Crafting through the coughs

I picked up a bug from my boss last week, and had to call in sick for a few days. Between the napping, coughing, exhaustion and feverishness, I wasn't fit for much mentally, but I was itching to use my hands, so I got on with some crafting I had outstanding.

I'd been asked if I could make two Totoro characters in quilling, one in pink and one in grey, for a first wedding anniversary gift. I researched, I experimented, and after creating a first design that I was happy with, I made the pair:

When I posted these on my Facebook page, another friend asked if I would make her a No Face. Now, I'm not a Studio Ghibli fan (I've seen My Neighbour Totoro and Spirited Away, but only once, and years ago), so this involved more research to check just what was being asked for! After that, I made a first version in "plain" quilling:

I offered to put a back of black strips on the body, and the recipient wanted this, and it turned out looking good and finished it off nicely :)

Meanwhile, I'd remembered that I'd promised a goose to someone else ages ago, but hadn't had a chance to get one designed. So, I designed and made a goose...

Which would have been fine...if the recipient had actually wanted a goose, rather than the white duck she'd asked for! Luckily, she was happy enough to receive a goose instead :)

A friend had been talking about Malcolm Tucker' sweary quotes from The Thick Of It, and how entertaining it would be to have one of them as a quote on their front door, for departing guests. So, I tested out my basic cross stitch skills to make a simple word design, and set to work. This was the end result:

I had also promised hand-drawn postcards of dandelion clocks to the people who sponsored me to do an abseil a while ago, but I hadn't had a chance to get to do those either, so I was able to make a good start of getting them done.

And today I took a trip to the Post Office with a LOT of packages, including a RAK for someone as a wee cheering thing (hopefully).

So, being sick isn't always an entirely bad thing, if you can keep your hands occupied :)

Commissions, gifts, and RAKs

I've not blogged for a while, but I have been busy! With lots of babies arriving to friends, I was kept busy making quilled baby feet canvases, so there's another half dozen of them done ( a few are shown below), some have been personalised and sent off, some are waiting for the details of the recipients (AKA for the babies to arrive) so they can be personalised.

During April, I had a lot of physical work to do in my workplace, and to keep my morale up and keep me motivated, I offered some decorated pebbles to the people who best guessed my progress at 4 set points during the main activity day.

I also had a weekend long resin jewellery making class booked, where I experimented with putting quilled bits into the resin. These were the pieces I made, ready for me to drill and mount as necklaces. All I need to do next is find the time to make these sort of necklaces properly, and then put them in my shop: these were just tests with pieces of quilling that I had lots of, or could make quickly to fill spaces.

Then lovely V's birthday was coming up, so I wanted to make her something made of "V"'s, and I started doodling...which quickly became these dandelion clock postcards, that are based around the use of the letter V in varying sizes. I really rather like the design, and have since made and given away a few more of these postcards. I'm also thinking of offering a hand drawn one of them in return for sponsorship of over £5 for a future event I want to do.

As the virtual desktop system at work had some major issues that prevented me getting on to work for a day, I also did a lyrics postcard to occupy myself: this was the lyrics of "Happy" by Pharrell, which ended up with a colleague.

I had a commission in early June for a christening gift for a friend's godchild, with a bit of a difference for me: the text would be both in English, and Hungarian! My friend guided me on the shape she wanted it in, and got a friend to do a transcription of the Hungarian text.

Then, I did a test drawing to see how the verse spacing worked.

Then a second version, with the best text spacing. I added a pencil outer line, where the Hungarian text would be going.

Once I had the translation, I wrote it out in pencil to make sure that the spacing was right, then overwrote it with ink, before removing the under writing. This is the finished dove on the slope I work on, and the handwritten Hungarian transcription I was working from.

I took some nice photos of the finished dove, but they're on my camera, and...erm...I don't know where I've put it! So, the picture above is both languages, but the Hungarian text still has the pencil version under it (which is why it looks a bit thick/odd).

This was a gift for a friend, with words that have a personal meaning for them.

I also promised another friend a gift, and they decided on a literary themed image, in this case Poirot. Thankfully, this one worked out perfectly first time!

Still on the paper pad where I drew it.

Cropped to better effect!

So, although I've not blogged it for a while, I HAVE been crafting, and I have been sending craft RAKs - but I'm sure I've missed out some RAKS from here too. So, if I've sent you something and it's not mentioned here, can you let me know? I'm keeping a spreadsheet, so I can distribute RAKs randomly, but not overly favour anybody with too many things!

More RACKs

It appears that I'm slightly overachieving on my Craft RAK target of 1 item a month, as this post shows. Oh well, it probably just means that when I run out of recipients I'll open a call for volunteers again!

So, what did I send in February?

1: A decorated dried elm leaf - I drew a circle and dash pattern on the surface first.

