Salaric

I made this card for my friends who had just moved into their shiny new (old) house. I used a sheet of orange card, yellow card, pink card, one maroon and one gold metallic gel pen from a large pen set from WH Smiths, pritt stick and a pair of scissors.

I decided to go for highly stylised houses so cut out three vastly different sized ‘wonky’ rectangles out of the yellow card. I then cut out appropriately-sized triangles for the houses’ roofs out of the pink card.

I then arranged the houses on the orange card, which I had folded in half and then in half again to get a good card size. I actually decided to rotate the rectangles by 90 degrees as I thought it looked better – fortunately all but one roof still looked fine. I then stuck them in place.

I then used the gold metallic gel pen to draw the doors and windows on the three houses – making sure that they were scaled appropriately as I had one tiny house, one medium-sized house and one large house. I found I needed to weigh the corner of the card down whilst I did the drawing and postioning of houses on the card – the scissors worked nicely for this.

Using the maroon metallic gel pen I then added the words “NEW HOME” at two different angles above the houses to sort of represent the slope on house roofs.

In the same pen I then added “WELCOME” underneath the houses. Of course the pens produced too thin a line for what I wanted to do, so I had to carefully trace round each letter several times to get the thickness required. The colour and effect of the pens has not come out well in the photos unfortunately 🙁 .

This week I went to the Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum, Clarence Street, Cheltenham. In gallery 13 they always have special exhibits which at the moment is the Alphabet of Trees.

This was quite an interesting exhibition with what I thought of as quite dark monochrome pictures with suggestive shapes lurking within them. Each print corresponds to a short poem, each of which represents a word to do with plants and trees starting with a different letter of the alphabet. The poems, to my mind, were also dark.

The poems belong to Philip Sharpe and the pictures were a visualisation of these, created by Andrew Judd. I think it was thought-provoking in itself but I also liked the explanation of how the pictures were created.

From the information available about the prints at the museum they were created by relief printing using two blocks – a main or key block, which I assume provided the main body of each picture, and a second tonal block. The main block was cut into lino (linoleum) whilst the secondary blocks used a variety of media such as:

• Wood cuts

• An etching technique involving marking the surface of a lino block with caustic soda – at the museum it said the surface was ‘bitten’ with the soda

• Sand or salt stuck to a block which creates a texture when used with some sort of acrylics

The prints were based on charcoal landscapes that were turned into mono-images from which the printing blocks were cut.

If you happen to be around Cheltenham then it’s worth a look – the museum’s free. Unfortunately this display finishes on the 8th of March. There is apparently a book for sale containing the pictures so once I have sorted out my Amazon account I will add it to this post! Along with more info on printing.

This was my first card I made for my husband (then boyfriend) for our first Valentine’s as I had no money for a card but had a lot of card about for making posters. I was surprised to find he still had it as it has been through two house moves and a flood!

I used one sheet of black card, pale lavender card and shocking pink card; I also used pritt stick and a pair of scissors.

I folded the black card in four and then decided I was going to use the resulting blank card in ‘portrait’ orientation rather than ‘landscape’. I then cut the heart out of the lavender card. I did, however, draw it out first before doing this, hence this heart is a bit more symmetrical than a lot of my hearts! I then decided that it would look far too girly to put the heart straight onto the card (I was worried about how I could make the card a Valentine’s card without it being very frilly and feminine). I then glued the heart on the shocking pink card and freehand cut out an explosive abstract border made up of irregular zigzags.

I then stuck this onto the black card and was very happy with the effect.

I made this card for my friend’s wedding but it would make a good engagment or Valentine’s card or possibly a birthday card for a girlfriend or some such.

For this card I used a sheet of pale blue card, magenta/purple card, pale pink card, eight iridescent leaf sequins, PVA white craft glue, pritt stick glue and scissors.

I started by folding the pale blue card into four, I then cut out a heart about 7cm in height from the magenta/purple card. I stuck this onto the centre of the card using the pritt stick.

I then glued on the iridescent leaves in pairs as they make nice little hearts like this. I had to use blobs of PVA to glue them onto the card. I then had to leave it to dry lying flat on the table top. I made four of these little hearts which irregularly border the large heart in the middle of the card. It was at this point I decided something needed to be in the middle of the large heart. I did initially try another iridescent heart but decided it didn’t look good.

Instead I cut out a small pink heart from the baby pink card. I then stuck this onto the card using the pritt stick.

