Off the Grid a Bit

It is entirely too long since I posted last, especially since I had vowed to start posting more regularly than my once a week routine!  However, it seems like  life is rather conspiring against me.  Major change of diet has me a bit distracted while I go wheat/dairy/corn free.  I'm getting the hang of it now and it's going well.  Then I fell into a more than full-time job and that has kept me REALLY busy.  Nothing to get excited about, but I do have to take a break from creating full-time to pay the bills back down and reassure my lonely bank account that I do not intend to abandon it (and possibly reassure my bank of same).  I am not giving up felting, just spending more time experimenting and ENJOYING felting, versus producing on such a high level.  As sales are not great in craft at the moment, I can't justify spending so much time and money there.  It's nice to enjoy the nice weather and relax a bit without last year's incredible pressure to produce and sell.  Anyone would lose their mojo in the midst of that!

Bin Ban Beach in Dingle.  The weather has been pretty
good this spring!

And, sadly, my mother passed away last Saturday, April 7th in Seattle.  She was ill for a long time, but she rallied back from death so many times that we began to think that she just wouldn't succumb.  In the end she did pass rather quickly (and mercifully) and it has been hard for me and Fionn to be so far away.  I had two rough days and now I feel numb and rather shell-shocked, like I could go to bed and sleep for two weeks straight.  But I decided not to take any time off as I thought sitting around the house thinking too much wouldn't do me any good.  I don't think its all really sunk in, to be honest, but it will.  When one or both of your parents pass, it's a milestone; the people who loved you the best and the most are gone.  Thankfully I still have my father.

For now, I am keeping it pretty simple.  Still working on a freestyle crochet cardigan that will be done soon and I need to get cracking on a baby blanket for my new niece who will be here in May at some time.  I started deep cleaning the house, which I am sure must be one of the little-talked about stages of grief.  I may not be the most mentally healthy, but dammit my house will sparkle!  I also am working on felting and patterns for new items, but its all in a muddled state--pics to follow!

Enjoy the spring and I hope to have some decent pics soon as I can't keep cleaning the house at this pace!

Liebster Award

I got up a couple days ago and found out that Food Fancies had nominated me for a Liebster Award for blogging.  What a great way to start the day! As a recipient--and I am in really great company!--I need to give a heartfelt thanks to my nominator Sharon, also known as Little Miss Cupcake, who has a lovely blog Food Fancies and nominate five more people myself.  Sharon is hard at work trying to get a cafe opened in Dingle in a few weeks time (!) so I do wish her the absolute best there.

Hard to do since there are such great bloggers out there, but I have to say that Nicola Brown at Clasheen is excellent. Great humour and information on felting and always news on the fibre world.  I don't know where she gets her energy.

Embroidery tutorial on Carina's Craft Blog

In no particular order, I also love Carina's Craft Blog.  Lots of great crochet tutorials here and her fabric designs on Spoonflower are beautiful and colourful.  Great for when I get the itch to learn new stitches.

I want to felt like Andrea Graham when I grow up!  Her blog Andrea Graham Feltmaker has great photography and you can see a huge range of handmade felt items and she is quite on the ball about using the internet to teach students via webcam.  Majorly productive and married with kids, not easy folks!

I love the combinations of felt and velvet in Dog Daisy Chains blog.  She always has such beautiful eye candy and I get motivated to get into the studio and start messing around.

And finally A Baked Creation always inspires me to cook or bake something interesting and my son often looks over my shoulder and says "Let's go try that, Mom!"  Go find the Lemon Drizzle Cake--dead easy to bang into the oven and so, so good!  I love the texture of the cake.  My son loves the lemon icing.  Some things never change!

You really NEED this Lemon Drizzle Cake.  So easy and a little too good.

And if I can be cheeky and mention a sixth blog, I love Kathy York's Art Quilts by Kathy York.  She makes vibrant, hand-dyed fabrics and great designs and has given me some great ideas for resist-dyeing fabric.  Love her quilts and she is so inspiring!

Kathy York's story quilt "Morning Commute with Sweet Jane."

Pancake Tuesday

We got up early this morning and made a load of pancakes and sent them off to my son's school.  In Ireland, the Tuesday before Lent  begins is Pancake Tuesday, the day that extra eggs were used up before Lent commenced.  Apparently, in times of old, any luxurious or pleasurable food was also given up for the Lenten period, something that is definitely not followed in modern times!  At any rate, the boys should be full and happy by now and ready to face Ash Wednesday tomorrow.

