Going Shopping with Elizabeth Allan in 1955

Elizabeth Allan was a well known British actress and film star of the 1940's who made the transition to TV, becoming a popular panellist on the biggest hit of 1950's British TV, 'What's My Line'. She was beautiful, elegant, witty and known for wearing remarkable jewellery. She was also voted Top Female TV Personality of 1952 - the year before I was born - an era when there were not that many people who even had a TV!

This is another great film from the free films available on the British Film Institute's (BFI) National Archive on You Tube. There are hundreds from all eras and well worth having a scroll through. I picked this one to accompany yesterday's offering becuse it's still about tea... my favourite, favourite drink. I drink far too much of it but even I am not as frugal as Elizabeth. She looks like such a class act but she'll tell you that one tea bag can produce between 4 - 6 cups of tea. Now, I like it weak, but I don't want to be No 6 in the queue!

Everything stops for tea

I just found this. I am still laughing. It is priceless. You'll never dunk that tea bag in a mug ever again without a pang of guilt. Make a cup, put your feet up for 10 minutes and enjoy!

Bee prepared

It's my husband's birthday in a couple of weeks and I bought his present this week. I got him a stethoscope. Now, he's not a doctor and before you ask, no, I did not get the nurse's outfit to go with it.... he wanted one for his bees! He is not intending to check their health individually but it is going to be put to use to check on their collective wellbeing.

In the coming weeks he will need to check they are all OK without disturbing them and the stethoscope, put to the hive, will let him hear the encouraging thrum of lots of honey bees keeping each other warm inside. This is an idea we picked up from Mustard Plaster, a wonderful blog I've been reading regularly for over a year now. It's an eclectic mix of bees, chickens and vegetable gardening and a fascinating read. I often can't resist watching this video of the vegetables and bees of summer 2007. It always makes me smile. I defy you not to do the same.

Big Garden Birdwatch this weekend

This weekend is the annual date for the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch. All you have to do is count the birds in your garden or park or wherever you are for just one hour on either Saturday 30th or Sunday 31st. Even if you see nothing, that is still valuable information. The data will help spot trends in the increase or decline of our native and migrant birds.

We've been completing it for a number of years and sadly, this year we will record a big decline in yellowhammers. We've been lucky to see lots in recent winters but to date, I've seen just one. Mind you, I've also seen only one wren this winter as well and they are now Britain's commonest bird according to an article I read the other day, so any data will obviously be useful.

Go here to find out more and download a recording sheet. If you have a spare hour, please give it a thought.

Nuno - part two!

I enjoyed myself so much yesterday I decided to make inroads into that horde of scarves I've got. I remember paying about 50p for this viscose scarf, thinking it was a bit twee for me but I liked the pale blue and cream colour combination. So, this morning, in a very cold shed, I got the circulation going by setting it out as before and then making lots of circles of white fleece to lay on the top.

This can be quite a contemplative process as it takes about an hour to do enough to cover a 6 foot scarf. In the freezing cold of my shed it was a tedious process and my hands were nearly blue with the cold but I knew the finished result could be well worth it.

After fully wetting it out as before I rolled the scarf complete with bubblewrap around a piece of foam tubing. Some people use the things to aid swimming. I use the pipe lagging from the DIY store. Same difference. It's firm yet pliable.

After many, many rolls I was very warm. It's great for getting the circulation going on a cold day. Folllowed by a lot of throwing and chucking about to shock the felt and hey presto, I had another scarf. This one is lovely and I am very pleased with it but I'm going to give the nuno a rest for a few days as my shoulders are feeling the brunt of all that physical activity!

Going to go back and finish a few sewing projects that are crying out for completion. Must stop jumping into one thing whilst there are still things outstanding - like these little purses that I neglected for a few days because I couldn't get the buttonholes right.

I found the tutorial for this on the lovely blog, Mackville Road. Scroll down the sidebar on the right and it's easy to find . Diane's looks a lot better than mine and she adds a piece of felt to the front for needles as the tutorial is for a sewing bag. I used both lightweight and curtain weight fabric and think it might have been easier with two lightweight cottons.

I finally got my machine to play ball with making the buttonholes but the first one I did was too long and the second one was too short, making the button look off centre. This is why I positioned it a bit behind the other in the photo! Somehow I don't think I'll make any more. They are lovely to have and to use but if I have to get the buttonhole foot out again I shall scream. In our head to head the machine is winning at the moment but if I finish some of my outstanding projects I'll feel like I'm getting a little bit even with it.

Time to nuno

When I was in town doing my shopping chores this morning I popped into the charity shop and found this lovely silk scarf for £1.95. It sort of reminded me of a 1950's textile pattern and black and red is a favourite combination of mine too. Now, I am always buying either silk or viscose scarves when I see them, never paying more than a couple of pounds for them and keeping them in a box planning one day to felt into them. This is a technique known as nuno felt and it is supposedly an advanced technique but I have run workshops where beginners have dyed a scarf and then nuno felted it at their first attempt. So, having established that I have quite a few of these scarves, why buy another? Good question. Can't answer it. Just wanted to do some felting after having a clear out yesterday and realising just how much fibre I still have to use up. Thought I'd document the process in case anyone would like to try it. As you can see the scarf is laid out on bubble wrap (bubble side up) with a towel underneath it. My table in the shed is 6 foot long so you will be able to calculate the shrinkage later. Silk works best but any fabric that you can blow through and feel your breath will take this technique.

I decided to lay the fibre just down the centre and laid out two fine, thin layers at right angles to each other, on one side only. The next step is to wet the fibre. I use a milk bottle with holes punched in the top and sprinkle the water on. In contrast to traditional wet felting you don't want the water too hot. If it is, the wool will felt too quickly and you need time to encourage the fibres to migrate through the warp and weft of the scarf, so lukewarm to cool is the best option, plus a dash of washing up liquid. A lot of felters use olive oil soap but I am not worried about the archival issues and have never had a problem.

Once the fibre is wet I fold the other half of the bubble wrap over on top and use my hands to make sure everything is well wetted.I spent a few minutes doing this and then rolled the whole thing around a foam tube and rolled it back and forth. I forgot to photograph this bit as I was engrossed in the rolling process. You have to count as you do it and I rolled about 300 times - feltmaking is not for the weak and wimpy. No wonder I have biceps like Popeye! After testing to see if the fibre has started to adhere to the scarf you fold it and start throwing it on the table. First you fold it fibre side inwards. Then you change it all around. The knack is to keep folding and throwing and it is the shock of this process that causes the wool to felt. In truth I also have a secret weapon which is a converted sander. I used that a little bit today because I made three scarves on the trot but it is mainly brute strength that gets the job done.

It's a good idea at the sandwich stage to refresh the felt in alternating baths of hot and cold water. This also adds to the shock factor and gets the process going. I often whack it on the table from a great height because I love the noise but the spray does tend to get everywhere and you're up to your knees in water if you're not careful. Anyway, I made three scarves today and felt physically tired (no pun intended) so decided to 'finish' them off in the washing machine. After a fast wash cycle at 60 degrees here is my finished scarf.

Remembering that I started off with a 6 foot scarf I have achieved about 25% shrinkage but I love the way the fabric puckers and crinkles with the felt coming through it.

This green scarf was a polyester/viscose one. I put it on the sewing machine and stitched the long sides together loosely. When I laid it out I put the seam uppermost in the middle and made lots of circles of fibre, laying them out on both sides down the centre. I felted this until it was just holding together and then threw it in the machine with the other two.

The circles have felted together in a lovely organic way and again, it has shrunk by about 25% . I am happy with both of them but the third scarf was a disaster. Par for the course with me these days. This one I felted completely on one side and I was really looking forward to it. Sadly, the washing machine was a step too far and it has shrunk so much it won't fit round a doll's neck even. As I never pay much for the scarves I shall chalk it up to experience but I've been doing this for so long I should know better.

I might do a few more tomorrow but I found an old project while I was up the shed and it has taken my interest again.... and I still have those buttonholes to try to do to finish sewing my little remnant purses. Might do that now while I'm in the mood. After being caught out by the washing machine, I'm going to show the sewing machine who's boss!

Alma

Found via Articles and Texticles. This is dark, dark, dark. I loved it but don't show it to children-especially if they're called Alma.

Alma from Rodrigo Blaas on Vimeo.

Izzy Wizzy lets get bizzy

I've been having one of those weeks when they're aren't enough hours in the day to do all the things you want to. Similarly, for every thing I did that went right, I made or did something that was just a total disaster although I cannot share my first felting catastrophe as I threw it in the bin in a fit of pique.... well, in truth, it was in a temper.... of course it was the fault of the wool..... For some unfathomable reason I decided to make a hat for a friend's baby granddaughter who arrived before Christmas. I bought some pink fibre in a shop in Bristol last week and it just did not felt. Perhaps it was because I don't do pink normally and there was an inner resistance to getting it right. Anyway, it ended up in the bin but I wanted to make something - so yesterday, I made this cobweb scarf. Just in case you think I made another mistake those holes are meant to be there... honest....

