This Crafting Life

Light and Space

2012-01-18T19:14:00.000Z

Part of the reason I have been so madly busy lately is that we have been preparing for an exhibition as part of the current module at uni. The exhibition is called Light and Space and features work from all the second year applied arts students, so there is ceramics and jewellery/metalwork on display as well as glass. It is on at Theatr Clwyd in Mold for the next month - find the details here - all welcome!

For my pieces for the exhibition I have been working on incorporating images into glass blocks. The images I am using are taken from some of my collagraph prints, recreated as screen prints and printed onto the glass. I've then been layering up the glass and fusing it together. The next step is to trim the sides of the block - here is a block-in-progress.

As you can see, the trimmed side does not have that nice clear 'glassy' look to it... it takes a LOT of polishing to get it back to that state. And it's very easy to chip corners and edges during the polishing process. And each block has four sides and eight corners... you get the picture! I still need to iron out a few problems, the kiln temperature is not quite right yet, and the polishing needs more practise (probably not being in a rush would help!) but I'm getting there.

You can see the rest of my pieces here on my Flickr.

I'm still here!

2012-01-15T20:34:00.000Z

Oh dear, I have been neglecting my blog! I hope you have all had a lovely peaceful Christmas and that the new year has started well.

As you've probably gathered, things have been rather busy here. I had a great first half of December in my shops, and then I closed up while we escaped to Florida for Christmas and New Year. After staying at home last summer (summer? what summer?) it was so lovely to be somewhere warm.

We've been back for a while and I am over the jetlag but coming up to assessment at uni so madly busy there! There will be some photos of glass soon, I promise.

I did have a lovely surprise the other day when the lovely Julie of Moaning Minnie (she makes fab hats!) spotted my ffflowers in Wedding magazine. Do you remember this article in Wedding Flowers magazine in the summer? It seems they have reprinted it in another of their magazines - an unexpected bonus!

Inspiration

2011-11-27T15:30:00.000Z

No time for blogging lately I'm afraid, for I have been gadding around too much.

First I went to see the Lost in Lace exhibition at the Birmingham Museum and Art Galleries. Oh, it was wonderful to see so many large pieces displayed in such a big airy space. I recommend absolutely everyone to go and see it if you possibly can; I'm hoping to go again.

Cosmos Series by Naomi Kobayashi 2011
For many of the pieces the shadows seemed to me to be an integral part.

The Birmingham Museum and Art Galleries is a rather lovely place too; upstairs from Lost in Lace were pieces from the Staffordshire Hoard, beautifully detailed pieces of Anglo-Saxon gold work. And a very nice restaurant too.

A couple of days after that I was fortunate to be able to attend a workshop and talk given by textile artist Matthew Harris. The talk was a fascinating insight into his inspiration and way of working and it was lovely to see pieces of his work 'in the flesh' too. Textile work really does lose something when you only see it in photographs.

In the afternoon we worked with abstract drawings, folding and tearing them to create new designs. I seemed to end up quite mappy again, at least in the piece on the left - some little scraps of collagraph prints have crept in there too. It was a great way of working; all in all the day was very inspiring.

And last but not least I took my son down to London to see the Gerhard Richter exhibition at the Tate Modern. Wow! Another absolutely stunning exhibition, well worth a visit. Son was so taken with it that I treated him to a large and expensive poster, and he is now redecorating his room to make it a suitable place to hang it!!! How I wish I had thought of this before...

But I think I shall stay home for a while now...

Seashore ACEOs

2011-11-17T20:08:00.000Z

Since I enjoyed stitching onto my collagraph prints I was inspired to do a bit more hand stitching.

I found 5 Seashore ACEO backgrounds that I'd made ages ago and never stitched, and decided to finish them off. I made quite a few of these a while back - I have a whole set of them over on my flickr if you'd like to browse, most of them have gone off to new homes now. I checked and the last time I actually made any of these was in February 2009 so they are a bit of a rarity!

I've finished 3 already...

and I have another 2 lined up ready to go...

That's it for the backgrounds already made. I've found the stitching very relaxing so I hope it won't be another (nearly) 3 years before I have time to make more. But then there are so many things I want to do and so few hours in the day...

These ones will be appearing in my hypsela shop on Etsy over the next few days.

Red threads

2011-11-14T12:42:00.001Z

Sometimes ideas take a long time to crystallize. I knew when I first starting making collagraph prints that I wanted to stitch into them, but the question was, how? I tried stitching into a couple but I wasn't particularly pleased with the results, so I left the idea for a while.

So I was leafing through my pile of test prints the other day mulling over a friend's suggestion that I should use them to make cards. They are really too big to use on a card as they are so I chose one and tore it into quarters.

And then... I thought, what these really need is a bit of red stitching. So out came the red thread, and then a collection of vintage shirt buttons, and this is what I ended up with.

I quite like them arranged together like this on a plain canvas. I've realised that the reason the print fragments shouted 'red stitching' at me is that they really remind me of little map fragments and of course the red stitched lines are footpaths. I'm not so sure about the why of the shirt buttons though, nice places to have lunch perhaps??

Anyway, after dithering for a while I decided to stick with my original idea and use the stitched fragments for cards. I'll be listing them in my hypsela shop on Etsy starting later on today.

Christmas Posting

2011-11-05T15:10:00.001Z

I'm trying not to think about it but I really can't bury my head in the sand any more... Christmas is nearly here. If you are thinking of buying from any of my shops for Christmas presents, please don't leave it too late.

The last order dates for my customers outside the UK are:

Saturday 3rd December
South & Central America, Caribbean, Africa, Middle East, Asia, Far East (including Japan), Australia and New Zealand

Tuesday 6th December
Eastern Europe, USA and Canada

Saturday 10th December
Western Europe

But do please be aware that even if you order by these dates your purchase is not guaranteed to reach you by Christmas (although it probably will, I don't want to sound too negative here!) Parcels can be delayed for all sorts of reasons outside anyone's control, not least the weather. So, the sooner you order the better!

For my UK customers, I will be closing my shops for a much needed Christmas break on Friday 16th December and my last posting date will be Saturday 17th December. So make sure you get those orders in before I shut up shop!