More lovely superfine Merino scarves that will by coming at you soon!

I have been a quiet blogger lately as there is lots of new things in the works.  Not only have I been busy with part-time work, but I have also been re-designing my label and getting ready to relaunch my brand.  The fiddly bits of tweaking all the marketing text is time-consuming, but I am happy with the new results.  I am having my clothing labels printed as we speak and then I will have to remove all the old ones that I am going forward with and I am busily designing new knitwear items that I will submit for Kerry Fashion Weekend.  Lots of details to follow up on to get it right this time.

I sent off designs for Project 51 in Dublin and I am waiting hear back from them.  I was very impressed with their artisan range when I visited their booth at Showcase and I'd love to take part in their Festival of Irish Design for March 2012.  Fingers crossed there!  There are a couple more options coming soon also, but stay tuned for more details!

In the meantime, take a look at Aisling Ryan on http://www.fundit.ie/project/a-little-old-a-little-new.  She is one of the first craft artisans who is pursuing funding on www.fundit.ie.  Fundit has successfully launched many projects, but their crowdfunding endeavors are now helping individuals get financial assistance.  Well done to Aisling and the best of luck to her!!

Blurry Picture in the Distance

There are times in life when all seems muddy and unclear.  It's really that time of year, isn't it?  Time to wisely listen to the animals and hibernate a bit.  Its the time of year when I drag out magazines to look at new projects, new fabrics, and to think about people I want to work with and skills I need to learn.  I read a lot and cook and try to actively NOT think at times.

After a few weeks of this, something generally starts to emerge.  I am a list maker, essential for anyone balancing too much in their life, and if I lay the lists out next to each other I generally start to see a pattern of interest.  I can see now that there was no way I could sustain the amount of work that I was doing.  I think less teaching, or at least more isolated teaching, is in my future.  I love teaching, but I end up giving too much of myself and the transition between designing and teaching isn't as fluid for me right now.  I think now is a time to concentrate on design ideas and working on selling.

I went up to Showcase on Monday, just to have a look around. I was nearly certain that it wasn't for me, but I wanted to get some feedback on designs.  Not only did I get excellent feedback on my hats and scarves, but I really do think Showcase will be for me next year.  I have a lot to do to get ready, including perfecting my begging face when I have to go to the bank and look for a small business loan, but it will be worth it for the exposure.  The addition of the fashion show this year was really the clincher.  I was told that my work would have been perfect in the fashion show the night before, that I was on track with the style and textures and colours.

And I took a good hard look at what the other knitwear and felt people were doing.  There's no point replicating the same designs as we all look the same and it only creates a price war.  So I now have a fair idea of what I will make that will stand out from the crowd.  Now to just find the space to do it!  I am also seeking advice from a mentor and I am toying with the idea of changing my company name and re-branding. It's a bit fussy, but I think the name I have hasn't been connecting at all and now is the time to do it.  I have arrived at a name and mentor thinks it's good, too, so just have to think about it over the week and then order new business cards and labels for clothing.

Some progress is being made on sorting my house out.  I made a space for my dyeing microwave and now just need to find a space for all my dyeing equipment.  Not easy!!  Hopefully some space will be made available in the near future.  Meanwhile, I am working on samples to show a couple of shops who I am going to approach. I need to get all my details all organized so it looks like a cohesive package.  The mist is lifting and I can see the blurry picture in the distance!

And I also need to get taking some pics because this is all I had this week!

My Dyeing Week

One of the student's resist-dyed fabrics

I have spent the last three days dyeing cloth with over 60 primary school students.  I realized over Christmas that if I wanted more students for the Craft Club then I needed to head out to the schools.  So, I went to Lispole and Dingle primary schools and I offered to teach colour theory and dyeing to the kids to get them interested in making.  They all definitely loved it, but it remains to be seen whether I will gain any students from it.  I shall have to wait until Saturday and see what it brings.

Adding their resists before dyeing

If it all goes pear-shaped, then I will have the hard decision of closing my studio.  People are just not buying and I can't fund it without income coming in.  The students are buying me some time to build up clientele and work on new design ideas, but if I can't get the students then I just have to move as much as I can back home.  It would be both a blow and a relief.  I would only have space to make small items as my house won't accommodate all the materials I have acquired, but the financial pressure has been immense.  It would be nice to just go to bed and be able to sleep the whole night through.