It's a great 'quick fix' project. Takes about 30 minutes to do and uses minimal fibre. This weighs about 20 grammes and I used a wool and silk blend because I love the way the silk ripples through the thing but it can be done with other fibres too. The book was not a quick fix though because it's been on the dining room table staring at me for months.

Every now and again I have a tidy up and I keep coming across these covers I rescued from an old book that was falling apart. I tried to tidy the edges with no success so I think I was just moving them further down the table towards the door and then the bin, but this morning I decided I must do something with them so I made some quick book signatures from typing paper and stitched up the book . The original idea was to make a sketchbook from them but I will just use this as a notebook I think....

Mind you I have quite a few notebooks already because I made two more of the books I posted about last week with the tutorial link. I came across the wallpaper samples that Sanderson sent me last year. The paper quality is lovely and I adore the design and colour combinations. I laminated the paper to some stiffer card for the covers and then made these two.

It's a great way to use up scraps of decorative paper and card. I can see a production line of these coming off if I'm not careful but I haven't got time for them. I'm too busy trying to remedy the failures I have not had the bottle to show... like the printing that went all streaky....like the nuno felt scarf I tried to make that fell apart... like the two hours I spent last night trying to get my sewing machine to make a buttonhole on some little purses I made from remnants. For some reason my machine has a mind of its own and won't do what the manual tells me it will. Does that sound like bad workman and tool blaming syndrome to you?It does, doesn't it? I think I have it bad and need to get out more.

Celebrating Paper

Yesterday I went to an exhibition at the RWA in Bristol called Celebrating Paper. It is on until 21st February and is definitely worth a visit if you're interested in the ways artists use paper. There were works from traditional papermakers who make their own papers through to artists using found papers like maps and old books to create mixed media pieces. There was little in the way of techniques like papier mache and papercutting but it is such a massive area of interest how on earth could they cover everything?

However, over 50% of the exhibition fell clearly into the printmaking category. There were artists making their own paper to print on to and quite a few 3D constructions from etched and collagraphed prints. My particular favourites were the works of Penny Brewill. These were etchings, contrived into boxed constructions or plans of Heath Robinson type contraptions. Unsurprisingly she says of her work that she has a '... keen interest in model making, plans, machines and a curiosity in discovering how things work....'

Of what I call the true papermakers, there was a piece by American artist Helen Hiebert incorporating thread between handpulled abaca sheets. It is called 'The Way it is' and uses a printed line from the poem of the same name by William Stafford. I'd never heard of him before but found it today and love the whole thing :

There's a thread that you follow. It goes among

things that change. But it doesn't change.

People wonder about what you are pursuing.

You have to explain about the thread.

But it is hard for others to see.

While you hold it you can't get lost.

Tragedies happen; people get hurt

or die; and you suffer and get old.

Nothing you can do can stop time's unfolding.

You don't ever let go of the thread.

Trying something new... to me anyway

Because I get up so early, I often do my posts at this time, when my signal strength is at its best. It makes uploading any photos much easier. As I'm off to Bristol early tomorrow morning I really wanted to share the results of some experiments I've done today so thought I'd add this extra post in now because I am so intrigued with the results.

Now, this technique has been around for a couple of years I think, but I only read about it a week or so ago and I just had to try it out. When I started searching for other people using it on the web there are lots of blogs showing pictures so I apologise if I am behind the times with this one, but it is new to me and I wanted to see whether I would use it as background papers for collages or in a sketchbook. It might make a good background for journal pages too , or might not.

This technique uses a cleaning product called Citr-Solv, available through health stores and mail order in the UK. It must be the concentrated form. Diluted forms do not work. It can ONLY be achieved on the pages of National Geographic magazine. It does not work on any other magazine AND it doesn't work if the National Geographic is over 10 years old. It works because the magazine lays down a thin layer of gold ink under its photographs, something I presume that did not happen more than 10 years ago! The Citr-Solv and the gold ink work their alchemy and produce these background papers.