Platemaking

2011-11-02T17:37:00.000Z

I have been madly busy this week trying to get on with the practical part of our first assignment of the term. Between a team of us we have to produce an 8 place table setting. That's 8 of everything. I'm making plates. 8 of them.

I have been working my way through the casting process I want to use, finding out what works and what doesn't. It's quite a long winded process; first make a clay form of the plate...

...then make a plaster mould of the clay form, carefully clean out all the little bits of clay left behind and wait several days for it to be dry enough to use.

Drill the base of the mould full of holes to let the air escape during casting, and place in the kiln. Cut 2 circles of glass and place in the mould in the kiln. Cook overnight, keeping fingers crossed. And if I'm very lucky the result will be a glass plate with no lumpy bubbles (glass is so hard to photograph)...

Repeat. With a bit of luck, and if it is not moved, a mould can be used 2 or 3 times before it really starts to crumble.

2 down, 6 to go!

First bundle

2011-10-26T12:47:00.002+01:00

My bundles are looking pretty good, a much darker colour than I expected to get. And while they didn't smell too good while they were simmering away (a bit cabbagey) they smell lovely now, the essence of autumn distilled. The dark colour may be due in part to the fact that I had used the pan for tea dyeing in the past and it is pretty well impregnated with tea.

I've managed to last a week before opening one... I chose the second from the left to unwrap - I just had to open one of them to see what had happened!

This one is a strip of old sheeting. Here are the leaves that came out of it - no longer the lovely dark red they were!

And this is the result, hanging up to dry after rinsing in cold water. I am absolutely thrilled with it! There are lovely rich browns, quite a bit of yellow which doesn't show too well in the photograph, and even some pinky bits. And some nice patterning where the thread was wrapped round it too.

It will be interesting to see how much of the colour stays when it dries and whether it fades quickly or not.

I'm leaving the others a bit longer... not sure quite how long before I can't resist opening them!

A new project

2011-10-19T21:40:00.000+01:00

I know, I must be mad starting something new... but I am thinking ahead because I will need a project to show with my textiles group and I am trying not to be too last minute this year! Our theme is 'Collections' and it seemed to me to be the perfect opportunity to try something I have been thinking about for a while.

I have been dying cloth for my embroidery with tea for a long time but I first became interested in dying cloth with other natural materials when I was making my vegetable paper. I noticed that the brighter vegetables stained the pressing cloths, and some colour remained even after washing. And sometimes when I re-used the washed cloths the vegetable colour in the cloth would affect the colour of the new vegetable paper, so the veg dyed the cloth which in turn dyed the veg... A little while later I discovered India Flint and was completely awestruck by her work, if you don't know of her do go and check it out.

So I am going to do a series of experiments, bundling cloth with natural materials and other things that I collect (the shoreline turns up some interesting bits of rusty metal at times...). Cooking it, leaving it, maybe even burying it, I'm not expecting spectacular results, I'm just interested to see what happens. The bundles will be a personal record of my year. And since the best thing I can do with my bundles is be patient and leave them alone I hope the project will fit in with the madness that is my life at the moment!

I've started with a few leaves picked up in my local park, wrapped in some well worn upcycled cotton sheeting, some butter muslin and a piece of my wedding dress silk (what do you mean it's not normal to cut up your wedding dress?!)

They simmered away for a couple of hours in some (rather murky) rainwater in an old aluminium pan which I'm sure must have come from my grandmother, if not even from her mother. And now I shall leave them for a while. I wonder how long I can manage before I can't resist opening at least one little bundle?

And, I had some lovely roses for my birthday last week.

It would be a shame to let all those leaves go to waste... I'm not sure if the petals will do anything, but no harm in trying!

I'm still here!

2011-10-12T21:11:00.000+01:00

Yes, I know, I haven't even managed a once-a-week post since term started, let alone once-or-twice... I was hit by an unexpected bout of exhaustion last week, I don't think it had anything to do with the start of term, more likely I was fighting off a bug of some sort. But the timing could have been better!

I am getting back into the swing of things now, and my timetable is a little easier/more flexible this year too. Although of course the one evening when I am likely to be home late is the one evening when the boys have to eat early - but it's good for them to have to fend for themselves sometimes!

I don't have much to show you yet, have made some plaster moulds but they're not all that exciting! I've been catching up on various jobs at home today including photographing some bits for listing in my hypsela shop. There are a couple more of my collagraph prints

and something new, a couple of ACEOs. I was aiming for an 'ancient seaside postcard' look...

They were a development from the design work I did for the collagraph prints - I liked the technique and thought I would experiment further with it. Although I do love the ACEOs, I think they might work better a bit bigger. Maybe some 'actual' postcard size ones, or greetings cards?

Red sky at night

2011-09-29T10:43:00.000+01:00

Warm weather means beautiful western skies.

Summer's End

2011-09-28T11:30:00.000+01:00

Summer is definitely over here... I shall be going back to my degree course next week and won't that feel strange after such a long break. Almost like starting all over again... without having to do fresher's week though, which is a definite advantage... Freshers week: the definition of how to make your mature students feel really really old and out of place!

So, I won't be blogging anywhere near as often. I am aiming for once or twice a week, we shall see how I do!

For this last week before my life is turned upside down again I am having a last stab at decluttering... of course I haven't finished all of what I had aimed to do over the summer but I've made good inroads, so I won't beat myself up about it. Plus I've made a useful addition to my uni fees fund by selling my Liberty fabric stash! The bookcases are coming along but I am going to have to sand down the first one and repaint it having decided that non-drip gloss paint and books are never going to live happily together. The paint is still sticky after all these weeks.

And as you can see, I am still dealing with apples... I have made apple cake, and stewed blackberry and apple for crumble and the freezer, and blackberry and apple jam, and chutney (with apples in), and today I am stewing plain apple for a change. Phew! I am determined not to let so many go to waste this year, usually they rot faster than I can use them. My task has been made more difficult by the bumper crop though, and it has been difficult to give them away because everyone else has had a bumper crop too!

And for these last few days I shall be trying to spend less time on the computer and a bit more time enjoying the unexpectedly lovely weather.

And cooking apples.

Folksy Friday

2011-09-23T09:00:00.000+01:00

Moody blues and greys found on Folksy... hover over the image for more information; click to go direct to the Folksy listing.

