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Friday 28 October 2011

Picture for Photo Art Friday

I'm feeling a bit miserable today because I have a cold so thought I would submit a picture to Photo Art Friday before going back to bed...

Sunday 23 October 2011

Making Jewellery with Polymer Clay

I'm still busy with my online jewellery course and I have some pink beads that I wanted to use but no focal bead to use with them so I got out the old polymer clay to see if I could make something suitable.  I liked the hearts and beads that I made but they didn't really suit the beads I had - or maybe I'm too fussy.  I find it hard to put together the right beads to make a necklace look stunning.  Maybe I will just make a plain necklace with my pink beads with a couple of silver beads and findings around them.  Here are the polymer clay hearts I made:

Friday 14 October 2011

A Busy Week

I've been enjoying giving a training course this week but I do find it difficult to find time to fit in anything else and I am looking forward to spending some time this weekend doing something crafty.

I had a very distressing moment yesterday morning when I was taking my husband to the station.  It was 6.30am and still dark and I was concentrating on the road I was driving along which is flanked both sides by forest.  The next minute a small deer leapt out in front of the car.  It was that quick I hadn't even braked by the time it hit the bumper.  My husband said that he saw the deer standing just a little back from the road a split second before it jumped:  it must have been spooked by the car.  I killed it instantly.  I still have this image in my mind of this beautiful creature leaping into the headlights.  It was good that I was giving a course because it didn't give me time to mull it over.  Of course the whole bumper was taken out but I was lucky that it was quite localised.  I haven't seen deer in this part of the forest before because it isn't very dense but maybe they frequent this area at night.

So when the course was finished today I just felt like doing something calming and relaxing.  Here are the some pictures I manipulated before going off to pick my husband up from the station in his car...

Sunday 9 October 2011

Sunday at the Show

It was back to the Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace (affectionately known as Ally Pally) in North London where I did a quick workshop with Bobby Britnell.  I suppose I already knew most of the mixed media techniques she taught us but it was still fun.

Looking around the exhibitions a young designer whose work I thought was quite delightful was Alice Wolfe.  She totally modernises machine knitting and her latest project is this wonderful collection of birds:

Saturday 8 October 2011

The Knitting and Stitching Show

I went to the Knitting and Stitching Show on Friday and I'm going again tomorrow to attend a workshop by Bobby Britnell which I am really looking forward to.

There were some really interesting texile artists showing their work.  Unfortunately many of them don't permit photography so I couldn't show it here.  However, one artist that I really liked was Barbara Jepson.  Her pictures are so well designed, bright but natural.  She reminds me of the fabric version of Angie Lewin, a printmaker.  She does a batik background and then appliques the flowers on top.  Just lovely.

Here are two of her appliqued pictures:

Monday 3 October 2011

Doing an Online Jewellery Course

Is it really almost a whole week since I posted last?!  I am giving quite a few courses this month and needed to refresh some of the content.  And yet what have I done, signed up for yet ANOTHER online course in ANOTHER craft.  All those people who say that they wouldn't know what to do if they gave up work - I would have no problem!  I would just create stuff all day.

SO, I have signed up for a jewellery course given by Deryn Mentock called The Build Zone:


I love different, striking or vintage type jewellery and so looking foward to putting something special together.