At the moment the Museum and Art Gallery in Cheltenham has an exhibite called Medieval Machines which I took my two year old to. Whilst there I became intreged by this loom.

The long threads attatched to the frame are called the wrap – these are the ones running along the leanth of the loom that you weave the wool in and out of. The way this loom is set up there is a treddle which appears to be the treadle bar at the bottom though I wouldn’t swear to that and a heddle which I think was the flate panel of wood in the middle that had the string running though it, alternatively in slots or wholes. When the peadle was pressed down it raised this panel so that the strings going through the wholes where raised whilst those in the slots stayed in the same place. This ment that instead of weaving in and out, over and under each alternate thread you could just pushed the thread though the middle and then either put your foot on or off of the pedle and repeat the process.

The presance of the heddle is too allow both hands to be free for moving the thread backwards and forwards.

The resulting weave though some ones obviously not followed the instructions here!

There was also a piece of wood with rounded ‘teeth’ cut out of it along one side – this was the comb. This was used to push the threads down into place so that they sat flush against the previous row. The would make the fabric far neater I think.

The wool its self was wrapped around a wooden plank with two longer slightly curved pieces of wood either side that looked like runners on a sled. This is called the shuttle and makes moving the thread through alot easier. The wall that was rapped around the shuttle I think is called the weft.

There was also some information about the general history of weaving and looms. He is what I learned:

Apparently weaving begain with farming in the Neolithic which was about 10, 000 years ago. Origonally looms where upright with the long threads known as the wrap hanging down weighted by stones to keep them tuaght.

The clever teddle/heddle thing appeared to be a middle ages thing and allowed better efficiency with both hands being used to move the shuttle (wooden block with the thread, wool etc… rapped around it). Later on several heddle rods – the middle panel thing with the slots and wholes in (I think) where used to make complecated patterns.

This next bit is sort of about textile history in general but I thought it was quiet interesting in a handicraft sort of way!

Textiles it turns out were the most important industry apart from agriculture in medieval times. This was especially the case in places like Northern History and Flanders (which I think might have been part of Spain).

England origonally was just a wool merchant but then we got interested and started making our own stuff. I personally wonder about the rest of the UK did they develope their own textile industries around this time too?

To my suprise the spinning wheel did not reach Europe until about 1300 years ago. It migrated from the Middle East and helped the textile industries emmensly by increasing thread production.

Obviously I have parraphrased alot of this from stuff I read at the museum and from other things I have read since going to the exhibition.

Unfortunatly it is only there until the 8th of MArch 2008 but if you can catch the exhibite then it is lots of fun 🙂 I have also made some scetches that I hope to add to this post at some future date.

Wiki links that are interesting reguarding this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_technology

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_clothing_and_textiles

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textile_manufacturing_terminology

I made this card for my friend’s birthday as his birthday, like mine, falls in the winter months, I wanted to show that the winter landscape can be just as beautiful and majestic as those of summer.

I used a sheet of craft card that was slightly bigger than A4 as it is meant more for mounting work on. It was pale blue with a pink blotchy texture that I felt was representative of the winter sky. I also used some pale blue card, magenta purple card, pink card, pritt stick glue, winter trees (which I had punched out of wrapping paper from my birthday the year before which had pale pinks, purples, blues, whites and silver on them) and a pair of scissors.

I then folded the blue and pink paper first in half longways and then in half again to get an appropriate card size.

I then cut out the swooping hills from the magenta card, measuring it against the bottom of the card. I stuck this one with the pritt stick and then did the same for the pale pink hill which I had swooping in from the other side.

I then cut out a large circle from the pale blue card – about 5cm in diameter – which I stuck on the card as a large cold winter sun.

I then arranged the trees in a way I thought looked aesthetically pleasing and stuck them all on, one at a time. With a shape like these trees there are lots of thin fragile pieces of paper which will pull off or crumple up if you are too rough with the glue. What I did was to carefully lay the shape completely on the end of the pritt stick and then slowly slide it gently over the surface of the glue. I then peeled it off using the thickest part of the shape.

When I was about ten I helped my dad make this wooden cup. I then used it to drink mead from at our wedding and it sits there on display in our living room to this day. I couldn’t remember much of how it was made other than that it involved a lathe so I’ve again asked my poor old dad to write how it was done for me – here is what he’s done for me:

TURNING A CHERRY WOOD CHALICE

For turning you will need a lathe, which is a machine for spinning a piece of wood fast enough for you to use a chisel to cut parts off. OK I simplified it a bit (alright a lot).

