Dawn Tan's +Handmade Love+

Monday, July 12, 2010 by Jenna Templeton 2 Comments A⁺ a^-

I have not only fallen in love with creative crafter artist Dawn Tan's Zines, but all her handmade love works as well! Ironically, the week I purchased Dawn's Super Speedy Three-day Sydney itinerary and A-Z Few of my Favourite things Zines, she was featured in the July/August issue of Frankie for her 1 metre food illustration project.

Dawn hard at work in her studio

What attracted to me to Dawn Tan's zines are her unique, intricate and detailed food/product watercolour illustrations. I have always been a fan of these type of illustrated drawings- so I just had to get Tan's Zines.

I was lucky to get the last copy of Dawn & Darren's Super Speedy three-day Zine (I got zine 33/40), which is a quick and easy itinerary of quaint shops, cafes and restaurants visited on their....speedy Sydney trip. Written and designed like someones personal travel journal/ scrapbook it focuses on the main Sydney areas Glebe, Surry Hills, Darlinghurst, The Rocks and CBD. Dawn Tan also writes about the best things to eat at each location which are accompanied by Tan's special food/map watercolour drawings. Like me, it seems Dawn is also patisserie obsessed- she has made me want to go to Glebe and Surry Hills to pig out on glorious food! There is also an 'extra writing' space' page in the zine for me to write my own Sydney adventures in- Thanks Dawn!

A to Z: These are a few of my favourite things is 26 watercolour food illustrations of...you guessed it her favourite everyday things. My fave ones include; her polka dot glass, oil colours, tissue pouch, iced chocolate, Body Shop strawberry spray, Dove Products, Nutella (like the pic on my Zine sketch book) and Dawns peach/apricot tea. I was even inspired to draw one of my very AND first favourite thing...My first doll Golly! (note: this is a very rough illustration).

My illustration

As well as her zines some of her other cool creative projects include her huge Pascals Marshmallow bag soft sculpture and French Macaron pillows....gotta get one of these! Cute and amazing. Note: Some photos from Dawn Tans' HandmadeLove blog.