Memorandum Monday in colour

I enjoyed creating with colourful yarns over the weekend - colour inside very much needed as the weather was grey much of the time - still grey and wet this morning as I look out the window.

At my crochet, knitting, cake and coffee group on Saturday morning we were chatting about colour preferences when putting together several colours.

some prefer to use a range of shades within the one colour

some like to use a range across 2 colours that are next to each other on the colour wheel

some - including me - like to include a contrast - a colour on the opposite side of the colour wheel

What is your colour range preference - does it differ when thinking about clothes, interior decor and making things?  I like to include contrast in all of these and rarely go for shades within one colour.

And what was I making you ask - inspired by a piece I saw a the makers faire - a sunny piece to hang in my living room

 

Hoping you all have a good week with some sunshine

Memorandum Monday in 3D

Hello everybody and big waves on a blustery morning.

I had a fabulous new experience this week - a 3D party which involved a nice mix of techie geek, futurism and creativity. 

A lovely lady brought a 3D printer along to the house and set it printing while she talked about how it works. 

it took about 20 minutes to print this chain - fully interlocking links with no assembly afterwards - yes the printer can leave a small gap between the bits it prints and it can print a layer onto air - not just the platform or existing printing.  The flat layer at the bottom - called a raft - is broken off afterwards but is printed to provide a stable base for the shape. 

Good to be able to watch the printer at work without having to look over the heads of kids or past crowds as has been the case when I've seen 3D printers before at the science festival or makers faire.

Then we played with 3D pens - yes I know all pens are 3D in shape but these pens let you draw in 3 dimensions - they extrude plastic that dries immediately so you can draw on air - draw a line straight up - create a shape that will then stand up. 

The plastic comes in lots of lovely colours. 

I'd watched some videos and looked at images before hand and thought I'd make it easier for us all by printing out some basic shapes that we could use as templates - the dragons, sun, butterfly, paperclip and initials were all done this way.  Lots of fun and we all had a play.

This 3D party was our birthday gift to my Mum who is fascinated by 3D printers.  I came across the woman who runs the parties when browsing the people who would be at the makers faire and noticed she offered kids 3D parties so I contacted her and asked if she would do one for adults - and of course all family members were keen to be involved too.  She is now going to advertise that she will do adult parties too.  A fun new event enjoyed by all of us.

Hope you all have a good week

Last pairs

My goodness, the last week of the year so the last pairs.  A big thank you to everyone who has joined me in sharing a linked pair of photos.  I have enjoyed the weekly challenge to watch out for a pair and I've loved seeing all of your lovely and varied pairs.  A weekly photo challenge is so much easier and more fun when shared.

My final pair is a before and after

My sister gave me this lovely sock creature kit for Christmas - making it was the perfect creative project for a grey and overcast Boxing day.  As my mum said - this is something I would have loved as a gift any year since I was 3! The kits are lovely and they have a great range of imaginative animals to make - I'd recommend them if you are looking for a gift for a crafty person who can use a needle - of any age - the company is sock creatures.

Looking forward to next week/year and the start of Snap.  What I have in mind is between 2 and 4 photos that create a visual set - so it might be 4 circles or 4 blue things or 4 cakes - but really part of the fun is seeing how people interpret the core idea.  I'll create a blog button for next week.

Looking forward to seeing the last round of pairs and again thank you for sharing.

July was

As usual there are lots of swans on the river – unusually they were not just at the river mouth, due to a particularly high tide, which made them easier to photograph.

In July I read 5 books on my kindle – 4 of them scifi and the other a crime but actually all were predominantly about friendship and unrequited love set against different backdrops. 

I read 3 old scifi books from a website that is saving old scifi as e-books before they disappear

Judgement Night by C L Moore (a collection of stories)

The man with 6 senses by Muriel Temple – written in 1920s and interesting as social history as much as for the scifi element

Four sided triangle by William Temple – written in 1940s and again interesting as a reflection of the times as well as the imagined part

My favourite book of the month, which I read completely on my train journey to London was Every Day by David Levithan.  It is labelled as teen fiction – because the main characters are 16 – but I really enjoyed the premise and the character descriptions.  I’ve read reviews of it and people seem to love it or hate it – I loved it and would recommend you have a look if you are comfortable with an unusual situation which is unexplained but provides the basis for the story that unfolds.

I was also busy with my crochet hook and finished my jumper

It is indicative of the cool weather we had throughout the month that I spent a ‘summer’ month making an autumn jumper.  I then went on to make some slippers – but as I finished them in August I’ll show you them in my August summary.

I also framed some pieces of embroidery that had been made by my Aunt which I found when I was sorting through her sewing stash for my Uncle (my aunt died 4 and a half years ago).  I’m delighted to have a piece of her work on my wall (I have the poppies)

And I decorated some terracotta pots for my sister’s birthday gift – she has a large collection of succulents in her conservatory and is always in need of new decorative pots.   I used the fabulous bronze metallic sharpie – the ink went on very easily – they are my favourite metallic pens by a long way as they do not clog or leave blobs and the colour and sheen is great

Overall July was a busy month but I’ve already shared my other exploits – trip to London, crochet at the gallery and crochet chain, jazz and food festival and produce from my garden.

To finish my favourite shot not already shared – I saw these nasturtiums escaping through a perfectly blue fence and just has to stop for a photo

I made–necklaces

continuing my tales of crafting past with bead jewellery

about 10 years ago, when I had been living in Wellington (NZ) for about 6 months I was exploring the fabulous central library and discovered their comprehensive collection of crafting magazines.  I picked up some beading magazines and leafed through them enjoying all the colours and the different techniques.  I generally wore a colourful necklace and brooch to work so I though I would give it a go.  There was a big bead shop nearby so I borrowed 2 of the magazines and went off to buy supplies.  I was hooked and quickly built up a good stash of beads and supplies.

