A Collection of Stuff Frozen in Time

Toy soldiers, shirts, ties and used clothing labels…99 of them to be precise are re-fashioned into ice cream cornets and sugar strand delights.

How the 99 gained its name is questionable, but it definitely gave me the idea to exchange the soft scoop ice cream with 99 used clothing labels. A simple idea to replace the item being consumed with found materials worn by the consumer. Unpicked from 99 rag garments the used labels have been selected to represent pink ice cream and chocolate flake with upturned Bhs labels. FAB sugar strands are also replaced, this time with an army of brown, green and grey plastic toy soldiers; an element of surprise inviting the viewer to stop and pause to contemplate the conflict of subject matter with military forces.

Title: 99 Used Labels with Toy Soldier Sugar Strands. Original artwork available 90cm x 90cm box framed in white behind glass. Detail below, click images to enlarge. — Title: **99 Used Labels with Toy Soldier Sugar Strands.** Original artwork available 90cm x 90cm box framed in white behind glass.
Detail below, click images to enlarge.

‘Ice cream ruff with collar and cuff’, also takes its inspiration from dress and the ruff collar worn from the mid-16th century including Queen Elizabeth I of England around 1575. The ice cream ruff is coiled from found over-lock tabs; these numbers were used to identify machinists as their textile work went down the line. The single length of vanilla coiled tabs feels light and airy, appearing smooth and easy to fold, all qualities of a soft serve dairy dessert. Selected for its pink and blue candy stripe fabric the fragments of this Crichton shirt may have been cut and tailored some 50 years ago, the use of over-lock number 26 is a direct reference to the location of Crichton Bespoke at 26 Watergate Row, Chester.

Title: Ice Cream Ruff with Collar and Cuff. Original artwork available 88cm high x 72cm wide box framed in white behind glass. Detail below, click images to enlarge. — Title: **Ice Cream Ruff with Collar and Cuff.** Original artwork SOLD 88cm high x 72cm wide box framed in white behind glass.
Detail below, click images to enlarge.

Work in progress.

‘Tie Pins’ is assembled from 8 recycled neckties and 100s of dressmaker pins. At the start of the 19th century tiepins were used to hold satin or silk cravats in place; they are still used today to secure a necktie to a shirt, perhaps to save it from a melting ice cream. Historically neckties are thought to have formed part of 17th century military uniforms, prompting the inclusion of two blazer striped school uniform ties. Each tie is draped, folded and pinned to the canvas, a single narrow brown tie is arranged in the shape of the cornet and a red and white-stripped shirt cuff tops off the chocolate ice cream with a flake.

Viewing the work is an uplifting experience, fun and surprising with historical references to fashion, consumption and conflict. These discarded fragments could be described as a still life study where people are the material and the viewer becomes the subject. Alternatively they could simply be described as a collection of stuff literally frozen in time.

Title: Tie Pins. Original artwork available 88cm high x 72cm wide box framed in white behind glass. Detail below, click images to enlarge. — Title: **Tie Pins.** Original artwork available 88cm high x 72cm wide box framed in white behind glass.
Detail below, click images to enlarge.