Collage and Collograph at Collieston

"A Weekend of Colour in Collieston" read the email, an invitation to: "Produce a range of your own individually designed paper products using ink washes and printing with your own handmade collograph blocks."  I've wanted to try printmaking for a long time, and was familiar with the terms lino-cut and wood-block, but 'collograph' had me puzzled. 

Alexa - what's a collograph?

This print technique is a relatively new kid on the block, developed in the mid 1950's by US art professor, Glen Alps.  He coined the term 'collograph' by combining the Greek words for glue (koll) and drawing (graph) as a variety of materials are stuck to a rigid board to make a printing plate.



I used string, corrugated card,  embossed wallpaper, polystyrene and some bits of a felt coaster glued onto off-cuts of mounting card to make my collographs.  Earlier, workshop tutor, Morag Tweedie, had shown us how it's done, making three simple examples and demonstrating how to ink them up and create prints with them.  It's an accessible technique requiring readily available, low cost materials and it's quick and easy to make another.



To start the day, however, we were encouraged to unleash our creativity by painting papers with Procion dyes, normally used to stain fabric.  I used a range of brushes and  tools, including a plastic fork, and particularly liked the splodgy effect of the dye on the damp paper when salt crystals were sprinkled on top.

Setting aside our painted sheets to dry, we began printing with the collograph blocks onto a variety of papers.  The paint is squeezed onto to a glass plate then applied to the collagraph with a small hand roller called a brayer. Longevity is never intended for these printing plates and part of the charm of the collograph technique is that the number of prints that can be produced is relatively limited.  It's an accessible art-form requiring low cost, readily available materials so you can always make more.



No implement in the studio was off-limits - the end of this pencil dipped in yellow paint made the perfect centre for my collograph flower!

I really found it satisfying to print my collograph on my own painted paper (far right).

The clothes airer provided served as a colourful drying rack for all our prints.

Morag then demonstrated how we could use our painted papers for collage.  A vibrant selection of sample papers was provided as well and I used some of it to make a cheese plant leaf.

I then used my own designs to create a seascape, tearing rather than cutting the delicate paper before wielding the Pritt stick and gluing it in place. Also - best not to sneeze at this point and dislodge your carefully arranged precious fragments.

When it's all stuck down, applying a mount really completes the picture.

I signed up to the print workshop at Collieston with my talented friend Carol (left) who has accompanied me before to crafty classes.  I only know one person who actually lives in the tiny North East fishing hamlet and that's Susan, who coincidentally turned out to be the third member of the day's class!  Look how happy we are with our finished collages.  It was a very productive day!

Once home I set about making my collographs into finished items.  The flower prints were mounted onto marbled card and made into thank you notes as it had recently been my birthday.

I cut up all the prints of presents and made them into Christmas gift tags.  Never throwing away those wee bits of ribbon finally paid off!

I also found when I got home that I'd enough paper to make a second beach scene collage, similar but not quite the same as the first.

All they need is the right sized frames and they'll be up on the wall - well, in my craft room at least.

I do hope the tutors, Morag and Anne, come back to Collieston next year for another weekend of colour and creativity.

Colourful Craft Classes (ft Beading for Beginners)

My nearest village is a very colourful place.

Summer 2019 displays thanks to Meldrum Amenities Improvement Group

One of my favourite shops in the village is pretty colourful too - as you would expect with a name like Rainbow Fabrics!

For a maker like me, having this cornucopia of yarn, fabric, thread, needles and notions on my doorstep is a craft lover's dream.  Forget your Amazon Prime, just about everything you might need for your textile project is available same day!  Not only does shop owner, Pat, curate an amazing array of supplies, she also produces a regular and varied programme of classes.  Over the last decade, I've attended quite a few.

I've learned to felt and this wee bag was created using the wet felted technique over a number of sessions in 2010.

I've learned to needle felt as well, making this Italian landscape at a class where we took our inspiration from a holiday memory.  It still reminds me of two happy weeks in Tuscany in 2011.

I've also tried felting with silk threads - these felted hearts, made at a class in 2016, became the front of the cushion I blogged about here and the backing fabric also came from the shop.

I'd never crocheted until I attended a course at Rainbow and I'm so grateful to have the skills for a craft I now love.  These pieces of textile wall art were also made by me at a variety of machine and hand-embroidery day classes I attended at the shop.

I even made this quilt which hangs above our bed (and I say 'even' as the sewing machine and I are not always best friends!)

So I've tried quite a lot of fabric, thread and yarn based classes but I'd never tried beading, though beaded projects crop up regularly in the class programme.  Assured that the snowflake dream catcher class at the start of November was suitable for a beginner like me, I decided to give it a go.  Clearly it's quite a serious business...

I chose all my beads at Rainbow ahead of the class, opting for a cool palette of wintry colours from the large selection available.  Following a pattern, the super-duos and faceted beads were threaded onto strong fused line favoured by anglers, using a slender beading needle characterised by its sometimes frustratingly tiny eye.  The central motif was attached to a fine silvery hoop and edged with more seed beads making a pretty picot design.

Classes at Pat's are always sociable events and her kettle certainly earns its keep!  My fellow beaders were a friendly group of ladies, generous with their supplies and experience, tolerant of a newbie like me, and helping me when I got stuck.  It's always a pleasure to see what each person makes.  Though we started with the same instructions, our choice of beads made the results spectacularly different.  Mary, our approachable and patient tutor, had prepared several snowflake samples before the class for us to follow - they're pictured in the centre and are surrounded by the ones we made on the day.

It's testament to Mary's clear written instructions that I was able to make a second snowflake dream catcher at home the next day, with the beads on the edge the right way round this time!

I'm going to enjoy hanging these with our Christmas decorations this year, and for years to come.