All dressed up and no place to go

There has been a lot of talk about using public buildings to provide arts space/studio areas, but nothing seems to be rising to the surface, certainly not in Kerry.  With many talented people abandoning their craft right now, the Craft Council of Ireland or the Department of Arts should really do something to help artisans to continue their work.  It will come to a stage where emerging artisans will not be able to afford to develop their work because the resources to assist them just aren't there.

The state of Ireland is just bad right now.  I am usually a glass half full kind of person, but the lack of direction and jobs, unbelievable amount of taxation, and extreme corporate greed has left almost all of us a bit deflated.  Even if I wanted to abandon all my training and get another job, where do I go?  My cost of living would be much higher somewhere else.  Where are jobs better?  It's a miracle I can get out of bed every day with all this swirling around my brain.

Is it too much to ask that my work sells and I make a modest living?

The great texture of dyeing your
own work

A Rather Damp & Windy Start

Crocheted & felted hat, with hand-dyed trim
and flower. Machine embroidery!

Well, it's January, and as usual I have a couple of goals.  Trying to stay in business is one of them.  I keep hearing on the news how the retail receipts are up and it was improved on Christmas 2010, but I did far worse.   Is it possible that they are lying to keep us all going???  Tralee was deadly quiet until the 4-5 days before Christmas.  I think everyone is waiting until the last minute now to get the best deals.  Understandable, but hard to take.  I heard that people in Dublin at the Gift Show in December returned items that weren't made in Ireland and were almost patriotic about it.  That did not happen in rural areas.  I did not have much to spend this year, but I did try to buy as much as possible locally and Irish so that at least it was money staying in Ireland.  I saw people doing that last year, but this year it fizzled out.  It is rather hard to go chirpy into the New Year with financial disaster looming.  I know I am not alone, but somehow that is rather poor consolation.

I did get a nice shared feature in the Irish Examiner in an article called "The Life Changers" written by Sharon Ni Chonchuir, so many thanks to her for that!  The photo turned out great, so much try and get a copy.  All publicity is good!

Merino bainín and hand-dyed merino.
Felt/silk/angelina flower, hand-dyed with
beads.  Scarf: 19 micron merino, resist-dyed.

Other goals: Christmas is over, so off the sugar and carbs again.  All the good progress of November & December was probably undone by simply eating bread.  Must get tough and focus now.  I quit smoking the last year and a half, so now its time to tackle that.  I would like to do more creative embroidery and must figure out a way to present them less expensively.  They look fab custom framed, but it's just too expensive when they aren't selling yet.  I am really hoping that www.swoop.ie gets going as I have a good feeling that this will be a much better on-line selling venture than ETSY.  While it's true that I could spend more time marketing my ETSY page, I really have never had any return on the time and money I have put into it so far (over a year).  Hard to plan on spending more time there with no positive outcome.  I think switching over to another online venture is going to work out better as you could spend your life trying to set yourself apart from the pack and not get one thing made! Final goal: I really want to get raised beds done and do a decent vegetable garden this year.  I must also rescue herb garden as its choked with weeks, but its been such a wet year and time was against me with starting a new business.  I'll start with the low maintainence stuff and see how I get on...

Curious response to my samples sent to Boston.  When they came back, the buyer was complimentary but said that my hats and scarves were "too upscale" for them and "possibly in another economy they would consider it."  Now this is a person specialising in handmade Irish craft for 40 years or more and they sell in an affluent area.  The only thing I could take from that is that Irish Americans want the same design the Failte Ireland has sold them all along: tweed, muted colours, and traditional design.  The only problem with that is it isn't modern Ireland.  Does anyone have any thoughts on this???

Must get into the studio now as its time to start producing work again.  I had a much-needed break, but it's time to start keeping the wolf from the door!

Can you find my little cutie in this pic?  Love the
school plays at Christmas!!

Oh, Knit & Stitch, how I do love thee....

