I was so pleased to be asked by Janet to take part in this Creative Blog Hop which, I must confess, I had not heard about and I promised myself I would not get "wordy"(ahem!). Afterall it was only one post I had to do and a quick bio for Janet. Not much really? Unless you get carried away like I do.
As you have probably already read on Janet’s blog, I do not come from a family of crafters. Mum was a creative sewer but sadly I did not inherit her talent in that direction. Up to a year or so ago I was using her Singer sewing machine for the odd things I made and it is still my “work horse” with its all metal construction. No plastic gears in those days. I’ve only got a ‘fancy’ one now because friends introduced me to the joy of fabric crafting but the old Singer still comes out now and then. This was made using my new one:
I used to be a Ranger and Guide Guider in the Rossendale Valley and I was appointed the first Outdoor Pursuits Adviser for East Lancashire. It was during my early terms of office that I would make posters in my lunch hour at work for the various things I wanted the Guides and Guiders to learn about. Encouraged by a guy called Alan I went to evening class and took exams in Art and then went on to teacher training college. That is how it all began.
I had Art as my main subject but chose Ceramics as my discipline although we had to cover other things during the first year. When it came to ‘textiles’ I remember making a huge screen to make a bean bag type cushion with Poppies on. We were given a large coffee jar of white ‘stuff’ and had to add colourant which had to be ‘mixed slowly’ with a stick and not shaken or anything. Well, my obvious colour was ‘red’ and rebel as I was I decided to shake my jar (I still like to find 'short-cuts' to what I do). Just to get it started of course. Imagine the face of the tutor (who was about 6’4” and sported a beard) as it hit him full in the face. Apart from a vision of this huge guy running across the art room and leaping into the stone sink it was all a blur. I do remember hiding behind one of the enormous canvases afterwards. Now you know why I did not choose textiles as my major subject! Or was I refused a place on that course?
Then I began teaching. My first post was in Whitefield and we had an outdoor pursuits centre which always needed money raising for its upkeep so I volunteered to do a parachute jump. The worse thing I have ever done in my life! I spent one day training to jump from a table or some other thing similar, learning about wind speed (what?) and other such things and it was off home, see you in the morning.
Next day I went with a friend who did her best to persuade me to turn back but I carried on. Nervous I must admit. Well, I went up, threw myself out, parachute opened and the descent began, so slowly moving through the sky, it was lovely … then, suddenly a tree came into view and I realised just how fast I was going. All I had been taught about feet together, legs together, knees bent went out of my head and I put one foot out to touch the ground gingerly. I smashed my ankle!!
Leaving that aside, I then took up a more gentle hobby and began cake icing. I loved my ‘poster making’ which translated into painted plaques (edible) for birthday cakes,
and classes for moulding flowers from sugar paste (I sneaked the frog one in here, it was when my son was leaving home for music college)
and learning all the different techniques such as floating collars and extension work (the arched construction is all piped icing).
Twenty years after the parachute incident I was still having problems with my foot and it was whilst recuperating from yet another operation that a cake icing friend introduced me to Parchment Craft.
basic work in progress from ages ago
Oooh, I loved it, suited me no end and kept me from going scatty whilst I was off work. But then she came several months later with a jar of gold ‘dust’, a piece of rubber, a heat gun and some ink. As the gold embossing unfurled I was mesmerised - and hooked! And so that is how it all began.
Since then I have taught in workshops, written articles for magazines, demonstrated products at shows and I love it. I now demonstrate at the northern shows for Oyster Stamps who treat me ‘right royally’ and I enjoy every moment of it trying out new products and meeting people.
At home I have a dedicated craft room, thanks to The Big Strong Boys TV Programme (2003) but I must confess it looks nothing like it did when they left it looking pristine and roomy. Did you catch the show? I loved doing it and when it came time for the TV crew to leave I was quite emotional, they were such a super lot of young people who looked after me and treated me like a Queen.
