ashlee.

taught in-house at shade by jason and whoever else was free, and two years in now. learning on the studio floor rather than in isolation meant she picked up nine artists' worth of habits, and got told straight away when something wasn't working.

her work is fine line and stipple — shading built from thousands of individual dots rather than packed black. stipple is slow, and it shows the moment anyone rushes it, which is part of why she's particular about not overbooking a piece into less time than it actually needs.

ornamental is where she goes deepest: lace edging, pearl detail, chains, borders — the small repeating elements that have to stay perfectly even across a curve, which is much harder than it looks once the design wraps around a joint or a limb. alongside that, florals, blackwork and animals, always with the same fine, controlled line and the same patience for repeating detail.

a consultation with ashlee spends real time on placement, because ornamental detail that looks balanced flat on paper can go visibly uneven once it's wrapped around an arm or a leg — she'll adjust the design around the body before it goes anywhere near the stencil, sometimes redrawing a repeating element two or three times until it sits evenly.

sessions are unhurried by necessity: stipple shading can't be sped up without the dots losing their evenness, so she paces a piece around what the shading actually needs rather than a fixed appointment length, and she'll tell you honestly at booking if something needs two sittings instead of one.

currently taking bookings.

see ashlee's work in fine line and blackwork.