One of Ruth Issett's stunning
textile pieces on exhibition
at K & S 

 We made it up and down to Dublin, Fionn and I, and had a great time.  Knit & Stitch time is my favourite time of year: a chance to get great new supplies, take in inspirational exhibitions, and meet up with friends you see mostly online.  I took a mini-workshop with Ruth Issett called "Running with Colour" and it was fab.  I adore her work and her use of colour--so vibrant and full of life.  I tend to like a lot of abstract work in the last five years and so I could get lost in the piece on the left.  I had this one on my computer desktop to study every day and so it was a thrill to see the original!


Fionn learned a bit of weaving, but it was disappointing that much of the student classes were rather flat.  There were school tours there on the day we were there and most of the craft learning stations were geared towards girls, which was unfortunate as there were plenty of lads there.  I am a strong believer in teaching boys to sew as its part of my Basic Skills for Life training that I teach.  Who wouldn't have to know how to do an emergency repair of a seam or how to sew a button back on?  Even if they aren't going to pursue a creative career, its a great thing to learn to express yourself creatively.  I was told that a group from England decline to come over and tutor in craft.  My response to that is WHY do they have to come from England?  I know Twisted Thread, the organizing group for K & S, comes from England, but there are plenty of talented people in Ireland who could organize and teach young people interested in craft i.e. patchwork, weaving, spinning, felting, stitching.  I did love their great emphasis on repurposing and upcycling clothing and the awareness of who is producing clothing and how they manage to keep their costs low (cheap labour overseas...).  But, it's my third show now and I do notice that the cream of the craft doesn't always travel over from the English shows; it's time that we make sure that the Dublin show is just as good as the English ones.


Now I am back in Dingle, it's time to start working on the Kerry Christmas Market full-tilt.  The deadline to apply is tomorrow and I have lot of PR to do, a poster to design, and one more celebrity Santy to find!  It's coming along great and we have a wonderful group of artisans so far.  The children Christmas carol service will be wonderful on the Saturday and I am working on music performances for the Sunday.  If you have time and a few presents left to get, please DO come to Dingle for the weekend of December 17/18.  Come on the Saturday and spend the day taking in the wonderful food and craft at the Christmas Market and the unique and vibrant shops of Dingle.  Splurge and spend the night and have a fab dinner at Doyle's or Global Village.  Appreciate Kerry as much as we do!


Craft club is going strong.  We felted the pieces to make angels for the top of the tree and next week we will sew them together.  For now until Christmas, we will be making Christmas decorations or presents.  Great fun and the kids are learning so much (and they are a great bunch to work with).


If you have any inquiries about workshops or participating in craft club, please ring 087-9111793 or email sharon1_crandall@hotmail.com to register.

Hats

Tuesday, November 29th
Wednesday, December 7th

Scarves

Wednesday, November 16th
Tuesday, November 22nd
Saturday, December 10th

Absolutely amazing quilt close up.  Won Judges Choice 2011.  Artist is
Janneke de Vries-Bodzinga.

Love this guy!!  

I also loved her sketchbook on how she designed the wonderful seahorse

Very impressed with this one as it was a kid!
Leif Sinclair from Leominster.

This is a panel of a quilt series from Genesis.

Part of Seascapes exhibition sponsored by CCOI.  This is
Marika Miklosi-Manning.

Time to think about your warmies...

It's mid-October and if the weather hasn't turned cooler where you live, then it will likely do so with a bang in the next week.  So!  Time to think about updating your lovely cold weather gear.  I am listing workshops for making hats and scarves on the following dates.  The price is €40 per workshop, materials included.  We will be using high quality Merino wool and some silk and alpaca fibres to create lovely scarves or hats for winter, which we will then custom dye to the colour of your choice.  All workshops 2-5pm on John St in Dingle, Co Kerry. 






Hats
Saturday, November 5th
Tuesday, November 8th
Tuesday, November 29th
Wednesday, December 7th


Scarves
Friday, November 4th
Wednesday, November 16th
Tuesday, November 22nd
Saturday, December 10th

Ring 087-9111793 or email sharon1_crandall@hotmail.com to register.  Space and materials are limited.  Plan to make something lovely for yourself or a loved one for the holidays this year!


I am also busily planning Kerry Christmas Markets in Dingle this year, with Kerry made food and craft.  Santy will be there with mulled wine and lots of fun.  Dingle has a fantastic array of original food and craft, so plan on spending some time with us!  We have a Jingle Bell jaunting tour and penguins for the kids.  The Christmas tree will be lit Sunday, December 4th. Plenty to do and see, so watch this space for more details...