So question one - what am I working on now? Oh gosh, I am finishing a canvas I started on Saturday. I wanted to do it in the style of Finnabair (love her work) and so I left the embellishments until I got home. I’m still “faffing” about with the placement as you can see:
I am also working on making a selection of tags for the next Demo Day at Harrogate, for Oyster Stamps to show the colours of Brushos. Have you tried them yet? They are a must buy and the book in the first picture was Vilene coloured with Brushos..
I still have two suitcases to finish, a corset book from over a year ago at our local club then there's always my DT pieces for the Artful Times Challenge Blog I am involved with and I must get some kind of necklace or pendant made before I go on a Polymer Clay Course later this month. Lots to do.
Question two - how does my work differ from others in my genre? I don’t have any particular style you can attribute to me. I was once described as a ‘butterfly’ (way back when Val Doonican was singing about one) and I think that sums me up in my crafting. I like crafting from Grunge to CAS, from two dimensional to 3D.
Question three - why do I create what I do? This ties in with the question above. I make things on demand, sometimes it is something for that specific moment, something I am asked to make and occasionally something I really want to make like books which are one of my favourite things to do.
and finally Question four - how does my creative process work? Again the butterfly part of me takes over. I flit from making something based on artwork I have seen, to beginning something and seeing how it evolves Quite often the finished product has nothing at all to do with what it started out as in my mind.
Gosh, I have gone on a bit haven’t I? Nothing new there - so on to my chosen bloggers ...
Well, some may say I had no luck in finding my three as I have only got one person to pass on to you but he is well worth looking at and I consider I am lucky to have him as a friend.
Why did I choose Paul? Simply because I love him to bits. I first met Paul when he came to one of my workshops, it was using wax when it first hit the market for us paper crafters. Our paths crossed several times after that and I am delighted that Paul is my friend. In the time we have known one another we have become firm friends and it is a tradition that we meet up in Manchester for the Christmas market. Paul knows Manchester quite well and he has opened my eyes, and those of Chas, to many things we would not have known about our city otherwise.
I admire his artwork, I admire the fact he is not afraid to put something different to the ‘norm’ out there, I admire his modesty about his work and I admire the way he blogs. Yes, it is lovely to see artwork on blogs, to get ideas from things we see but I also enjoy the journeys Paul takes and the way he relates them to us through the medium of his blog. I discover places of interest I never knew existed and I want to visit them in person, both at home and abroad. I just wish I saw things through Paul’s eyes, he has such talent.
This is what he says about himself:
“I read/hear a good quantity of creative bios that begin with “I’ve been crafting since I was a small child” etc. You know what, I can’t even remember if that was true in my case. I recall that I certainly enjoyed drawing. I used to copy posters for horror films such as Friday 13th and Halloween, then blue tack them to my bedroom wall. If I made anything, it was usually with lego or more often than not, Meccano.
By comparison, I’m a late starter to crafts. I began, with altered art, book arts, stamping and paper crafts and I haven’t looked back. I have a Jekyll & Hyde approach to my style of crafting. I’m a designer by profession and artist by hobby, so I flit between my opposing aesthetic tastes for Arty & CAS and dabble in both.
I live with my civil partner Nick in the North West of England. It goes without saying, that we also own a cat - it’s in the gay rulebook. I’ve been blogging since 2006. I normally share just the crafts I make but sometimes I diverge off into other topics. I occasionally enjoy taking up a monthly challenge, posting something everyday on a theme for 30 days but I haven’t set one for a while. Currently, I’ve been drawing and doodling with lots of colour, in sketchbooks during my free time, rather than crafting. I do it solely for fun and I haven’t shared the results online.
As much as I love blogging, I would put pressure on myself to ensure my scribbles were of a good enough standard to share and that would simply rob the joy out of them. When I’m the only one who is witness to the marks I make on paper, I am free to cock it up, try different ideas and simply indulge in the fun of the process. You never know, one day I’ll look at a page I’ve finished and think, yes, I’m happy to share that. Am I insecure about my creativity? Damn right I am. Aren’t we all? :). Px”
If anyone asks you to join, please consider it, it is fun and it is a great way to get to know more about one another
