ceramic birds and wind chimes

Last month I told you about  a workshop we did at Katherine Fortnum Ceramics.  We went to another workshop a few weeks ago and so were able to collect the birds we'd made.

He is intact, if not quite as attractive as he could have been.  I only put one layer of underglaze on him so he's a slightly pinkish/brownish off-white!

Katherine did say that the inside would need a light sand as it was so hard to get it smooth during the making process, I was surprised how bumpy and knobbly it turned out.

He's on the kitchen window sill (indoors) at the moment until I decide where he can live and what he can hold.

At the last workshop we were making windchimes, or a hanging mobile of some sort.  I don't have many photos but I have a few.

I cut out a series of hearts getting progressively smaller.  I then textured some of them in different ways.

I used one of these fancy rulers to imprint some of the hearts.  The small round thing is a stamp, I used that on other hearts.

Next it was glazed, three coats, and I scratched some designs into the glaze to reveal the clay underneath.

They're going to be fired, then we'll collect them.  I think we've got another workshop later this month, I'm taking the Mother-in-law as well as mum so that should be good fun.

Ceramic bird feeder

A few weeks ago, wonderful mum and I went to a ceramic workshop at Katherine Fortnum Ceramics in Market Harborough, Leicestershire.  Her workspace was lovely, the other 3 participants were lovely, Katherine is lovely and a very good teacher, but I was ill.  I was having a really bad time of it and perhaps I shouldn't have gone, but I thought it might cheer me up.  Hmm.  When will I ever learn than depression can't be cheered up.

We were making a ceramic bird feeder in the shape of a bird.  Now, I only get pigeons in my garden and I don't want to feed them, so I thought I'd just use it as somewhere to put pretty things on display.  We were using earthenwear clay and started with a big ball, flattened on the bottom.  We added a tail.

And a head.  At this point, things started to go wrong as my tail kept sinking, I held it up with a plastic bag, but I should have made it smaller and thinner.

Next we started to carve out the wing shape using the tool you see in the photo above.  We had to go in from both sides and carve very carefully.

After this I have no more photos as at this point both my head and tail started to fall off and I got frustrated and upset with it.  I went outside to have a ciggie and Katherine fixed it the best she could.  When they were finished, we glazed them, but again, I have no photos.  

I think we collect them in a week or two so I'll show you the results then - I'm expecting my head and tail to have fallen off and possibly for the body to have collapsed...

birdie embroidery

I got three lovely little birdie kits for Christmas.  (I actually got more kits than that, but just three in this series).  They are from Nancy Nicholson and are beautifully presented.  Each kit comes in a little cotton bag.  You can also embroider this though I haven't got round to it yet.

Inside is all the thread you'll need (though I added some as I wanted some different colours), a stitch guide and the pre-printed fabric which is printed in full-colour as the embroidery is sparse.  

These kits are definitely suitable for beginners, but also great fun for those of us that have some embroidery experience.  I didn't stick exactly to the stitch guide, but chose different stitches in some places as the fancy took me.

I bought three flexi-hoops on e-bay to frame them. I would have loved wooden ones but you can't get them in the right dimensions for these little kits.  Now I just have 2 more to stitch up, but I've told myself I can't do any more until I've finished some WIPs.  Wonder how long that little promise will last?

Watch the birdie

Good morning!  I'm up bright and early today, well actually I'm usually on my way to work at this time so actually I'm up later than usual, but it's fab to be at home at this time.  I've got the second jewellery workshop today so no work! I'm just having a quick blog hop whilst I drink my first coffee of the day, then I should really go and do some exercise... we'll see how that goes!

I had so much love for my polymer clay cane post that I wondered if you fancied a tutorial?  Let me know in the comments and if there is enough interest, I'll put one together.

I had a super productive Sunday, but I don't want to show you everything together so I'm just going to show you the cards I made in this post.  It's a friend's birthday on Monday and I wanted to make her a card.  I had a bit of an idea...

It started with this sketch:

And then I thought I might as well make 10 as make 1 as I hope to be able to sew some at a craft fair I've signed up for.  I got my scrap bin out and started cutting...

I sewed a strip of fabric on the bottom of each card to be the grass.  I used a very long stitch length so as not to perferate the card.  Some went well, others are a little buckled...

I added the birdies.  Now, I didn't do this the easiest  or best way.  Originally I was going to applique the birdies on to the card, so I didn't want to back them with Heat and Bond as I had problems sewing through the stuff.  By the time I got to adding the birds, I realised that stitching round them with a long enough stitch not to perforate the paper would be messy, so I stuck them on with glue.  Should have gone with the H&B...

Then came the bunting, that was fun.  I cut tiny triangles, stuck them down with a mini-dot (little glue circles), then put a piece of ribbon over the top and sewed down it.

Loads and loads and loads of thread tying later... I had my 10 cards, all slightly different.

I seem to have forgotten to take a photo, but I added a rectangle of pretty patterned paper which went well with the fabrics to the inside of each card to hide the stitching.

So what do you think?  Success or mess?

 

Don't forget to enter my Something Old, Something New competition.  The deadline is 31st July and there is a prize!

Christmas Countdown - October

Once again I'm joining in with Allie's Christmas Through The Year.  Hold on to your hats as I've actually made some progress this month!

1, 2, 3 - travel tissue holders, blogged here.

4, 5 - linen bunnies, blogged here.

6, 7, 8, 9, 10 - Christmas tree decorations, blogged here.

11 - Needlepoint bookmark, blogged here.

12? - Possibly a Christmas present, though I'm not sure who for - bluebird, blogged here.

Bring on November!

I actually finished something I started!

I started a little bluebird from felt on FSNI and, guess what?  I finished it the very next day!  That has to be some kind of record for me.  Tradition dictates that it should have sat forgotten and neglected in a corner for at least 3 months. 

Yes, his left wing is a little odd looking. Please try not to stare, and don't mention it to him, he's very self conscious about it.

I really enjoyed hand sewing him, I'd forgotten I enjoy hand sewing.  In fact, I enjoyed it so much, it's set me off on a little hand-sewing spate!  Fruits of that labour to come in future posts.

I really hope he doesn't poo on my car.  Oh, and yes, if you were wondering, the Pterydactyl poo IS still on my car.  Yes, I'm very lazy.

In case you missed the first post about him, the pattern was from British magazine Craftseller and he's made with wool felt, very nice, I do like wool felt but I still feel acrylic felt has its place.  He might be a Christmas gift, though I have no idea who for.