Hikes and Tests and Christmas

Crocheted hat with hand-dyed red flower &
glass seed beads

I am starting to get that frantic feeling, like time is running out and I need to find a way to duplicate myself so that I will have MORE of what I need.  This week seemed to have so much crammed into it: Scouts meeting, craft club, special orders, planning meetings, Scouts hike, Dingle Business Chamber meeting, and insurance company issues.  It's no small wonder that I have had a hard time finding time to sit down and read my road theory test book, but I spent my day off yesterday reading the dang thing.  I think none of you will be surprised to know that it isn't the most interesting reading.  I have the test on TODAY and the good news is that most of the info was repeat on the test I took 28 years ago in the US.  The Irish government seems to think that they hand out driver's licenses on street corners with reckless abandon, but I did take 3 months of theory and driving lessons before I was allowed to sit my exam.  Ugh.  So aggravated to have to do it again, but it should be over with today and then 12 driving lessons and I can take my road test.  All the drama of this I don't need.

I've been finishing hats like mad and put in an order yesterday for supplies so I can start felting like a lunatic. I have so many hats and scarves to make and so many test pieces to get right so I can start making more.  I have a pile of finished product to upload onto Etsy, if I could find 2 hours to do it.  I ran out of labels to sew into my hats and ordered more, so that will be another relief.  I want to close my studio door and stop answering the phone so I can really concentrate.  I must find a kind of Zen calmness of I will not make it through the busy holiday season...

Craft club going well and we finished the books!  Pics to follow as haven't uploaded them yet.  We felted last Saturday and will cut them into strips and the girls want to make bracelets, so stitching and beading this Saturday--all good!

As much as I would like to rest now, I must get ready to head into Tralee to face the music.  Wish me luck on my second driving test!  

Crocheted hat with orange & yellow
flower and seed beads

Merino, Alpaca, and silk pieces resist-felted
and hand-dyed.  Hand dyed star decor &
beading!

A Foodie Hangover...

The Handmade Sessions on the Dingle Food Festival taste trail was a great success!  We teamed up with Bluíríní Blasta cafe in Lispole and offered up sublime, jamtastic desserts: they baked meringues with their Blás na hEireann nominated lemon curd, fresh cream, and raspberry coulis; lemon drizzle cake with lemon curd on the side; and strawberry jam sponge with fresh strawberries.  All gone by 445pm!  Craft sales for the day weren't great, but there were a lot of people in and out and appreciating the work, so hopefully a preview of Christmas sales.  It was pouring out of the heavens by 4pm and is quite wet now, but still another day of the Festival to go!  We are heading out on the taste trail ourselves and it should be a relaxing, enjoyable day.  I need me some oysters!

It was a rather frantic week of felting and embellishing.  I felted 7 scarves and resist-dyed them and felted two new hats and resist-dyed to match two of the scarves.  I embellished three hats.  And cleaning and hiding all the clutter so the studio would be ready for the general public.  Really, I need a good closet with shelving inside to just store things in and shut the door so my mess isn't out in the open.  The new hat wall looked well and Colleen Bowler and Ursula Tramski's pottery was fab, and the company great all day.  A huge success!

I held the Craft Club on Friday afternoon to make room for the Taste Trail on Saturday, so it was a mad two hours of sewing and helping the girls learn to use the sewing machines.  They really are learning the sewing machines fast for 10 year olds.  Their books are nearly done and next week we start on two weeks of bracelets.  We will felt a lot of pieces and then decorate our bits the next week with stitch and beads.  And then two weeks of Halloween projects, but I have to have a think about what we will do there...

It's all go these days.  I need to do a big stock up on wool as I have a lot of stock to make for Christmas.  Once I have many kilos of wool under my roof, I will sleep well!! New calendar of events for October up, but must get it online still--tomorrow as my day off and then will plot dates for Christmas gift making...Meanwhile, Ireland killed Italy today in the Rugby World Cup and we are slated to play Wales next weekend in the semi-finals--GO GREEN!!

Keeping the Faith

New hat: merino, alpaca, & silk fibres & pieces.  Decor
in progress!