I enjoyed the different techniques -

threading beads onto tiger wire or thread

threading beads with a needle and thread (and learning the difference between peyote and dutch twist)

and bending wire to create little charms to attach to chain (each fo those beads has a wire through it that I then bent into a hook.

I still have a decent stash of beads and all the related tools but, as with so many crafts, I rarely wear all the lovely pieces I made – in part because I no longer dress for work in an office.  I do make thinks with beads occasionally but no longer buy the magazine each month and so am not up with the latest trends and techniques. 

Any other current or former bead workers out there? and anyone else discovered a new craft through browsing magazines?

bunting and toxoplasmosis

not often you find a link between bunting and parasites but they are some of the things I’ve been creating with my crochet hook recently

the bunting pattern was in my crochet magazine, created by the lovely attic24 whose blog I follow too for all the lovely colours she uses and the fun things she hooks.

I chose the oranges, yellow and blue for a bright summer feel

and ordered a set of autumn colours at the same time for another string to hang later in the year, between this summery set and my christmas decorations.

And then there are the parasites that I crocheted

the pink and yellow one is  Leishmaniasis (associated with sand fly bites); the green one is sleeping sickness; and the pink and blue one is toxoplasmosis which is transmitted through cat urine.

I’m making them for a crafty critters project based at the University of Glasgow which is creating education games and packs about parasites and how to avoid them for use in places where they are rife and cause problems.  They have more info on their facebook page. 

love that crochet can be so diverse

teenage patchwork

I made this patchwork when I was a teenager, during the summer school holidays.  All of the fabrics were from the scrap pile – yellows and browns were prominent in my wardrobe then – funny remembering the different items these fabrics were used for.  I never backed it so you can still see my construction when you turn it over

each piece of fabric was folded over a piece of card and then tacked to shape and then I hand sewed the pieces together – lots of small over stitch while sitting in the garden enjoying the sun.

During the sorting of stuff Mum found a patchwork piece I made for my sister’s doll bed – I think at about the same time

again all the fabric is from the scrap pile.  One piece has rotted away (or eater my moths or mice – that one piece must have tasted particularly good).

I made this bag

Have you ever tried bead tapestry / weaving?  You sew each seed bead in place working in rows, to build up a design. 

I learnt to do it at a workshop about 13 years ago and made several pieces in the following year.  This was the largest thing that I made

I created the design, inspired by Rennie Mackintosh art deco roses. From memory I made it over 2 summer months when the light was good and I was not at work. The light is important because of making sure you pick up the correct colour.

To begin with it feels very fiddly to get the needle into the small hole in each bead but after a while that becomes natural and I could thread them without looking (using ‘the force’!).  Although it is small scale and fiddly I did find it relaxing as you are doing the same action over and over. The biggest problem is not spilling the dish with the beads (small white ceramic dishes designed for oil dips are best).

Amazing to think that some evening dresses in the 1920s were made like this – a whole dress must have taken so many hours to make.

Continuing to follow Sian’s sage suggestion to feature items we have made ‘back in the day’ and still have around.

a fun day at the Maker Faire

my final visit to the Science Museum was the Makers Fair – rooms full of people who make things and want you to have a go too – how could I resist?

The first room I walked into had a group of ladies eager to help us use enamel to decorate a piece of copper for a broach or pendant.  I needed no prodding to take a seat and start choosing my 2 colours of enamel and a metal stencil to use to create the patter.  shake on the background, fire, position the stencil, shake on the 2nd colour, fire, let cool and I had a lovely pendant to wear.  These ladies were the first of several during the day who said ‘you do crafty things don’t you?’

then into the big room full of crafting – people planning wood, making rag rugs, spinning strips of newspaper into ‘yarn’.  I was tempted by a table with piles of felt and surrounded by people sewing – wandered over and the lady asked me if I wanted to make a parasite – how could I resist – I consider Ebola but settled for malaria.  These ladies are developing educational materials for education on parasites which led to making parasites from felt and they told me they are developing crochet patterns for leaches, tics and mosquitoes too !!

The next room was full of computery makes – flashing lights, underwater vehicles, movement turned into light and noise, 3D printers.  I enjoyed playing with the effect of a big time delay video feed on the wall – a few seconds after you move it plays 2 versions of your movement with a few seconds between and in different shades of grey.  So I was able to take a photo of me taking a photo

next was a delightful group of Chinese origin ladies who were teaching traditional flat knot to make a dragonfly – I was pleased to see a group of young men at the table enjoying learning this craft alongside all young girls and women

My final make was with the re-cycle, repair, up-cycle group who had a fascinating stall and were showing us how to make an accordion book from re-cycled paper.  I included the printed sheet with my ticket for the event as one of my pages – seemed appropriate.

I thoroughly enjoyed all the making and talking to people who are excited to make things.  I’ve collected several fliers and cards to follow up on projects and workshops.  5 hours satisfyingly spent.

Maker Faires are a global thing – if you see one advertised near you I’d highly recommend it

I made these baskets

Sian suggested we take a photo of items around the house that we have made and shared them. 

The big on on the left is a waste-paper basket (to give an idea of size).  I made them when I lived in NZ using traditional Maori flax weaving techniques. Unusually the weave is on the diagonal rather than horizontal and vertical.

You pick the flax leaves and weave them while green and fresh and then it dries to the fawn colour – the red is a commercial dye.  I really enjoyed the weaving process and love having several baskets around my house.

[The flax is phormium

and not in anyway related to the flax plant that is used to make linen.]