Make It March: day 2

my window ledge photographic studio in action!

Well rather frustratingly, today all I did was take product pics and photoshop them for listing.

But I did get it all done, and the listings are now all bookmarked to add to my etsy shop this week so maybe tomorrow I can settle down at the bench and create?

PS: green fuzzy annelli necklace shown on bust now for sale

wordless wednesday: my studio

working at the bench (also my computer table)

new storage layout (and hidey hole)

on one side of the bench

my new summer workspace!

or maybe here!

lacking focus

clutch of fidget rings in brass and copper with furnace glass

Time has most definitely not been of the essence recently, mainly due to an enforced run of solo parenting for the last week. When I'm not parenting I've generally been too tired to create, and this makes me more exhausted and in turn I get little other than the immediate childcare stuff done in a day ..... and so on! It becomes a catch-22 until I get some unfettered "me-time" to reboot. We've been mainly home-based too so I've not even been managing any portable crafting moments despite having a new waistcoat on the (circular) pins.

However, a few evenings ago I sat down at my desk and worked on two projects. Somehow the metal obeyed my command, I only shattered one glass bead during rivetting and the pair of fidget rings shown above were the end product. There's also a new flotsam wire and fibre brooch on the go but it needs a repeat felting so no pics so far.

Having some new projects on the go certainly helps me banish the crafting blues, and I've found it helps with life in general. I feel calmed and productive amidst the chaos of my role in family life, a job with no reference, feedback or career pattern. I guess this mother's little helper is fibre or metal plus assorted tools!

PS: they're fidget rings cos the glass rivet section sticks up a bit and is great for fiddling with, all rings should have a fiddle section!

buttonless knickers

wire and fibre felted buttons
(alpaca and tinned copper)

Phew! After Sunday's most incredible Got Craft spring opener I have relaxation in mind. Once that's been achieved portable crafting will have to take a bit of a back seat as I reload my online shops and attend to my website. I need to photograph and list my inventory - all of which translates into much computer time!
I also need to road test a new design - wire and fibre buttons (shown above). They look beautiful and will survive the washer/dryer but I need to find out how they function as functioning buttons. For example, since they felt they are unsuitable for certain wools ie. those which are not machine washable, and how stable are they for pushing in and out of a button hole? Normally I test out my fabric-related stuff on ..... knickers since they suffer a lot of abuse (?) and are laundered a lot. None of my knickers have buttons so I'm a little at a loss ......

Stay tuned!

earth day - ebbandflo is doing her crafty bit

I've always been a thrifty gal, my mother's influence from her own rationing and wartime in London experiences have helped shape me as someone who hates to discard. Even my craft studio is built around semi-conservation/upcycling principles - a lot of my crafting materials are stored in those transparent plastic boxes which prepared salads come in. They are ideal since they stack, are easily labelled, are lightweight and the contents are seen readily.


However, I'm not as quick as some sellers of handmade to jump on the eco bandwagon. I've made a few tagging changes to fit in with the Etsy perception of 'being green' (when in Rome, .....) but I'm still uncomfortable with whooping up eco credentials. I try to incorporate green-ness in everyday life and crafting but I'm no eco-warrior. The spotlight above brings together some of my more thrifty, upcycling projects and the new design of felted flotsam cuff above incorporates handspun 'sweepings' (from Yummy Yarn) with brand new wire (it's almost impossible to upcycle wire though my flotsam brooches do use up the odds and ends of all kinds of handcrafting offcuts). I love working with sea glass and am slowly working thru a stash of machine knit wool swatches for felting which my mother gave me.
With a little thought it's possible to work some earth-saving practices into your crafting life!

the structured chaos of organised personal time

Last night I switched off the computer, removed myself from the lure of the interwebs and the seduction of twitter ..... and Made Stuff. This follows on from my previous blog post kvetching about not having enough personal time over Spring Break.

I poured a good big goblet of red wine and the creativity flowed(?).

accomplished =

• a new pair of copper earrings

• three flotsam wire and fibre items ready to be felted in today's batch of laundry
• the prototype for a new flotsam wire and fibre design
• set up some portable crafting projects for when I'm out and about
• an inventory check of wire crochet for upcoming craft fairs and B&M's
• prep for the promo items I need to make for the upcoming Got Craft! fair at the beginning of May

Once these housekeeping items were out of the way I then settled down to some real creating, something I've been 'itching' to do for a long time. I've been making wire beads for about a year now and using them in necklaces or as focal points. Recently I've started felting them (my beloved fuzzy balls!) but last night's project was a wee bit different.

I made a graduated set of fine silver wire beads and teamed them with some beautiful white agate to make a "purity" choker-length necklace. For some reason I gravitate towards pure white with the fine silver and the pieces always end up being "purity". Ho hum - makes sense to me I think.

 

how do you craft?

So, how do you pull it all together and manage a few crafty moments in your day? How does it all fit together in your family life? Whether you're a stressed new mum following the 'sleep when the baby sleeps' mantra or the follower of a very active out-and-about preschooler it can be a real juggling act to try keep that ounce of sanity going by snatching a creative moment or two in the day's itinerary.

Recently I found some inspiration from an article run in the Etsy blog, The Storque where seller Nikki aka BabyBelle talked about her studio and how enmeshed in family life it is. Far from the usual unfeasible "Quit Your Day Job" (!) series, this article actually addressed the ins and outs of working at home and weaving it around normal family duties. It turns out that there are a whole slew of work-at-home mum articles available here ....... maybe you can find some nuggets of inspiration in them too!