Sarahmade

I spent the morning at Cotswold Woollen Weavers which I think might have been made for me. They specialise in beautiful woven fabrics, stone carving and they also have a museum. The best thing about them is the bundles of offcuts which vary in price from £3.50 to £8.

I bought some muted wool, some herringbone weave and some beautiful silk. I am going to make a patchwork blanket with the wool (left) and I think the red herringbone (bottom) will be perfect for the Christmas decorations I have in mind for the family heirloom this year. There is so much potential in this pile.

An increase in craft activity over the last few months has led to growing amounts of piles and bags of stuff around the flat. A pile for craft club, one for printing, one for knitting. I started getting stressed when the piles merged and I couldn’t find anything so I decided to spend some time organising and colour coding. It went well, apart from the extended periods of trance like states looking at storage solutions on ebay. More on that later (if I win).

Two boxes, one for wool and one for all the other bits.

My new cotton and embroidery thread tin.

Button jars.

My material stack.

An old laundry bag tailored to hold my scraps of material.

The finished organised trunk.

I dream of a craft room but this is it for now.

If you are in London I can thoroughly recommend the Introduction to Printmaking course at the Mary Ward Centre. It covers the basics in quite a small workshop but I think this allowed me to see what could be achieved at home without fancy antique presses at my disposal.

(Apologies for the dodgy photography.)

Monoprint

I couldn’t make the first lesson so I don’t actually know what I missed out on but in the second lesson we tackled monoprinting. I was a little bit scared by this method. At first I felt it was more like painting than printing and I didn’t much enjoy making the plate but actually I was quite pleased with the end result. The brief was to find a mono photograph to copy as a monoprint. As I wasn’t there for the first lesson I missed this so had to scratch around looking for images in the classroom and these speed skaters spoke to me for some reason. Although I liked the end result I wouldn’t necessarily pursue this method. For me the essence of printing is being able to reproduce an image and obviously monoprinting is a mono print. This print went missing after the lesson and I didn’t find it again until the final evening when I found it framed on the wall. It had been there for the duration of my course which I was rather pleased with.

Polyprinting

Essentially using a polystyrene sheet to make a printing block. Apparently the polystyrene used to package pizzas is ideal if you can’t find them to buy in an art shop. The brief was to bring in lots of different objects to make marks in polystyrene so it could have been screwdrivers, beads, coins, pencils etc. Anything that would make a mark. I loved it. It was very immediate and I loved the way you could easily cut the poly to make jigsaws so you could ink up different blocks and then fit them all together before printing on the paper. You use quite a light weight paper and just place it on the block and rub over the top with anything flat. Putting it through a press would destroy the block. You can get about ten prints out of each block before it starts to disintegrate.

I made two blocks in the first session of the Tate Modern and the National Theatre. Both brilliantly easy to reconstruct in print. I then also revisited it a couple of times before the end of the course, once when I made my set of Highlands cards to say thanks to Tom for my lovely birthday weekend, and then in the final session when I recreated more London Landmarks – the Gherkin and St Paul’s. If you get a chance to sketch the Gherkin in polystyrene, do it, it’s very satisfactory.

Linoprinting

I think this is my ultimate form of printing. I have tried it in the past but I have never got amazing results. I learnt so much just in one session about how to cut the block and how to print. Iron your lino – that is my key tip. Our homework before this session was to pick an image that was roughly 50% black and 50% white to get some good contrasting sections. I picked an image from the 1930s of an London underground station. We then had to sketch some ideas and start cutting. I found myself without really realising it working in the style of the Grosvenor School of printers. I only realised when my teacher said that really reminds me of Sybil Andrews of the Grosvenor school of printers (or something like that). I had seen some of their work in an exhibition on holiday last year and I have a calendar next to my desk so it has obviously been more of an influence than I realised.

We spent three weeks on lino and I started off with a one colour Victoria line blue print. I then cut into the block to make a second colour plate and printed on top with Bakerloo brown. Again this wasn’t a conscious decision, they just happened to be available but they are the two underground lines I use the most. I must say I am not that into the two colour jobs. It’s not just because I didn’t manage to get the registration right but I just think the one colour prints are the ones I would display on my wall.

Drypoint

Sort of like a poor relation to etching but much less faff so I liked it. The first week was drypoint in cardboard. I did a bit of a roman statue which was ok but I didn’t get his eye right. On the second week we used a metal plate and I decided that this technique was perfect to illustrate contours so I painstakingly drew the contours of the landscape around Fort William. Very roughly. We also used a technique called chine colle where you basically make a collage on the print so you add paper to the plate and back it with bookbinding glue before putting it through the press. I quite liked the result of the old looking print with the new OS colour map.