And... my last Sunday's Etsy treasury is on the UK Etsy front page today... thrilled! Thank you Etsy!

My creative space - tiny weavings again

2011-09-22T12:44:00.000+01:00

Since I cut them free from the frame, these tiny weavings have been waiting for me to do something with them. So, finally, the blue one has been turned into a brooch with seaglass accents. To me, it looks like a seascape with little seaglass 'islands'. I'm going to find it hard to part with this one...

And the pinky-brown one is well on its way to becoming another brooch, with the addition of a couple of vintage buttons.

They will both be turning up in my shop soon.

See what other people have been doing in their creative spaces here.

New stuff

2011-09-21T17:09:00.000+01:00

I've been photographing new stuff for both my shops today!

I have some new flower colours - the first for a while. I've made some in lime green - I love lime green, I don't know why I haven't done it before! And also some of the bigger flowers in a pretty coral pinky-red, one of the colours for the season, apparently! They look rather good together too! I'll be listing them in my Etsy and Folksy ffflowers shops over the next couple of days.

And I've listed the first of the prints that are left after the exhibition in my hypsela shop. There will be a few more to come as well.

And I will be listing some new brooches too - pictures of those will have to wait until tomorrow I think!

End of the Day

2011-09-20T19:23:00.000+01:00

Its been another grey day here but the evening has been an improvement - here's hoping for better tomorrow!

Sunday Window Shopping on Etsy

2011-09-18T10:11:00.001+01:00

A little retail therapy. See the treasury here.

dragonhouseofy... $25.00	AMradio $17.00	DottyBlueBird $3.20	thecozyproject $14.00
fuzzylogicfelt $45.00	TinyOwlsMagicA... $5.50	GearForms $195.00	louise35flower $34.00
moaningminnie $39.50	moriah726 $14.00	HanseART $75.00	badbooks $22.00
ing00te $68.00	elisemahan $15.00	ninu $115.00	Christinas $36.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

Days off

2011-09-17T15:40:00.001+01:00

I was chatting the other day to Mel of feltmeupdesigns about the necessity of days out doing something nice when you are on your own working from home much of the time. And I thought about how bad I am at taking my own advice... there is always so much around the house that I think I ought to be doing but I would much rather be doing something creative so I end up procrastinating and not doing either. And certainly not going out anywhere nice for the day because of all the other stuff I should be doing. Hmmm.

Well, last week I had actually planned a day out so I have awarded myself a pat on the back! I took a trip over to Manchester to the Special Collections space in the MMU library to see the current exhibition which is by Kirsteen Aubrey, one of the MMU glass lecturers, entitled The Glass Journey. The exhibition was small but beautiful and she had all her process and workings up on the wall too like a giant sketchbook - absolutely fascinating. The exhibition is on until 16th December and well worth a visit if you are in the area.

I managed to to choose the only nice day we've had for weeks for my day out - bonus! So after I had seen the exhibition I wandered into the centre of Manchester (without getting too lost - it's not a city I know all that well) and had a look around the lovely craft shop at the Royal Exchange Theatre - mostly looking at the glass pieces and how much they were selling for - important research don't you know!

After that, a bit more wandering around the centre and I managed - quite by chance because I had totally forgotten where it was - to find Paperchase. The top floor of the Manchester Paperchase is a wonderful place - all those lovely papers. I didn't spend too much...

A couple of sheets of gorgeous handmade paper which may end up as book covers and some lovely square pieces of Khadi cotton rag paper for printing on. And some paper string I couldn't resist, maybe for weaving, maybe for collagraphs.

All in all a lovely day out, very inspiring. I must do it more often!

Folksy Friday

2011-09-16T08:17:00.000+01:00

More lovely things found on Folksy... hover over the image for more information; click to go direct to the Folksy listing.

Playing again

2011-09-14T14:55:00.000+01:00

A few years ago I made a whole bunch of these...

I really liked them but I wasn't sure what to do with them... eventually I put them together into a series of mobiles which were shown in an exhibition with the textiles group I belong to.

They were well received at the exhibition, and then they came home again. And sat around in my workspace. The discs are not very robust so some of them got bent out of shape as they were moved from place to place. But I still really liked the individual elements - more so than the complete mobiles - so they stayed around.

I started to take them apart the other day and put some of the smaller elements together into 3-D forms. I'm not sure where I'm going with it but it is interesting to see the different character these strange things take on when put together differently.

I started off thinking I would make it into a sphere(ish) but it's beginning to look a bit like a football, so maybe not. I dare say there is more taking apart and putting back together again to come!

Maybe I should go back to the mobile idea but on a smaller scale... The original mobiles were 6ft high, fine in an exhibition space but not so practical anywhere else. Certainly not cat-friendly! Or, a bit too cat-friendly, but cats would not be mobile-friendly...

The appliest Apple Cake

2011-09-13T12:30:00.000+01:00

I have a glut of cooking apples. We went out and stripped our tree at the weekend before the gales arrived and this is the result. Actually there was a washing up bowl full as well but I have managed to empty that, giving some away, picking some out for storage and making stewed blackberry and apple. Still got quite a long way to go though!

So this morning I made my favourite apple cake and thought I might share the recipe with you. You will need...

4oz softened butter (sorry, I still work in pounds and ounces for cooking...)
4oz demerara sugar
1 egg
6oz wholemeal flour (plain)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
4oz sultanas
1lb (ish) cooking apples (weigh first, then peel, core and grate them)

Beat together the sugar, butter and egg. Sift in the flour, baking powder and cinnamon and beat until just combined. If you mix too much you will end up with one big blob here so less is more!

Then fold in the sultanas and grated apple. The mixture still wants to form itself into a big blob at this stage so a sort of cutting action seems to work best.

Pile the mixture into a 2lb loaf tin and bake for about an hour at 160C-170C (I have a fan oven which runs super hot so I bake this at 140C, adjust to suit your oven).

And there you have it! The texture is really moist and squdgy, almost like bread pudding, and the flavour is very very appley. Best eaten when it has cooled, although it is hard to wait I know. It goes beautifully with a nice piece of cheese, cheddar, or lancashire maybe... And as cakes go, it's pretty healthy - I'm sure a slice (or two) would count towards one of your 5-a-day...