I try not to be a worrier, but it is very hard not to at times.  And these are worrying times that we are living in.  Quite a lot is changing quickly and we are coping as best we can with limited resources and changing incomes.  But I also reach a stage where I think "To Hell with it!"  Either the hard work pays off or it won't.  Either you can make a difference or you won't.  I take time out to think and find the solution for myself and just keep plowing on...

So, I am relieved to see modest progress with my new workshop space.  Craft in Kerry is no longer part of the Handmade Sessions as the summer was just too slow and the guild did not have the resources to keep going forever.  I personally paid out quite a lot of money from my own resources and that could not continue.  I took over the place as a studio/teaching space for myself as of September 1st and things seem to be falling into a nice routine.  The kid's Dingle Craft Club started yesterday and I had a good start.  It will pay the rent and keep me going while I work hard at developing new hats and scarves.  I am looking into exporting as sales are just too slow in Ireland.

Closeup of the texture of merino and silk

I will be on the food trail of the Dingle Food & Wine Festival with Blúiríní Blasta cafe (located in the Seal Sanctuary in Lispole).  The girls make WONDERFUL food, but also sell their homemade jams and are developing other products for sale in their cafe.  The are going to be making their homemade jamtastic cakes for the trail and I will be felting.  Should be great fun!  

I have a whole pile of new hats that are ALMOST done.  Mostly the finishing decorations.  So, it will feel good to put four new hats out by end of day on Tuesday and start work on yet more.  Being productive is a big relief for stressful money juggling!

So, these developments are good. Yes, I would love to be making actual money instead of breaking even, but sometimes you just have to keep going and hope for the best...

New fabric collage for my Green & Gold window that
is going up very SOON.  The All Ireland is next Sunday,
so it has to happen soon!

Sundays are my best day...

Teal hat: merino, alpaca, and silk.

Thank God, August is over!  I am thoroughly exhausted and run-down, despite eating properly and getting enough sleep.  Working 60-70 hours per week just does not suit me.  Or, rather, I could do it for a week, but heading into the sunset working that much is not good.  And no holiday in sight it seems.

The Heritage Week event with Camphill went very well and we had a modest turnout of 125 people.  Despite our best planning, we ended up competing with the Dublin/Donegal match to see who Kerry would end up playing in the All-Ireland Final--you just can't compete with football around here!  Many thanks to Camphill who demonstrated candle-making, weaving, and spinning and Craft in Kerry demonstrated felt making, wood turning, and pottery.  Kerry County Council Heritage Office was kind enough to give us a bursary for the event, so that helped sort out operating expenses and gave Camphill a bit for their time and effort.

I got quite a few scarves made in August, so I am in a good position to start on hats. It is time to consider hats! I made a lovely teal felted hat and now much start a range of colours going. I am also crocheting hats because they really do sell well and are less expensive for me to produce and for consumers to buy. As per usual, nothing drab.  If we are to endure these cold winters, we need a little colour to pick ourselves up!  

In the meantime, I am planning 8 week courses for autumn.  I will be teaching a basic felting course at Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne and a class in Handmade Home.  This class will focus on personalizing your home with your beautifully made items, concentrating on Christmas decor as the term ends.  The first few weeks will be spent on basic instructions and practice and then students will have time to concentrate on an area that particularly appeals to them.  We will felt, crochet, stitch, and see what comes out on top!  I am looking forward to it.  It will be offered 1030-1230pm and also 7-9pm, both on Thursdays beginning September 29th. Leave a message here and I will get back to you with details.

New nuno felted wrap: silk chiffon and merino/gotland curls.
All hand-dyed.

Yes, it is what you think it is!  People keep asking me
for tea cosies and so I finally made a few. These are
hand-dyed with silk pieces.

Heritage Week is Coming...

 Celebration of Traditional Crafts withCamphill Community and Craft in Kerry

Ceardaíocht Traidisiúnta a cheiliúradh le Pobal

& Ceardaíocht Chnoc an Choma i gCiarraí

Join Camphill Community and Craft in Kerry craft guild for our day of traditional crafts for Heritage Week! Try your hand at weaving, candlemaking, wood turning, felting, and more! Food & drink available & great family day out. Music and facepainting. Cost:€5 (fund raiser for Camphill)

Many thanks to Kerry County Council Heritage Office for their kind support!

Sunday, August 28, 2011

1-5pm

Bín Ban, Dingle, Co Chiarraí

087-9111793

Where did that weekend go??

