Thumbs up!

Morning all! First things first - the thumb's better at last!! Never again!! Whilst it was getting better, pinning taut fabric onto a wooden block was out of the question, so I've been making some (in my humble opinion) rather lovely knitted and sewn Christmas presents - can't show you photos until after the big day though as the intended receivers definitely read the blog! It's been nice to get back to doing some old school crafting, I don't get quite the same buzz as when I've finished a hat, but my goodness it's faster and a lot of fun!! I have managed to squeeze in some hatting too of course. Nothing has quite got to finished stage yet as I've run out of wire and tubular crin, so I've been blocking and making hat decoration, as well as indulging in some velvet experimentation. This does mean that I now HAVE to get The (mahoosive and slightly scary supplies) Order in this week, so every cloud I guess...

The liquorice all sorts are coming along nicely, had a lot of fun doing these! I'm going to glue the little plain blue and pink and roll them through some seed beads to give them the sprinkled look - I think it's going to get messy!

All sorts: Cotton balls, hand moulded and painted

 I love the colours within this nude silk dupion - this is the first time I've made a silk cover on a canvas foundation without Rose! The sequin wing design kind of evolved on its own via the seams and pattern of the bias through the fabric, like the hat knew what it wanted to be before I did! I'm pleased with our joint effort, the only problem is that now I want to keep it!

Time flies: Silk dupion on canvas foundation with hand sewn layered sequin ring and wing

I haven't made a velvet hat before, but one of my fellow Rose-addicts and I have decided to swap the skills we've learned already to accelerate our learnings. She described how to cover a canvas foundation with gathered velvet - it's worked (woop!) but I think I've over handled the velvet as the sheen could be glossier. I'm actually surprised there's any velvet left on the hat, given the amount that seemed to be in my eyes, up my nose and in my mouth!! Still, as a first attempt it's definitely wearable - I'm going to crown the gathering with a plume of natural guinea fowl feathers, the contrast against the velvet is gorgeous!

Good enough to eat?: Grape silk velvet gathered onto canvas foundation

 

I picked up some really interesting loose weave woollen fabric from the offcuts box at Macculloch & Wallis - as with most of their stuff, I paid more than I'd have liked, but it's great quality and I knew it would lend itself well to a hat. I also realised this week that I should probably be making a Spring / Summer collection rather than winter warmers (whoops!) so I rustled up some irises (I'm getting good at making up flowers now!) to nod happily on top.

Iris: Woven wool button with painted silk dupion irises

 

Finally for this week, I've christened my bespoke tricorn block - this is going to be a deep navy percher with pearl beading. The rope and ribbon help to push the felt into the dips in the block so that it retains a cushioned effect - once I've got crin, wire, a headband and felt stiffener, I can take it off the block and start beading!

Handmade Monday
There's a festive frenzy at Handmade Harbour this week - pop over and get inspired! Top tips this week are Knitrun4sanity's knitted wire bracelets (loving the larger beads!); Woolly Tale's absolutely adorable (and very lucky!) needle felted mouse; Picto's fairy doors (what a lovely idea!); and Blue Forest Jewellery's bubble rings. See you next week kids!

Chemical catastrophes

I'm a bad news first kinda gal, so let's get this out of the way: whilst I was taking off some particularly stubborn glitter nail varnish last week, with some nail varnish remover of origins and sell by date unknown, I appear to have self inflicted some kind of severe chemical burns and my whole right thumb is now a Blister with a Capital B. As a result, this week has mainly been spent on thumb-friendly admin, including a spreadsheet to compare supplier costs (you can take the girl out of the corporation...) Spreadsheets don't make for very interesting photos though, so I'll get down to some more creative updates that I got in before The Incident...

For flock's sake
After the success of the 'Three for a Wedding' magpies, I've been molding rather more exotic species to adorn this Bird Cage design, inspired in part by my ongoing avian affair (ILOVELOVELOVEBIRDS) and in part by this amazing chandelier from Graham&Greene (although sadly Father Christmas, I think this is even beyond your elves' collective budget...)

Birds of a feather: Spherical wire cage with cotton and feather birds

They might look like slugs on E numbers at the moment, but given another coat and some sculpted feather wings, I think I'm on to a winner...

I've also started some (soon to look rather more delectible) liquorice all sorts for this black felt hat design... I made these early last week, put them in the airing cupboard to dry out and forgot all about them until this morning!

