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Crafty Thread - what are you working on at the moment?

I need to share my woes. This is an entire pan of burnt green tomato chutney, it has a burnt taste which I'll never get rid of. Lesson learned: pickling needs an entire day devoted to it. Because pickling is crafting and also because it's ok to fail sometimes.

Ok well picture won't load. Nevermind.
 
Question for artists and crafters: how do you go about improving your practice? I'm not the greatest artist/ crafter in the world but I used to be quite into it, I've been in 2 exhibitions a while ago and it used to really feel like a big part of me. Now I concentrate mainly on knitting but something is missing. I think it's just time and mental space. Any ideas would be appreciated because I just feel a bit stuck. I'd like to do a course somewhere as there are some good courses out there. I also go to a couple of knitting groups when I can, actively try and stretch my skills and go to exhibitions. Any thoughts appreciated.
 
8115 said:
I need to share my woes. This is an entire pan of burnt green tomato chutney, it has a burnt taste which I'll never get rid of. Lesson learned: pickling needs an entire day devoted to it. Because pickling is crafting and also because it's ok to fail sometimes.

Ok well picture won't load. Nevermind.
Click to expand...

Mmmm, so easily done. I have eaten my dinner, farted about on here, eventually heading back downstairs for frangipane, to see the dinner pan practically glowing with blackened remains stuck to bottom. It was a curry too...so open windows and Febreze needed.

But regarding crafting and such...I definitely have seasonal urges...and all spring and summer, plants have my top priority...but when nights start to draw in, then I tend to get a bit more creative. Although this is countered by a tendency to eat more, then slump in somnolent lethargy...for which knitting is ideal. Not really answering your question in any helpful way but I seem to have reached an ideal equilibrium based entirely around gardening and knitting.
I also eased myself back into autumnal mode by a spot of gentle apple based baking - said frangipane and basic pie...which definitely counts as some sort of crafting thing.

I contemplate doing a upholstery course every year...but bad timing and personal inconsistency put paid to that. I did try botanical drawing...but the tedium!! Hours and hours drawing a geranium leaf (and it was an hours busride away and the rest of the class were idiots - practically Tories FFS)
 
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I do need a summer hobby. I was thinking of learning to sew properly but it's a lot of work. Or getting an allotment which is a big commitment. Hmmm food for thought.
 
8115 said:
Question for artists and crafters: how do you go about improving your practice? I'm not the greatest artist/ crafter in the world but I used to be quite into it, I've been in 2 exhibitions a while ago and it used to really feel like a big part of me. Now I concentrate mainly on knitting but something is missing. I think it's just time and mental space. Any ideas would be appreciated because I just feel a bit stuck. I'd like to do a course somewhere as there are some good courses out there. I also go to a couple of knitting groups when I can, actively try and stretch my skills and go to exhibitions. Any thoughts appreciated.
Click to expand...
i'm working on this atm, regaining my creative mojo.

had a lightbulb moment reading a piece about inertia and motivation w/ref specifically to autistic spectrum. *acquiring new information* is the thing that lights me up, gets me started. and having uninterrupted time is what enables me to maintain and develop an idea/project. i'm very easily distracted and derailed as my extensive hobby history and pile of UFOs attests.

in practice this means that unless i have an actual project deadline that is enforced by/dependent on others i'm much less likely to complete a thing. but i need to be alone for the actual making of it to get done. so for me e.g. a knitting group would only mean more distraction, but a group project for exhibition or publication by a specific date would be good motivation.

my practice fwiw has diminished to virtually nothing over the past couple of years, i think because i was reeling (now recovering) from a combination of professional and personal kicks in the teeth (lost my studio, mum's cancer compounding existing grief, kid1's mental and physical health). i have quite a lot of mental hurdles to overcome in how i value my work and perceive its value to others, along with practical ones about how to be self-employed in an area that fundamentally requires a lot of self-promotion and networking.

with help i'm realising that it doesn't all have to happen at once and it doesn't have to happen right now, if right now there's other stuff that's more urgent/pressing. but i do need to make work. since for me that starts with gaining new knowledge adding yet another string to my bow is less derailing (in terms of the overarching plan) than it might appear.