Blackcurrant Daisies

2011-09-12T20:42:00.000+01:00

I went to buy some A1 sheets of paper from my local art shop the other week. The weather wasn't very nice (no surprise there!) so the lovely lady found me a great big A1 bag to put my paper in. I was incredibly restrained when I saw the bag and resisted the temptation to jump up and down, merely commenting that it was a nice colour...

I have only used the top third of the bag for these. What's even better is when I get down to the middle of the bag the writing is in gold. I'm trying hard not to jump up and down even now, thinking about it... all this over a plastic bag?!!

Weather

2011-09-10T13:54:00.000+01:00

The weather is getting me down. It's cold and grey or, like today, it's warm and humid and still grey. This time last year it was

lovely.

And I'm sure the humidity is partly to blame for the fact that the paint on my bookcase still isn't properly dry. I'm going to start priming the shelves for the second one today though and am hoping to persuade the eldest to saw the cutout bit to fit over the skirting tomorrow... I'm happy to try most things but I'm not keen on too much sawing - a hangover from a nasty experience when I was a teenager I think!

Folksy Friday

2011-09-09T08:33:00.000+01:00

Spotted some more great stuff on Folksy this week... hover over the image for more information; click to go direct to the Folksy listing.

My creative space - silk paper

2011-09-08T17:57:00.000+01:00

I've been making silk paper (silk fusion) today. Usually I try and make it as thin and wispy as I can but today I wanted to make it a little thicker. The first thing is to lay out some silk fibres onto a piece of netting - I have 2 (ish) layers of undyed tussah silk fibres here.

Then another piece of net on top to hold it all in place, and rub dilute silk paper medium (you can use dilute PVA or wallpaper paste too) through the net so it soaks the silk fibres - I use an old stencil brush for this. Turn the sandwich over and rub from the other side too until all the fibres are holding together.

I decided it still wasn't thick enough, so I folded it in half.

Once it was dry, I cut some heart shapes out of it. I love the texture and sheen of silk paper - what I have in mind are some simple hanging decorations to show it off.

See what other people have been doing in their creative spaces.

Socks for me!

2011-09-07T12:21:00.000+01:00

Since my first pair of socks were hijacked, I have started on a new pair. And these are most definitely for me! I treated myself to some lovely dip-dyed yarn from 'A little bit sheepish' on Folksy and I've made a start.

Fortunately these are not bright enough for my son, so I should get to keep them!

A bookcase and some fabric

2011-09-06T11:42:00.000+01:00

For those of you that asked... here is the monster that has been keeping me busy for the last few days (along with all those going-back-to-school shopping sprees of course!)

It's looking a bit patchy, waiting for another coat of paint, but I am very proud of it. The first time I (with valuable assistance from eldest son) have ever built anything other than flatpack (I'm a dab hand at flatpack). It fits very nicely into its allotted space and will hopefully house a good chunk of our library. We had to build as the space between the radiator and the wall is just a little smaller than standard bookcase width, but we have far too many books to go with a slim bookcase and waste nearly half the space. When it's finished I shall be making another for the other end of the wall... and then some wall hung shelves for paperbacks in the space in between. We won't know what to do with all the free space in the rest of the house!

My Liberty fabric destash has proved very popular so I've had another sweep through my fabric boxes looking for Liberty pieces and come up with these...

And these smaller pieces

I think that's the lot! They'll be making their way into the fabric destash section of my shop over the next week or so.

Sunday Window Shopping on Etsy

2011-09-04T09:48:00.000+01:00

A menagerie today! See the treasury here.

murgatroydandb... $15.00	BalletArt $18.00	hoganfe $120.00	timor $54.00
tealadydesigns $4.00	MisterFinch $30.00	thefortunateho... $6.00	niftyknits $30.00
BlackSparrowJe... $85.00	hilarycosgrove $24.00	BlueTerracotta $27.00	moloco $18.00
cutedesigns $6.00	mellymoodesign... $12.00	pouch $16.50	EclipsedbyNatu... $95.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

Folksy Friday

2011-09-02T08:41:00.000+01:00

A few of the lovely things I have spotted on Folksy this week... hover over the image for more information; click to go direct to the Folksy listing.

Have you noticed how much I like handmade mugs? I have to stop myself from choosing 4 mugs every week...

My creative space - tiny weavings

2011-09-01T10:36:00.000+01:00

I've had these two in the frame long enough that the warp threads had got a bit slack... finally finished them off. Now to cut them free!

See what other people have been doing in their creative spaces here.

Nothing much...

2011-08-30T11:04:00.000+01:00

When my boys were much younger, one of our favourite books was Once Upon a Time. The boy in the story keeps insisting that 'nothing much happened round here today' while all the time the most fantastical and recognisable fairy tale events are going on all around him. If you can get hold of a copy it is a really great book to read together with young children.

So... nothing much happened round here this weekend... except, I finished my (son's) socks...

...and I made some more books with all those pages I cut the other day...

I am also slowly building a bookcase to house some of our many many books. It's the first time I have attempted something so big, and so woody! If and when it ever gets finished I shall be boasting about it a lot... and then starting all over again to make a companion for the other side of the room. So forgive me if I am rather distracted at the moment - that's where I am!

Oh... and my latest Sunday Shopping treasury is on the Etsy UK front page today...

But really, nothing much happened round here...

Sunday Window Shopping on Etsy

2011-08-28T11:17:00.000+01:00

All classic black and white today, inspired by inkmeup's lovely feather brooch. See the treasury here.

inkmeup $12.95	paperklipdesig... $17.00	nuvonova $55.00	karineleger2 $16.00
JKphotography $21.00	veronicabutton... $74.00	roseglen $53.00	marbled $33.00
FeltByGina $75.00	sewZinski $38.00	PragyaK $20.00	OritArt $199.00
PipingHotPaper... $5.00	thecyclingarti... $3.99	hellopenny $11.00	cynthiavardhan $25.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

Folksy Friday

2011-08-26T07:51:00.000+01:00

Just a few of the lovely things that have caught my eye on Folksy this week. As usual, hover over the image for more information; click to go direct to the Folksy listing. I think this may be the beginnings of a birthday wishlist (R - are you reading this??!).

