After two years of writing the Craft Café blog, I’m hanging up my sewing kit. But before I go, I would like to present some awards to the people and things that have made the last 24 months of writing this blog so memorable.
Christmas is officially the time to indulge in even more creative DIY than usual. The trouble is, I'm out of inspiration. I turned to the online craft community to find out how they are tackling the demands of this year's Crimbo.
I’m about to embark on a new craft adventure — an apprenticeship in weaving. It’s a craft I don’t know anything about and never thought I’d do, so why am I suddenly changing my direction?
It’s been a week of ups and downs in Craftville. The highlight was the launch of the first ever cinema advert promoting craft, and the lowlight was discovering that crafters are currently selling their work at ‘less than Primark’ prices.
It’s great when you meet a crafter who’s so passionate about making she invents words to describe her work. Welcome to Kirsty E. Smith’s fantasy world of ‘Frillip Moolog’ where her sci-fi inspired sculptural works are the residents.
My summer of crafting has reached its end, but as I look forward to the exciting challenges that face me in the autumn, here are some of the highlights of the last three months.
Who needs the beach when you can recreate the coastal experience in the comfort of your own home? Welcome to part two of my ‘staycation craft special’. These seaside projects will transport you to your fave resort in no time.
I'm having a staycation and in these credit-munching times, I'm probably not the only one. Spending summer at home has plenty of advantages: it's the perfect excuse to craft. If you need ideas for what to make look no further! I've designed some exclusive summer crafts projects especially for readers of The Craft Café.
Sewing is one of those rare pastimes that’s oh-so-relaxing yet productive at the same time. Once you’ve mastered it you can make anything. But who can you turn to if you’re in need of guidance to get you started? Why not head south, where ‘sewing girls’ Libby and Beth are taking the ‘art of stitch’ to the masses.
Would you craft in public? Next Friday, Deirdre Figueiredo will be crafting on The Fourth Plinth as part of Anthony Gormley’s ‘One and Other’ art project. And she’s looking for crafters, makers and designers to join her.
Phew! I’m ‘maked out’! My flat has been a factory these last few days producing work and now I need a holiday to recover. Trouble is, I’ve recently been on one. I had a week off exploring the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. I expected to pop into a few galleries and see some crafts, but I had no idea that a crafter’s paradise would be waiting for me.
I have been schmoozing with ‘Britain’s Craft Elite’, at the official launch of The Craft Blueprint. But what do these ‘development plans for craft in the UK’ mean and will we as the crafting community see our lives change now that crafts are officially recognised by the government? Here’s the low down on what they have in store for us.
With its proximity to the Capital’s jewellery quarter, Hatton Gardens (home to over 1000 British jewellery makers), Craft Central (CC) is the ideal place for makers and designers to work, get exposure and network with the trade industry. But you don’t have to be a jewellery designer or a Londoner to join the CC network. I popped along to their ‘Made in Clerkenwell’ open studio event to find out more about the organisation and its members.
Last week saw the release of stop motion animation flick "Coraline". The movie is set to have crafters drooling and film buffs wanting to reach for a sewing kit. It’s given me the perfect excuse to put my feet up, stock up on popcorn and delve into the movie world of craft.
I’m off sick. Some of you may remember that a couple of months ago I was so ill I couldn’t even craft in bed! Well I have found the root of the problem and am now making a full recovery. I’m taking is very easy this week making it the perfect opportunity to do some research into what’s happening in crafts on the international front.
Increasingly I’m becoming involved in projects that aim to attract wider audience participation from sectors of the community who don’t normally partake in creative and cultural activities. By engaging them in crafts, will these people actually start taking more notice of the opportunities around them?
Zinemaking is the original teen craft. I jumped on the zine bandwagon when I was 12 but fell off when I started university. Now, a decade on, I’m re-visiting this old pastime of mine and resurrecting it by launching a craftzine.
In my last post, I discussed some of the online craft stores that have propped up as a response to the ever-popular Etsy. This week I’m bringing you advice about how to approach online selling, and fingers crossed, increase your chances of being one of the lucky few who make money. 
The number of websites that sell handmade products is on the increase. But with so many places to sell your work, which sites should you choose, and is it really worth doing?
The snow is not the only highlight for your diaries this year. I’ve compiled all the ‘need to know’ crafter’s dates into one handy blog and all you have to do is keep reading, follow the links and put them in your diary.
The Craft Café blog is celebrating its birthday – hooray! It’s one, and since every first birthday deserves a good knees-up, I thought I’d lay on a virtual party, complete with a crafty menu, creative soundtrack and party games.
It’s official. 2009 is the year of crafting. Don’t believe me? Check out my predictions and find out the crafty New Year’s resolutions I’ve made.
What do you get the crafter who has everything? Crafters are ‘collectorholics’, hoarding scraps, cuttings and leftovers, safe in the knowledge that one day we will use them to make something. And when it comes to presents, we generally like anything, particularly wrapping paper, which we like to re-use. However if you’re struggling deciding what to buy a crafty mate for Christmas, check out my handy wish list.
Am I an 'ethical crafter'? And does it matter? Being ethical is the future and we crafters are in a good position to embrace it. But while 'making' is seen as an ethical practice, 'how' we make is equally as important.
Crafts and politics have a secret history and when a friend of mine recently sent me a link to some ‘bra crafting’, I knew I couldn’t ignore the opportunity to do a little research into the feminist craft movement.
Let’s face it, unless you have an Orange phone and there’s a relatively decent film on at the cinema, Wednesday nights are pretty dull. But this week I discovered a new way out of the midweek boredom hole by heading along to an East London Craft Guerilla (ELCG) meeting.