current new string is bonsai :) ties into lots of existing strands of interest with gardening and japanese culture/tradition, and requires looking in a very similar way to when you're drawing from life. meanwhile i'm slowly slowly clearing out some space to work inside for when i'm next ready for it :thumbs:
 
Mmmm, a lot of your post sounded very pertinent to me, wayward bob, especially acquiring information...which can take...well, years. Pretty much everything else, too. Working alone is fine...but doing anything which involves anyone else...including those who I am working for, is a nightmare. And, of course, gardening...or rather, thinking and talking about gardening, while doing a bit of gentle propagation (although I am still expected to do far too much rufty-tufty labour when being paid for it). Even better, is to disappear down some niche-y avenue -specific plants/families...to be researched in minute detail (salvias at the moment). Winter is good for this...while a useful making sort of thing...preferably which involves sitting indoors and doesn't cost very much money. I am finding it quite hard to make a viable living though, as I really don't move in the schmoozy design world ( so much puffing, marketing, portfolios and shit like that) although I I earned OK money as a landscaper but really couldn't do the hard labour anymore (although I liked building a lot). Actually earning money from artistic or craft skills requires a whole extra pyschological layer which I will never have.

Hmmm, UFOs...Oh dear, will no doubt have to confront the dozens of these when the seasonal knitting appears (guilt is literally out of sight, out of mind but there are at least 6 single gloves...and even more single and a bit socks, several jumpers (I have a yarn collecting and hoarding thing going - massive stack of baskets in corner of room because...colours! (I actually drool in Pavlovian helplessness at those colour charts from paint and yarn companies).
 
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I still want to make a boilersuit. I've now had the idea of making it more of a 40s siren suit type thing using the top half of a shirtdress pattern I've used millions of times and the bottom half of the existing jumpsuit pattern. Surprisingly the edges pretty much match up and I think this is theoretically a good plan.

However I can't get my head round what should happen to the bottom end of the front button band, ie the trouser fly bit :confused:

I might just cave and do the jumpsuit again...
 
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RubyToogood said:
I still want to make a boilersuit. I've now had the idea of making it more of a 40s siren suit type thing using the top half of a shirtdress pattern I've used millions of times and the bottom half of the existing jumpsuit pattern. Surprisingly the edges pretty much match up and I think this is theoretically a good plan.

However I can't get my head round what should happen to the bottom end of the front button band, ie the trouser fly bit :confused:

I might just cave and do the jumpsuit again...
Click to expand...
I think boiler suits have a flap (concealed placket??) over the buttons which becomes the fly front at the bottom. You'd be more likely to find this on a coat pattern than a shirt I think.
 
Over the summer I run as an experiment a free workshop at a festival entitled "The 70s Short Shorts Hotpants workshop" I used a hand cranked singer and taught two students how to make a pair of shorts each. They both were seen running about the festival in the shorts. It took four hours which used up a morning hiding from the rain. I hope to run the class again. I've bought another couple of hand cranked singers so can maybe do six folks at a time. I used a simple Kwik Sew pattern in one size which is easy to adjust for the waist and the end of a roll of fabric from a junk shop. Now I've got to work out how much I can charge and where to hold it.
 
19sixtysix said:
Over the summer I run as an experiment a free workshop at a festival entitled "The 70s Short Shorts Hotpants workshop" I used a hand cranked singer and taught two students how to make a pair of shorts each. They both were seen running about the festival in the shorts. It took four hours which used up a morning hiding from the rain. I hope to run the class again. I've bought another couple of hand cranked singers so can maybe do six folks at a time. I used a simple Kwik Sew pattern in one size which is easy to adjust for the waist and the end of a roll of fabric from a junk shop. Now I've got to work out how much I can charge and where to hold it.
Click to expand...
Haha, I'm running a session at a local Eco Fayre on Sunday, also using hand machines. We are doing a 'pop up bag factory' so I'm trying to get the good sewers involved so that we can churn out a decent number of bags to give away. This is all very weather dependent.
 
