Work in Progress Wednesday

This year I want to push my 'other' work more, as it's a good stretch for my brain, and part of what I really love and excites me is coming up with new ideas, the ping ping ping of working on something new. I don't necessary love the 'end product' or even really producing something to sell. I keep thinking I should start a new blog and website for this separate part of my practice as it might be a bit confusing for people as it is so different, so far removed from my craft business.

I am also trying to blog more and writing does help me to think about things more clearly and deeply.
Apologies if this post is a bit of a mind splurge, I am trying to be more honest, not everything is great in the land of craft, it is  a struggle sometimes, lots of doubts creep in, especially this time of year, it's quiet, cold and cash flow is a nightmare! (aka, I'm skint).

On the plus side, I've just booked flights to Oslo for my friend's 30th birthday! Never too poor for a bit of adventure!

So, my WIP (work in progress for those uninitiated into the language of the maker) today is for the window display at the Craft Centre. Some of the resident makers are going to take it in turns throughout the year to dress the window. I thought this was the perfect opportunity to produce some larger-scale geometric work. I loved making my giant paper wreath at Christmas and doing something for the window feels quite low-pressure, rather than producing work to 'exhibit'. So, still along the lines of geometry, colour theory, spectrums, looking at shapes within shapes, heptagons, RGB, CMYK, the number 7...this will take form over the next few weeks, but I really think this line of work my constantly progress and change.

Work in progress: circle, heptagon, triangle from tracing paper. 

Handmade massive papercut wreath - about a metre square. Enjoyed making something 3 dimensional for a change.

I went to see the Liz West installation at the weekend at Federation House, which was really beautiful and inspiring. An amazing spectrum of coloured light, that looked different from each part of the building. I love Federation House, such a great space and ace for the art scene in Manchester!

Liz West installation

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!

Papercutting at The Whitworth

Last week I ran another paper cutting workshop at The Whitworth for the Crafternoon Tea Adult Learning Programme. I learnt a lot from the last one I did and had all-new cutting mats, fixed blade scalpels and lots of templates for people to use! I tried to keep things a bit simpler too and everyone produced some lovely cards and seemed very happy, so that was good!

I've got a busy month of workshops next month, some for the Ministry of Craft and one for FutureEverything, which is a collaboration with jewellery designer/maker Julia Roy-Williams (Wonderhaus). We'll be taking inspiration from the beautiful surroundings of the Victoria Baths and using a lasercutter to produce stencils for screen printing. Exciting stuff!

Papercutting workshop

Last Wednesday I ran a papercutting workshop at The Whitworth Art Gallery as part of the Crafternoon Tea series. It was a slight departure for me as I'd been asked to do something 'non-messy', suitable for the gallery setting. It was great to do something new and I really enjoyed researching the history of papercuts and all the different styles from around the world. Here is my little fox design:





This was my favourite of the day! So intricate! It was adapted from a template I got from the Scherenschnitte blog, which has loads of lovely designs to try out.