It turns out that commissions seem to come like stereotypical buses – none for ages and then two at once. I had the pleasure of accepting two very different commissions last week. The only thing was – they were both last minute with a very short time constraint. I did some juggling and evening work but fit them in and delivered both on time. Here’re pics of the projects:
I’m a bit behind on posting my Bible journaling templates, sorry about that. First up, last month’s session was based on verses that were ‘by request’. I received four nominated verses and chose the last to complete the set. I also admit to rejigging one of my older templates, so you may recognise it.
As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve been working in the garden for the last few weeks. The main effort has been to address 20 years of neglect and get the rest of the garden to match the clean lines of a new patio. As a result, several things had to go to the tip along with oodles of green waste and clippings. Three rusted IKEA tea light metal framed lanterns were consigned for metal recycling, but I took the opportunity to deglaze them before that happened. A bit of designing later and the upcycled glass lantern was born. Available in both beech and walnut veneer finishes.
I thought I would share some of the behind-the-scenes things that are going on at The Studio. I’ve been working on other projects (mainly in the garden) for the last few weeks which is why there have only really been the clean and simple cards published. By sharing this, you’ll also understand some of the processes that lead to a finished handcrafted product and why I should charge more…
This is the latest project I have been working on, ready for Christmas shows at the end of October and early December. Keep on reading for my observations, prototyping and a few more pics of the finished item.
I’ve had a few problems with my laser cutter over the last six weeks or so… One of the cables was causing intermittent faults. The presumption was that after four years of use, it was gradually fracturing. I managed to keep the machine limping on until I replaced the cable this week. As a result, I’ve had to feed projects into the machine through a slot so that the lid was barely lifted – an interesting exercise.
It would have been fine if I had not been asked to do several projects in those weeks. A small group craft session for church folk, the ‘Be Still’ evening and a large group craft session for my church’s retired men’s group. All of these needed kitting out with laser-cut items.
Here are the projects I designed and crafted for the small group and the men’s group. They feature crosses for the Easter season. Both are available as workshops at the Studio for groups of up to eight people. To book, just get in contact with me.
I was asked to run a craft table at a recent ‘Be Still’ community event at my church. The aim of the evening was to take the chance for attendees to have some ‘me’ time with massages, facials, mindfulness sessions as well as the craft table. I looked for all sorts of inspiration and didn’t really find any. I then stumbled on some photos of retro signage and decided to go with the theme. I created six different laser-cut wood signs, each with a typical self-affirming phrase often linked to mindfulness sessions. For each, I spent a long time finding a relevant Bible verse or passage to move it from self-centred to God-centred.
Every now and then I have cause to go back and look at some of my previous work. On this occasion, I reviewed a piece I made for Jones Crafts some 7 years ago. I like the wide frame and the recess, so I adapted that concept for my latest piece from my Glowforge laser:
It’s always lovely to be asked to make something, and even better when given relatively free rein! The brief was to make boxes that were suitable for holding board game tokens, roughly 3-4″ by 1″ deep in size. The rest was up to me… Here’s what I came up with:
For the unfamiliar, a sketch challenge starts with a block drawing which you then adapt with added elements to make your card. Over at Less is More, the clean and simple card challenge blog, we have set sketch 26. Here are two cards based on the sketch.
