Craft fair

So, I've got a stall at a craft fair at the end of this month and i'm busy making away! Here are a few pieces that will be for sale there :) all handmade bowls/ vases made from upcycled materials

Mini, mini macrame

 

Macrame using sewing machine cotton.

Putting macrame into its simplest form, its knotting. It is also very similar to weaving in that you wrap the cotton in certain ways to form these knots. So as you can guess, macrame with sewing machine cotton is rather frustrating! and also strains your eyes.

However, to me, the outcome is so worth it.

Mini macrame. Jewellery?

Ever since I learnt macrame a few months ago, i just love doing it. However, i still can't help but think how tacky it looks when i see a macrame belt or dress in a shop. I like the idea of trying to turn macrame into something more special, a bit more sophisticated.
I'd been working with the theme of people, and how work can interact with people and be created to fill a void or need. I decided for the macrame i would create something quite tactile, as i generally make things on a large scale and i like to push myself within my work.
I used very organic colours to try and blend the pieces into the skin yet still stand out.
I try to make my work as sustainable as possible and therefore used PDF tape found in my dads shed and a ball of string i also found.

Tapestry round 2

Round 2 of making tapestries. This time i used much smaller frames and also used a much thicker warp to see what differences that would make. I feel it makes the full front of the piece look a lot more unique, it makes it a lot more textured and the 'rows' going downwards look a look fuller.

Some sketchbook pages

A bit of jazz

Some quick sketches whilst exploring colour theory using various medias and papers.

CAD (boo hoo)

Theres something about CAD that to me just seem so un-natural. Craft to me is hands. It's hands on, its hours of hard work and labour to make a beautiful object that can be touched, lifted, smelt, used. And CAD (computer aided design) just sort of makes my whole enthusiasm disapear. I don't know why, or what, but even the word CAD just makes me sigh. But I really wish it didn't.

Anyway, as part of a module at University, I had to use the dreaded CAD. I decided to use it to manipulate images of my loom samples and here are some of the outcomes...

Weaving + nature + macrame =

The twigs are added together by the technique of twinning, i have then woven back into them with wool and used the bottom twig as a base to macrame from. Purely experimental piece for combining weave with macrame. My two favourite areas within textiles!

Presenting my work

I think i'd have to say this is definitely the hardest part of a project! All the work is done, the samples are complete.. it's now just all down to finding a way to make them look bloody good.

For this project as i've been really playing with colour, i wanted my boards to be fun.
I wanted them to express passion and enthusiasm for what i do, yet still be playful. And also to really show the clash of colour and how infact they can work really well together.