After a month of ‘making’, this week I unleashed my new designs to the public. Armed with a Tupperware full of porridge and flask of hot soup, I braved eight hours on a market stall and made a handsome £6! Well, it’s a start!
While the nation’s kids have been adjusting to a new term at school, I’ve had my head in college prospectuses trying to find part time courses that I can enrol on to stock up on skills. While in the past I’ve chosen courses to learn ‘new skills’, this time I’m going to ‘top up’ my existing skills, so I can do things better.
I woke up on Monday and had an urge to ‘make’ and I haven’t stopped since. I’ve been overtaken by a creative energy to cut, sew, bead, sequin, knit, appliqué and collage. I’m taking it by the horns and using this as the perfect opportunity to create stock. By the end of the month, I aim to have 100 pieces so that I can get myself a small crafts stall.
Are you a ‘geek’, a ‘crafter’, both, or neither? This is the question currently being posed on GeekCrafts.com, a website dedicated to ‘where geeks and crafts collide’. So far, 867 visitors have voted with a staggering 73% considering themselves a ‘crafter and a geek’. I originally thought I was just a crafter but after seeing the results have had a re-think and concluded that yes, we crafters are actually a very geeky bunch.
I've been to more weddings this year than I have in a lifetime. I love a good knees up so I'm all for it, but I've also had the opportunity to observe the potential there is to DIY your own wedding the crafty way. Yes, weddings are the ultimate craft indulgence and if you haven't noticed it before, you will now!
It’s been three weeks since I decided to go freelance and this week is my last week of full-time employment. But before I announce my availability to the world, I need to get my website sorted.
Well I never could have predicted I'd be writing about crafts that are so controversial they'd be hitting the international headlines. But that is what happened this week.
Over the months I’ve often complained about how much I hate my ‘day job’ and recently I’ve been mulling over this. Why put myself through a conventional 9-5 and then spend every spare hour at evenings and weekends trying to pursue writing and crafts? So I have finally made the choice. I have handed in my notice and from August I will be going it alone as a sole crafter and writer. I don’t have work lined up, and the leads I have may not turn out to be fruitful; but I’m going to work the hardest I’ve ever worked and try and get my dream life off the ground!
Lately my interest has strayed from homemade crafts and I’ve been more conscious of creativity around me in everyday life. With the London Festival of Architecture currently in full swing, it gave me a chance to appreciate some of the interesting architectural places in my locality.
Yippee! Summer’s here and my diary is chockablock with crafty calendar dates. There’s just so much going on at the moment; shows, exhibitions, crafts fairs and workshops; I don’t know how I’m going to get any real work done.
For most people, going on an ‘activity holiday’ refers to a spot of waterskiing or banana boating. For crafters, activity holidays are a chance to learn new techniques, make like-minded craft companions and come back with exciting skills to practice until their next trip away. Welcome to one of the fastest growing sectors of the travel industry – ‘the crafts holiday’.
After several failed attempts at trying to enroll on a drawing class, I have finally found one. As I’ve explained before, I am dreadful at drawing. The trouble is no one ever teaches you how to draw when you’re at school and yet there are certain techniques that a person can use that could actually help everyone to draw brilliantly.
I've mentioned Cockpit Arts Studios in Deptford before -- it's a hub of designer/makers, tucked away in South East London. One artist I hadn't seen before was Shirley-Ann Dixon, one of a handful people in the country who still practice traditional weaving. Not only is she passing on the skills and knowledge of a craft that's fast becoming modernised and more technologically advanced, she also has her own inspirational story to tell of how she 'found crafts' and welcomed it into her world.
You can have a go at every tried and tested marketing method there is and still not have any luck. However, no one knows when luck is going to hit them, so here’s my top 5 tips for helping to market your crafts, using more traditional methods.
I'm in a great mood. Within days of emailing several publishers about my new book, I have five interested parties.
How do you cope if you have an imminent deadline and are too unwell to work? Or what if you have another catastrophe such as loss, or damage to your work? I was fascinated to learn that crafters can actually get their own 'crafter insurance'.
Summer is almost here which means crafters nationwide are busy getting organised for the 'fair' season.
Most crafters have an 'entrepreneurial streak' and that's my excuse for watching 'business' themed TV. Dragon's Den, Breaking Into Tesco, The Apprentice - it's so satisfying watching other people try their hand at starting their own ventures.
I have listed many reasons as to why I think Facebook is unnecessary, yet a nagging voice in my head keeps saying 'what about all those business networking opportunities you're missing out on?'
I was thrown off course this week with an unexpected request. It has been so long since anyone placed an order from my website that the pricing structure is out of date.
My day job is sucking the life out of me. I thought I could take on a simple office role to pay the rent, but now that I’ve been in my post for six months I feel like it’s taken over my life.
This week I tried out textured knitting - specifically cable work and I picked it up far more easily than I expected. I'm in a zone at the moment where you can show me something and I'll get it straight away.
I have a mouse. The reason I'm telling you is because the mouse has taken over my home studio and is preventing me from working.
Since the start of the year, I've been toying with several ideas -- one of them is 'textile based jewellery.' Over the last few weeks I've been researching techniques to get inspiration.
Teaching your craft can build your reputation as a crafter and help you out financially when the 'making front' is experiencing a slow patch. So this week I want to look at how we crafters can top up our earnings by teaching our craft.
This week has been a revelation. Not only have I learnt a new skill, I've mastered one of the few traditional crafts techniques to have actually originated in England -- smocking.
As crafters, we never stop learning. We’re always developing new ways of working, tips to save time, improve and perfect our handiwork, that’s why my new years resolution is to learn a new skill every week that will help develop my crafts repertoire.
The craft café