My creative space - cutting paper, mostly

2011-08-25T12:45:00.000+01:00

Today I have mostly been cutting paper. Not the most exciting of tasks but fairly necessary in order to make books.

Now I have finished cutting pages for what seems like hundreds of books, I've realised I only have covers ready for 3. Oops.

At least I won't have to do it again for a while!

Why not pop over here and see what other people have been doing in their creative spaces today. It has probably been more exciting than cutting paper!

Goodbye to an old favourite

2011-08-24T12:54:00.000+01:00

It is with mixed feelings I shall be sending these flowers on their way today.

This lovely soft yellow wool ribbon was one of the first things I tried when I realised that people actually wanted to buy my flowers, and it has been very popular. But it has been discontinued for quite a while now; I have been working through my stash and now I am down to the last few flowers.

These are the very last, just waiting for their buttons.

Of course I can't not have yellow flowers in my shop! So the wool ribbon flowers will be replaced by these in cotton-rayon ribbon. A bit brighter and bolder than their woollen counterparts and lovely in their own way.

Autumn

2011-08-23T12:04:00.000+01:00

There is definitely a hint of autumn in the air now. The cotoneaster in the garden is studded with bright red berries like so many shiny beads. There must be a lot of food around for the birds this year as often the blackbirds strip this bush bare. It's like watching little berry eating machines as they pick them off and swallow them, one after another after another...

Destashing

2011-08-22T08:30:00.001+01:00

The major clear out is still ongoing... this weekend we opened up some boxes of my husband's old clothes, much to my son's delight. Unfortunately he is nearly 3 inches taller and rather broader across the shoulders than his dad but he still managed to find some things to fit him and to satisfy his passion for vintage clothing. It is a bit strange to think that stuff we remember wearing is now 'vintage' - I certainly don't feel that old!

I have been giving away armfuls of fabric but there are some pieces I have decided to sell - those university fees need to be paid somehow! I have listed my first couple of pieces here, and I am going to work my way through the rest of this pile.

The top piece I think is a wax print, at any rate it is marked 'GUARANTEED ENGLISH WAX' in the selvedge; the next 3 are Liberty, 2 tana lawn and one a heavier weight which I think was called country cotton - I don't think they make that any more. Then a piece of vintage Laura Ashley furnishing cotton, some Rose & Hubble Christmas fabric, some blue gingham and a piece of brushed cotton in a rather jazzy design. And when I've finished this pile, there is another... and I haven't even looked at the smaller pieces yet, there is definitely some more Liberty in there.

If anyone is interested in any of these and would like some reserved, just give me a shout!

Sunday Window Shopping on Etsy

2011-08-21T10:29:00.000+01:00

We are beginning to think about going back to school/university and wondering where it will take us this year... See the treasury here.

ArtfulVintage $24.00	hmphoto $20.00	feltmeupdesign... $13.00	studio1015 $8.75
honeytree $30.00	MySelvagedLife $24.00	KoideStudio $30.00	andybartosjr $25.00
SelectModern $360.00	vntagequeen $64.00	OneLittleHouse $39.00	JacquelineJone... $65.11
restlessthings $75.00	sketchbook $115.00	LilouColours $22.00	IllyriaPottery $135.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

Folksy Friday

2011-08-19T08:20:00.000+01:00

My Friday look at the work of some of the talented artists and makers selling on Folksy. Hover over an image for more details or click on each one to go direct to the listing.

All about the birds and the bees today ;-).

Playing with buttons

2011-08-18T17:06:00.001+01:00

I've awarded myself a 'playday' today. I feel like I deserve it!

Yesterday I was wading through yet more old stuff when I found some of these... It's a bit of a monstrosity, isn't it?!! They date from the time before I rediscovered my flower loom (a few years ago then!) when I was experimenting with making flowers using a rag-rugging technique. I never really liked the result so they've been sitting in a box ever since.

Looking at them again, the one thing I did like was the way I'd added the pile of buttons in the centre, and I wondered how they would work on their own without the over-the-top bit around the edge.

So I started with the pile of buttons rescued from one of the weird flowery-buttony-things and started sewing them onto a scrap of linen, overlapping them to try and hide any gaps.

And this is the finished brooch... I added a little padding to give it a slight dome shape - it has a pleasingly 'substantial' feel. I like it much better than the mad thing it was before!

I don't suppose this is a new idea, although it has only just occurred to me! But it is one of those ideas that will always be your own as you start with your own selecton of buttons and your own idea of what looks good with what. Some of my buttons are vintage, but some are just ordinary upcycled shirt buttons, but they are my own unique selection. I think this brooch will go into my shop soon. And I enjoyed making it so much I think I shall be making some more, after all, I have plenty of buttons!

Why don't you have a go? I don't think the buttons need to be anything special, it is the number and arrangement of them which creates the effect. Let me know if you do!

Collecting

2011-08-17T15:34:00.000+01:00

I always come home from a walk with pockets stuffed full of something. We picked these up while walking round the marine lake on Sunday.

Hearts

2011-08-16T11:53:00.000+01:00

Been stocking up on some old favourites this morning - here they are hanging up to dry.

Silk paper hearts with an integral copper wire edging - all the beauty of silk with added strength! The bright red one is soybean silk which works just as well.

New Books

2011-08-15T12:55:00.000+01:00

I haven't had time to do much serious making over the last few days but I have managed to get a few book covers glued and into the press (aka 3 old wooden shelves with my sewing machine on top for weight...).

I have used the last little bit of the handmade green leafy paper to make 2 sets of 6"x4" covers - these books have been very popular and these will be the last of them.

I have a new sheet of handmade paper in off-white overprinted with white roses and smudges of silver, so I've made covers for 6"x4" and 8"x6" books with this, and a new piece of purpley-blue hand-dyed fabric - so far only a set of 6"x4" covers, the larger ones are still in the press.

And last but not least is the brown pebbly handmade paper - I've had this stashed away for ages and I decided that since I hadn't used it in all this time I should use it for book covers. It is lovely and I might have to keep one of the books for myself... this will be available in the larger size too.

I'll let you know when the books are bound and making their way into the shop!

Sunday Window Shopping on Etsy

2011-08-14T09:16:00.000+01:00

Calm and grey - pretty much like the weather at the moment. Only with more blue. See the treasury here.

TeacupAdventur... $32.00	hodgepodgearts $10.00	blobhouse $27.00	UtopiaUF $55.00
littlepaperbir... $38.00	Overspill $8.80	LittleMissQuar... $8.50	larimeloom $120.00
lazygiraffe $22.00	elukka $12.00	bialakura $15.00	louise35flower $34.00
JazzGreen $99.00	thegildedbee $4.49	violentvintage $225.00	elde $29.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

A day out

2011-08-13T19:17:00.000+01:00

I've been taking a bit of a break after the rush to get the exhibition up. It's all done now and looking good, so I'm told! It's quite a drive for me so I probably won't get to see it again until the open evening on Friday (19th August 7-9pm - all welcome - venue details here). So here's hoping there are lots of visitors and lots of sales!

Yesterday we went to one of my favourite places, Parc Glynllyfon just outside Caernarfon in North Wales. The park was the gardens of a grand house and is full of follies which were built for the many children of the house - my youngest son especially is very jealous of these children of the past!

I have never been there when it has been dry (it is North Wales after all!) but it doesn't seem to matter, it all adds to the lush rainforest feel of the place.

At the far end of the park there are some sculptures including this eerie 'Lady in the Lake'

And I've saved the best bit until last - as well as the lovely park there is a 'proper' craft shop and gallery with some little craft studios/workshops as well! Best to visit at a weekend if you want to see the workshops open. There are also some lovely old bits of mill machinery for those not interested in the crafts... and an interesting history of the house and its occupants, and did I mention the cafe with homemade cakes?

Well worth a visit, even in the rain!

It's up!

2011-08-09T18:17:00.000+01:00

Absolutely exhausted having spent all day hanging the exhibition... but it looks fantastic! Details here.

Prep Work

2011-08-08T15:47:00.000+01:00

I think I've mentioned before (once of twice!) that my prints are going into an exhibition this week. A nice feature of this exhibition is that the exhibitors put out their sketchbooks for the visitors to look through.

Now since a lot of my prep work for the prints have been test prints I haven't been working in a book - can't put a book through the press! So I have been collecting together all the bits I have done, the transferred photographs I started with, the charcoal drawings I did, the test prints from the plates that worked and the ones that didn't really, and of course the plates themselves.

And I've bound them together into a book.

Well I haven't actually included all of the test prints because there were so many of them... but a representative selection!

I toyed with the idea of adding a little colour here - decided against it. Although it's something I will probably come back to in the future.

This print was one where I applied the ink with a roller rather than rubbing it on. It's really surprising how different a print can look just by changing the way the ink is applied. In the end I didn't use the roller for any of my final prints, it didn't seem to suit the soft landscape look I was after.

And I also mounted (most of) the printing plates and included those too. Hopefully they won't make peoples fingers all inky - I have cleaned them, but still...

Hanging tomorrow... the exhibition details are here, do pop along if you can!

Sunday Window Shopping on Etsy

2011-08-07T08:41:00.000+01:00

Things that are making me smile right now - see the treasury here.

EastonStudio $35.00	DirtyBils $139.00	mbartstudios $22.00	barefootbanana... $9.00
polkadotHOME $22.00	ThreeBlueBee $11.99	FeltByGina $17.00	gracedesign $42.00
dgordon $34.00	livingferal $16.00	QuercusSilver $9.00	scenicartisans $50.00
BlackbirdStudi... $55.00	Luncheonettevi... $24.00	blanaid $622.00	laurageorge $20.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

Packaging the Prints

2011-08-06T18:52:00.000+01:00

I've spent what seems like a ridiculously long time this afternoon packaging up my prints ready for the exhibition (see my Events page for details) - framing some and packing the others in bags, labelling them all, and so on. I had no idea it would take so long!

I just hope I manage to sell one or two after all this! Although I do have a plan for those that don't sell... and I would be quite happy to keep these two...

I'm relieved to have got them all done - now I'm looking forward to a quiet evening finishing off my first ever hand-knitted sock.

Folksy Friday

2011-08-05T08:54:00.000+01:00

My Friday look at the work of some of the talented artists and makers selling on Folksy. Hover over an image for more details or click on each one to go direct to the listing.

A bit of a summer holiday feel to the collection this week! Hope you're enjoying yours!

My creative space - more ffflowers

2011-08-04T12:55:00.001+01:00

It'a a grey and drizzly day here today and I feel as if I have been sitting around all morning not achieving very much. I wonder if it is the greyness making me feel like that? Because it is not actually true, I have been finishing off this whole garden full of ffflowers...

They have brought a welcome splash of brightness to an otherwise dreary day. I think I need to do something a bit more energetic this afternoon!

I am waiting impatiently for the paper to dry from my printing sessions - the general humidity is not really helping. Here's hoping for a better drying day tomorrow!

Edit: I've just realised that I forgot to include a link to all the other lovely creative spaces out there - oops! Go and have a look!

Favourite ffflowers

2011-08-03T12:39:00.000+01:00

I think of all the different colour flowers I make, these are probably my favourite. I was quite sad to pack this lovely lot up today to ship them off to their new home.

Sea Breeze ffflowers available here.

Work progressing...

2011-08-02T17:02:00.000+01:00

Yesterday's plates have turned into prints... at least one of them has. The other one, I wasn't happy with the effect on one side of the plate and by the time I'd sorted it the good side had got squashed and lost all definition. Back to the drawing board with that one then...

I printed the one that worked and some I had already made until I ran out of drying space - I think I need a better (cheap) solution than an old 3-legged sweater drying rack!

Work in progress

2011-08-01T17:26:00.000+01:00

Busy getting ready to print at the moment... 2 new plates all varnished and ready to go...

... and a stack of lovely soft creamy paper all ready and torn to size.

Transparent Carrots

2011-07-31T19:25:00.000+01:00

Do you remember my carrot paper? It was really very bright orange...

It has been hanging in my Mum's house for a while and one year on it looks like this...

No mould, and it hasn't gone too brittle... the colour has faded in parts and gone a rich dark brown in others. Fascinating!

