Granny chic in a lampshade...and the Granny Chic Queen herself

Thought I'd share with you the workshop I went on yesterday at the studio of Louise Presley of Hope and Elvis. Some of you will know that I like to go to these workshops for inspiration and to learn new skills. This one was lamp shade making and given the price of lampshades I decided it might be a worthwhile investment.

We were to be shown how to make one of the little conical shades and a drum shade. (But not before I'd had my usual browse round Louise's studio). We were able to choose our fabric or paper from Louise's wonderful stash but I had taken some barkcloth with me. We actually deconstructed a standard Wilko's lamp shade as these are apparently cheaper than buying the bits and pieces you need from a craft supplier. And then we reconstructed with our choice of fabric. So why did it take all day you ask. Lots of precision cutting and concentration required . This was hard as I was sitting with Two Bones and a Bagle and we had plenty to chat about!

In the end I was quite pleased with my efforts. The tall one was made from part of my stash - a chaise longue loose cover made from barkcloth and painstakingly taken apart. The trim was another bit of something I'd had for years which seemed to just be perfect for a bit of granny chic in a lampshade.

It wasn't until I'd finished that I looked at what other folk had done and I loved these two paper ones - one a comic covered one with a red ribbon hiding the centre fold and the other a vintage sewing pattern bonda webbed onto the plasticised inner sheet which is what makes them fireproof

Louise has just published her new batch of summer courses so if you fancy treating yourself have a look at her website. I'm thrilled to say that I have managed to get on one of the Dottie Angel and Ted and Agnes days! Yes ladies Dottie Angel is coming over to old Blighty for a touch no doubt of grannifying goodness. If anyone wants to help me decorate the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square so that from there she can preach the joys of delectable doilies, shiny clogs and pesky gnomes let me know! Alternatively if you have also been lucky please comment me! (I should add that this particular workshop course sold out in a matter of minutes).

I'm hoping this makes sense to at least some of you! Those who follow Dottie Angel will understand - others may be completely mystified for which I apologise.

Note to self - must get sewing machine serviced and get some practice in.

Love Wend

February already?

I can't believe how time is flying right now. I always find it difficult to blog in January with going to work in the dark and coming home in the dark too. Still its good to see the days are getting just a little bit longer and so I decided to take myself to Newark Antiques fair on Friday to get myself a vintage textile fix together with some of that glorious winter sunshine!

For those who haven't been Newark is the largest antique fair in Europe and it would be easy to spend a whole day there. Unfortunately I had only a couple of hours but I knew what I was looking for so strode past lots of the outdoor stands in search of fabrics. I found a couple of stalls selling old advertising tins and boxes which I always like to see but the tins were expensive. I know that's down to their rarity but then I do seem to be quite lucky in finding them relatively cheaply.



I was looking to find the stall of Liz Von Hasselt - known in blogland as The Washerwoman and veteran of the original Vintage and Handmade Fairs in Chipping Sodbury (not to mention all the other fairs she's invlolved in). I hdan't a clue how I was going to find her stall given the size of Newark but eventually found fabric on a clothes horse beckoning me into a tent.


Over on the table covered in red cloth was all manner of vintage loveliness. Yes it might look like a jumble sale and indeed there was no rhyme or reason to the pricing as far as I could see. The stall holder lives in France and brings his finds over so as you can imagine there were some lovely pieces.
And then behind me I spotted a much nicer display with lots of loveliness!

I'd managed to find the stall I was looking for. Liz had some fabulous fabrics which we spread out and mused over and I took some picture before making my choice.

Imagine my horror on arriving home later to find I had lost the bag with those fabrics in. AAAGGGGH! (Some of you may remember last time I went to Newark I managed to leave an ironing board behind! I get so absorbed I'm in another world)
Another gorgeous stall was Regina Rose who makes treasures from damaged old quilts and extends their life by upcycling them into something new. And now blogger seems to be playing up so I can't upload the pictures of the fabric that did make it home! But I will - along with some of my other recent finds...soon

Hope you are all enjoying the winter scenes and not having too many problems. ..

Love Wend

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A merry vintage Christmas!

Merry Christmas from a very behind Ticking Stripes!

Please choose your own card

1. Naff decoration made from what was described as "old baking thingy" and vintage film canister



or 2. the festive scene on my latest vintage Christmas tin!



Comfort and joy to all

Love Wend

Got any old leather?

Today saw me at another workshop at the Welbeck Estate at the studio of Louise Presley of Hope and Elvis - this one being run by Cath Ray bookmaker.



I'd seen Cath at a couple of craft fairs so was familar with her work - recycling old leather into the covers of new books. These leathers include an old cream sofa, a leather jacket too squeaky to wear, leather from old car seats and old handbags.



We were to make two books today one with a soft back and another quarto bound. Cath had lots of lovely papes to use as end papers but I'm a fan of the marbled papes so used those on both books. Although we used new paper I love the idea of incorporating some vintage papers - the possibilities are endless.



I must admit I missed a trick when somebody spotted this vintage crepe paper wrapper among Louise's treasures and bought it to cover his book!



