Book Review: Simple Printmaking

Today I'm reviewing Simple Printmaking by Elizabeth Harbour.

 

It's part of the "Creative Makers" series that also includes Simple Sewing, Simple Crochet and Simple Knitting. I've enjoyed the books to varying degrees, but they're all equally lovely things to look at - nice hardbacks, yummy matte paper, great photography and charming design details.  

 

Simple Printmaking is the strongest in the series so far, I think, and it's also my favourite of the printmaking books I've reviewed. Elizabeth's skills, experience and passion for her work leaps off the page and the book seems really comprehensive with lots of detailed information about each technique and helpful hints and tips throughout.

It's also a beautiful book...

... and the featured designs are all quite gorgeous. I especially loved this cat cushion!

 

After a short introduction and a guide to some "printmaking basics" come 31 projects, divided by printing type: mono-printing, stencil-printing, relief-printing, screen-printing and lithography.

 

Elizabeth introduces a technique (e.g. creating a jelly-printing surface, using a lino cutting tool, preparing your screen) then takes us through step by step projects that make use of that technique but also teach different printing methods along the way. For example, she introduces simple marbling then you can make butterfly cards with basic marbling and decorative paper with combed marbling.

All the projects have step by step instructions and some illustrations too. The difficulty level of each project is marked with cute little printers blocks.



Elizabeth includes detailed information about the materials, techniques and processes and has also thought about the costs of printing and how to make techniques accessible. She writes writes about the appeal of each process and project with the passion of an artist, which makes the book enjoyable to read and also rather inspiring.

The projects themselves are very varied, including printing cards, a scarf, cushions, bags...

 

... pictures, a table runner, wrapping paper, a lampshade and even china bowls.

All the designs are charming and templates for all of them are included in the book. Many of these do need enlarging but there are lots of them and there definitely isn't that feeling that full-size templates could have been squeezed in if they'd only bothered to make it a priority... this book is so jam-packed that many of the templates are printed on the inside covers and endpapers!

In case you hadn't guessed by now, I love this book and I'd really recommend it if you're interested in exploring the world of printmaking.  

Simple Printmaking is published by Mitchell Beazley. RRP £16.99. It's available from Amazon UK, The Book Depository and many other bookshops. A paperback edition published by Stackpole Books is available from Amazon USA & The Book Depository.

Please note: I was sent a free review copy of this book. The Amazon & Book Depository links in this post are affiliate links.

Review: Bug Bingo

Usually the only things I review here on my blog are craft books, but today I'm reviewing something a bit different: Bug Bingo!

I was offered a review copy because of the name of my blog - Bugs and Fishes. My blog's name doesn't actually come from a great love of bugs (or fishes), it's just something we used to sign our emails with instead of "hugs and kisses" when I was a teen... but as it happens I do really rather like bugs. As long as they're not crawling on me, that is!!

Bug Bingo is, as you might have guessed, a bingo game featuring lots of bugs. There's 64 different kinds of insect featured, all wonderfully illustrated by Christine Berrie whose work I've been a fan of since discovering it on Etsy many years ago.

The whole game is great quality and really rather gorgeous. Inside the sturdy box there's a bag of illustrated bug tiles, a large fold-out board for the caller to place the cards onto, 12 bingo cards (so lots of people can play at once!), green counters for marking the bugs that have been called and a leaflet with the game rules and some fun facts about all the insects featured.

Christine's illustrations have done great justice to the weird and wonderful, detailed and colourful, endlessly interesting forms of the insect kingdom - they are a delight to look at and there are lots of bugs included that I'd never heard of before. Oh, and the focus is firmly on insects: no spiders in sight (hurrah!)

I love that the back of the tiles, the board and the cards are all printed with the same bug silhouette design that's been used for the bag.

I always used to enjoy playing bingo when I was a kid and remember it being a great game for kids of different ages or for kids and adults to play together, as younger kids were never at a disadvantage in the way they can be with board games involving strategy or factual knowledge.

I think this would be an excellent gift for a nature-loving child or family, or for anyone who loves board games and wants a stylish bingo game with a twist. There's an educational element to it with the booklet of facts and lots of interesting insect names to learn but I think this will be a great game to get out and play long after you've learnt about all the insects.

And if you're not a huge bug fan Christine Berrie's beautiful illustrations also appear on a matching (and quite lovely looking) Bird Bingo game!

Bug Bingo is published by Laurence King. RRP £19.95. It's available from Amazon UK, Amazon USA and many other shops.

Please note: I was sent a free review copy of this game. The Amazon & Book Depository links in this post are affiliate links.