See my other vegetable papers here and if you fancy having a go yourself there is a tutorial here.

Socks

2011-07-26T12:14:00.000+01:00

Oh dear, I've got the sock knitting bug. As if I needed another thing to be doing... I've never wanted to knit a pair of socks before since I really don't get on with dpns but since I discovered the magic loop method of using a circular needle I thought I'd give it a try. I'm not sure if my way of doing the magic loop is the 'proper' way, but it works for me.

I've been surprised how fast it's grown and best of all I won't need to sew it up at the end! This colour (very Christmassy I think) was chosen by my eldest, who was most upset that I was thinking of knitting a pair of socks not for him. Who knew that a pair of hand-knitted socks was such a must-have for the fashion-conscious teenager? So I'm going to have to wait for my own pair... good thing I am enjoying the process!

I shall be taking a blogging break for the next few days while I take time out, spend some time with younger son, maybe do some sock knitting, maybe a bit of weaving, that sort of thing... I'll be back soon!

Bag Giveaway - the result!

2011-07-25T09:01:00.000+01:00

Time to draw the winner of the bag giveaway! There were 12 entries - which tells me that I made the right decision in choosing to sell ffflowers instead - the ffflowers giveaway was far more popular! Still, it is a nice bag and I hope the winner will be happy with it.

So, courtesy of random.org, the winner is... commenter number 4, which is booboocraft. I'll be in touch to sort out details.

So thank you all for entering - congratulations to the winner, commiserations to those who didn't.

Most of all, thank you all for turning up and reading my witterings!

Window shopping on Etsy

2011-07-24T08:46:00.001+01:00

All the printmaking this week has left me thinking in black and white... see the treasury here.

moaningminnie $39.50	saysthetree $23.00	cobbledtogethe... $40.00	RuthRobinsonCe... $14.50
ArtOnPorcelain $39.90	tangente $130.00	WonderlandRoom $3.80	fibrous $135.00
mojospastyle $45.00	Elze $120.00	ancagray $45.00	bazketmakr $125.00
ClareBears $149.00	Culinarium $48.00	LittleBeanPrin... $20.00	pipistrellecro... $66.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

Framed

2011-07-23T15:55:00.000+01:00

Having said I probably wouldn't, I have decided I would like to frame my prints. So I have been rushing around like a mad thing for the last couple of days trying to find frames that were reasonable quality without being horribly expensive... I had a nice frame from Habitat (which was a bit expensive) but of course Habitat are no more and all the good stuff has gone from our local store. And I wanted to see before I bought so buying online wasn't really a possiblility either. So this is the first attempt - sorry about the rubbish photos. I like the size and shape but the frame colour is darker than I want and the mount is far too white... but I'm nearly there! Who would have thought that art would involve so much shopping?!

I'm pleased with this particular print, it captures the feel of our beach for me.

Here's a picture so you can see what I'm talking about...

Folksy Friday

2011-07-22T08:53:00.001+01:00

My Friday look at the work of some of the talented artists and makers selling on Folksy. Hover over an image for more details or click on each one to go direct to the listing.

I've gone for linen this week - I love the combination of natural linen with splashes of red or orange.

My bag giveaway is still open until Sunday - if you haven't entered and would like to the details are here.

Weeds

2011-07-21T08:39:00.000+01:00

My garden has many weeds. Often they are more interesting than the 'proper' plants.

New ffflowers

2011-07-20T10:52:00.000+01:00

I have been surprised and pleased with how popular my little 1" flower embellishments have been. I stock them in sets of 6 on a card. From time to time people ask me for larger flowers so I will now also be stocking cards of pairs of 2" flowers in my shops. Here are the first few colours... more to follow.

Available in both my ffflowers shop on Etsy and my ffflowers shop on Folksy.

My bag giveaway is still running if anyone is interested in entering... find the details here.

Finishing things

2011-07-19T10:47:00.000+01:00

After feeling that I hadn't achieved anything much last week I've been strict with myself and finished a whole load of bits. So I have a couple of these...

and a bunch of these...

These brooches aren't quite finished, they still need felt and pins on the back but they're all neat and have their embellishments on, so nearly there...

The colours in the blue one reminded me so much of my seashore art cards I just had to put a piece of seaglass on it. All of these will be appearing in my Hypsela shop over the next few days.

And I can settle down now to do some printmaking without any distractions. I bought a couple of pillow cases the other day and they were somewhat over packaged - each one was wrapped round 2 good size pieces of thick greyboard which will make excellent bases for some more printing plates.

More Collagraphs

2011-07-18T15:21:00.001+01:00

I did manage to snatch a few minutes printing time while the birthday party was going on upstairs on Saturday - kids parties are so much less stressful these days!

The prints from the torn paper plate were OK, I can see potential in the textures, perhaps not in this arrangement. Although I have only applied the ink with a roller, rubbing it on/off gives a different effect again.

And I definitely need to practise getting the prints straight on the paper - it is so difficult!

But it was the plate with the textured acrylic paint that I really wanted to try out and I wasn't disappointed!

For this print I applied the ink with a roller and for this I rubbed the ink on with a cloth

But this one is my absolute favourite, again I applied the ink with the cloth, wiping it off in some areas and leaving other areas darker. This definitely has the feel I am looking for and I shall be making more of these plates.

Window shopping on Etsy

2011-07-17T08:15:00.000+01:00

What better way to spend a rainy Sunday morning than with a little bit of window shopping? See the treasury here.

ARTISANIEeurop... $135.00	alexandrafergu... $89.00	FeltByGina $40.00	QuercusSilver $105.00
JolieVintageSh... $117.00	TheSteelFork $380.00	rheaclements $36.00	BeckaGriffin $8.00
SylviaAnderson $18.50	88editions $22.00	inkwhimsy $18.00	Misspottery $150.00
annarubyking $17.00	granatina $60.00	lynswan $26.00	louise35flower $16.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

Bits and pieces

2011-07-16T11:55:00.000+01:00

I have felt a bit unfocussed the last few days... not really able to settle to anything. Still tired after the cold I had maybe - but really that was only a couple of days of sniffling, not much of a cold! When I sat down to see what I had actually done there was more than I expected but I don't feel as if I have really settled to anything. So not much in the way of finished things.

