By Polly Hardy
Shall we begin? Home makes.
For the last week or so I have been thinking about the places we make. Personally I have a bit of a love hate relationship with my living room floor at the moment but am in the process of making a little studio room in my house ( I am indeed a lucky pup!).
Home making however is a bit of a lonesome business at times and quite stunting if you have no one to bounce ideas off. I mean being hysterically excited because you have mastered a double crochet for example is all well and good with an audience of yarn enthusiasts, but I have had slightly more mixed reactions from my non-crafty house-mates ranging from the bemused to the somewhat hostile ‘please remove your weird knitty-thing out from in front of the TV’ which I must say put a dampener on my more triumphant maker moments.
This is why The Waiting Room does such an important job, firstly providing the space and tools for artists and craftspeople to develop there practice and exhibit there work and secondly creating a community full of support and great advice that’s easily accessible and overwhelmingly friendly.
I see and feel this community every time I go to The Waiting Room but I’m really keen to showcase what you guys are making when your not here. I want to try and get a bit of that making, creative, innovative atmosphere online and so have been asking for submissions from local makers of what they are currently working on and boy are you lot a talented bunch!
From the most beautiful Wedding cakes from local baking company Little Big Cupcakes,
Beautiful crochet by the talented maker Evaly Jerome,
Ceramic gold loveliness from Miss Melanie Clark
And a magnificent metal offering from the passionate jeweller Lieta Marziali.
I’m going to start one more Pinterest board to start sharing what you are beavering away at and hopefully we can begin to support you guys on your making journey even when your not with us!
Please, please send me more photos of what you guys make to [email protected] .
Maker Wednesday on the 10th September is totally going to be my next make, hosted by the fabulous designer Katie Kennedy, she will be teaching us how to sew your own bike pannier! Hope to see you there.
Shall We Begin? An Ale Of A Time.
So, The Waiting Room is officially a year old! Now obviously to mark this momentous occasion a good old fashioned birthday bash was in order, and of course no good party is complete without some liquid refreshment for both the tireless staff producing some seriously tasty food and a killer soundtrack to the 3 days of merriment and our wonderful supporters and customers who came out in droves to celebrate with us.
Shall we begin? Pin it.
Well this week I have managed to crawl out of the proverbial dark ages and join the ridiculously stimulating world of Pinterest. Yes I know, pretty old hat for visual types and dedicated crafter’s but its just one of those things I never really got round to and am now thoroughly ashamed of my lazy online dealings and will strive to make amends!
Needless to say as soon as I did sign up, with the intention of making a craft ‘inspiration’ board I freaked out at all the amazing stuff on there and have possibly lost half the week to the exploration of the handmade along with getting slightly sidetracked trying out a few tutorials along the way.
In summary I am now happy with the classification of ‘Pinterest addict’ and being slightly greedy when it comes to the consumption of ideas, decided that one board just wasn’t enough!
Thinking about our makers, the diversity within a community, I decided that themed boards around specific mediums was the way to go, creating, in time a visual ‘inspiration’ library if you will. Although the boards are themed I will try to be as outlandish and diverse as possible within the boundaries of each medium. I will strive to include a spectrum of visuals ranging in skill, scale, budget and taste.
I would also love to share images of what we as a community make at home. Finished pieces or work in progress shots are fine and as were an inclusive bunch here at The Waiting Room I’m using the word ‘making’ in terms of anything you are using your hands to make, create or do.
For example ‘this week I am mostly making jam’ (sorry my other addiction at the moment). Or perhaps ‘here are some pictures of my garden that I have been making beautiful all year’. Add your contact details to these pictures (especially if its something you sell) and I will get them online to show them off.
Wouldn’t it be lovely to eventually have enough of our own, original images and contributions to start inspiring each other!
As always your participation/input would make this little ‘library‘ so much more interesting!
Please take a look at the work in progress and follow us here.
Like what you like or throw me a comment or submission here.
The more I know about you guys, what you like and what you do the better this can be.
Shall we begin? Print it.
Any anxieties I had walking into The Waiting Room for my very first Maker Wednesday were soon quashed by a abundance of friendly faces, crafty banter and the anticipation of a jolly good evening fabric printing to our hearts content.
Running the workshop this week was the passionate and vibrant Jacqueline Davies www.jacuelinedaviesart.com . Known for her skill as a painter, printmaker and illustrator (amongst many other enviable talents) her main inspiration for her nostalgic yet innovative work is firmly rooted in the design movement of the mid-20th century (good old-fashioned retro to us layman’s).
Jacqueline’s relaxed and confident teaching style along with her genuine enthusiasm for thee subject created an amazing atmosphere to learn in and helped as all to grasp the basics quickly and get to straight down to work.
The ‘inspiration table’ full of the quirky and the kitsch meant no one was without ideas and many of my fellow makers had come to the workshop prepared with a particular project in mind.
From bags to bunting the diversity and community atmosphere of the night drove home the importance of skill sharing which Jacqueline gave so freely and eagerly, instilling in the participants of the workshop valuable skills and the ethos of learning, sharing and making as a group.
For anyone who couldn’t attend last Wednesday fear not! This Wednesday (16th August) the lovely ladies from Stitch and Bitch will be hosting The Big Knit (making tiny hats for juicy bottles all in the name of charity). With advice and guidance from the fabulous Kniterati whether an newbie or pro knitter you will be in good hands and even better company!
Shall we begin?
As a textile artist I am always looking for new skills to transfer and manipulate for my personal practice, being a huge lover of making in general, I find lots of traditional craft techniques spanning all mediums both interesting and relevant to my work as well as providing an exciting challenge with (hopefully) a beautiful and unique result. Read more
The Thoughtful Maker.
As a new graduate living in Colchester, I will be exploring topics surrounding craft/making in the contemporary surroundings of today’s society from a makers perspective on behalf of the Waiting Room. Read more