First, select a suitable piece of timber.

I was lucky as I had been given a piece of cherry wood that had sat in a garden for several months seasoning.

A piece of wood from a tree comes complete with bark which has to be removed before you can start turning. This is easy if the timber is seasoned.

First make one end flat and about 90 degrees to the edge, i.e. the ‘sides’ that had the bark on. A hand saw is the best tool for this job.

Then draw some lines across the end to find the centre; you will also have to find the centre of the other end.

My lathe is old and cheap, so if yours is new and/or expensive some of the following may not make sense.

Place the log on the bowl turning plate. On my lathe this amounts to a plate with holes to enable you to attach the wood with screws. Once the timber is attached use the plate as the headstock. That’s the part that is fixed to the motor and spins the wood.

Next, slide the tailstock up to the log. This is a single point and should be pushed into the centre mark of the log and tightened.

At this point you are ready to start turning.

Start the lathe and begin turning using a large gouge. That’s the half round jobby, er, chisel.

The big gouge will remove the bark and enough wood to make the log round even though it will be a bit on the rough side. Regularly check to make sure that the tailstock is tight in the wood, otherwise whatever you are turning will tear out of the tailstock. Don’t ask how I know this will happen.

10 year old girls and even younger children quite enjoy this part of the process as it throws rather a lot of wood chips in all directions. Yes it is quite safe for children to do this, providing that you never ever leave them alone.

When there are no low points on the wood you can change to a skew chisel, which will enable you to obtain a much finer finish. A skew chisel is a flat blade with a cutting edge on the end that is angled.

Once you have achieved a smooth finish, stop the lathe and mark the dimensions of the chalice i.e. depth of the bowl, length of stem and the depth of the base, with a pencil. A short pencil mark is all that is needed as, when you start the lathe, they will appear as feint lines around the wood which can be drawn completely round by holding the pencil on the mark.

Now using the bottom point of the skew chisel you can begin to shape the piece by moving it either left or right and pressing the point to get a deeper cut and a nice smooth curve.

When you have achieved the desired shape for the chalice it should be completed with sandpaper. Medium rough texture first and then fine to give a very smooth finish. I chose a simple design suitable for a 10 year old. Sadly she thought it was far too simple. So I advise you to talk to your children and listen very carefully to what they tell you, then talk it over until you find out what they really want.

Remove the tailstock and place the chisel rest in the correct place and you are ready to shape the inside of the bowl using a small gouge. This is done by placing one half of the cutting edge close to the edge of the bowl and moving it to the centre. Do this until the required depth is reached, making sure that you do not cut the wall of the chalice too thin. Finish with sandpaper as before.

Finally I gave it two or three coats of yacht varnish so that it could be used as a drinking vessel. It seems to have worked.

Enjoy your turning.

For the New Year I wanted to do floating lanterns with my Scout group to help them think about global and local issues. I came up with this design of lantern the night before the meeting. Initially the lanterns were cut out of a square of cardboard and folded over one side to the middle to make a rectangle. I then folded the other side over to the middle to make a narrower rectangle. Then I folded the ends over to meet in the middle.

I then unfolded it and had a smaller square in the centre, marked out by the folds. Then I folded the square along the diagonal to get a triangle and then folded that in half to get a smaller triangle. Following that, I unfolded it again. Now I had a small square in the middle which was divided into four triangles – I ignored those triangles. Around this small square there were four rectangles joined at each corner by a small square – the small squares were divided into two triangles. I pinched the cardboard at these corners so that the small squares folded along the line that made the triangles – this gave me a nice square-shaped dish with elegant pointed corners.

I then roughly checked weather a tea light candle would fit. It did, so I roughly measured how long the side of the dish was – this is equal to that of the inside square I had earlier on. At this point I had no ruler so it was very very rough. I cut out a rectangle that was about four times as long as one of the dish’s sides and about one and a half dish sides high. I forgot to add in any sort of tab before cutting it out.

Once cut out I folded it into four so that it made a chimney for the lantern. I then cut a slit the depth of the dish’s side – up each corner of the chimney at the bottom. I then slid each of the sticking out corners of the dish through these slits. I had to use sellotape to fix the chimney together, which was a bit fiddly. I then lit the tea light candle with a long match and placed it on a bowl of water. The design worked!

I then got a ruler and a black fineliner (bought at WH Smith’s) and drew out a plan for the lantern, this time with a tab. I then scanned it but unfortunately the base/dish and the sides/chimney would not fit onto on sheet of A4. Now I had a digital copy of it on the computer where I got rid of the slight mistakes I’d made – drawing a solid line where I’d wanted a dashed line.

