This second vaguely festive tangle pattern was fairly tricky to break down. It’s based on an ancient Greek stone carved border with a few adaptations to make the continuous pattern. In step 2, try to keep the lines flowing as you weave in and out round the circles.
Now I have stopped making items for sale at the Christmas Fayre, I’ve turned my relatively idle hands to working out a few more step-by-step tangle patterns. Inspired by various designs, this is the first of several to come. I love how the repeated geometric pattern forms a bauble shape in the negative space – hence the name.
News released today from Craftwork Cards:
We are delighted to announce the appointment of Neil Burley as our Social Media Manager.
Neil has been a key part of our Design Team for the last two years and there is no doubting his amazing creative skills. He has made so many fabulous, inspirational projects for us and now he will also be working with us to coordinate the various social media sites we use, including our blog, Pinterest boards and Facebook page.
Neil will be working closely with Julie Hickey, Design Team Co-ordinator, and the Design Team as a whole to bring you lots more beautiful inspiration, sharing their top tips and techniques, step by step mini tutorials on how to create some of their fantastic creations, and much more! There will be links to our collections too, making shopping much easier for you.
We have lots of exciting plans for the new year, but we would love to hear your ideas too! Please email them to Neil at socialmedia@craftworkcards.com.
Welcome to the Craftwork Cards team Neil!
There’s just one day left before the Christmas Fayre (in case I hadn’t mentioned it recently). Though I have more items than I can fit on even a large table, the inspiration hasn’t stopped. I thought I would have a go at some mounted typography, so designed, cut out (ok, the Cameo did that bit), stuck together and mounted these two examples – which happened to be two verses from Sunday’s morning services (see the sermon sketchnote).
Meanwhile, on the other side of the table, I’m finishing off some MDF chalkboards – three down (one featured here), three almost done. The first is covered in old dictionary pages, and aged with a ‘dirty wash’ – a drop of DecoArt Media Raw Umber and a drop of Quinacridone Gold watered down, brushed over and splattered with water before drying and sealing with DecoArt Media Ultra Matte Varnish. The second started with squidged Distress Paints, sprayed with water, then dried and I used DecoArt Media Phthalo Blue as my dirty wash, before glazing with a watered down metallic blue acrylic paint. I then sealed with a gloss varnish with a bit of DecoArt Media Interference Blue mixed in. And the last – I’ve tangled it in Sakura Micron 08 black pigment ink over Dylusions Linen White paint (which when completely dry doesn’t clog the nib), sealed with DecoArt Media Ultra Matte Varnish.
[Disclaimer: as part of the DecoArts Helping Artists Program,
I have been provided with samples of their products to use for projects]
As you know by now from previous posts, I have my first craft fair – the Whetstone Baptist Church Christmas Fayre – next Saturday. Here are some more makes: etched copper candlestick, beaded candles on individually etched glass plates, a resin encased watch-parts pendant and faux-enamelled jewellery pieces.
It’s been a tricky thing to price up all these items. I can easily work out the material costs. I know how much time each has taken to make. It’s a little harder to work out the time taken in research, and even more tricky to know exactly how much time and energy has gone into the development, trials and failures that are inevitable in making items. Throw into the mix what you think people are likely to be prepared to pay, what they might be able to afford, and what else might be on sale around you… Suffice to say that the marked prices for all the items on the stand will not reflect my time and skill set.
Trouble is, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the making process, designing the packaging, and setting up the stand. But will it pay off? Or the bills? I’ll let you know.
I’ve been lucky enough to get hold of an Apple iPad Pro, and used it this morning in church – not only to do my sermon sketchnotes direct to digital, but also used it for paperless music whilst playing the worship songs 🙂
On a recent trip to Norfolk, I was lucky enough to get to a very reputable cigar and pipe shop and bought my first Meerschaum pipe. For those not in the know, these are carved from a white mineral, and naturally colour as they bake with successive smokes. They’re not cheap, and to keep them safe, they come in bespoke cases. They’re particularly handy for smoking outdoors as they don’t burn through like wooden ones can when wind keeps the embers constantly alight. Imagine then my horror when on first smoke there was a sudden crack noise, and the bowl left the stem.
It seems that every now and then, there are flaws in the mineral that aren’t obvious, and being quite thin walled, the pipe just gave out. The dealer replaced it with absolutely no fuss and I’m pleased to say the replacement pipe is giving me a great deal of pleasure as I have my downtime.
Long story cut short – I now had a pipe case with no pipe. It was too nice to throw away, but not easy to find another use for. I remember seeing Magritte’s ‘Treachery of Images’ and loving the surrealist observation decided to make my homage. Thanks to a friend who is considerably more knowledgeable about French than I am, I was able to add my own tagline: ‘This is not a pipe either’. I plan to send the canvas to the great guys who dealt with me so helpfully, and hope they (and their customers) enjoy the joke.
[Acrylic on canvas, Liquid Pearls Onyx, found object. 20cm x 20cm]I’ve not posted my sermon sketchnotes for a little while, so here’s a compendium of some more. These are all completed ‘live’ as the sermon progresses, and I don’t see anything but the title before I start. If you’d like to listen to the accompanying sermons, they are available on the Whetstone Baptist Church blog.
I’m still beavering away in the studio making items to sell at the church Christmas Fayre. Yesterday I used what I had learnt at Andy Skinner’s workshop I attended last weekend to create a faux rusted enamel frame and stand for this MDF chalkboard. As it happens, I actually prefer the back – some of the paint had seeped under and the ‘chips’ appear much more organic against the gesso undercoat:
