Recipe Wednesday

Hi Everyone

Today's recipe is an amazing pudding. Very easy to make and I love it. Unfortunately, The Boys HATE it. They have named the pudding 'Toxic Shock'. 

It's a Nigella Lawson creation and is made from liquorice. The liquorice is in the form of small pellets and the technique involves melting a teaspoon of pellets with 60ml of water in a pan. When melted, you get a weak coffee looking liquid, add sugar (2 tablespoons) and 175ml of double cream. Heat through, stiring. Blend 2 teaspoons of cornflower with a tablespoon of milk and add to the liquorice liquid pan, mixing all the time. After a few mins, you have a lovely thick cream. Pour into serving glasses/pots and cool in the fridge. I added a few chocolate sticks and a few raspberries. These quantities are good for 4 servings.

               

I gave the pudding 5/5 for ease of making and washing up. The Boys gave the pudding 0/5 - all three of them ! and of course the name - Toxic Shock.

I'm very disappointed and am looking for a friend to share this lovely pudding. I'm considering a new category in the book called - Gills Recipes

Next time, I'm actually 'baking' !! (midweek).

Thanks for reading.

The Making Framework

Hi Everyone

Last week, I introduced a new beading project to one of the workshop groups and everyone completed the project with 'flying colours' (read back for details and images last week). As I hoped, the Starburst Pendent proved to be an easy make. The only real challenge to building the pendent is keeping tension throughout the development. There seems to be a tendency to keep moving the half built pendent and as a result the tension is lost and the shape of the pendant goes limp ! However, everyone seemed to understand this requirement by making the pendant and we moved on enormously. The project allows for mistakes to be made but quickly self corrected - brilliant to see someone seeing this and moving on.

I'm begining to analyse each little project in the Making Framework for skills and techniques. Im aiming to create a simple table per project, highlighting a hierarchy of skills necessary for success. There seems to be a list of about 5/6 'sub skills' which are common to many projects. New crafts tend to bring along a slightly different aspect of the core 5/6 subskills. One of these subskills is the tension idea, practiced in most beading projects. In papercraft skills as an example, tension can be interpreted as keeping something secure for cutting or glueing. This example, I think, is the difference between producing a quality looking item or a rather 'shoddy' finish. As this core subskills is acquired in one craft, I'm seeing a transference to others. As I'm identifying these sub skills, I'm hoping each project can be developed to include little steps which will increase subs skill acquisition.

 

The beading section within the Making Framework is in its third session next workshop and the final one for this series. We will try and put into action my sub skills development idea. There will be two structured options and one Maker-led.  Making a beaded ring, making a multi strand beaded bracelet and a 'I'm the Maker' option. The last option is quite a milestone. I'm hoping it will work OK for a few folk. The Maker-led idea is to design and be inspired to just 'go' with a material and an acquired technique (developed over a few sessions). This is great and what the Making Framework is all about. Some Makers will not be ready, this is OK too,  each Maker journey is a personal one.

The Framework hopes to include a wide range of Makes to encourage skills development and almost inspire new ways of Making. I love to see how people interpret projects opportunities. I find watching the process inspiring in my own Makes.

Here are a few images of the pendents created in the latest workshop - worn with pride !

                           

Thanks for reading.

Make Art Monday

Hi Everyone

some close up images of Linda's original eyes feature today. 

The faces of all the Angel dolls are very basic but this close up version of the right and left eye shows just how simple they are. I've had some great new photos made of the original piece and took advantage of a few close ups like these to try and get the essence of the eyes. In my original painting, I tried to get some 'watery'/glazed feel in Linda's face, from a distance I thought it was OK - close up, it's not so convincing. However, I have found the detailed close ups really helpful and will do this for the other Angels. I'm still developing Lee Angel and will move onto Linda this week. I like the idea of working with all dolls at the same time. I want them to be connected and by working with them together, I think I can link together.

                        

It's amazing to see just how much pink there is on Linda's face ! She looks as if she's got third degree burns all over her face ! or severe hot flushes (in the top left image).

I will try and be faithful to the original characters, so will not 'over draw/paint' their new faces but I think I can improve on the colour blending. Linda's  eye make up needs a bit of sophistication too - if I can get it !

Thanks for reading.

From Scratch

Hi Everyone

Today's the From Scratch offer is a beading kit. This kit is called a Starburst Pendent and featured in a recent workshop - read back on Tuesday's for more on this one. I've created a few different colours in the kit with an option of two different chains. The chain could be Sterling Silver or Antique Bronze. The kits will be in the shops in a few weeks.

                                  

At the moment, I'm developing some packaging which will turn this pretty, simple kit into a lovely gift. I've come up with a few ideas - a hand printed cotton bag or a little wooden box. The box is favourite at the moment but I will make several of each before deciding on the final packaging.

Here is a quick look at my printed fabric approach - this is just a scrap from initial experiments :

                                     

I will play around with lots of ideas before deciding on the final design. I like the idea of big bows - not sure how or why ? but for some reason the idea won't go away ! Somewhere there will be lettering or handwriting. 

The other approach is a little wooden box. It's not really either/ or in any of my packaging lines. Each item I produce is an individual, unique piece - the same can apply to packaging too.

                                 

I'm hoping to offer the packaging in little kits too - watch this space for more details.

Thanks for reading. Have a great weekend.

Clay Day

Hi Everyone

I'm giving an update on my own little jewellery development project today. Progress is slow but thats OK with me. My plan is to enjoy making things just for me and part of that process is to take my time - I'm the client so I can decide.

So far, I've made beads for a bracelet and developed some small stud earrings. I did think the bracelet would take a clasp but I've now decided to use the stretch threading approach. I made a couple of silver clasps but will use them with a necklace. There are some beads left over from the bracelet and I plan to add to them today. I'm also going to develop slightly different shades of the same colour clay today and will just see how it goes. Ive got an idea to make each bead slightly different. I want to try a few new carved beads, similar to the bracelet beads (maybe larger ? ) and the necklace will have some of the character of the bracelet. I was keen from the outset to incorporate some silver into these pieces and have decided to use closed jump rings I made last week. I will make some more today.

                                   

I've especially enjoyed spending time thinking and working with silver. I've made some earring posts from scratch and although this is such a time consuming thing to do and completely unnecessary (posts are relatively inexpensive and widely available) I have felt very satisfied with the results. My posts also have a certain 'raw' feel to them which I like.

Here are a few images of my process :

                                    

These posts (above) are flat based and like the ones which are available to buy.

The next image shows another way of making and attaching silver posts - this requires the 'balled' silver post to be embedded into the clay - it works well with pre cured designs. The flat base is required if the posts are to be attached to a cured bead. In the bottom two images, the 'balled' silver posts have been hammered flat before sticking to the clay. The bottom right image shows a tiny piece of clay added post curing and results in embedding the 'balled' silver into the earring bead.

                                  

I like the idea of producing a much larger 'balled' silver post, shaping the wire into an earring hook and enamelling the 'balled' silver with bright colours. Will try out this idea later today and share next time.

Thanks for reading.