TinkeringTimes

DIY crafts: A Potted History

Don't normally discuss work here but I think this one might be of interest.

I've been researching the DIY crafts movement and particularly in the UK. The research report is almost done so I'm making snippets of it available. First up - a potted history.

Let me know what key milestones, event, publications etc are missing. I'll keep updating it on the research blog

I tried to copy the list straight in but the formatting's weird so it's a pdf instead... download *here*

getting older

turning into my mother part 1...

I am in a dull hotel room for a week and my crafty fingers are really feeling itchy and twitchy - wish I'd brought some sewing - I do have 56 little birdy pieces at home waiting to have wings sewn on them for example, that would have been perfect.



Now I know why mum takes her knitting everywhere. Mum I am turning into you more and more every day...

luxury

Just a quick one...

How gorgeous are these handmade lovlies from ** Swoon ** in Scotland? That's some pattern cutting / sewing skill, very reasonably priced and in a range of really beautiful fabrics, think I'll be treating myself when I'm a bit less pregnant. (And no, I'm not on commission, I just came across them randomly and love them).

office

Why is that only now, after being self-employed for 2.5 years, and when I'm about to stop work for 7 months maternity leave, are ideal little office spaces popping up all over the place?

Currently my whole multi-million empire (ahem...) runs from here:


Don't get me wrong I love working from home, who wouldn't? And I'm so very unnecessarily organised that only having a tiny space isn't actually that much of a problem - after all I can just sprawl across the house when I need to spread things out.

But I do keep thinking a proper office would feel more like going to work and would help me focus, not think about just popping out to water the plants, feed the homeless cat, nip down to the market etc... but Manchester is a groovy place and central office rent is sooooo high.

Except, it seems, now that I've stopped looking. Suddenly, now baby is due and I'm about to stop work altogether for a few months covetable office spaces at manageable rents are popping up everywhere. 10 minutes from my house what looks from the outside like the perfect thing is available - just a few mins from my house, in the middle of our little village, right by the train station, decent looking so I could actually ask people to come there for meetings, and astonishingly at a rental price I could actually afford on my own! In fact just found a picture of the very spot, see the arrow above the green car:



Then this morning another space was advertised in the city centre's Northern Quarter - the area that used to be disused warehouses so the artists moved in because it was cheap. Then it became cool because the artists moved in... and so rent went sky high... but now there is actually a lovely big office there for just a snippet more than the one near my house - and it's plenty big enough to share with 3 other people and still fit in a pool table in the middle (not that I would, but just as an illustration of space size you understand).

It must be a sign that the forces that be intend for me to stay home and look after plants, cats (and baby) and enjoy the beauty of the small alcove in the dining room for a little while longer...

Totally unrelated but have you tried these? Just had some last night - mmmmmm get some!

chairs

The perpetual design question came up again a few weeks ago while visiting Vitra's Joe Colombo exhibition at Manchester Art Gallery... why are designers obsessed with chairs?

I used to work at Design Museum in London where on every desk, without fail, a copy of 1000 Chairs could be found and conversation regularly revolved around our Chair Alley exhibition, and who was doing what with chairs right now, or the pros and cons of steam-bent plywood or tubular steel versus moulded plastics or compressed cardboard layers...

The obsession has stayed with me, which I love, but it does make it so very difficult for me when the time comes to buy a new chair. It takes me a good 6-12 months of researching every possible shop, boutique, website, antiques sale, warehouse... until I find the PERFECT chair - of course there is no such thing and really its just the chair that comes closest until I can find a better one!

So for the past year I've been looking for a chair which I can use to work from at my desk, and sew from at the sewing machine. or one for each purpose - two chairs are of course always better than one.

So - here's a round up of some of my favourites so far - a few completely unsuitable but just too gorgeous to take off the list just yet...




 

sorting

Over on flickr I'm part of a group called Mosaic Monday - it's just an excuse to stash lots of favourite images in one picture and share them. It appeals to my curatorial side and the way that other people group their pictures is endlessly fascinating. My project for last Monday was to seek out all the little collections of things around my house - there are a lot! But here's my final compilation:

shells from under the sea in Thailand :: pens on my desk :: shells from Cyprus :: heart shaped stones ::

foreign coins :: buttons :: vintage embroidery thread :: zips ::

cotton reels :: pendants :: earrings :: bracelets ::

cufflinks (& star wars patch) :: rings :: hairclips :: necklaces :

...in an assortment of tins, boxes, bowls, jars, pots... feel free to join Mosaic Monday and add your own, the more the merrier...


Then by chance today I found a website selling something I've wanted my whole life which also keeps the obessive filer and sorter in me so very happy - and great for anyone with lots of buttons, jewellery or other tiny posessions...

   


Available from The Old Printing Shop
I'll definitely be ordering one.

uk etsy sale

A blatant plug: there's a sale on loads of etsy shops run by UK makers, so I've taken 15% off all the items in my little shop.
Just click here or on the pictures in the etsy gallery on the right hand side.

Forgive such a blatant promotion but if a girl can't plug her own shop now and again what's the world coming to?... to see bargains from other UK makers just type uksale into the search box at www.etsy.com
Enjoy!