Weaving

I found a new craft class venue!  A very unusual workshop popped up on my Facebook feed (more about that next week) and when I investigated, I found that Rural Antics at Hanwell Wine Estate run a variety of different workshops.  I booked onto the weaving class.

The class was run by a lovely lady called Veronica and we were all looked after by Amanda who served coffee pretty much constantly all day and our 2 course lunch which was delicious!  The lunch came with wine from the estate but I can't stand wine, so I passed on that.

Veronica had bought her two frames to show us, and said that we could use the simpler one, but everyone opted to weave on cards or an embroidery hoop.  Having done a tiny embroidery hoop before, I went with the card option and decided to try out some different stitches.  There are hundreds of weaving stitches, I had no idea!

All materials were provided and there was tub after tub full of yarns of all weights and colours, sparklies, merino unspun and ribbons. I started with blue and silver.

As is my usual style, I put almost no thought into planning and just got on with it!  The black and green is a pattern, 3 strands of black follow the same path, then the green alternates.

I took a photo of the needle I used to show you the size compared to a coffee cup, it's huge!  I definitely need to track one of these down if I fancy doing this again as it made the world of difference.

I carried on for a bit.  Everything you see above is patterns formed just using the different colours and the basic under-over weaving technique.

The green stitch just to the right of the centre shows a stitch I tried.  I'd love to tell you what it's called but I don't remember!  It involved winding the yarn round the warps as I went.  There are a few rows of this.  I also experimented with a different stitch using some teal unspun and navy yarn to form a pattern over the top, that's towards the left of the sampler.

I managed to get a fair bit done in the day, especially considering all the time I spent eating and drinking!  As I had no plan, I had no plan for the finished piece, but Veronica showed us some pictures she'd made by framing a part of the weaving in a chunky frame.  I think that might be the way to go.

This close up shows a couple of the stitches I tried out.

And this is a photo of the fancy 8-something loom that Veronica brought along.  I thought I'd taken a photo of the other loom, but apparently not.  They weren't as big as I thought they would be, so maybe, just maybe, I would have room for one at home...

Speed Craft part 1

I've written about the SpeedCraft events at Debbie Bryan's before, me and mum would go twice a year.  This year the first even was in April.  Me and mum had booked to go before we lost her.  I was all set to go on my own when the lovely Jane from Loopy's Place said she'd come with me!  I was so chuffed to have a crafting partner on what would otherwise have been a very sad day.

We started in style with Buck's Fizz.  As I'm allergic to oranges, I just got a glass of Prosecco!  It went down very well... especially as a coffee and cake were quick to follow!

The first activity was a mini mosaic brooch.  We didn't do any cutting, we had a selection of pre-cut tiles, broken china, beads and buttons to use.  We only had 45 minutes per activity so had to design pretty quickly before dying our grout.

The photo doesn't show it well, but my grout is a lovely minty green.  Here's the piece all grouted and ready to be dried before sanding.  Writing this, I realise I was suppose to sand it 48 hours later... ooops!  Hopefully I'll still be able to do it. 

Next was weaving which I first tried at the last SpeedCraft event.  This time it was circular weaving on an embroidery hoop.  We had a selection of yarns and fabrics to cut into strips to use.

I didn't get very far with mine, it still needs finishing off.  I abandoned my usual blue colour scheme for a palette of purple and grey.

Next was lunch, followed by cake, followed by paper origami.  This flower was not easy to make!!  We all struggled to get the shape right.  

The leaves are just glued on to the wire in this picture, the flower stem has been finger crocheted (a new skill for me!) and I just need to finish off finger crocheting the leave stems before sewing the leaves on more securely using a few big cross stitches.

I'll be back in another post to tell you about the rest of the day.

Speed craft

Back in October, wonderful mum and I went to Speedcraft at Debbie Bryan.  You may remember me posting about these events before.  5 tables, 40 attendees (1 man this time which was great to see), 5 x 50 minutes to do a craft, cake, coffee, cake, coffee, lunch, cake, coffee etc.etc.  Mum loved speedcraft and had booked us on to the one in April.  I will go, but I will miss her.

I'm not going to write 5 posts, I'm going to tell you about it all in one post.  I thought I'd made some notes about the tutor's names and websites, but I can't find them.

One of the tables was papercraft and we made 3d hanging decorations using sugar paper, metallic paper and vintage papers including old lace patterns.  Debbie is a bit fan of stitching so there is always thread on all the tables, we used it to add some accents.

I really like some of the papers used here.

Next we did wirework.  We started by scribing the copper circles using various tools, then made a hanger from a piece of wire.  I added tiny paper "bunting" and tassels to mine. I really like this!

It's about necklace size, maybe a bit longer (width-wise), but it's too delicate to wear, so I've hung it up in my craft room.

I did a different pattern on each side of the circle, just to try something new.

One table was weaving which I've never tried before.  OK, maybe as a kid, but I don't remember.  This was great fun, using all kinds of different materials from ribbons and lace to lengths of fabric and yarn.  

I just need to sew the ends under to tidy it up.  I could really fancy doing this again... the only problem is, what do you do with it?

As usual, Katie Almond was there to do ceramics with us.  Me and mum really had the knack of this by then, and we made our pieces in about 10 minutes, leaving lots of time for the delicate painting!  We were both improving too.  Above is the pre-baked piece.

And this is it when I got it back.  I didn't have a Christmas tree this year, so I propped it on my mantelpiece!  it will be the star of the tree next year.  

There was a fifth craft.  It was printing using acrylic inks brayered onto tiles and impressing stamps and tools into the paint before placing paper on top and making an impression.  Unfortunately, we hung them up to dry and forgot to collect them!  You're not missing much, printing is not one of my greatest skills!