Collagraph

Making the plate is definitely more fun than printing and I will definitely be keeping the plates (top photo) rather than the prints I made from them. Actually no I will keep the prints but I will turn them over and display the nice blind embossed side rather than the muddy ink mess on the other side. I won’t be pursuing this technique. The plate is made by making a collage from stuff and basically pouring pva glue on it. The plate above is after inking and I decided not to clean it and keep it like that.

So you will definitely be seeing some more lino and polyprinting from me in the future, once I have worked through my to do list.

I am feeling very inspired at the moment. Almost over-inspired which is not that great because I need to focus and bring a little bit of order to all the crafts I want to tackle. I have ideas buzzing around my head but I feel like I need to do a little housekeeping and write a list of all the projects I want to do in the immediate future. Here is an expanded to do list:

Write about my printmaking course

My printmaking course was my Christmas present from Tom and it was a twelve week introduction to the key areas of printmaking. I want to see what I learnt and think about ways I can carry it on at home, before the evening class side of my brain gets taken up by the Creative Textiles course I am starting at the end of April. I also need to edition all my prints and find a place to store them.

Clear out my material trunk

I have an old wicker trunk devoted to my material stash and my sewing machine. There is quite a lot of rubbish in there, stuff I have bought on a whim and will never use. I would like to give it a good clear out so there is always room to put my sewing machine back in after I use it. I have bags of scraps which I do use occasionally so I want to find a way to separate them from the rest. My wool is also stored in there so I need to find a good wool receptacle as I might be using that more with the new course. Perhaps clear boxes in the trunk might work well? While I am at it I will replace the broken hinges.

Finish making Jack’s present

Top secret. Can’t write about it here but it is going to be felt. He is only two and obviously won’t read this but his parents might.

Make more clothes

Going some way to help the material trunk sort out I want to use some lovely cream and brown material I bought a year ago to make a skirt. At the time I used a pattern to try and make the skirt but I just couldn’t work out how to do it. I have never been so frustrated by craft project ever and therefore haven’t approached clothes making for a year. Yesterday I got a burst of inspiration and confidence and used an existing skirt to make a template and then a skirt from some red cord I had in the trunk. I was pretty pleased with myself and have realised that the possibilities of copying existing clothes are (almost) endless.

Make a merit badge

Another slightly top secret project. Can’t tell you what it is for but it will be a little embroidered patch in the style of the old Brownies patches. My new love = embroidery.

Build a craft library

There is a world of information about crafts out there and I want to collect it. I have got shelves of books that I never read so I’m going to begin the process of taking those to charity and collecting some useful craft reference books. I have a few to add to the library already like my pride and joy win on ebay – Lino Cutting and printing by Claude Flight.

That will do for now.

I am going to make these lovely eggs but I need ideas for things I can use as the pattern. I will use leaves etc like the picture here but I’d like to try other things. So far I have thought of cutting letters and shapes from acetate…but what else?

I have been thinking about print a lot lately. I couldn’t not really because of my job and because of my printmaking course but also outside of this I have been going back to basics and thinking about typewriters. My mum found her old one in the attic and I am going to clean it up and give it a new ribbon. I have visions of it sitting on a desk in my future craft room but at the moment I had to smuggle it into the flat (we don’t have room for a typewriter) and it is stored by my side of the bed.

Today I took one step back from primitive print and thought again about writing. This is because I found the beautiful fountain pen that Tim and Katy gave me at their wedding (I wrote all of their invitations). I also found some brown ink so I combined the two and started writing. This afternoon I started to transcribe a letter that my Grampy Whitmore sent to Nanny Whitmore on 23 December 1942 while he was in the army in North Africa. Next week I am going to be searching the regimental archives at work to see if I can find out where they were exactly.

Writing out love letters is a lovely way to spend an afternoon…. “My Own Sweetheart…”

I had such a good send off from Bristol from everyone, but one of the best and possibly the most unique and at the same time frightening presents I had was this Tom Boonen puppet theatre. Look there is me and Tom Boonen cycling down the Champs-Elyse
in Paris and if you move the wires the cloud moves back to reveal Eddy Merckx. Thanks to Rosie and Rich who I know were quite scared they had even thought of making it.

Due to the fact I want to buy a q-be I am selling my stuff on ebay.

You can buy some vintage scales, a vintage bush radio in cream and blue, a sarahmade vegetables and fruit bag or a sarahmade library books bag.

Happy bidding!

I am thinking of making a website. The following is my proposed colour scheme.

I have been frantically crafting over the last couple of weeks because today I took the craft to another level and actually had a stall at a christmas craft market. It was funny. I shared with my friend Jo who was selling jewellery.

I was selling bags, cards, gingerbread christmas decorations (delicious) and Christmas stocking which one young man described “wow the anti stocking”. I don’t know if that was good, he didn’t buy one.

