Where does the time go?

I simply don’t know where the time goes. I am amazed at people who say they are bored…what the F*%$? How?

I can’t remember when I was ever bored. I need a daily extension, 2 hours would be just great. I have so much to do and even more that I want to.

Since opening HUNG I haven’t had time to think. So I think its time to take stock. I feel as though I am lurching from one thing to the other.

We had so many plans and so far done very few, so I need to take a couple of days to refocus.

I love to make and to share making. I love other people’s work and sharing it. I am passionate about artist/makers being able to sustain themselves being creative. Yet here I am basically full circle working in a shop, all be it my shop, with no time to create.

Have you ever been bored? I can’t imagine creative people being bored, but perhaps the can be.

Tutorial : Toast

Reblogged from Craft Candies:

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Hello my readers :3 I know I said I was going to post once a week, but that seems a bit too long o.o I’m always thinking of new tutorials, and yeah.. Today’s one will be extremely simple. Materials: Pointed tool White clay ( and Translucent if you have some ) Pastels Brush Toothbrush Now, for toast, it is best if you have translucent AND white. It gives the bread a less ‘solid’ feel ? If you know what I mean haha. I don’t have translucent atm because it ran out, still looking for cheap suppliers TT …

what a great new blog. I am learning already

Kev. No. Just no.

Having successfully cast my friends lips Kev was very Keen to cast his own.

As you can see there is a very obvious problem with this……but would he listen.

My friend Emma set about doing the deed. First kev lubed up with vaseline and then emma smoothed on the plaster.

  All good so far.

But the plaster set on to the hair as i thought it might…..

as plaster sets it goes through a reaction which heats it up. It needs to be removed from the face before this happens. The hair would not come out and it was very painful for him as it shrunk.

I was panic stricken. I had not wanted him to do it in the first place and it was covering his mouth getting hotter and hotter.

I was really worried and started to imagine we would be going to A&E. But how to explain it?

Kev was determined to get it off himself and broke it in two with pliers. This meant he could breath OK. But the plaster was now ROCK hard. He tried to chip at it with the pliers and I used tiny scissors to get under it and cut away his hair.

We were all laughing , but a nervous, lets keep things light kinda laughing interjected with fits of the kind of laugh that ‘only comes out at other peoples misfortune and you know its wrong’ laugh.

But once we knew he wasn’t going to die we just laughed and laughed.

Resin to be cheerful Part 1

I love working with resin. Well actually I am a craft floozy as I LOVE working with lots of mediums, but I have rekindled my passion for resin lately and we are having so much fun together that I barely have eyes for anything else.

Its funny how fickle I can be.

Enough of my creative dalliances.

Resin to be cheerful Part 1

Have you tried resin? Casting resin is so easy. I buy resin which has a 100/1 ratio so it couldn’t be easier. I use the 25% max inclusion ratio rule and it has never failed me yet.

What have I been making?

Bling.

I am not a pink kinda girl, but this was for a gift.

Previously I used plastic moulds or even latex moulds I cast myself, but lately I have discovered casting resin with silicone…..wow. It makes everything so much easier.

Why not give it a go? It really is fun and everyone loved their gifts this Christmas.

Sad sad news

What a shock to learn of Sarah Lawrence death. She was an amazing person. So passionate about her work and a great ambassador for textile art. She achieved so much and yet remained very approachable and always had time for everyone. She will be greatly missed by the creative community and all who met her. X

help

hi

I used to be able to read lots of posts on subjects I liked by other bloggers. I think it was called tag surfer? Does anyone know where it has gone.

thanks

All change

My studio @ HUNG is no more. Its a temporary measure, but it may be perminent. Working in HUNG just wasn’t working.

I never got anything done. Just as I went to pour warm water on my felt someone would pop in. Lovely, but not great for getting stuff done.

So we have a wonderful vintage/retro shop going into my space. Dollface has its opening on the 3rd of December. I can’t wait.

As for me ….well i am back working from home. Not ideal , but its just domestic chores that are getting in the way.

So today I am making resin jewellery. So simple and VERY effective. I will post photos tomorrow as they take 24 to cure. I have been totally obsessed with finger knitting, have you tried it ?

Its been a long time, Baby.

I haven’t posted in ages. I have been so so busy. Starting a new business is unbelievably time-consuming.

I knew I would have to work hard and do long hours, but I didn’t realise how many hours I would spend on Photoshop or the net marketing.

I was told the split for makers should be around 40% marketing activity. I think I spend 70%. So finding time to blog has been impossible.

I was designing a different poster for every even. I felt I needed to so people knew it was not the same poster as the last. I now know that this is the way to exhaustion. So I am just going to change the wording and colouring.

So this evening I am taking an old poster design and tweaking it to ensure I can just go in and make a few changes.

Why didn’t I just do that in the first place?

Poster pic

here it is, our latest Speed Crafting poster.

Speed Crafting prep

So it’s two days until our first Inverness Speed Crafting event here at ‘HUNG’

To say I am excited is an understatement. The support we have had setting it up is fantastic.

Hi-arts gave us a great write-up which we were delighted with. You can read it here.

http://hi-arts.co.uk/2011/08/speed-crafting-to-take-place-at-hung/

The Inverness City Advertiser have been more amazing than anyone giving us a 1/4 page advert for FREE. Yes free. They are just amazing at supporting local culture and especially the arts.

I could go on and on.

But instead I will share about our preparations.

These are our artists for this SC.

• Heidi Soos – Highland Faerie. I don’t even know where to start, she is unbelievably talented and yet the most modest person I know. She works upcycling and reworking second-hand and found objects. Makes ceramics to use and wear.
• Mary-anne Thomson – Creates beautiful work combining leather and embroidery using traditional techniques in a contemporary way. Pure luxury.
• Angela Ellis – Heart of Glass. Passionate about glass and its uses she is a constant evangelist for glass its forms.  Colour and texture collide fearlessly in her work.
• Mhairi Cameron – She can turn her very artistic hand to any medium. Works mainly in fine art which I can only dream off.
• Carolynn Anderson- Crafter extraordinaire she is a knitting queen. Her kingdom is subversive, plastic bags and ripped fabric often feature in her work  producing art pieces with unexpected depth and sparkle.
• Me….Jane of all trades.

Crafts covered in this event are:

1. Dichroic glass – create something wonderful to wear using this exciting glass fusing technique
2. Nuno Felt- layer textures, colours and fibres using this modern felting technique
3. Refashion- using something ordinary to upcycle fabric and found objects
4. upcycled jewellery-  who would have thought something so pretty could come from something so mundane And you are helping the environment.
5. Art Knitting – Learn to cast on and off then play with colour and texture using unusual materials
6. Braiding – This meditative craft will have you relaxed in no time and leave you with something colourful and fun to wear.

We have tried to choose a varied collection of activities so there is not just something for everyone, but high energy and then calm moments…..I hope it works. The interest in Dichroic glass has been unbelievable and I hope that doesn’t over shadow the other crafts.

We shall have to wait and see……wahhhhhhhhh