                                 

Then I decided it needed a bit more bling, so I added some glitter to every second dot, and it turned a bit more disco :)

                                 

2: A needle felted mouse inside a walnut shell - I think I may have pushed the bounds of how small I can do needle felting (I'm no expert at it, I've only made half a dozen things, and I've been learning by experimenting) I struggled to felt the wool tightly enough to mean the ears could be attached while still staying distinct as ears!

I put the mouse inside, carefully glued the halves together with PVA glue (it holds the shell together but can be broken apart when wanted without damaging the shell or contents), and tied it up in a pretty ribbon.

3: A decorated pebble - This one is actually something I did previously, but I decided it was time it went on to a new owner, as I'd had the benefit of it for a while. I drew the random pattern with a fine pigment ink pen.

4: An ink-blown and filigree tree. I had a bit of a flashback to my youth, and played with some liquid drawing ink and a straw to create a tree shape. 

                                                 

I waited for it to dry.

Then I filled in the gaps between the "branches" of the tree with some filigree patterns.

5: Finally - A mini treasure map. This actually was quite personal - I had a few compliment slips left from my workplace of many years, that went spectacularly bust last year. The engrossment paper used for those slips is a good weight/texture for ageing, so I put one to good use by making a mini treasure map from it, and ageing it with walnut ink and crumpling.

Then I packaged everything up,  tried to match up the makings with the randomly-drawn names of recipients, and what I thought they might like, and posted them off.

There: all my February RACKs - hopefully the recipients all liked what they got!

London love

An appropriate post for Valentine's Day, as it's about love: in London, and for a husband.

A week or two ago, a friend asked if I'd be willing to do a commission for her. It's coming up for her 1st wedding anniversary, which traditionally is "paper", and she wondered if I'd be able to do a map for her to give to her husband, based around places in London special to them. It would involve stylised drawings of important locations centred on a specific area of London, and for the look and method, I was given free reign. It was a bit intimidating - I've not really done a streetmap style map before (I've mainly done whole countries rather than areas), and you always have that lurking worry that what you do won't meet their expectations, when you're doing something new, and specific for an individual. It's made even worse when it's something being done for a friend and you really don't want to let them down! I'd also not filled such a large area of paper with filigree before, and my hands need regular breaks when doing the filigree to stop them from hurting, so I couldn't just do it all in one sitting, and it'd need to be fitted in around everything else in my life.

So, ignoring my worries, I got on with it as fast as possible, as it was needed reasonably soon. I decided to use the main streets of the area as divisions to split the map up, as otherwise it could be an overwhelming mass of doodles. There was also a canal involved, so I had to decide how to differentiate the different areas. I decided on stippling for the roadways, and bubbles (appropriately enough) for the canal.

Basic map with roads and canal

Then I had to figure out how to draw, in very small form, the buildings my friend had given me the information on. This took a bit of research (she very helpfully gave me the links and info though!), and some doodling and asking people if they could recognise what they saw. On such a small scale, it can be hard to include the detail that makes things recognisable, so they inevitably become stylised and sometimes, to show things that are recognisable you have to go slightly away from the actual reality. This is what I had to do for St Pancras station, as I had the hotel and the train station to show, but couldn't really duplicate the drawing in different locations. Then I had to make sure I was placing them correctly on the map, which involved a couple of "whoops, not quite there moments (it's tricky when you're not familiar with an area)...

Camden Town Hall added

Then my sketches were replicated on the map in pencil, drawn over when I was happy with them, and the pencil underdrawing removed:

Main drawings added

After the addition of some relevant text on a couple of the roads, I began filling in the filigree, dots, and bubbles.

First filigree, road text and road stipples

More filigree, and canal bubbles completed

Corner filling up

Roads without stippling yet

Almost there!

Just the roads to finish...

And, after 10 hours of work , it was finished! Forgive me if I indulge myself with too many photos here, but I'm quite proud of this, I think it's ended up as a really interesting looking drawing from a distance, that gets even more interesting as you get closer and realise the detail it's made up of. I hope it's well received on the anniversary!

The finished map

Roads

Roads

Roads, canal and buildings

The first of the RACKS

A couple of weeks ago, I sent off the first of my Random Acts of Craft Kindness. I was a bit nervous about these, as they were maps drawn on dried elm tree leaves, but the leaves are rather delicate and I wasn't sure hoe well they'd survive the gentle care of the Royal Mail. So I used thick card to protect them, wrapped each up carefully, and crossed my fingers.  Luckily, they seem to have arrived completely intact!
The first of my RACKS were a success :D

Both leaves, wrapped up in thick card for protection before posting

Leaf RACK 1

Leaf RACK 2

Now....onwards, to more makings, and more RACKS. I got far more volunteers than the 12 people I was originally expecting, so the RACKS may be a wee bit more frequent than I had initially planned :)