Mini Needle Felted Unicorn

 

This Christmas I was gifted a mini needle felted unicorn kit.

It was super cute and when I opened the box the colours were brilliant!  I really wanted to start making it there and then, but apparently it's not approprate at the dining table.  I wasn't sure when I would get the chance to make it.

And then on the Saturday after Christmas I was supposed to go down to the studio and do something with glass.  But it was cold and even with the heater on, it didn't seem to make much difference.  And it's a mess too which didn't inspire me.  I settled for having a quick tidy then retreated back to the house.

What to do?  And my eyes fell on the unicorn kit.

 

I had to get one of the felting mats left over from another felting project, otherwise I was good to go.

It didn't take long, just the afternoon.  The instructions were pretty clear, although I decided to do legs last once I knew I had all the material I needed to making the head, ears and horn.

But it was only when I added the mane and tail that she came alive!  'im outdoors called it the 'disco unicorn' and that seems a reasonable description.  If my fringe was that long and in my face I'd have cut it off by now, but I think it suits her.   Hope it doesn't annoy her as much as it would me.

 

I also added a star on her rump, seeing as I had so much colour left over. 

A nice little afternoon project.  But I'll have to get into the studio at some point. 

Lampwork Blown Baubles

 

 If you've been following along, you might notice that I have a bit of an obsession with hollow glass forms.  If not, you do now.

I spent a lot of time this year making hollow beads.  And while I got to the end result I wanted, I'm always interested if there is a better way to do something.

 

When I saw Laura Quinn was offering a 'blow your own bauble' class just before Christmas, I signed up straight away. 

So on the Saturday before Christmas, my best mate and I, spent 2 hrs in Laura's studio learning how to blow baubles out of borosilicate glass tube, which is very different from the glass I normally work with.

Laura was so lovely and patient with us, and when I told her I had my own studio she was kind enough to get into much more technical details than I expect most people would get (or want).  And she let me make my own points!

We both had a really great morning and came away (well they were posted to us once annealed) with pretty decent baubles. 

 

What a great way to start the holidays!  Can't wait to see if I can do something similar in my own studio, although her torch was a monster, so I'll be working smaller I think. 

Cyanotype Christmas Cards

 After playing with cyanotype printing this summer, it gave me an idea for this years Christmas cards.

So while walking the dog early one August morning I made sure to take my secateurs and cut myself some bracken tips.

 

As you can see they make lovely little trees!  And each one is different.

Then I had to decide about decorations.  I had wanted to go the whole hog, but there were two issues.  If I did that it would make them hard to recyle, and two, simple just looked better.

So I glue gunned some stars on and left it at that.

 

I really like them, I hope those who received them did too. 

Happy Christmas.

Glass Holly Wreath

 

You may remember that last Christmas I went to West Dean and learnt how to copper foil by making some lovely glass stars.

I had lots of ideas for what I could do with this skills and did try some stuff out but life got in the way, like it does, and I sort of forgot what to do and gave up a bit.

 

However, when looking at the glass stars course last year there was another one I was very tempted by, and when I saw it was running again this year, I quickly signed up before it sold out - a glass holly wreath.

So today I was back at West Dean, for the last time this year, to learn how to make a glass wreath.

 

The wreath consists of 28 holly leaves, so while it could be a tedious process making all the leaves, it was actually the perfect project to remind myself how to cut the glass, apply the foil and then the solder. 

In the process I hope I built a bit of muscle memory too to help me get back to some of my other projects.

 

While not quite as laid back as the star project, as there were many more pieces and the curved cuts were a little harder to master, it was still a nice project to spend the day on.

I'm dead chuffed with how it came out and I know exactly where I'll be hanging it.  But while the stars have managed to stay out all year, I think this one will be going away with the Christmas decs in Jan. 

Printed Christmas Cards

 It wouldn't be Christmas without a handmade Christmas card.

I didn't think I was going to have time to make any this year, but then went to the local Arts and Crafts Society's last demonstration of the year which was Will Dyke, who is a local printer, and so was inspired.  (He's very good.)

I sketched out a quick design of a dove, then made it bigger to fit my card size.

Then I went to cut it and found my blades were all blunt.  So then I had to ask 'im outdoors if he could sharpen them, being the king of sharp things.  He did this and I tried again and has more success.

Then I tried printing with acrylic paint as I wanted some colour and I only have black or white ink, but that didn't work so well.  As I didn't have time to order any ink, I went with black and improvised.  In this case with a green Sharpie and some gold paint.  I quite like it.

 

Then I got my trusty Pritt-Stick out and stuck the prints to the cards I had.  Ta-da!

I always aim to do this in October but of course never do.  Maybe next year!  Still they got sent out in plenty of time and as far as I know arrived before the big day.

Glass Stars for Christmas

 In an attempt to feel more festive I was back at West Dean this week for a one day course on copper foiling.

When I booked it there were several different classes to choose from but in the end the stars won.  If you know me, that probably didn't surprise you!

 

We were a group with mixed experience, some had done this and stained glass work before, some were complete novices.  I've never really been interesting in stain glass, past admiring it in passing but I'd been thinking about ways to use and display my glass leaves and the copper foiling looked like a possibiliy.  Then I found out that you can make 3D things this way and I had to have a go! 

 

Copper foiling and stained glass are very similar, but stained glass is more robust and can be used outdoors if finished correctly.  Copper foiling is more delicate which is just what I was looking for.

First we were shown how to cut glass.  I have cut glass before, but not much, so it was good to get a refresher and by the end of the day I was much more confident.

