere in the region of 40 years.

In our discussions we looked at the provenance, available threads and what to do. As a lot of the stitching was old, with the thread breaking in some parts and different coloured threads used to make earlier repairs, we decided on a complete re-stitch and spa treatment.

I have already written a blog post on this but I am going to add to my week at the London College of Fashion making high heels. I have been features on the LCF Short Courses blog! How exciting!

The full blog post can be read here:

https://www.arts.ac.uk/study-at-ual/short-courses/stories/student-stories-elizabeth-bond-shoe-making-lcf