Xmas Arts and Crafts

Fairies, Angels, Father Xmas:
Gosh another Xmas has come and gone. Feeling very full and a lot fatter!

Last year I left for South Africa as soon as the school term ended and spent December in the sunshine.

Looking through my photographs this afternoon, I realised that I didn't get round to posting these adorable Xmas tree toppers which we made with little people from  
Spring Meadows Infant School.

 In fact they turned out big enough to wear as Christmas hats so there was lots of gluey fun and balancing when the children tried them on.

 All materials were upcycled from the treaure chest that is Reimagine Resource Centre
and  lots of input and hard work from staff and volunteer parents.  

And with that, wishing everyone a very Happy and Creative 2020!!!

Armistice banners

Lest we forget. Today, being Armistice Day I was reminded of these Ely men who didn't make it back home. 

Last year Ouse Life did an installation in Ely Cathedral - 'To End all Wars' .  Here are some of the banners I worked on as a tribute to some of the men and indeed boys who were sadly killed in action.

Jim Pate Gent age 21 from Little Thetford

Frank Lambert age 23 painter and plumber from Waterside and a member of Ely Band

Herbet James Holiday age 19 worked as an assistant shepherd in Stuntney

William John Cheney age 26 Ely policeman

George Sutton  Bus conductor age 32

Edward Wilken, farmworker Age 22

Walter Black - Barton Road, age 29

And finally, the beautiful, optimistic face of John Leslie Pate, a bakers roundsman from Queen Adelaide who was killed in action at the age of 19

All research was from this excellent website:
From Fenland farms to Flanders Fields,  Ely and World War 1. Worth a read for the personal stories of these men and many others.

Design and Stitch

I am both excited and nervous to find myself teaching Contemporary Textiles Workshop.  Pauline Verrinder has sadly decided to retire from some of her teaching committments and I have taken over one of her classes.  Pauline is a very hard act to follow.  I know because she taught me in the  City and Guilds Creative Embroidery course and was  so inspirational.  In fact, I could honestly say she totally changed my life by introducing me to the whole wonderful world of creative embroidery.  I learned so much from her  'what if....?' approach to exploring materials, processes and ideas. 

I was already running my screen print studio when I discovered the  Creative Embroidery course.  I had been researching masters' programmes at various universities but found they were much too theoretical (and expensive!) for me. 

 I knew when I went to a C&G taster class that this would be the course for me, when a fellow student jokingly asked me if she could cut a snippet from my skirt to use in her embroidery! 

Doing the C&G gave me an incredibly thorough education in practical textile techniques at a very affordable price.  I just didn't want  it to end.  And friends, - suddenly I met a whole community of textile lovers and I knew I had found 'my people'.

Anyway, 2 weeks into the new class, we are starting with black and white expressive marks on paper and developing these into stitch. Hopefully we can continue the whole 'what if...?' tradition and create fabulous, unique and creative textiles!

Watch this space for further developments.

Weekend of Screen Print onto Textiles

Impington Village College
Tutor: Ricki Outis
Saturday 12 & Sunday 13 October                10.00am – 4.00pm
£72

 
Brief Description: Small scale screen printing - the emphasis is on the experimental, creating simple paper stencils with small silk screens to create bold shapes and pattern on fabric.  The course is aimed at those with some experience of screen printing as well as beginners and it is an opportunity to work in a studio atmosphere with tutor support.  This 2 day class will allow you to build up layers and develop more complex designs, to explore texture and to have some fun with experimental techniques.  Learners who have previously attended a one day course can develop their own projects with help from the tutor as needed.  A4 and A5 screens and squeegee are provided for use during the weekend

£8 for materials
Wear old clothes and an apron
Reference pictures to use as inspiration.
5/6 old newspapers
Notebook, pen and pencils
Paper cutting scissors / craft knife & cutting mat
20 sheets computer / photocopy paper (not recycled)
A rag for cleaning eg fabric torn from old T-shirt or an old facecloth etc
Clear / masking tape

Fabric: you will need to bring your own fabrics to print on. These must be 100% cotton. Polyesters and poly- cottons do not print well. I suggest you bring about two to three metres of white or light coloured, 100% cotton fabric, preferably washed and ironed.   If you are a non stitcher, you can bring pre-made items for printing on eg. T-shirts, shopping bags, pillow slips - as long as they are, a light or bright colour and once again, 100% cotton. (T-shirts & shop bags do not need pre-washing)

Location:Impington Village College, New Road, Impington, Cambridge, CB24 9LX

CONTACT: tel 01223 200411   community@living.tmet.org.uk

Norris Museum Tablecloths

This is an update on a previous post.  I think I wrote about these tablecloths,  printed by adults with disabilties a few weeks ago.  Since then I have done a bit of infill and that's pulled the whole design together.  They will be having some very colourful teas at the museum!