Well, I seemed to have gotten nothing done this weekend bar laundry and rest.  I know the resting has to be done, but there is quite a lot of grass growing and my house could be a lot cleaner!  Nevermind, I will have a shot at tidying tonight.  For now, I have to get going because our Craft Bootcamp is starting at 10am!  We are learning patchwork, crochet, dyeing, felting, and stitch.  Plenty to do for them!

I did get busy in my studio a bit this week.  It probably worked double-duty as therapy and I got four new scarves out of it.  I felted them with 19 micron merino and a small layer of silk and then did the design work at the prefelt stage.  I finished fulling and then dyed then.  Two I dyed as per normal and two I resist-dyed to see what texture I would get.  Very happy with all of them!

Now, I need to get myself in gear and get us out the door!  Will post more during the week....xx

Crafty Bootcamps from Handmade Sessions!

A Participant in the wood carving Session.

The Handmade Sessions/ Seisiúin Lámhdhéanta are open and teaching, but it's a bit of a learning curve, to say the least!  Lots of promotional material distributed all over the county, but it just takes time for people to know that you are there. Quite a lot more local people coming in for Sessions than visitors, which is surprising, but great news for the state of craft in the county!  


Monday we are getting started in our Crafty Bootcamp, a summer camp for 10-15 year olds in our venue in Dingle, Co Kerry.  Live from John St, we will be teaching felt, stitch, dyeing, crochet, patchwork, and drawing.  It will be a very busy week!  We have room for 12 students for the Monday through Friday camp. The fee will be €60 with materials included and I can give a small discount for multiple bookings.  We will run every week until the end of August, so that's what I will be up to for the duration of the summer!


I am excited, though!  Children from 10-15 years are generally very enthusiastic and well able to follow directions and get stuck into a project.  It's wonderful to spread enthusiasm for craft and show them how satisfying it is to create objects by hand, to say nothing of the fact that it will give them appreciation for the time and effort that goes into it!


Meanwhile, I am just grateful that the time of cleaning, dead spiders, and painting is over.  I don't mind spiders, but the sheer number of them was a bit unnerving.  

Minister for Arts, Heritage and
Gaeltacht Affairs,
Jimmy Deenihan, launching
Original Kerry.

The other milestone is that Original Kerry is launched!  The website is lovely and live, due in large part to the great efforts of Deirdre Johnston, the craft coordinator for the county.  Check it out at http://www.originalkerry.com/. Craft in Kerry is under original producers and "mixed craft," which is a little confusing, but we are there! There are Original Kerry gifts and the three new craft trails that have been established to show off the fantastic artisanal talent that our county boasts.  Most of the stops on the trail are interactive and allow for people to view craft being made.  Hop in the car and take a look at craft being developed--it's a great day out.  

Handmade Sessions

Crafty Boot Camp

Participants will learn craft technique in the following areas:

Felt—stitch a sampler, make a small handbag or pair of cuffs

Making a felted book cover...Crafty Bootcamp
will be felting, among other crafts

Stitch—embroider and embellish a felted & dyed piece; hand sew patchwork wall piece.

Dyeing—dye wool yarns for crochet, fabric for patchwork & merino for felting

Crochet—Learn to crochet a scarf, e.g. basic single and double crochet which can be adapted into larger projects

Patchwork-dye fabric and cut and sew a pattern for a small wall hanging

Drawing—learn to draw and keep a design & idea book

For more information on the Crafty Bootcamp, email handmadesessions@hotmail.com or ring 087-9111793.  Craft is for every day!

Mastery, Anyone?

Hand-dyed lambswool hanks 100g

It must be Sunday, because I am sitting here at my computer trying to put together another blog post! Despite the best of intentions, I only seem to be able to put together one, perhaps two, posts per week.  So much going on and no time to write about it. Nationwide was a great success and we are all just composing ourselves and trying to take in the spotlight.  I think we all appreciated the spotlight and here's to hoping that the artisans that need Craft in Kerry find us!  Sadly, they edited out our contact details in the interview, but people are quite good at Googling these days, so they should find us either on  our blog on  http://craftinkerry.blogspot.com/ or on our Facebook page.

