In mid July I was contacted by Clare who works for the NHS Borders.  They are trying to raise money to build a respite unit at the Borders General Hospital, near Edinburgh.

A nurse called Margaret Kerr had left £500,000 in her will towards building the unit , so they were going to name it after her.

Clare had this idea about making a large pair of baseball boots, complete with laces, to launch the appeal.  She contacted me to ask if I could do them.

Always up for the challenge (but always a bit nervous that I can’t rise to that challenge) I gave her a quote for making such items.

After getting the go-ahead, I started to make the biggest pair of boots that I have ever seen.   I started by cutting out a large pair of soles.

Then my husband Harry, my mum Joyce and me then went about building up the boots with wire mesh.  We covered the mesh with cardboard on both sides to strengthen it and then covered it with 9 layers of newspaper strips and PVA glue.  Our neighbours Carol and Ken very kindly lent me their garage to house one of the boots, while the other was to sit on our dining table in the kitchen/diner.

After what seemed like months, the boots were dry and ready for painting.  Clare wanted the Margaret Kerr logo on each side of each boot, so these had to be hand drawn on and then painted.

After this, the boot was painted in the pantone colour given by Clare and the boot lace holes were put in.  The laces were to be made by a banner company.

Once the boots were dry, they were brought together for their first photo shoot before being delivered up to Scotland.

If you would like more information about the campaign please click on the link – http://www.thedifference.org.uk/the-margaret-kerr-unit-appeal

Talk about all or nothing.  I don’t do a blog for months, then do two at once.

Never mind, you don’t have to read both together.

I have just finished the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party sculptures for Burton Constable Hall (www.burtonconstable.com) near Hull and they are now in place.

I won’t show you all of it as I would really like you to go and see it – and living a long way away is no excuse.  No, seriously, I realise that East Yorkshire is the ‘back of beyond’ so I will include lots of pictures.

This exhibition has taken a lot of time to do as I am a bit!! of a perfectionist, but I have enjoyed doing it so much.  Saying that, though, I am quite pleased that it is finished as it was taking over my life a bit.

In the 1960′s, Burton Constable Hall put on an exhibition of Alice in Wonderland.  The artist was a gentleman called Bill Sillince who later became a cartoonist for Punch magazine and later still a lecturer at Hull Regional College of Art.  My work is inspired by him and by the drawings of John Tenniel who did the original illustrations for the book by Lewis Carroll (real name Charles Ludwig Dodgson).

So here they all are in all their papier mache glory, with proper clothing, done by my mum Joyce Chapman as I was running out of time (but couldn’t have done as good a job anyway).

I made the white rabbit first.  I am very fortunate to live in Beverley which is a lovely old town with two beautiful churches, one of which (St Mary’s) is said to be the inspiration for the white rabbit.

Alice looking confused

Alice was quite difficult to do as, those who do papier mache know, it dries uneven which is great for animals as it resembles fir, but if you are doing a sculpture of a seven year old girl, you don’t really want her to look that wrinkly.  Anyway, she does a bit, but that is the nature of the material.

Mad Hare

The hare I could have added more and more detail.  He has carrot cufflinks and is wearing a PDSA badge of a hare (funnily enough).

Cheshire Cat looking on

What can I say about the Hatter other than he looks quite mad which is appropriate.

Last but not least - the doormouse

This exhibition is on until 8th September; after that I will be displaying it at the Friary in Beverley as part of the Heritage Weekend on Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th September and the open studios in October.