Taking a brush or sponge pad the Citr-Solv is painted onto each page of the magazine, coating both sides. I ripped mine out in advance but you can do the whole magazine. The key is to keep all the pages stacked together after each side has been coated, leaving them then for about 30 - 40 minutes. I read varying times for this but the minimum is 30 minutes. When you're ready , start to peel each page apart from the others and put them separately to dry. The concentrate smells heavily of oranges but you cannot disguise the fact that this is a potent cleaner so good ventilation is vital. The pages must not dry out as they'll never come apart!

I only trialled mine on a few pages about travelling in Scotland so they were mainly moody photographs which now look moodier. It will be interesting to try it on text pages and other images. In close up, some of the colours are fabulous. It's wonderful to see how the ink has broken down and I shall be doing some more at the weekend. I think I will use them as backgrounds to collages but I've been doing a fair bit of screenprinting and monoprinting this week so also see possibilities there for printing on top of.

I'm hoping to get to see an exhibition about paper in Bristol tomorrow. With my grasshopper brain, that will no doubt take over my thoughts for a few days after that so I might forget about this process, but I hope not. This has possibilities and I hope I will re-visit it again.

Repetitive Strain Injury

Over at Third Age Musings Jill has caught the needlefelting bug and is going great guns but I, being the Job's Comforter that I am, posted a cautionary comment about repetitive strain injury (RSI). It has been well documented that these sort of activities need to be done in short bursts rather than for sustained lengths of time and it got me thinking about Shauna Richardson as I had been reading about her work earlier in the day.

There was a lot of publicity last year when it was announced that Shauna would be crocheting 3 large 30ft lions in time for the 2012 Olympics. She calls her work 'crochetdermy' and I can only hope she has a group of outworkers helping her. Imagine her wrists after all that crocheting! Have a look at more of her work here. As someone who can crochet, but being left-handed, does not crochet in the accepted sense of the word, I am amazed by her skill and imagination at using such a traditional craft in an untraditonal way.

The same has got to be said for Kate Jenkins. Coincidentally - how often does this happen? - I'd also been reading about Kate yesterday on All Things Considered. Her use of crochet is so witty and inventive and I had a great time on her website looking at not only the quality of the work but the amusing way things have been altered. Alongside her clothes range are special galleries. My favourites were the insects and Kate's Cafe.

And as for the food.... well it made me smile and brightened up a grey day. I love the humour and admire the skill of both of these artists. I know there are many more out there using crochet in such an imaginative way. Me though? I'll stick to double chain and treble chain in short bursts. I know my limitations and mustn't do myself an injury after all!

Starlings in Winter

This morning I was mesmerised by the sheer volume of starlings flying past. The stream of birds just went on and on, most heading back to the farm down the road I suspect. Some stopped off in the field next door as usual and it just seems the right time to share a poem I found the other day by Mary Oliver called 'Starlings in Winter':


Clunky and noisy,
but with stars in their black feathers,
they spring from the telephone wire
and instantly
they are acrobats
in the freezing wind.
And now, in the theatre of air,
they swing over buildings,
dipping and rising;
they float like one stippled star
that opens,
becomes for a moment fragmented,
then closes again,
and you watch
and you try
but you simply can't imagine
how they do it
with no articulated instruction, no pause,
only the silent confirmation
that they are this notable thing,
this wheel of many parts, that can rise and spin
over and over again,
full of gorgeous life.
Ah, world, what lessons you prepare for us,
even in this leafless winter,
even in the ashy city.
I am thinking now
of grief, and of getting past it;
I feel my boots trying to leave the ground,
I feel my heart
pumping hard. I wait
to think again of dangerous and noble things.
I want to be light and frolicsome.
I want to be improbably beautiful and afraid of nothing,
as though I had wings.

Blowing away the cobwebs

I broke one of my cardinal rules today and did my weekly supermarket shop on a Sunday. My husband had to go to work for the morning and I was up early with him so thought if I did it today I would then get the whole day to myself tomorrow. Although I did it, it did not sit well with me as I am a great believer in retaining that 'Sunday' feeling and making it a 'shopping free' zone. Equally, when my husband got home he said we needed to do something that made the day seem like a Sunday for us.

Well, one of our Sunday treats from Spring onwards is a good walk so we drove the 20 minutes it takes to get here, the Green Bridge of Wales, and had a bracing walk along the cliff tops.... In truth it was mild and there was absolutely no breeze. The weight of the snow has made all the grass looked like the waves of the sea and it was a beautiful afternoon for a walk from the bridge along to Elegug Stacks, known locally as Stack Rocks.

