Soggy Cycling

Easy exercise day today, cycled to the studio in the rain. Felt quite refreshing! I'm working on a few commissions and quite a large wholesale order, so I'll be busy printing over the next few days. Ordered some materials and a new screen, which is always exciting, but not so nice for my bank balance! Eek! Damn you cash flow.

Some jolly badges.

parkrun participation!

Last night I checked out the MMU degree shows with my guy and some pals. We had a jolly time, it's always nice to see the work students have made and to have a catch up. The new art school building is very impressive, much nicer than the dingy old building that was there when I did my Masters! Afterwards we went to the pub and had a few pints, but I was conscious of running a 5k in the morning so was eager to get home to eat and get some sleep!

Cheets.

The Bird.

The new art school buildings. Futuristic!

I managed to talk my pal Nick (available for all your film and photography needs, plug plug plug) into doing the parkrun with me, so we met at 8.15 in the morning on our bikes in the cold drizzle and cycled down the Fallowfield Loop to Platt Fields Park and waited around nervously for the run to start. There were quite a few fit and healthy folk around and I spotted a few familiar faces from run club. The race started and Nick sped off into the distance. So began a mental battle for me, half saying, "my legs are like lead, so heavy, I can't do this", the other saying, "yes you can, you know you can, keep going!". The sun made an appearance and it was pretty perfect running conditions, nice and cool but bright. At least it would have been if I wasn't wearing a waterproof! When will I learn? Anyway, I managed a pretty decent pace the whole way round and sped up a little at the end for a strongish finish. It felt like a lot longer than 5k somehow, but I ruddy well did it! I thought I'd taken over half an hour, but on checking the results a pleasant surprise, I managed 27:54 and was 40th woman! Plenty of room for improvement and maybe next time I won't have 3 pints of ale the night before.

Pre run face

Turned out nice!

Post-run faces

It's Nellybob to you.

Pelting Rain and Pecha Kucha

An easy exercise day today. These legs gotta rest. Didn't actually feel that easy when I was cycling to work in the pouring rain, sweating in my waterproofs, backpack stuffed to the gills.

I worked on a secret project today, will post pics when the time is right. Did a few commissions and played with my new photography set up. Had a bit of a stupid day actually, I always write things down in my diary, then forget to check it, frustrating my plans.

I skipped yoga again this week, in favour of going to Pecha Kucha at Manchester Art Gallery. My friend organised this free event and it was great! Really interesting, diverse range of speakers, covering topics from birdwatching to microbiology. There are 4 more planned to come, the next one is in around 3 months, I urge you to go if you can!

Planning on Pilates in the morning for the first time in ages, my muscles are crying out for a good stretch! Oh sacroiliac joint, why you hurt me so? :'(

Banana omelette thingy, inspired by Nicola Rowlands. Totally delicious breakfast!

Personalised organic cotton t-shirt, you can order here if you like 'em!

Pecha Kucha at Manchester Art Gallery

Long tailed tit! One of my faves.

Dave Carden singing his presentation!

Crafting History

Here are some photos of the process of making my piece for the Crafting History exhibition that opens at the Craft Centre on 14th July. The tenants were asked to respond to the Collecting History exhibition that is currently on at the Craft Centre as part of our 30 year anniversary celebrations. I chose to create an intricate papercut depicting 18 fish representing our 18 studios and celebrating the past life of the building as a fishmarket. All the fish are native to British waters and many would have been served up here at some point (except the Pike!). As part of the exhibition the public sent in words that they feel represent the Craft and Design Centre. Each fish contains one of these words. I enjoyed the challenge of making something away from my usual practice and it has proved really satisfying. Come down on Saturday 2-4 to see all the work made plus ceramics by Carys Davies and help us celebrate!

FutureEverything Workshops

Hello! I'm way behind on posts, I've been super-busy running, cycling, printing and teaching workshops! Here are some photos from the HANDMADE workshop at Victoria Baths. It was a super-fun, busy, hectic day!

More photos on my Facebook page! The next workshop I'm running is on the 30th June at Fred Aldous for the Ministry of Craft. In August I'm running some workshops for 10-15 year olds, so if you know anyone who'd like to have a go at printing in the summer holidays, send them my way! Details here: Craft Academy

I ♥ Bicycles

Handprinted poster, available on etsy and folksy.

The past couple of nights have been very much bike-based for me. The annual I Bike MCR festival is on over the next month, with lots of activities, films, get togethers, bike maintenance classes and of course cycling! I was aware of it, but learnt more on Tuesday, when me and my housemate went on the Full Moon bike ride. The weather was absolutely awful and I was wearing inappropriately skinny jeans, which hindered me in getting on and off the trusty Pioneer somewhat. In fact, it turned on that my poor old Raleigh Classic, bought for £5.46 from ebay around 2 years ago, has seen better days, as I got a puncture 30 seconds after leaving the pub and whilst fixing it in the pouring rain realised that the rear derailer had come loose. Argh! Not cool in front of a group of cycling afficionados I didn't know! Luckily they are very nice and I feel we all have a bond after patching up the old girl in adverse conditions. We rode to Jackson's Boat by Chorlton Ees and had a thoroughly nice time, yay for new friends!
Last night I went to the Lass O'Gowrie pub for a screening of Beauty and the Bike, a film exploring why so few teenagers in Britain cycle. It was a lovely film, and I got a little sentimental as half of it was based in my home town of Darlington!
The upshot of all this 2 wheeled fun is that I have decided to buy a new bike, does anyone have any recommendations? I've been checking out Globe bikes, drool drool! I'm considering the Haul or Live models. Yum!



I need to get sorted asap, so I can enjoy the rest of the festival! Hopefully see some of you out and about, come rain or shine! xx