A Summery Summary

Owl cushions commissioned for a wedding

Each owl had the wedding date embroidered on the back

Crazy Owls!

July and August, even more so than the rest of this insanely busy year, seem to have flashed before my eyes. Instead of attempting to recap and explain all the madness I thought I'd just post a few pictures of some of the things I've been up to. I've just got back from a much needed holiday and feeling pretty much human again. I think I might need to reassess that whole work/life balance thing. It's been fun but there has definitely not been enough sleep!

Appleby Agricultural show

It was very muddy

Cushions!

Images from Impecunious' Summer Project, Wonderland. A week long community arts extravaganza held at Botcherby Community Centre.

Wonderland art work

Mask making

Mushroom making

Mushroom making

Butterfly decorating

The crystal cave

Crystal Cave

More plastic stuff

Magic mushrooms in the crystal cave

Decorations

Pom-pom caterpillar

UV wool and butterfly decorations

Wonderland's Wonderful Masks

Marvellous mask

So, the summer project is here! Hence my absence from the world of blog as I have been deep in preparation for this wonderous event. Wonderland is a week long community arts project, organised and delivered by arts collective Impecunious . This year we are at Botcherby Community Centre, you can follow the fun on our facebook page. A full update will (probably) follow but for now here are some marvellous masks that I have been making with some of the participants.

Feathery find

Beautiful Bird

Happy Cat

Scary!

Rainbow Lovely

Marvellous Masks!

Crowning Glory

My Crown!

At work on Friday I felt like making a crown, so I did. I used my tried and trusted method of crocheting strips of plastic bag and then melting them with the iron. I just used a simple border pattern and used lace to fasten it at the back. It's not quite such a random thing to do as it may first appear. For our summer project this year I want to do some headgear making workshops so I'm starting to get samples made to give people ideas. I will also be making hats, wigs, fascinators and whatever else I can think of!

Detail of plastic lace

On a head

Detail

On my head!

May Day Madness!

Detail of the van covering

Detail of the minibus cover

We won!

Parading behind the bus

Banner of painted flowers

I was in Penrith yesterday preparing for and then watching the May Day Parade. I've never been to one before and it was a glorious day, which was lucky as most of the van covering was made of paper! To explain; I help run an art group for Eden Mencap Society (http://www.edenmencapsociety.co.uk/) and one of the things we've been working on recently is preparations for the May Day parade, with a theme of Alice in Wonderland. We didn't have a 'proper' float, i.e. a lorry, so we decided to improvise by making a covering for the minibus. We used card board and paper and then went to town on the decorations; flowers, mushrooms, flamingoes and other madness. We also made various costumes and the guys walked behind the minibus, all dressed up and looking fabulous! At the very back they carried a banner painted with exotic flowers that we had an enjoyable morning painting. To top it all off, we won 1st prize! So, a big cheer to all the people at Eden Mencap Society who all put so much hard work in, it was all worth it.

Caterpillar Costume

Next Monday is May Day. Which means parades, which means costumes. I run an art group every other Monday evening for adults with learning disabilities and for the past few weeks we have been working on our costumes and scenery for this years May Day Parade. The theme is Alice in Wonderland so we've been having fun creating psychedelic swirls, madness mushrooms and mystical flowers.

Psychedelic colour experiments

I've also been busy making a Caterpillar costume for one of the people in the parade. The person in question came to me with a picture of a costume she'd found on the Internet so we made a pattern and (temperamental machinery excepted) I've cracked on and made it. I'm really hoping that it fits because I'm not going to see her before the parade so if it doesn't work we could have a small problem! The body is made from jersey, with clothes line appliqued to the edges to give it a wiggly caterpillar effect. The feet are velvet and the collar, supported by vilene and garden wire, is a heavyweight cotton fabric that I found for very cheap. When I told the shop assistant what it was for she looked at me like I was insane, I then tried to explain which I think made me sound even more crazy so in the end I gave up! This is the costume spread flat, hopefully next week I can show you what it looks like on. If you happen to be in Penrith on Monday come and see it for yourself!

Flatepillar!