I then printed enough bases and sides for 20 lanterns on brightly coloured paper from dazzle create pads we’d picked up at some point in Tesco’s. I managed to get two bases onto one sheet of A4 – I realised this would mean I had more bases in various colours but reasoned that the kids would probably want to mix and match anyway.

So, using my template you need one template base and one template chimney, one pair of scissors, some sellotape, a tea light and a pen.

I cut out the templates; I had bold lines for lines where you cut and dashed lines for where you were supposed to fold. This included the slits at the bottom of the chimney.

I then put the names of countries that had been in the news for some sort of negative reason on the sides of the chimney and taped the tab to the side. I put the sellotape on the outside to prevent any sort of fire risk but some of the kids put it on the inside and their lanterns were fine, so I think I was being over-cautious.

When I finished I then showed the lantern to the kids and explained what to do.

This is what they produced. There were some interesting variations on the original design but they all worked and looked really good with the tea lights in them glowing away in different colours.

Here are all the things that our two year old daughter made at nursery for Christmas:

This little pot was her Christmas present to mummy and daddy; it’s made out of a peat pot that you would normally grow seedlings in. Around the rim there are metallic Christmas shapes of the kind you would find in table confetti like stars and bells, probably stuck there with PVA craft glue. A piece of green sugar paper has then been placed in the pot with a few chocolate coins.

This calender is now hanging up in my husband’s office. It is made out of a paper plate painted green and blue with a metallic sheen to it. The middle of the paper plate has been cut away, leaving just the rim. A photo of our little girl was cut out and laminated, then attatched to it by being sellotaped to a metallic red and green pipe cleaner which was bent into a loop and also sellotaped to the paper plate. This gave it a nice effect, as if the photo was a pendulum in a clock. They then stuck on a little tear-off calender on the bottom.

All the Christmas stuff arrived home in this snowman bag. It was made by taping two large sheets of thin purple card together along three sides to make the actual bag compartment. The handle was made of purple metallic parcel ribbon approximately 1.5cm wide, which was again sellotaped in place. The actual snowman was made of three white circles, starting with the smallest as the snowman’s head. These had been glittered and then painted over with white poster paint and glued, overlapping, onto the bag. The carrot nose was cut out of orange paper and stuck on and the blue hat was again just cut out and stuck on. Then the mouth, eyes and buttons were drawn on in thick black colouring pencil. The writing was then done in thick silver paint pens. On the back of the bag Jean had made handprints in white poster paint.

These three napkin rings are incredibly simple and I thought they were really effective. One orange and one black Christmas tree and one pinky red bell were cut out to use as decoration. Each ring was two of the decorative shapes connected at the bottom by a strip of card. They were decked out with glue and glitter – gold glitter on the black Christmas tree, white glitter on the orange tree and more gold glitter on the bell. A hole punch was used to punch through both shapes at the top and tie them together with a bow of parcel ribbon in metallic Christmassy colours. A sheet of kitchen towel was then rolled up and put them into them as napkins.

This Christmas tree was Jean’s Christmas card to use – again this is incredibly simple. A Christmas tree shape was cut out from a folded piece of card, making sure that the points of the branches weren’t cut too finely by the actual fold, so that it remained a card and not two tree shapes! With help, Jean added baubles to the tree by finger-painting with red and yellow. A red glittery pom pom was then stuck on the top.

During their Christmas party I got the scouts to make Christmas cards – I just put the equipment out which included: ink pads in green, dark green, red, cherry red, orange, yellow, navy blue, purple, black, silver and gold (all bought from The Works in Stroud for £1.45 for three colours in one box); two lots of Christmas foam stamps from The Pound Shop which included bells, reindeers, snowflakes, Santas, candy canes, robins, holly, sleighs, gingerbread men and Christmas trees; foam Christmas shapes like baubles, reindeers, trees and holly; lolly sticks in red and green; lots of pom poms and pipe cleaners in festive colours; Christmas shapes punched out of last year’s wrapping paper such as snowmen, snowflakes and presents; PVA white craft glue; glitter; goggly eyes; safety scissors; stencils of a nativity scene; metallic gel pens; ordinary colouring pens and pencils; cotton wool and card of lots of different colours and textures that they could fold up to make Christmas cards with. Here is what they produced. (We also had quiet a few younger children there as it was a party).