And so the day was spent measuring, folding, pricking, sticking, pressing and generally becoming more familiar with a set square than I have cared to be since leaving school. (Speaking of school - one of the attendees recognised me from being in the year below her at school 36 years ago!). This pile of blocks of wood and clamps is a book press to ensure that papers had bonded with leather.



It was great to see that something which I had envisaged would need a lot of expensive tools could in fact be undertaken with some very cheap tools using a bit of imagination.



The book on the left is the soft back lined with marbled paper with 6 "signatures" (bundles of papers) hand stitiched down the spine.



And the greeny one below is the one with hard back boards covered with marbled paper and with a leather spine taken from a suede jacket. If you look closely you can see the holes from the stitching which I decided to use as a feature rather than remove its history.



I think I might have a new hobby!

Love Wend

Anyone wondering who won the Christmas bauble giveaway? You'll have to scan to the bottom of the post!

Earlier this year Niobe and I went over to Dublin for a few days and we accepted an invitation to meet up with Elaine (Jaboopee) who lives over there. Elaine was the first blogger I had met and we shared a lovely couple of hours drinking coffee and eating cake and chatting about all sort of things as if we'd known each other for years.

She shared with me what was still a secret at that stage - that she had won a commission to do a large mosaic for a school and that it would take several months to do it. Well, it's now installed and showing right now on her blog - link in my side bar. Just click and have a look - it's absolutely stunning!

I wanted to share with you a couple of artists I met last week at the Harley Gallery before Igot stuck in the car park. Magie Hollingworth was,I thought,a paper artist whose papier mache I love - see these kitchen implements...



and, if you prefer less colour, the black version



So why do you have a jelly mould half full of shredded fivers Wend?



Well that's because Magie uses them to make little pots which she calls "Made of money". I was intrigued as to how she got the shreddings. She explained the convoluted procedure she had to go through to get them from the Royal Mint, not to mention the security with people either side of her as she walked through the corridors of the Mint to collect her shreddings. Anyway my interest earned me a bag of the lovely stuff! (I have more in peach - made from £10 notes).Apparently it's pretty indestructible - how many fivers have you put through the washing machine?



What I hadn't realised was that Magie is also a designer for Ehrman tapestries - so for button lovers check this out!



She explained her process for designing these - apparently the company send her the wool that she needs - she has a rough idea of what she wants to do and stitches it and then sends it off to Ehrman. She doesn't even get to keep the prototype! Not sure I'd be happy with that deal!

I also fell for the work of Ros Roberts a 2010 "New designer" who makes these amazing lamps and lampbases out of discarded books and twisted and bent willow branches. These were stuuning and use very tiny bulbs for safety.



Apologies for the delay in sorting the giveaway. The winner is Cathy over at Menopausal Musing. Cathy,please let me have your address - my e-mail is on my sidebar - and I'll pop them in the post to you. Thank you to everyone who entered - I included everyone who commented on either blog. Hope you have a good week lined up!

It's been great to be getting back into the car boots. It's been a bit quiet on that front lately but I think I mentioned a while back that I found several cashmere jumpers for 10 pence each - yes 10 pence! I'm afraid at that price I wasn't choosy about size and handed over my 50 pence for 5. This one had clearly been washed at too high a temperature so the fabric had become felted but cutting the sleeves off and adding a little light blanket stitching around the arm edge was enough to turn these into a respectable pair of wrist warmers. (Hey we still have early morning frosts round here and I was pleased to have them this morning as i defrosted the car!) I just cut a little hole in the seam and overstitched it for thumbs. I like the effect of the sleeve edging over the fingers. Who needs Jack Wills handwarmers at £19 a pair? (well other than the fashion conscious youth of today with more money than me!) Just need to decide what to make with the other 4 jumpers now! I'm thinking perhaps more decoration on another pair...

My Folly and Glee - or "the one about the lampshade"!

I just have to share this with you!



My new lampshade. I don't think I have ever posted about anything new on my blog but am making an exception here as it is made up of vintage bits of barkcloth. Lots of you will know of my barkcloth passion so it'll be no surprise that when I discovered the creations of Polly at Folly and Glee I was smitten!



I love this lampshade for its patchwork quirkiness but there are lots of other shades made from a single fabric - http://follyandglee.bigcartel.com/ I had to have the patchwork one as I couldn't choose a single fabric. When it arrived yesterday I couldn't believe how ridiculously excited I could get about a lampshade!



Apart from lampshades Polly stocks other fabulous retro pieces including chairs and stools and the most gorgeous crocheted hangers.
Take a look!



I've tried to be subtle in my decorating but I'm afraid colour always sucks me back in!



This is probably as subtle as I go and is the design on a pair of curtains I found at a car boot last summer. They aren't barkcloth but certainly have a fifties feel about them. They had the simple curtain tape that all the old curtains have but looked far too narrow for my windows. For £2 I thought they were taking a chance. I was right -they were too narrow but very long ...



... so my mum chopped the bottom off and made some tabs to add to the top! They now lie flat across the window rather than gathered and fit perfectly showing off that gorgeous fabric! Upcycling at its best! Love it!

Hope you're enjoying your weekend!

Love Wend

PS - if you like "lampshde" posts pop over to Jaboopee's blog - see sidebar.