Mosaic felted wrap by Pam de Groot

Our craft showcase went well and I have plenty of hand-dyed yarns left, if anyone gets itchy fingers to start a new knitting or crocheting project!  I need to get busy as there are plenty of new babies showing up in our circle of friends.  A friend of mine, having her third baby, was sure she would be overdue again, but that baby just could not stand the idea of hospital and she ended up delivering him HERSELF in the bathroom!  I about died when she sent me a text with the news.  Mother and baby are doing wonderfully, but if that child doesn't deserve a special present, I don't know who does.

The big push now, besides the Handmade Sessions, is Pam de Groot's master level dyeing and felting workshop that will be held in Dingle, Co Kerry on June 17/18/19, 2011.  The 17th will be a day of resist dyeing to prepare for the 18/19 felting days.  Pam is Dutch by way of  Australia and in Ireland for a short time.  Her work is mainly in mosaic felting, which is comprised of individual panels of pre-felts that are inlaid or tiled and then felted into another, larger piece or garment (thus mosaic).  Much of her work is in wearables and they are very beautiful; more examples can be seen here http://pamdegroot.blogspot.com/.  The workshop will allow time for participants to dye the silk and felt pieces on the 17th and then make the prefelts on the 18/19 to end the weekend with a unique and fabulous piece (or two, if you are quick and ambitious!) to wear for the cold weather months.  Pam also does quite a bit of natural dyeing and I am hoping that she brings some of the eucalyptus that is native to Australia as I have seem some of her work on her blog and the end result is really lovely.  A day of experimenting with dyes and two days of felting with talented and interesting women--HEAVEN!

Mosaic felted tunic by Pam de Groot

Cost for the three days of master level work is just €150.  A deposit secures your place and I have just a couple places left.  Originally, I wanted to start organizing these workshops in Dingle as there isn't much outside of Dublin or Cork.  It would be nice to have advanced level craft education on the West end of the country to make it more accessible.  Kerry is off the beaten track, as they say, but it is also a wonderful place to visit and get inspired.  The workshop fee does not include accommodation, but I can help with referrals.  Many people are staying with friends in Dingle, so I wanted to keep the price as low as possible for participants.  Lunch will be provided by the Goat St Cafe (http://www.thegoatstreetcafe.com/), which has a wonderful reputation and very good vegetarian/special diet food for people who need to consider those options (again, not included in the overall price, but their prices are fair). Great desserts, too!

If you want more information regarding this workshop, please email me at sharon1_crandall@hotmail.com.

Now, if I can get back into my own studio now, I have a fairy blanket to finish for that lovely, new baby....

Long Time No Blog...

Pat Lawless' regal chairs

We are over the Easter holidays, thank God. My son was quite happy to put on his uniform and walk to school.  He was ready a half hour early!  I think we definitely are both ready to get back to routine.  I spent a manic amount of time in my studio trying to get ready for the Craft in Kerry craft fair and then the admin work to get the craft fair ready (with the help of the wonderful Fiona Crinnion and partner Ronán and Colleen Bowler).  Nationwide has come and gone and it should be on tomorrow night (Wednesday May 4 at 7pm in Ireland, but you can view in on Player at www.rte.ie).  I was happy enough with the feature and so we just have to wait and see how we end up after editing.  The weather was beautiful on the day and we all came outside.  Actually, it was too beautiful and people were down on the waterside part of town soaking in the sun and sea, but no matter.  We made a start and it's onward and upward!!

Colleen Bowler's beautiful pottery.  All items at the CIK
Craft Fair were handmade in Kerry.

Now I need to get the Handmade Sessions on the map.  If we are going to get started for the beginning of June, there's a good bit of work to get done.  I have a flyer done, but we need to adapt that to a brochure and have leaflets printed for all the hotels and B&B's.  We need to build a great table to work around and have a real kit the building out session.  We don't need much to get started, so we might just squeak by on the cheap.  It's a bit ambitious to get us started on this so soon after starting Craft in Kerry, but the time is now and I know it will work.  There are also so many promising artisans that are not working and I am hoping that this will not only raise their profile, but also their income level!!  We all need a boost and a break from the Irish economic doom and gloom. Lots of meetings to get through this week, but I am hoping to have a good answer on funding and getting our foot in the door soon to get the premises ready.

A final pic of some of the journals that I felted for the craft fair.  I am happy enough with them and hopefully they will be part of my off-season woolly stock.

Felted journals by Chiarrí Creations