Crafty folk. For protest purposes on statues etc. Can you give me some advice on how to make/have made a stencil and the best spray paint to use on stone surfaces (some sort of etching paint?)
 
Poi E said:
Crafty folk. For protest purposes on statues etc. Can you give me some advice on how to make/have made a stencil and the best spray paint to use on stone surfaces (some sort of etching paint?)
Click to expand...
Whoa! Don't wreck the statues!! Unless it's Margaret Thatcher with her head missing.
 
wayward bob said:
i'm working on this atm, regaining my creative mojo.

had a lightbulb moment reading a piece about inertia and motivation w/ref specifically to autistic spectrum. *acquiring new information* is the thing that lights me up, gets me started. and having uninterrupted time is what enables me to maintain and develop an idea/project. i'm very easily distracted and derailed as my extensive hobby history and pile of UFOs attests.

in practice this means that unless i have an actual project deadline that is enforced by/dependent on others i'm much less likely to complete a thing. but i need to be alone for the actual making of it to get done. so for me e.g. a knitting group would only mean more distraction, but a group project for exhibition or publication by a specific date would be good motivation.

my practice fwiw has diminished to virtually nothing over the past couple of years, i think because i was reeling (now recovering) from a combination of professional and personal kicks in the teeth (lost my studio, mum's cancer compounding existing grief, kid1's mental and physical health). i have quite a lot of mental hurdles to overcome in how i value my work and perceive its value to others, along with practical ones about how to be self-employed in an area that fundamentally requires a lot of self-promotion and networking.

with help i'm realising that it doesn't all have to happen at once and it doesn't have to happen right now, if right now there's other stuff that's more urgent/pressing. but i do need to make work. since for me that starts with gaining new knowledge adding yet another string to my bow is less derailing (in terms of the overarching plan) than it might appear.

current new string is bonsai :) ties into lots of existing strands of interest with gardening and japanese culture/tradition, and requires looking in a very similar way to when you're drawing from life. meanwhile i'm slowly slowly clearing out some space to work inside for when i'm next ready for it :thumbs:
Click to expand...

I’m pretty sure that you wrote this post and not me... and yet... :hmm:

I don’t have para 3, but other than that pretty much spot on my problems/advantages. I’ve started on Urushi lacquer recently. I think I’ve kind of decided that I can limit myself to the three crafts (wood, jade/hard stone, lacquer) though that’s still 3 lifetimes worth of skill to acquire. But I find I can keep the two that are currently hobbies (jade, lacquer) fresh by kind of cycling them. I am heartily sick of wood/furniture at the moment though, which needs fixing.

Bonsai plans on hold for the moment, not really got the space at home. Balcony but occupied by herbs.

E2a be interested to see the piece... I’m on the waiting list for adult diagnosis of ASD, so good to have stuff I can compare to.
 
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Meanwhile I'm in a frenzy of baby blankets - lovely rainbow stripey ones for people who probably wanted tasteful cream nurseries. :D Forgot to get pics before posting 2 of them, which are variations on this. Next up is a fiendish patchwork one that I'm racing to sew together and edge before the due date.

Screen Shot 2019-09-27 at 18.18.44.png
 
Poi E said:
Crafty folk. For protest purposes on statues etc. Can you give me some advice on how to make/have made a stencil and the best spray paint to use on stone surfaces (some sort of etching paint?)
Click to expand...

For the stencils, linseed oil soaked paper best - can be reused over and over. Spray mount is the best for fixing to a surface...but again, can be lifted and reused without having to respray every time. For the paint, it depends how permanent you want it to be. I find car spray paints are easy to use and will generally cover and adhere to most surfaces.
 
moose said:
Meanwhile I'm in a frenzy of baby blankets - lovely rainbow stripey ones for people who probably wanted tasteful cream nurseries. :D Forgot to get pics before posting 2 of them, which are variations on this. Next up is a fiendish patchwork one that I'm racing to sew together and edge before the due date.

View attachment 185293
Click to expand...
Beautiful :)
 
I'm making another hat at the moment. Then it's time to tackle the Christmas Mittens. Never made mittens before.
 
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