Review: Advent Calendar Kit from John Lewis

Today I'm reviewing a craft kit! The nice folks at John Lewis sent me a Make Your Own Advent Calendar Kit, designed by Buttonbag (whose craft book I reviewed a few months ago).

Handmade advent calendars with pockets are pretty great. I have one that my mum made with I was a kid, she used to fill it up with sweets and stickers and other little treats wrapped up in scraps of festive wrap. It was so much fun opening a tiny present each morning in the run up to Christmas and I loved it even more because she had made it for me.

The Buttonbag Advent Calendar Kit comes in a nice box...

... and when you've finished stitching (and filled it with gifts), it looks something like this...

... though the felt colours in the kit I received were different and the fabric tape for hanging up the calendar were red and the panel itself is cream not white.

The kit includes: 24 brightly coloured felt squares, a little sewing kit with a needle included, some colourful embroidery thread, a piece of fabric tape, a printed calendar panel, a leaflet with instructions and templates and some sticky-backed felt. I think the only thing you need to add is some scissors - oh, and an iron to remove the creases from the calendar panel before you start.

I was a little bit surprised by the sticky-backed felt, as I'd expected this to be a sewing kit. You have to sew on the felt pockets and the "tabs" to hang the calendar but the decoration (the numbers, a name across the top, any other shapes you want to add) is all done with this self-adhesive felt - so you just cut out the shapes and stick them in place.

The "pros" of using the self-adhesive felt is that making the calendar is much quicker than if you had to stitch all the embellishments. Great for busy people getting ready for Christmas! It also means that if you were making this calendar with your kids as well as for them, quite young kids could get involved in sticking numbers onto their calendar while the older ones could do some of the sewing (which is very simple running stitch).

And the "cons"? Personally I would prefer the look of sewn-on numbers and if you were making this kit with a child learning to sew I think it would be great to get them to decorate the squares and then for you to pin and sew the squares in place on the calendar (though you could, of course, buy some extra felt to add your own embellishments if you wanted). Also I've not really worked with sticky-backed felt before and I worry a little that the adhesive might not be as long-lasting as sewing would be (would some of the shapes peel off after years of use?).

The letter and number templates are printed on a fold-out leaflet so you can cut them all out without cutting into the all important instructions. The instructions helpfully point out that you need to place the templates face down on the paper side of the sticky-backed felt when you cut them out and the shapes are all a solid colour so you can easily see which is the "right" and "wrong" side of the templates. There is a small error though as the text says "Remember to place them red-side down" but they're actually purple (I guess at some point the kit was updated?).

The calendar panel is like a large teatowel. The positions of each pocket is clearly marked and (helpfully) there are also lines to show where you need to stitch (i.e. which side of the pocket to leave open).

I like the little snowflakes that will be hidden behind each felt pocket, and I love the ric-rac style border but I'm not a fan of how the little button shapes in each corner say "Buttonbag Crafts". I like the idea of the little button shapes but I don't see why the Buttonbag name needs to be printed on this panel 5 times (the 4 button logos and a copyright notice at the bottom of the panel) and I would definitely sew my own buttons over these.

I also like how there's no excess packaging for this product - with everything neatly packed into the card box - and (apart from a small plastic bag containing the felt squares) all recyclable.

Overall, I think this is a nice kit! It includes everything you need to start making, but you could also add extras like buttons and sequins from your own crafty stash to make it extra special.

If you want a kit that involves a lot of sewing, or learning new crafty skills, or you're reading this review thinking "but I could make that easily from my own crafty stash!" then this isn't the kit for you. But if you want a quick and beginner-friendly project to make in a couple of evenings or an afternoon of crafting with your kids then you'll enjoy making this... and have a lot of fun filling the pockets with treats each year!

The Buttonbag Christmas Advent Calendar Kit is £16, and is available from John Lewis as part of their range of advent calendars.

[Disclaimer: John Lewis sent me a free advent calendar kit to review, and some John Lewis vouchers. I am always honest in my reviews!]

Review: Crafty Magazine

Today I'm reviewing an issue of Crafty Magazine.

Rather shamefully, this post has been sitting half-finished my my drafts folder for so long (thanks to me being busy with some other projects) that the issue I'm reviewing is no longer in newsagents... but you can still buy copies from their online shop, and hopefully this review will give you a feel for what the magazine is like overall even if you can't get your hands on this specific issue. Anyway, enough about me being a bad blogger and on to the review...

Issue #6 of Crafty Magazine has a cute knitted fox bag on the cover, which is inspired by Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr Fox. I can't get enough of woodland animals at the moment and this bag is pretty adorable but sadly I think it might be a little bit beyond my own knitting skill level (for the moment, at least!).