Very soon both of these rock formations will be host to a mass of seabirds all gathering to breed. There will be razorbills, kittiwakes, puffins and guillemots by the hundreds. Today we were lucky enough to see the choughs that inhabit these cliffs. There were about a dozen flying about which are pretty good numbers for any time of year. It was a special couple of hours and took away some of the guilt at doing that shopping this morning. Now all I have to do is make sure I make the most of tomorrow so that it was worthwhile.

Lisa Hannigan

I had an e mail from a friend this weekend telling me about these videos by Lisa Hannigan, whose album 'See Sew' was an absolute favourite of mine from last year. I had no idea these existed but my friend knows how I love paper in all its glory. There are two worth looking at. There is the official video for the CD using pop-up books and this one for 'I don't know', one of my favourite tracks, involving paper cutting. Both are worth a look if you love books and paper or if Lisa is a new voice to you.

Some you win.... and some you don't

You know when you do something and nothing, but nothing, goes right with it? Ever had that happen to you? Yes ? Then you'll know the feeling I've had for the past few weeks trying to make this bag. It was a great idea - but only in my head it seems... I saw this beaded fringe on a market stall and a vision of it adorning a bag came into my mind so I bought a metre. It was £4, so not a snip, yet I paired it with a remnant of creamy gold curtaining that only cost a £1. Already you can see I was not thinking clearly...

I decided to use some grey linen from Laura Ashley for the top of both the inside and the outside so my husband kindly offered to buy it when he was next in town. I wanted a bare half metre but he came home with a metre because there was a 30% off sale on the day and he thought it was good value. I told him that 30% off of half a metre was better value but I was stuck with it. Now I have gone from the sublime to the ridiculous in what this bag is costing to make but that's nothing to the horrors I encountered when I started. Firstly I couldn't sew the fringing as the beads kept getting under the presser foot. Think - change to zipper foot! Better? Marginally, but it looks OK from a distance. I've picked it up, thrown it down, picked it up, thrown it down for the past three weeks....get the picture?

Then I tried to put it together and the linen was so stiff I ruined the first set of handles. Made a second pair. Ruined those too. So now I'm beginning to thank my husband for buying that metre but cursing at the same time at the cost of the fabric I'm wasting. I had great plans to make a bow on the outside and use stiffening on the bag but abandoned all of those in the end. This morning I made the THIRD pair of handles and just finished it as it was. I can't see me buying any more fringing for another try and it's not even my sort of bag. A classic case of where I had to try something but didn't think it all through in advance. So typical of me.... as is my next idea with this man's jacket from the charity shop....

Now I don't want to offend anyone but what man in his right mind would wear a bright green jacket with red threads running through it? I saw this on Monday and it was only £4. It stood out a mile. Luckily these photos don't show how green it is... anyway, when I looked at the label I noticed it was wool and alpaca so I snapped it up and I've cut out the panels from the back piece and used the lining to make another bag.

Disappointed with my previous effort I decided to hang fire before getting too far down the road. One of my friends suggested I overdye the fabric for the bag or overdye some of the rest of the jacket for future ideas. Another friend suggested I embroider some motifs or something on the material before I make up the bag. As I have a lot of skeins of thin wool, dyed with natural dyes, this is a possibility, but the project then starts to stretch out into something that will take me months to do and I am a quick turn around merchant. If it takes too long I go off the boil and drop it in favour of a quick fix. If anyone has any ideas they would be gratefully received.

Finally, speaking of quick fixes and because I had to try and do something today that I was pleased with, I made this little journal. I got the idea from here which suggests using photographs for the covers. They call it a photojournal but I didn't want to do that. I had these old notecards from Ikea and used the two I had left for the front and back covers. I cut the text block from a note pad I had and found a strip of decorative paper for the binding. All you need to make it is some pva glue, a brush and some pegs or bulldog clips. The video tutorial on the link is very good and the book only took about 45 minutes to make. This includes hanging around waiting for glue to dry, so worth a try.

So the day started off badly but got better. Then I had a lovely present arrive in the post from a friend. It made my day completely. It can't get much better from here on in!

Making tracks

Blackbird

Squirrel

Fox - no! Rabbit (thanks Jill)

Husband

After yet another night of it, now I really have had enough of the 'S' word. This is how I'd like to see it - on film - online - and definitely not on my drive.

Wintertime from David Köhlmeier on Vimeo.