Liquorice all sorts in progress: to adorn the high backed percher below.

Wirey wonderings
After receiving an awesome crocheted silver bracelet when I was a bridesmaid for my seriously stylish best friend last year, I've been dying to try some wire creations myself. This wire is too thick for crocheting I think (mine didn't work anyway!!) but it lends itself very well to knitting, which lends itself very well to abstract sculptural hats! Result! As always when I discover something new, one just wasn't enough, but wire knitting doesn't agree (at all!) with poorly thumbs so I'll be back on the case as soon as they're up to it!

Organised chaos: And it goes a little something like this...

 

Handmade Monday
After such an unusually brief post, you're bound not to have got your creative blog fix today, so fill your boots here. Top tips for this week's shares are the wicked stag cushion from Free Spirit Designs; the cute crocheted Chaffy from Ginx Crafts; Amigurumi Barmy's rather doleful but delightful bunny, Jean; and Planet Penny's amazing Christmas jumpers (espcially the egg cosies!)

Enjoy, and see you next week, thumbs willing!

Where did November go!?

Whoops! Nearly a month since my last post! Needless to say I have been rather busy over the past few weeks, which makes for rather a lot of photos! Get yourself a cuppa and enjoy!

My amazing birthday cake!

Birthday treats
I'm a big fan of self-given birthday presents (if you can't treat yourself on your birthday, when can you!?), so during another glorious two days with Rose, I gifted myself this amazing Mary Poppins style tierred black felt hat with some fantastic and very inspiring feedback from Rose - amazing! I wore it to champagne high tea (another fab present from a truly fab friend) at the Wallace Collection this weekend (it's marvellous: if you can - go!) and felt a million dollars - there's something about being hatted that makes one stand slightly taller I think :)

'Mary Poppins': Black velour felt with petersham piping and bow

Loose ends
The trouble with having so many ideas is that it's very tempting to start new things all the time without finishing off what you've started - bad practice! The ongoing labour of love that is the Hummingbird Project is nearly done - check out the Skullduggery page for the latest pictures! I also finally finished this little pink felt button, which I love!

Cute as a button: Cerise wool felt, with spiral cascade

I've made some progress on this extravagant black sinamay hat, which is to be adorned with two huge black roses under the left side of the brim (the right side will dip down...once Rose has shown me how!)

The Monster Brim: Black sinamay with shallow crown

The roses are a fair amount of work (they take a couple of hours each) but wholly worth it, and I now have a full blown 'full blown rose' addicition! In my defence, there are definitely worse things to be obsessed by!

And to the addict, the spoils...

Two weddings, four heads
Early November was the busiest week of my millinery adventures so far - luckily, 14 hour days making hats are a lot more fun than my long (and thankfully long gone!) corporate marathon days, and the results infinitely more rewarding! Thanks again to my friends for investing in / borrowing and modelling my creations!

Barbara: Sinamay tipped percher on tulle covered headband with silk dupion folded roses

 

Basking butterfly: Silk dupion butterfly with hackle feather antennae, mounted on tulle covered headband

Double rose: Large and medium silk dupion roses on tulle covered headband

Three for a wedding: Sequined tulle cloud with three magpies, mounted on tulle covered headband

 

 

 

Block party
My dad's one of those people who is brilliant at everything he turns his hand to (apart from Just Dance on the Wii, but we like it that way - much more entertaining!) He's a very talented wood turner, and gave me this handmade button block for my birthday!

Handmade block: African Obeche button block by Martin Johnson. Thanks Dad!!

 

As soon as I've finished this post, I'll be starting its first canvas foundation for a luxurious silk velvet button in the grape coloured velvet below.

Add silk addiction to my rose addition: The silk velvets and dupions (middle and bottom left and centre) are from Broadwick Silks (I seriously need to STOP going to this shop - it's not cheap but working with good quality fabric is a joy - everything's too beautiful and I keep buying it all!) I also picked up a piece of loose weave wool fabric (too good to leave behind!) and navy wool hood for the tricorn block below)

The only problem with turning blocks on a lathe is that they have to be round, or oval at a push. More complex shapes require carving and a whole different kind of patience, and so this week I've been learning to make buckram blocks. There's something very special about making your own blocks - it pretty much means anything is possible, and the feeling of holding a solid, and most importantly unique, shape that you've made yourself from a flat piece of fabric is worth the raw hands and scorched fingers!