 

Preperation was everything, so we needed to make sure we cut our glass precisely.  Any lumps or bumps needed to be ground off and the glass had to be washed to make sure it was really clean, otherwise the foil won't stick.

We had 3 different sized star templates on paper to work from, which worked very well.  We also had 5 different types of glass, one for each point of our stars.

 

With all our bits cut and cleaned we then learnt how to apply the copper foil.  It's very important that this is stuck to your glass very well, otherwise it can come off when you start to solder!  This means lots of rubbing to make sure it is stuck fast.

Once all our parts were ready we could then solder everything together.  First we tacked them together so they wouldn't move around, then we covered the edges before doing the joints.  It was quite a fast process.

 

The class was for 3 stars, but we could make more if we had time.  I made 2 more, a medium and a small.  I rushed the last small one so it didn't come out as well as I'd hoped, but I learnt lots from the mistakes I made. 

This was a fab little class.  It's very different from working with hot or even warm glass, but another string to my glass bow that I am very happy to have added.  I've got lots of ideas now that I want to try out!

Itsy Bitsy Christmas Bear Hug

 In September I wrote a post about a tiny felt bear that I made.

Having made one, I had no real desire to make another, however I did have an idea of how to amend the pattern to create some Christmas presents for people.

 

I started by creating some tiny yellow stars, then some shiny silver wings, before creating the bear.  Wings and faces were added first, then the bear was sewn up, remembering to add a ribben for hanging as I went, before stuffing and adding the stars.

 

Again, I made full use of train commute to the office.  There is something very satisfing to get off the train knowing you've made full use of the time.

A very simple gift, but something I hope will be added to the tree decorations of the future.

Christmas Cards 2022

 

Happy Christmas everyone!

Here is this years printed card design.  I wanted to see how detailed I could make it using lino and I'm pretty happy with how this turned out.

 

I found some pretty red card this year that looks pretty Christmasy, but I like the recycled brown card too.

 

And I've already got some ideas for next years design! 

Here's to the New Year and new adventures.

Chunky Snowflake Cardigan

 

I hate Christmas jumpers.  There I've said it.

I dislike how ugly they are and how they don't go with any of my other clothes.  I hate that they only get worn for maybe 2 days a year and then are likely to be chucked out.  The whole thing just seems wrong to me.

Every year I tell myself I will knit myself a nice Christmas jumper.  But I always leave it too long and then I can't find a pattern I like and then it's too late.

So this year I decided to get it done as my first real project of the year.  I found this pretty cardigan design and used Paintbox Yarns Simple Aran, in a mixture of cream and light and dark green.  (I thought it was green and blue when I first saw the pattern!)

It's knitted from the bottom up which I found a little weird - most projects I've done like this have been from the neck down.  It did mean I couldn't try it on to check it was a good length, I had the same problem with the arms.  I kinda feel like I lucked out on both as I think the fit is good.

I also believe all cardigan's should have pockets so I added a couple using the pattern from a cardigan I knitted a couple of years ago (and has spent the last 2 years locked in my locker at work!) I'm very pleased with how they came out, although a little high to walk around with your hands in them.

 

And what I really like, is that it is a pretty cardigan which will sit nicely over jeans/trousers or a dress and I can wear for the whole month of December if I want to.  No need to feel embarrassed this year on Christmas Jumper Day!  Roll on December.

Crochet Snowflake Table Runner

With all my Christmas projects finished and a week to go until the big day, I decided to try and slip in one last Christmas project.  A crochet snowflake table runner.

 

I've been wanting to do this project for ages, but I've found it really difficult to find some approprate wool.  The suggested wool is out of stock and no one can suggest an alternative.  In the end I took a chance on some Rico Fashion Cotton Metallise DK, which I was very pleased with.

Although the pattern was free, it had lots of detail and was easy to follow.  They suggested making a lenght 12 snowflakes long, but my table isn't that big so I stopped at 8. 

 

Once made you need to do something to stop it curling up at the edges, so I mixed some corn flour with water and dipped my crochet into it, then pinned it out to dry.  The starch from the corn flour is supposed to keep everything in place, and it seemed to work, without making it stiff. 

This was quite a quick project to work on and looked really pretty on the table.  I like how it matches our wooden table.  And if I decided it isn't long enough, it would be really easy to add more snowflakes.

Christmas Cards 2021

I decided to try printing my own Christmas cards again this year.  This time I decided to print directly onto the cards, so found myself some white ink, and cards in colours I thought would work together.

I like how they came out, a little bit messy, but sort of jolly.  Hopefully everyone else enjoyed them too.  Happy Christmas and all the best for the new year. 

Hand Printed Christmas Cards

 

This year I finally had time to create my own hand printed Christmas cards.  

I've wanted to do this ever since I spend a day at my neighbours house learning how to lino print last year.

I started by drawing out my design in my sketch book before transferring it onto my block of lino.  I then spent ages carving it out before doing my first test print.

 

I used way too much ink that first time, but my print still came out well and knowing that it would work, I started preparing my paper for printing.  I wanted my star to be coloured so I painted each sheet yellow first.  (the yellow is more lemon in real life)

 

Once they were printed I hung them up to dry and a week later cut them out and mounted them on old wapping paper before sticking to the cards.

 

I'm really pleased with how they've come out and I hope everyone who received one liked them too.  Maybe next year I'll be a bit more adventurous and try something bigger!

 

(Note to self: if you want people to know they are hand printed, you need to tell them - maybe by writing it on the back or something!)