Crafty starts with "What's New" - a few pages featuring things like cool new fabric, fun sewing-themed gifts, lovely handmade products and upcoming events and exhibitions with a crafty theme. 

 

There's also an events page with things coming up in October (remember, this issue came out a while ago!) around the UK, and a couple of pages of "Good Reads" which includes reviews of some new craft books but also an interview with one of the authors.

There are 26 "Makes" in this issue, covering a wide mix of different crafts: needlefelting, knitting, crochet, sewing, embroidery, jewellery-making, paper-crafting, cross-stitching, dip-dyeing, cooking, and more! All the projects are fun, modern and colourful (you guys know how much I love a nice bit of colour). Some are extracts from craft books while others have been specially designed for the magazine, but the standard of photography is high throughout. 

Rather predictably, the stitchy projects are the ones that appeal to me the most. I especially love these craft-themed merit badges...

 

... and this paisley embroidery, although don't know that I'd have the confidence to wear a shirt like this! I'd love to embroider the pattern on something like a cushion though.

All the projects have step by step instructions - some are more detailed, with step by step pics and/or stitch guides, and others are quicker "how tos" like these plant markers made from old forks and broken plates. 

This issue of Crafty comes with a free coaster-making kit.

Sadly, this kit includes that special kind of felt (stiff and paper thin) that I have only ever encountered in free-on-the-cover-of-magazines projects and which I would absolutely replace with felt from my own stash were I to make any of the coaster projects in the magazine.

But! I would absolutely prefer to buy a magazine where the freebie kit materials aren't top quality (and thus, are more affordable for the publisher to provide) because I wouldn't want the cover price to be pushed up just for the sake of a free kit I may not get round to making anyway. Also, the coaster is self-adhesive (you peel off a layer of plastic to reveal the sticky surface, like you do with double-sided tape) which is really great.

(NB the felt was flat when it came out of the pack, I managed to crease it before taking the photo)

The instructions that go along with the kit are really great! There are four different, fun designs included that you could make with the kit (plus two more availablle on Crafty's website) - so you've got lots of options for things you can make from the free supplies but also have 4+ projects you can make from felt in the future.

Another great thing about having several projects you can make from the same supplies is that you could buy a pack of plain coasters, some sheets of felt and some embroidery threads in these colours and make several different designs from them... instead of having to invest supplies to make one thing and then having lots left over.

 
The only real problem with the coaster projects is the templates which say "blow up to desired size". I don't mind enlarging templates (especially from a magazine so crammed with stuff as this one is) but it's always so much more helpful to see "blow up to X% or to desired size", where X will make templates big enough to make the item at the size shown in the photos. Also in the case of the coaster templates, the templates need to be exactly the same size as your coaster so your felt design will fit neatly on top, which is going to be tricky to achieve without being told what % to enlarge them by.

As well as craft projects, this issue also includes a sewing column written by Tilly from the Great British Sewing Bee, an interview with a feltmaker, and a lovely home tour...

... plus articles about The Colour Run (which looks so much fun that it almost makes me want to take up running just so I can take part in a future event) and super cool town Hebden Bridge.

There's also "The Crafty Guide to Business" which this issue focused on offering bespoke orders and a feature on craft bloggers who went from blogging to writing craft books.

One thing I really like about the content across the magazine is how many of the tutorials and other features have a "sidebar" with three things along the same theme. For example, alongside the paisley embroidery project there are three fabrics that feature paisley motifs, alongside the plant labels are three more plant label ideas from craft blogs (with the blog addresses included), alongside the needlefelting tutorial is info about three courses/books so you can learn more about needlefelting, and alongside the fox bag tutorial there are three fox-y shopping ideas.

Overall, this is a lovely magazine! It's jam-packed with content, with a really broad mix of crafty projects and a good balance between stuff to make and features to read... and it feels fresh and up-to-date, like a great blog.

Issue 7 (out now) looks great and seems to contain even more makes!

I especially love the look of this cross stitch lampshade project.

Crafty Magazine is £4.99 per issue, or you can subscribe here.  

[Disclaimer: the nice folks at Crafty Magazine sent me a free review copy of issue 6. I'm also currently working on a project for a future issue of the magazine but you guys know I'm always honest in my reviews!]

Guest Post: Renegade Craft Fair Review

Today's post is from Laura Harris of LauraFallulah, a weaving graduate who, after a lightbulb moment, knew she had to swap her life in retail for setting up her own business making the most of her creativity. Her love of vintage design combined with an eye for bold colours and stylised motifs help her create fun individual accessories for the young at heart.

