The project in this month’s Craft Box Club (https://craftboxclub.co.uk/) was a heart felt garland. I have to say that needle felting is not one of my favourite crafts, once you get past the satisfaction of stabbing something I find it becomes a bit repetitive. However, I do think that the rainbow heart design for the garland is very sweet and brings its own message of hope and positivity.
Included in the kit was:
Wool skein x7 (rainbow colours)
String x7 (rainbow colours)
Heart cookie cutters x 3 sizes
Felting needle
Sewing needle
Cotton string
Sponge
The basic premise of needle felting is to form the wool into a shape by using the needle to condense the fibres together, thus creating felt. In this case the fleece was formed into hearts using the cookie cutters to mould it into shape. As well as the usual video tutorial at the link provided, there were also instructional photos, which I found really informative. I actually felt that I could do the project without watching the video, however I have done felting before on a couple of occasions. I think having the video there as well would be very useful as a beginner so you could see the technique involved.
The process was repeated for each colour of the rainbow twice, once with the large cookie cutter and once with the small. This was the part I found a bit repetitive! I think that the project probably took me around four hours to complete in total.
Once all fourteen of the hearts were done it was then time to string them onto the cotton using the needle provided. When they were all in place the coloured string was then tied in bows between the hearts. I really liked that each skein of wool was bundled with a co-ordinating coloured string, which was then reused in the project as a decoration.
There was so much wool provided in the kit that I could probably make a second garland if I wanted to, or it could be used in another project like a weaving or something similar. I also now have the heart cutters to use for another project, whether that be cooking or clay!
I had an absolute ball this weekend at The Handmade Festival (https://www.thehandmadefestival.com/) hosted by Kirstie Allsopp! I attended on the Friday and it was such a lovely day. The festival takes place in Hampton Court and it was a beautiful sunny day to be walking around outside (thanks late summer sun!). My friend and I decided to pre-book all of our workshops so we would have a schedule for the day, and also some guaranteed sitting down! In total we booked on four workshops throughout the day and they were quite evenly spaced which left plenty for time for browsing the shopping zones and other tents hosted by some familiar names such as Sew Yeah Social Club (https://sewyeah.co.uk/), Mollie Makes (http://www.molliemakes.com/), and the London Craft Club (https://londoncraftclub.co.uk/) amongst others. Lots of these tents were hosting their own workshops too, which you could just attend on a first-come-first-serve basis or sign up to on the day. Next time I might consider booking less workshops in advance so I can participate in these instead. There was also an amazing food tent which had loads of stalls selling delicious produce like honey, wine, cakes and sauces.
The first workshop I attended was Indian block printing. It was my favourite of the day. The tutor from The Arty Crafty Place ran us through how to apply the paint to the blocks to ensure we wouldn’t get a blobby result and the need for a printing mat to provide a soft surface to help the block make full contact with the fabric. There were a variety of blocks for us to share and we used four paint colours during the class. We started off with a piece of practice fabric before moving on to the tote bag provided. As the fabric paint dries immediately we were able to print both sides. There were lots of assistants walking round, giving advice and showing us examples of items that had been printed. They also told us that by heat sealing the printing with an iron it would then be safe to wash it too. I can definitely see myself incorporating this technique into future work.
The second workshop I attended was felting. We made a flamingo. At the beginning of the class Steffi from The Makerss (https://www.themakerss.co.uk/) said that by the end we would be addicted, but I’m not sure it’s the craft for me! The main shape of the flamingo was formed using a wire armature made from a pipe cleaner. The various coloured wool was then formed around the wire and manipulated into shape using the felting needle. The eyes, wings and legs were attached by punching the needle through both layers of the wool at the place where you wanted them to join. I was amazed at how easily the wool joined together and stayed in the shape it was formed into, but I did wish I had an extra pair of hands to hold it all steady!
The third workshop was Honey Hand Reflexology. We started the session talking about the importance of bees and honey and which kinds to buy to get the best health benefits. We then made an exfoliator using honey, cane sugar and coconut oil. It smelt delicious and we all used our scrubs on our hands straight away. It left my hands so soft. I have quite dry skin generally so I will definitely be using it throughout the winter. Katharine from Bee Potion (https://www.bee-potion.com/) said that we could also use it on our faces. The second half of the session was dedicated to hand reflexology. We had a hand map and Katharine talked us through each of the pressure points as we gave each other hand massages. It was very relaxing and my hands felt lovely afterwards!
The last session of the day was a talk hosted by Kirstie Allsopp with the gardener Charlie Hart. He was very amusing and talked about his move to the country and how his decision to become and gardener and transforming his own garden helped him through his grief over his parents’ death. He also talked about how it can help with anxiety and gave some good gardening advice to questions from the audience.
In between all these sessions we browsed all the amazing stalls. Some were selling handmade products such as jewellery, ceramics and art and others were selling craft supplies. I made quite a few purchases of craft kits so expect lots of blog posts about all of them in the near future!
I was really excited to see some of the companies and individuals I follow on Instagram. It was great to meet them in real life and see their products. I did see a few people I recognised from Instagram attending the festival, it was a bit like celeb-spotting! I didn’t go up and say hello to any of them though as I didn’t want to seem like a stalker!
I had such a great day out and I will definitely be putting it in my diary for next year.
The Inquisitive Bee 