I wonder what the 2020 programme of classes will have in store and what colourful creations might adorn our home in future thanks to the kaleidoscope of crafty treasure in Rainbow?

Stockholm Souvenir Strickning

For our latest mother/daughter mini-break, Eilidh and I headed to the Swedish capital for a few days in early August.  Stockholm offered us culture, coffee and cake - the usual prerequisites for us -

and so much more, with thought provoking exhibitions, eclectic art on the streets and in the subway, friendly folks and fabulous food.

No tour of a new city would be complete for me nowadays without a trip to a local craft shop - and I managed to visit two whilst in Stockholm.  We'd factored Svensk Hemslojd, the Swedish handcraft store, into our shopping itinerary but we happened upon Klara Tyg & Garn by chance.  Stockholm really is  a lovely city to wander round.

Svensk Hemslojd on Norrlandsgatan promotes traditional Swedish handicrafts and sells beautiful Scandinavian home-wares, including hand-carved wooden spoons, colourful glass vases, linen table runners, woollen throws, embroidered mats and pretty espresso cups.

It also sells the cutest toys,

everything an embroiderer might wish for,

and, of course, wool - my particular happy place!

Klara Tyg & Garn is a fabric and wool shop, crammed with material, yarn and notions.  The very friendly proprietor kindly stayed open beyond her usual hours to allow us to browse her wee shop in Klara Norra Kyrkogata.

I purchased one ball of wool in each shop and set about knitting with them as soon as I got home.

'Strickning' is Swedish for knitting so here's what my souvenir yarn has become in the weeks since our wee holiday.

I  made another On The Edge Shawl, a pattern I love by Joy McMillan, The Knitting Goddess, and used virtually every scrap of the beautiful Hjelholts Uldspinderi colour-changing wool I bought in Svensk Hemslojd.  See how much I had left after the pretty picot bind off?

I'm not renowned for my sock knitting but I purchased a jumbo ball of Jarbo Raggi aran weight self -striping sock wool at Klara Tyg & Garn.   Looking for a straightforward pattern, I found Darling Socks by Silvia, which she's generously provided free on Ravelry.  I'll be making more of these as they were a fun knit and great on-the-go project.

But none of this souvenir strickning is staying here - both the shawl and the socks are destined for other homes.  The shawl will be a Christmas present and I chose the colours with the recipient in mind.  I'm sending the socks to a friend in the Borders who collects hand-knits to gift to the homeless in her area.  The joy for me has been in the making and I'll always remember our trip to Stockholm and the special wool I bought there.

Besides - I hope to visit Stockholm again and there are several other wool shops in the city that we didn't get to visit this time!

Second Hand September

Last month Oxfam challenged us all to think about our clothes and refrain from buying anything new for 30 days.  By highlighting the enormous amount of clothing which ends up in landfill - estimated by Oxfam to be 11 million items each week - the charity hopes to change the way we think about clothes shopping for good.

One of Aberdeen's Oxfam shops in Chapel Street

I love to browse in charity shops so I decided to join in Oxfam's worthy initiative by showcasing the pre-loved clothes in my own wardrobe and sharing them on my Instagram stories throughout September. This involved a lot of dressing up and taking ridiculous selfies.  Clearly I have no idea what to do with my hands!

It turns out I own quite a lot of second hand clothes.  I've got jackets...

Lightweight jacket by Joules and cosy down-filled outerwear, from my local Cancer Research and Barnardos shops

and dresses....

Oasis dress from Cancer Research again and Tu at Sainsbury frock from Crisis in London

and separates for work...

Next skirt with M&S jumpers - all from Barnardos in Inverurie

as well as lots of charity shop tops and tee-shirts.  Definitely partial to stripes!

There's also some beautiful knitwear.

This gem is from Cabbages and Roses by way of Cancer Research

My top tips for seeking out charity shop finds:

• pop in frequently to your favourite charity shop as stock changes often
• search out quality brands - generally, better made clothes last longer
• look at the label as you can often tell a garment that hasn't been worn very much by its pristine label
• try things on - seems obvious but something with no appearance on the hanger might look great on you
• ignore anything excessively pilled, stained, ripped or worn
• a bit of home laundry tlc works wonders on everything

More knitwear - all charity shop sweaters from Woolovers, Whistles, Cos, Eastex and M&S

I've also been lucky whilst perusing the pre-loved rail of local dress shop, Cat Walkers in Ellon.  These gorgeous cardigans and the beautiful dress I wore for our silver wedding party are now enjoying a new life in my wardrobe.

Throughout my childhood, Mum was very actively involved with the local Oxfam group in Ayr and our house was frequently filled with items she was laundering for the charity.  Buttons and zips were removed from unsaleable goods then cleaned and labelled for re-sale.  Recognising the value of second hand was second nature to a generation brought up with rationing in the austere post-war years, long before the modern trend for up-cycling.

Many of my clothes came from the shop, something I was less keen on as a teenager!

I credit Mum for imbuing me with a respect for charity shops, and the potential treasures within, something I'm glad to have passed onto my own daughters.

Eilidh  and Maddy both agreed to share some of ther favourite outfits from London.  Eilidh's black and white dress came from a vintage second hand shop on Brick Lane.  Her red denim jacket and print shirt are from the Marie Curie shop in Crouch End whilst both pairs of jeans and her black silk shirt came from the TRAID charity shop in Dalston.

Maddy's bucket hat and jacket, festival shirt and oversized suit are all second hand staples from her London wardrobe.

Just in case you thought I spent all my time taking self timer photos in my daughter's bedroom, here's some of my extensive charity shop wardrobe items in the wild.

I hope you've been inspired to take a second look at second hand clothes and know that my own shopping habits to reduce fashion waste will continue beyond the month of September.