It was a bit slow but I did sell a couple of bags, a couple of stockings, a few cards and lots of gingerbread.

There is loads of craft left though and bags are being sold to friends at a special price of £6 (usually £8). I have lots of Vegetable and fruits, library books and shopping ones but I think all the ‘lunch’ ones have gone. If you have never seen my bags before you won’t know what I am on about. I will post some pics but let me know if you would like one before christmas and I can send this week before I go to Morocco on saturday.

They are being snapped up fast so better be quick. Oh and there are some very cool stockings. I will post some photos. They are the anti stocking apparently.

I have to tell someone. I just made the most amazing bag I have ever made in my life (my sewing life which is actually only 5 months) but it’s amazing. It is a camping utensil case with grey ripstop outer fabric and waterproof inner lining. It also has red velcro. It is only 3 days until the start of the camping season and I think the combination of sewing and camping is too much for me to take.

Well after giving my excuses earlier I settled down for a night in and then only remembered about the craft at 21.15 when Tom sent me a text. How could I just forget?

So here are the results of the craft challenge. The aim was to complete 3 craft projects by yesterday. Only two people took me up on the challenge – Jo and Sue – that’s my mum. I can assure you that Jo and Sue did complete 3 projects but I only have the photographic evidence for 2 projects each, though I think actually Sue’s (mum’s) rolls might count for more than 1 project as there are 3 of them.

In no particular order (there are no winners here….)

Sue

Sue would like to present some fancy bread and a patchwork cushion. This is no ordinary bread as it contains herbs from her garden, obviously winning extra points as herb growing is a craft in itself. Credit is also gained as the cushion was made as a present – she is not even keeping it!

Jo

Jo also gets extra points because how on earth do you make things with metal? Silver at that. That takes skill. There is obviously more than one invitation so extra points go to the amount of units in this project.

Me

I probably lose a few points for doing only one of the original projects on my list. However I think I make up for it in the red bag as this includes a zipped pocket, 5 panels, velcro and a popper. I also gain points because I actually made 2 of the book bags (brown canvas with pale green paint) and Mira – one of these is on its way to you.

I am having a craft break for a little while. It all became a bit too much like work with a deadline…however I have 3 new bags and I managed to use 2 of them today.

Well done.

Well the craft challenge is complete but due to work commitments, gas leaks etc etc I will not be able to post any photos until later in the day. It will be worth the wait though.

When is the official British Strawberry season? Am I allowed to eat them yet? Well too late I already have and they were delicious. I made a promise to myself to make strawberry jam at least every 2 weeks to keep me going through the winter. That challenge starts today.

The craft challenge is going well though projects may have changed slightly. The sewing machine is coming out today. Blimey – while making jam? How sickening.

In sympathy with Tom who has 3 big projects to hand in at 4pm on 28th April I too am setting myself a 3 project challenge, though of the craft variety. I already have one other recruit – my friend Jo at work. Her project list is:

1. Finish making wedding invitations and send them out
2. Make a bracelet for a 30th birthday present
3. Finish knitting her scarf.

My projects are:

1. finish making a skirt for Mark’s wedding
2. paint a canvas to go above my bed
3. make a bag from the very exciting fabric Kate bought me in Australia.

Photos of my projects will be posted here by 4pm on thursday 28th. Tom says if I haven’t finished them I have to stay up all night on the wednesday.

Want to join in? Submit your project entries to me here.

The prize is you get to enjoy lots of craft completion on the 28th. I will be wearing my skirt, carrying my bag and lying in front of my canvas.

My plan today was to go to Wells but I rebelled from my planning and stayed at home to go shopping on my street and make bags.

This is the bag I made today. It is rather more advanced than my previous efforts. Notice the brown canvas lining and the zip. It is made from a rug.

Due to my recent acquisition of a sewing machine and my growing repertoire of crafts I was quite excited when walking along the beach in Brighton to see this on offer:

We went in to the entrance to find it was £5 to get in and it was full of funny lookin women with bags of crappy craft. So we didn’t go in.

If you like the idea of the Creative stitches and hobbycrafts fair you may also like Entertain Alfresco offered by the same company.

On my continuing quest to find the perfect material (I am currently looking for a particular tweed and ripstop tent material in brown) I visited Fabric land in Bedminster. What an amazing shop. I think it is a retirement home for fabric as it was full from floor to ceiling with patterns from the 70s and 80s and not really much past then. There are two aisles, one of which you can’t get down due to the foam piled up and there is no order to the rest of it. I found some interesting material with a little Dutch looking girl on it weighing out cheese and I bought 1m for £2. I made 2 bags for birthday presents and one for a small child.