I've made a couple of collagraph plates - I love the right hand one and really hope it prints well... maybe that is a job for this afternoon while I'm keeping out of the way of my son and his birthday guests.

I tried out the photo transfer technique in an ACEO size - I'm undecided about the result, I think I'll try a few more before I decide whether to list them. I'm not sure it's clear enough in this size to get a sense of the scene... but maybe that's because I know what it really looks like. Opinions gratefully received!

I added some bits to a few of these...

And I made some more of these

and started on my newly discovered stash of white bags too.

When you look at it like this it seems quite a lot, but it has all been fitted into the gaps between doing... what? I'm not sure.

Folksy Friday

2011-07-15T08:22:00.000+01:00

My Friday look at the work of some of the talented artists and makers selling on Folksy. Hover over an image for more details or click on each one to go direct to the listing.

Mustard is a colour that has really grown on me lately... I put together this set earlier in the week, then I spotted the current Folksy featured items are mustard and grey too and I'm wondering if Folksy admin have been stalking my favourites... hmmm! Great minds think alike I guess!

Have you entered my giveaway? See here for details.

Unexpected Treasure

2011-07-14T08:15:00.000+01:00

I found treasure under the sink. White eco daisies coming soon! The lime green bag might be too thick but I'll have a go, it's such a great colour.

Did you enter my giveaway? See here for details.

A Giveaway!

2011-07-13T09:30:00.000+01:00

The clear out continues... I am hoping my eldest will help out on a trip to Oxfam this afternoon. Parking can be difficult so it's best to have 2 people just in case I need to keep driving round the block, dropping him off with a boxful of stuff on each circuit!

During my clear out I found this bag.

When I started my first Etsy shop (back in October 2007 - so long ago!!) I wasn't sure which of the many things I make I wanted to sell. I originally made a few bags and this one has been carefully stored away ever since I decided that bags didn't really fit the style of my shop. I have a couple of others that I use myself, almost every day, some have been given as presents, and I wondered if any of you lovely people out there in blogland would like this one.

The pattern is my own, although fairly standard I think. The bag is a good size, 12" high with a base 14" x 4" stiffened with some weird compressed fleece stuff so it keeps its shape. The handles are long enough to go over your shoulder even if you are wearing a coat (can you tell I get annoyed if they're not?!). The fabric is a pink-purply cotton cord lined with a cotton print and with a 2 section pocket on the inside. Have I sold it to you yet?

There are no entry requirements to the giveaway as such, this is just a thank you for turning up and reading my witterings. But you do need to let me know that you want to enter... leaving a comment on this post would be the easiest way if you can. However, I do know that there have been issues with commenting lately, so alternative ways of contacting me are via my ffflowers page on facebook, via my ffflowers shop on Etsy or my ffflowers shop on Folksy, or good old fashioned e-mail via the link on my contact page here. Please make sure I have a way of contacting you should you be the winner! Closing date for entries is Sunday 24th July, I will draw the winner on Monday 25th July. I am happy to post anywhere so please don't feel you can't enter if you are not in the UK.

More ancient history - with fossils

2011-07-12T13:29:00.000+01:00

As I think I mentioned before, I am having a massive clear-out. I keep coming across all sorts of pieces of work stashed away - some I think 'wow, I've certainly moved on from that' but some I still quite like. The other day I found this little book I made from coloured papers on a bookmaking workshop day. I was looking at fossils at the time so I filled some of the pages with fossil pictures. It still has rather an unfinished feel to it so I shall put it back in the box just in case I should be inspired to add more to it one day (so much for the clearing out!).

What's missing is some drawing I think - although the papers themselves are rather too dark to draw onto... hmmm....

De-Junk, Re-Junk Exhibition

2011-07-11T19:20:00.000+01:00

Today I dropped off some of my new eco daisies as they are going to be in an exhibition of art and crafts made from recycled materials at Birkenhead Park Visitor Centre. The exhibition is called De-Junk, Re-Junk and will be running from 18th July to 31st July, open from 10am to 4pm each day. It looks like there is going to be some really interesting art there, well worth a trip if you are in the area.

Sunday (Window) Shopping on Etsy

2011-07-10T10:11:00.000+01:00

A little bit of window shopping - this treasury is made up of some of my current favourites on Etsy.

creatocrat $20.00	Weaselfactory $12.50	hodgepodgearts $9.00	AmandaSainsbur... $38.00
AmyandPia $20.00	PaulaArt $21.00	restlessgenera... $34.00	KnitFrekkles $75.00
thestrandline $25.00	TheFeminineTou... $73.00	erintrees $1600.00	ClareBears $16.00
elementclaystu... $450.00	TickTocklers $30.00	bialakura $15.00	MegFred5 $15.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

New Eco Daisies

2011-07-09T10:03:00.000+01:00

Like most of you reading this I have a stash. In fact, I have several stashes... this is one of them:

This is my collection of thin plastic carrier bags (only some bags are suitable) ideal for making into daisies. I hasten to add that I have not collected all these by myself - I do take bags with me when I go out shopping - I have had donations from friends and family!

I have been meaning to update the design of my eco daisies for a while now. While I love the idea of using old plastic bags to make flowers, and I love the flowers themselves, the stems I had designed were terribly fiddly to attach and made making them rather a chore. So this week I spent some time experimenting with new stems using green florists wire stubs. These stems are attached at the same time as I stitch the centre of the daisy - so much easier than trying to attach them afterwards, the only thing I have to worry about is not poking my eye out with that great long piece of wire waving around...

The florists wire stems make for lovely tall graceful daisies with the added bonus that if the stem is too long for you, you can simply trim it to the desired length. These new tall eco daisies will be appearing my shops soon.

In the meantime I have a few of the old style (still lovely) daisies left and I am reducing them to half price in my Etsy shop and in my Folksy shop too. So now is the time to bag a bargain - ideal to brighten up any corner, but especially good for kitchens.

Folksy Friday

2011-07-08T09:45:00.000+01:00

My Friday look at the work of some of the talented artists and makers selling on Folksy. Hover over an image for more details or click on each one to go direct to the listing. These soft colours are my favourites at the moment!