I pre dyed the cloth and everyone was amazed to see the colour come through when they printed

This one is to hang on the front of the serving table.

Who said museums have to boring!

Botanic Gardens Screen Print Workshop

I was excited to have the opportunity to teach a 2 day workshop at  Cambridge University Botanic Gardens .  There is so much inspiration for print and pattern.  It got me wondering why I don't go there more often.  Here's some wonderful work by students.

Proteas by Jax

Clematis by Lindsay

Daisies on calico

Elspeth's ginko leaves

Hoverflies by Val - see her pencilandleaf.blogspot

Jennifer Copley May. see link  jennifercopleymay

And Fiona Payne -link- Fiona - Open Studio

Ely Folk Festival Carnival

Ely Carnival Arts  did  a whole batch of making activities for Ely Folk Festival's annual carnival parade.  We work with children at the festival to create costumes, props and puppets and this year our theme was "Into the Forest"

Our costume theme was Robin Hood.  The bows and arrows were especially popular!

As were the sheilds - a brilliant activity for all age groups.

The parade itself was headed up by the skipping girls.... with a custom  made willow skipping rope.

Followed by the giant Green Man puppet.

Then we had a long line of Robin Hoods - both male and female.

And finally Tom carrying Annie's banner.

A great green time was had by all!

Histon Feast Print Workshop

Another busy and popular screen print workshop at Histon Library for the Histon and Impington Feast day.  I will let the pictures speak for themselves:

Here's a great description from Cath who organised the project: "So, nearly 60 took part: lots of children, little ones helped by parents, and all ages up to eighty plus, a few keen artists but mostly people who had never done anything like this before and were thrilled with their success. Watch out for our bags around the village!"

Thanks to the Friends of Histon Library for organising this. Keep an eye out for their book sales - they have a massive collection of very good books!

Family Print Workshops

Families making art together is one of my favourite things.

The last couple of weeks has been jam packed with artmaking with people of all ages, all abilities.... as end of term events intersect with all sorts of summer celebrations we've been really busy making prints and having fun.

We had a  fabulous day at Impington Village College doing T-shirts.

As always, every single one of the prints was outstanding. This one was something a little different from the usual: 

A young lady and her Dad had printed a T-shirt at a previous workshop. Their design featured her pet - I mean, toy bear.  This time they brought a teeny, tiny t-shirt which they printed for the bear.  ( I'm spelling 't-shirt' with a small 't' just to capture how tiny it was) Such a great idea and fab cutting of tiny shapes!

And here are a couple of other notable designs:

We'll be doing another set of family screen print workshops at Impington and Witchford Village Colleges.  This time with options to print either a T-shirt or a Chrismas gift for grandparents.  I know, it's only July, but we have to think ahead! 

These events aren't up on the websites yet but here's the link to their community learning pages for future reference. 

2 Nov 19 at Witchford V.C. 
https://www.witchfordvc.co.uk/community/

30 Nov 19  at Impington V.C
 Impington Adult and Community Learning 

Upcycled Paper Notebooks

As well as making the lovely paper bodice, Move on Up Learners made these beautiful notebooks to sell in the Children's Society Shop.

We used discarded and shredded papers from the office and the art cupboard, soaked them, put them in the blender and scooped them out with a mesh.  Then we used these handmade papers to make these notebook covers and guess what.......?

Well here is a note from the shop manager:

"Just to let you know that we have sold ALL your lovely books to one lady who will be giving them to all her family members as a 'HAG' project - which is .............. that they write down every day the following:

H - Happiness - what they are happy about

A - Achievement - what they have achieved that day

G - Grateful - what they are grateful for

So a lovely end to your project !"

So proud of all our hard working Move on Up class members!