Cushioned tricorn: Bespoke buckram block

I'm going to make a deep navy felt with pearl bead decoration for its maiden voyage, inspired by the traditional pin up sailor girls.

Watercolour wanderlust
Old fashioned it may be, but I like to draw my designs by hand before I start (and before I forget them!) I was originally going to leave them as line drawings in the 'time is money' mantra, but they look so much better watercoloured that I've decided an extra 5 mins is time well spent. the silk leaves below are to creep across the asymetric green percher (top middle design).

Feeling sketchy: Better out than in!

Winter ivy: Stiffened silk dupion

Handmade Monday
If you haven't finished that cup of tea quite yet (or even if you have) brighten up your day by checking out what the creative types at Handmade Monday have been up to - personal favourites so far this week are Handmade Harbour's blackboard teapot; the super human sized cat by Extreme Crochet; Highland Monkeys' felted mice and suitcases (too cute!); and Big Purple Sofa's vinyl record bowls.

I will be super disciplined and see you next week! Now I'm off to canvas foundation it up! Woop!

Swan Success!

I'm pretty sure that there's some kind of blogging etiquette which recommends the avoidance of trigger happy posting, largely in the interests of looking like one has a life, but  a) One doesn't: my life currently IS hats and b) I'm too elated to care!

I still need to make a couple of tweaks to the pattern, so poetic licence can be accountable for the untidy folds (including the U-bend in the poor creature's neck!), but overall... I think this is going to work!!!

Swan song: Brown paper rehearsal, 0.5m triangle

Monday Morning Momentum

Was oddly wide awake at stupid o'clock today, and since it's high time for an update, I thought some Monday morning pictures were in order. The bad news is that the Magic Plastic only lasts a couple of days, and so I've gone back to the drawing board on the bubble hat (boo hiss). In the meantime though, I've got a lot of new things on the go...

A chip off the old block
Probably the most exciting development is that my Dad is making me some blocks which will potentially save me a fortune!! Handmade, quality blocks are works of art in themselves, and therefore (understandably) pretty pricey. After much research, we've invested in an enormous plank of flawless African Obeche, and Dad kicked off the first button block yesterday - I'll keep you posted on his progress...!

The first cut on my new 19&1/2" 'Martin Johnson' button block

!

Buttons, origami and the Great Ping Pong Discovery
I had a great two days with Rose in London too - two buttons (a 17" round silk on canvas foundation for the Hummingbird Project, and a 19&1/2" cerise wool felt button for some felt and feather spiral experimentation) as well as a monster brim for a black sinamay showstopper.

In the meantime, I've also finally found the guidelines to make an absolutely beautiful origami swan that I fell in love with about two months ago but couldn't work out the folds. I've been practising in paper so far, but today's objective is to try an enormous half metre model to see how it'll work as a hat - the wings will be slightly differently arranged to sit across the face with veiling.

Orgiami swan: Paper rehearsal from A3 triangle

After my sister found some great instructions in an origami book (thanks Natalie!), I've also folded this little chap who's now just awaiting a small black button base on which to perform. I love him!!

Origami elephant: Stiffened dupion silk

This led to the Great Ping Pong Discovery - I'm not sure how the more traditional milliners will feel about this, but I've spent a lot of time over the weekend nail varnishing ping pong balls, I love the look!

Like the Royal Doulton balloon man!

The three black ones are for a tulle 'cloud' fascinator for a wedding I've got coming up, complete with sequins, glitter and magpies (three for a wedding!)

Hessian experiments
The hessian hat is also coming along nicely, although suitable decorative ideas have been proving elusive. After four hours (!!) of deeply unsatisfactory experimentation last week, I finally discovered what i think is a pretty cool setting for the silk velvet pansies - I'm a massive fan of lasers, and these really remind me of them! I had originally intended to use a daisy chain, and eventually settled on a wire setting. Which is your favourite?

Daisy chain: Silk dupion and velvet daisies with wire setting on a stiffened hessian base

Fancy pansies: Silk velvet blooms, dupion leaves and curled ostrich feather setting on same hessian base

Handmade Mondays
Finally, I've recently discovered this fabulous crafty community on Handmade Harbour, and so I've joined the party - partly to hopefully secure some more followers, partly because I think it's a genuinely lovely idea, but mainly because I love beng nosy about other creative people's endeavours! Today is my first linked post - regular Monday updates to follow!