This weekend bought the first ever Renegade Craft Fair to the Truman Brewery in Brick Lane, London. As soon as the well established American craft event team Renegade Handmade announced they were coming over the excitement started. Much like the Bust event, a buzz was instantly created so I knew it would be similarly hectic.

I have to say that I am not a big fan of the Truman Brewery, I had my degree show there in 2004, I find it like a big white multistorey car park so was looking forward to seeing what the Renegade team would do to fill it. Needless to say I still didn't like the room itself but the layout of stalls worked really well and was curated perfectly. There really was something for everyone. I thought I would share with you a few of my favourites.

First Kate Sutton with her beautiful and fun illustrations, I have a small print of hers but I was really enamoured by these cuckoo clocks, definitely one for my Christmas list.

A Alicia has been a firm favourite of mine for a while now but I was yet to see her latest range in the flesh. I really love the way she incorporates a traditional technique such as french knitting into her contemporary jewellery designs.

I thought these button badges by Magic Industrie made with the spines of vintage books where such a novel idea (get it!?, sorry about that). Being a book lover myself and knowing a fair few other geeky people I purchased some of these as Christmas presents, they also sold wallets made from the covers which provided more easy gift buying for me.

Lastly and probably my favourite are these posters by The Bungaloo, we had a great chat with the illustrator John Vogl about London, Denver (his home town) and music. He has a gallery show on at The Flood Gallery in Greenwich starting tomorrow until the 18th, so if you are about I recommend checking it out.

That is what I really love about craft fairs, the ability to connect with the artist/designer who has the ideas, makes the product and puts all their love into doing so. You just don't get that in most high street shops in this country which is a real shame.

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You can read about Laura's comings and goings on her blog, and check out her handmade wares on her website.

Book Review: Papercrafting In No Time

In the run up to Christmas I was sent a selection of craft books to review, and was just too busy to share any of them with you! Tsk tsk, what a bad blogger I am, etc etc. There may be a few book reviews popping up on the blog over the next few weeks while I catch up :)

First up: Papercrafting in no time by Clare Youngs (published by Cico Books). Clare wrote Scandinavian Needlecraft, which I fell head over heels in love with last year so I was quite excited to see the projects in this book...


.... they didn't disappoint: this book is lovely!

It's a pretty large book, with over 170 pages and a massive 50 paper projects. Lots of them are decorative (mobiles, pictures, garlands, and lots of quirky ornamental bits and bobs to add charm to your decor) but there are also some "functional" projects (for example, gift boxes, a cake stand, paper bowls, and a gorgeous photo album) and a whole section full of cards.

All the projects feel fresh and modern, with lots of popular motifs sprinkled through the book (owls, russian dolls, birds, union jacks).

There's only a small guide to materials and tips on various paper cutting techniques at the back of the book, but each project contains detailed step-by-step instructions, with a photo illustrating each step.

You may need to buy a few bits of equipment before tackling most of the projects (like a craft knife and a cutting mat) but the shopping list isn't too long - and I'd want to buy those supplies just to be able to make the gorgeous woodland papercut. Almost all the templates need enlarging, even the smaller ones, but there's so much crammed into this book it's only to be expected, really.


I have to admit that I've seen similar projects to some of the simpler ideas in this book available elsewhere for free on various blogs (e.g. this leaf wreath is similar to one included in the book, ditto this bunting card, and the book also includes a snowflake curtain). Mentioning those links I in no way mean to imply there's been any copying going on anywhere, it's just interesting seeing the overlap between the worlds of craft publishing and blogging when dealing with similar themes and materials... and I think that stylistic overlap is actually a sign of how up to date this book is.

Often I see craft books that feel a bit old fashioned or a bit unsatisfying compared with the always fresh and exciting world of the online craft world, but I got really excited about this book and found myself ooohing over most of the projects. All the ladies at my knitting club did the same (and most of them have never read a craft blog in their lives!)

Papercrafting in no time is available from Cico Books, Amazon USA,  Amazon UK, The Book Depository and many other bookshops.

[Disclaimer: Cico Books sent me a free review copy of this book, and the Amazon & Book Depository links in this post are affiliate links]

Kirstie's Homemade Hmmm....

"Hmmm" is mostly how I'm feeling about the new series of Kirstie's Homemade Home that's being shown this month on Channel 4.

I really enjoyed the first series - you can read my original blog post about it HERE if you like - I don't find Kirstie "posh and annoying" like I know a lot of people do, it was exciting to see craftsmen and women showing her how to make stuff (people making things! on the telly!) and it was super refreshing to see a program that presented DIY and vintage shopping as a consumer option with more personality and specialness to it rather than just as a way to save money.

