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

Button it!

Last week I was contacted by the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Buttons) when they saw that Lesley over at Printed Material was about to take some buttons to THE TIP. Those of us in the society know that TIP and BUTTON shouldn't be used in the same sentence. Aware there was no time to waste I contacted Lesley on a mission to save these souls and she very graciously relented. She'd found a use for the white amongst the pack but let me have the rest. I've never removed my whites so was delighted when the buttons arrived and poured both coffee and buttons. The sorting of buttons is a serious business requiring full attention. The resulting collection of buttons was a joy to sort through - the whites dilute the colour of the rest! (I'm easily pleased!)



I found lots of buttons that I could add to my various categories assisted by my trusty baking tin.



I have collections of 50s and 30s, floral, leather and mother of pearl to name a few.



Buttons on cards can be found in little corners around the house



Also jars of specific colours a particular favourite being green.



Lots of the buttons I find that have been discarded are these very simple but colourful Jasons buttons. I keep these in a jelly mould ready to run my fingers through as I walk past. Again - simple pleasures!




I like the cards the buttons are mounted on just as much with the manufacturere desperate to convince the buyer to by his buttons. Fashionable buttons. Exclusive buttons



and on this one - The EGO brand! Love it.



I spent a happy hour sorting through before going on to examine some of my other recent finds. (Funny isn't it how "Happy hour" means different things to different generations!)



I never tire of looking at old packaging and advertising - be it paper, card or tin. How can I use this binding without damaging the wrapper? I might just have to leave it as is...



Might leave the Water Closet paper package intact too!

I found a scruffy little book in the bottom of a box and was delighted to find it full of colour plates of birds. The book is falling apart with a lot of marking but well worth 20p!





The paper bag below was holding some 60s fabric and I don't think had been opened since then - a 60s dress had been cut out and is ready to stitch up. Far too small for me though! The shop disppeared over 40 years ago to become Debenhams.



Also managed to find some more of the chemist labels I found a couple of years ago.



and some wonderful Weldons Shilling Guides once all bound together (at some point but now just a heap of paper which I needed to sort into some sort of order). These guides are instructions to the hobbyist in a variety of areas. These are just some of the great illustrations...



Crinkled paper shades for your piano candles!!!



Lovely woolly (scratchy) drawers for babies!



And the knitted knee cap. How on earth have we managed without these? Let me know if you need the pattern!

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

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone!

I thought I'd start the new year with a "picture post" of the Rob Ryan exhibition in Stafford that I mentioned I was visiting.



What a great show! Had to buy a calendar for my desk at the office...




























Love Wend