But this series? Hmm.

The first episode (shown last week) felt very underwhelming. Partly I think this is because they've changed the format to Kirstie doing up her own house to the more standard "home makeover" format of helping a nice couple "transform" their house with some telly magic, complete with lots of scenes of Kirstie standing around at antiques markets banging on about how much of a "bargain" this that or the other item was compared to the high street. Yawn.

It was also in a large part because they repeated so many crafts / features from last year: they visited the same reclamation yard as last year, made stained glass with the same stained glass artist, and made book ends with the same blacksmith as last year.

There were some new crafts and crafters featured in thie second episode, and some were great (Angel from Tobias and the Angel teaching Kirstie how to make a patchwork cushion) and some not so great (visiting the same candlemaker as last year to make a rather hideous shell lantern)... but it's still left me feeling a bit "hmm" about it all.

I'm still going to be watching the show every week (because even a teeny bit of crafting on telly is better than none, plus I'm excited to see the lovely Manda teach Kirsty to make a beanbag later in the series!) but I think perhaps I need to admit that from my crafting-obsessed viewpoint I'm not the ideal target audience for a show like this!

If you've missed any episodes this series, the last one and the Christmas specials are all currently available to watch on 4OD and you can see lots of how tos and video clips from the show HERE.

Have you been watching this series? What do you think of it?

A Crafty Year

One of the many pleasures of blogging is looking back at old posts and realising just how much stuff I've been making! 2009 has been a busy year...

In January I did some knitting, launched my website and made a "credit crunch" sampler inspired by the relationship between the recession & crafting for a Folksy competition:
In February it snowed (quite a novelty here!), I made lots of colourful felt buttons, what felt like a million bird brooches and (for one of my favourite tutorials of the year) a felt butterfly mobile:
In March I repotted lots of plants, got inspired by the 80s, and baked some yummy cakes:
I also officially "quit my day job" and became a full-time crafter, which was quite exciting if a little daunting!

April was quite quiet as I spent two whole weeks without the internet (madness!) and generally taking it easy, but I did manage to rearrange my craft storage thanks to some lovely new shelves:(it has never been that tidy since, haha).

In May it was rather hot (in a very un-British fashion) but I was working on things for Christmas! I also experimented with adding butterflies to some of my brooches and did a little happy dance when my little teacup brooches were featured in Sew Hip:

In June I bought lots of vintage buttons, made a custom mobile in bright modern colours and got inspired by summer flowers - making lots of eco flower brooches and combs from recycled felt:
July ended badly as I came down with the flu and was stuck in bed for two weeks! But before that I made some pretty poppy bracelets for a wedding, and did some alfresco sewing at a picnic:
I re-opened my shops in August thanks to help from my new postal assistant, made lots of giant felt rainbows, became slightly obsessed with pompoms and reminisced about one of my very first sewing projects - proudly displayed by my mum:
In September I made lots of masks (including new tiger masks), did some vintage shopping, and got inspired to write a whole flurry of tutorials starting with a bold button necklace:
In October I got to show off some of the fab things made by my customers (I hope to do lots more of these posts, so if you've bought felt etc from me and want to share pictures of what you've been making please do get in touch!), some of my hairbands appeared in Elle Japan which was rather exciting and I knitted lots of little hats:
November started very badly with our computer crashing (ugh) but definitely improved as the month went on - one of my giftwrap tutorials got a mention in Woman's Day, my Mother-in-Law loved the cafetiere cosy I made for her birthday, I did some Christmas crafting, finished some Christmas gifts, added a new camera design to my shop ... and at the end of the month Fa La La La Felt was published....... featuring four of my projects! In a book! Eeek!! (I may not have entirely got over the excitement of this yet).

And finally... December has (of course) been all about Christmas. I decorated the tree, made paper decorations, finished some gifts at the last minute, did some baking, wrapped some presents, enjoyed the winter issue of UK Handmade, and survived the general madness that is the Christmas shopping season thanks to much help from my boyfriend (what a star).

I also ended the year as I began it, entering a Folksy competition (a strange pair of bookends for 2009!), making a fancy fascinator / cocktail hat from an old wool sweater:
Many, many thanks to everyone who has read my blog, followed me on Twitter/Facebook/Flickr/etc, left me a comment or bought something from my shops this year. Your support is very much appreciated!

UPDATE: My large felt flower design is now available as a sewing pattern! (The flowers I used to make that cocktail hat will be available as a pattern soon, too!) Visit my shop to see all my printable PDF patterns: