Working together, separately

Working towards the launch of our craft business, Rhiannon and I have decided to change our plans. Instead of launching our craft business, we will now be launching our individual craft businesses.

So this does mean the end (or at least, pause) of Jupiter Hollow, but it also means the renewal of Tanith Rowan Designs and the beginning of Parlour Duck crafts.

This blog will remain, and we may come to use it for future endeavours if the time and opportunities are right. But the majority of new stuff will be at the new blogs.

So I will be at the new Tanith Rowan blog, talking about hats and soft toys and soft toys in hats and maths nerd stuff and all things Christmas and Halloween and whatever else takes my fancy. (You can also check me out on Facebook.) I started off the blog with a post about the lessons I've learned since I first started up an etsy store with the dream of selling hats. You can also read about my in-store debut at the Crago Mill in Bathurst. In the coming weeks you can expect to see some new fabric designs, new hats, and more thoughts about creative business and motivation.

Rhiannon will be at the new Parlour Duck blog, with all her amazing embroidery and crochet, as well as more looks at vintage patterns and recipes - not to mention cute and gorgeous baby things as she gears up for the arrival of a tiny new person in November.  Some things she is working on to look forward to include the start of fabric designing, Christmas ornaments, more gloves and projects from year 2 of the Embroiderers' Guild course.

A weekend of blocking felt

It's official: I love blocking felt hats!

Last weekend I found myself for once with hardly any commitments so I spent a couple of lazy afternoons with a kettle, blocks and pins and turned out some little hats.

This is a copy of the one I made last year for a lovely colleague. I learned that although it helps a lot to have a vague idea to work towards, an exact copy is difficult and annoying! Felt just wants to move the way it wants to move, and that won't be the same twice in a row.

With some of the leftover felt from that one, I churned out a little pillbox hat. Don't have a pillpox block? Me neither. But I do have a cylindrical plastic pasta container. It worked like a charm. Just use rubber bands to hold the sides in place as you steam and stretch.

I want to move away from using feathers, but I've seen some beautiful vintage hats with felt feathers, and with a bit of guidance from this paper feather tutorial and pattern, I used some of the scraps from previous hats to make some.

This next one is from leftover felt too. It wasn't looking quite right without any trim, so I added some more feathers.

Another empty weekend is looming, expect more hats or soft toys or soft toys in hats!

More Photography Playing: Selective Colouration

As well as my craftsy course, I've been reading some blog posts about improving photography, and also playing with effects.

These are selectively coloured using PicMonkey and following this tutorial by Abby Glassenberg.

I haven't used PicMonkey before but this was very easy and lots of fun.

It makes for nice portraits of my babies too.

We don't keep our cats in cages, despite appearances. They are in their run, enjoying the outdoors without being a menace to the native wildlife.

Miniature Felt Napoleon Hat

I recently joined a little 'club' called "Six Months of Softies". Basically it's six soft toy patterns from six different designers, but they are new exclusive surprise patterns revealed and delivered once a month for six months, so it's exciting too! I'm a sucker for soft toys, what can I say? (Read about it here, if you are interested.)

The first pattern is from Shiny Happy World, where Wendi Gratz designs patterns specifically for beginners and also has a heap of video tutorials to go with her patterns. So when reading through the pattern, there will be links to videos as you might need them. You can ignore the stuff you already know, and check out the video for extra help on stuff you aren't good at or familiar with. I've picked up some good tips. I also love the way she writes. Cute little comments lie among the instructions to give you a little laugh.

The pattern is an elephant and a mouse, called Napoleon and Josephine. I've actually mostly made the elephant, but I need more stuffing, so I'll show you that one later. For now, I have the mouse.

As you can see, I decided to give him a little hat.

Want to make your own little felt bicorne for your mouse or another little toy?

It's super easy to make. Slightly more tricky to place, depending on the ears of your toy! Here's how:

1. Start with a circle of felt that is a suitable size for your toy. The diameter should be "shoulder width" or wider for a more exaggerated look. (I say "shoulder width" in inverted commas because often toys have no shoulders. This mouse doesn't even have arms.) Basically there will be two folds in the circle, making two segments slightly smaller than a semi-circle for the sides, and a narrow strip in the middle. Kind of like a stand-and-stuff taco.

2. Fold into taco shape, and pinch the sides in and fold them down a bit. Now, I had a go at actually steaming mine to help it keep that shape. I used a cheap craft felt from my stash, so it was only moderately successful, but it might be worth it, especially if you are making a larger hat. You can see my improvised blocking set up in these pictures.

I knew I was keeping that oversized novelty Christmas pencil for a reason.

Just like a taco!

If you haven't steamed any felt before, the idea is to hold it in steam and shape it when the steam has made it a bit more pliable, then keep it in place. Holding it above a kettle is the easiest way.

3. Embellish. I went with a little button and the edges of some wire-edged ribbon in gold and red. Google up some Napoleon pictures for plenty of ideas. Some paintings seemed to have a gold trim, others just a little cockade. Whatever you fancy. Googling other bicorne hats (or chapeau bras) will give you other embellishment ideas.

4. If necessary, also put a stitch in on the other side to hold the shape.

5. Attaching is a variable process depending on your toy. For the mouse here, I used a ladder-whip-mutant stitch to attach it behind one ear, across the top of the head, and in front of the other ear. Wiggling and squishing was required.

6. Celebrate with some fresh banana bread.

Step 6 is the best!

Now... who else can I put a little hat on?

Wardrobe planning, continued - A Matter of Defining my Style

In a previous post, I talked about how I was trying to restructure my wardrobe in line with function - so deciding how much of my day I spent doing what, and how that should be reflected in my wardrobe. While that approach is very useful, especially as a way to see what areas you really don't need any more items of clothing, it does have limitations. Rather obviously, knowing that you need more 'work formal/dressy' clothes, as I have realised I will, doesn't help if you don't know what clothes fall in this category. And while I could default to my jeans/t-shirt combination for everyday casual, with cardigans/sweaters added for cold days, I've been working on changing this for the past year. (As it happens, the job I got as a 'normal', non-academic job is in retail, where I'm still allowed to wear jeans, and have uniform shirts, so no thinking is required for work clothes. This lets me concentrate on my everyday outfits. )

These questions are a matter of style.  What clothes do I want to wear? What sort of image do I want to project?

Confession time: I can't help myself. I'm addicted to style help books. If a book promises to tell you just what clothes will suit, or just what every woman needs in her wardrobe, or just how to get the most out of what you own - I can't resist. I have read so many blogs, websites, magazine articles and books on the topic. Yet I was still having trouble articulating my style. One book I read said that you should be able to encapsulate your style in a sentence; another said in three words. This gives me flashbacks to working on the thesis - sum up your thesis in three sentences! One sentence it is.

The big tension for me as far as style is between casual and ladylike. I like both. This happens in everything in my life - interior decoration, art styles, house types that I drool over. Part of me wants a big bleached pine table, part of me wants an elegant tea trolley. Part of me wants a big squishy sofa, part of me wants a Victorian arm chair. Part of me wants the vibrant print, part of me wants the botanical illustration. Part of me wants the open-plan beach house, part of me wants the inner-city Victorian terrace.  Generally this isn't problematic. As we are still renting, I haven't had the total control over my environment that I need to be dissatisfied with the mish-mash of styles I currently have. But with clothes... I do have control and I feel as though I should be exercising that control.

So I'd like my style to be comfortably ladylike with a quirky, vintage edge.  And currently it is very casual with occasional retro, ladylike accessorizing.

I think the key to upgrading my current casual style to where I'd like it to be will come in three parts:
1) Fit and quality. I can still wear a jeans/t-shirt/cardigan combination and achieve my goal, but only if the jeans are neat and fit well, the t-shirt doesn't have a slogan and isn't baggy, and the cardigan isn't pilling and is also the perfect fit.

2) Accessories. I own quite a few, I have plans for more, but I tend to wear them only occasionally, when something is happening to make me go the extra distance. I need to start wearing them on a more regular basis.

3) More skirts and dresses. I do tend to live in jeans most of the time, because it is the easy option. I need more skirts that coordinate with the rest of my wardrobe, and more dresses that are suitable for day-wear rather than special occasion wear. Or I need to rethink how I view the dresses I own, to believe they are ok for day-wear.

So these are the guidelines for my wardrobe planning and clothes projects in 2013 and 2014: clothes that fit beautifully, accessories, skirts and dresses.  Quite a task!

Soft Toy Pi

Remember these eyes?

They belong to a soft toy pi symbol I made for a friend and fellow maths teacher for her birthday. I had to wait until it arrived before I could show you.

I've made some before, but this time I think it has turned out even better, thanks to a nice fleece, firm stuffing and some cute felt eyes.

Creativity Exercise: Design Combinations

Rhiannon came up for a few days to my place and we've been planning and crafting and brainstorming!

I found an idea in "100+ Ideas for Teaching Thinking Skills" by Stephen Bowkett that I thought would be fun to try.

Basically you make two lists of key ideas or themes, randomly combine two, and think about what the crossover would be. We did a list of items you could make and a list of themes. Then we rolled dice to get a random combination each and came up with a design idea.

Round One: A Household item in the theme of fairytales. Rhiannon designs a Sleeping Beauty castle trivet.

Round One: A toy in the theme of the movie Inception. Tanith designs nesting dolls - an idea inside a sleeping man inside a sleeping man...

It was fun and challenging. Like most things, the combinations that seemed the most challenging ended up being the most fun and producing more unusual ideas.

Round Two: A hat in the theme of sushi. Tanith designs a stack of empty sushi train plates.

Round Two: cake in the theme of vikings. Rhiannon designs an adorable helmet and beard combination.

I was hoping we could use this to come up with actual usable ideas, but some of our designs fell outside our areas of expertise. I think it was good for our brains regardless. It could certainly be adapted in other ways that would focus more on our crafts and interests.

Round Three: A Van Gogh greeting card. Tanith at first designs a disturbing ear card then a sunflower seed idea that is slightly more tasteful

Round Three: A Jungle Animal bookmark. Rhiannon designs a twisted vine with various animals (after some decisions about what lives in jungles - not giraffes, for example)

Product Photography, a Craftsy Addiction, and a Bunny

So first, Craftsy. I went first because of the patterns, then started following the blog, but I was keen on the idea of the classes too. I have quite an addiction to learning new crafts even though I don't have time for my current ones. Having these lessons join me in the comfort of my own home whenever it suits me is pretty darn appealing.

So courtesy of a 50% off sale and no willpower, I bought my first class. It's called "Shoot It: A Product Photography Primer". So far I've watched the bits about colour, composition, style and such, and today I'm sharing with you some pictures I took as part of the first homework assignment (the best kind of assignment - one that no one but you cares if you actually do the work).

The homework is really just to take photos and start playing with what works and doesn't, but particularly considering composition.

The subject today is a bunny Lovey Dovey that is waiting for the birth of its future owner next month. Its made from white and pink bamboo fleece and has a little embroidered face. (I previously made the elephant version of the Lovey Dovey)

My first ever hat features in this next photo. I have sure improved a lot since then, but it makes a nice photo prop.

So back to the classes. They are basically structured as a set of videos that you can watch and re-watch as you feel like it, and they stay available to you forever. You can add notes so you can find bits you want to refer to later. Then there's course materials like notes and resource lists and stuff. The best bit, and what sets the classes above other online resources, is that you can ask the teacher questions and get their feedback on whatever you need. Other class participants can help you out too, and you get to see their questions and answers. Then people share pictures of their completed projects too.

I've since started another class too, but I'll talk about that in another post. There's plenty more classes on Craftsy that I'd love to get into, but I must be a good girl and finish the ones I've started first!

Black, Red and Silver Mini Tricorne

The second mini tricorne from a foundation I had lying around for a while waiting to be finished up.

The foundation is the same as the previous one, buckram and millinery wire. The main fabric is also the same black wool, picking up the same fluff and cat fur!

The side band is trimmed with the central piece of some ribbon. The whole ribbon was too wide and a bit over the top, so I just snipped around the central bit of it.

Some red feathers and a cute little silver button from the vast (but now organised) collection, and it's done!

Buttons, Buttons, Buttons

I've mentioned before that I have a lot of buttons.

 
The Ritz tin has been their home since before they were my buttons. I'm not sure whether Mum got the tin full of buttons at a jumble sale, or if she already had the tin and just got lots of buttons at the jumble sale, but I'm sure a jumble sale was involved in gaining this volume of buttons.

Everytime I need buttons I pour out the contents of this tin into a plastic bowl, or a series of bowls, to sort and search for what I need.

 
Meanwhile, in the kitchen, I've been saving these jars that came with herbs in them. I've been keeping them with a vague hope that I will make jam. It hasn't happened yet.

Separating the buttons from the Ritz tin feels like breaking a tradition, but I decided it was time. Time to sort the buttons and store them that way! I also like the idea of storing things in ways that make them visible. Not only is it easier to find them, but seeing them constantly reminds me they are there.

 
Sorting an ancient collection of unmatched buttons by colour is a difficult task. Is this more blue or grey? Closer to cream or brown? What about pink and blue together? When will I use a button that is pink and blue together?

 
I also had a few things that are not buttons. And only one button too big to fit into the jars. Poor sad button.

 
All up, I'm pleased with the result. And it was fun to look through all the buttons. There are some crazy ones, especially in the metal jar. Time to get back to finding ways to use them.

Black and White Mini Tricorne

I had a couple of buckram frames for mini-tricornes sitting around from ages ago, so I thought I'd better make some progress on them. I was going to say I hate unfinished projects, but the evidnce suggests that I don't!

So it's a buckram and millinery wire foundation covered with a black wool (I think) fabric on the crown and the top of the brim, and a gathered creamy white silk (I think) for the underside of the brim. This is the problem with working from random fabrics in your stash!

Look how beautifully wind swept it is! The perfect gentle breeze came for my photoshoot. And modelled on my lovely decoupaged foam head.

Trims are a gathered velvet ribbon in dark green, and two crazy buckly things that were in fact earrings! Good lord. And an ostrich plume and a little rooster feather.

I'm planning to stop using feathers but I have a supply to finish up first. (Although the rooster feather came from my grandmother's rooster anyway)

This black fabric has made many an item for me, and I love the way it sits and the way it hides stitches, but it sure picks up fluff and cat hair! You can probably see what I mean in that photo.

Fun times. I like the bit of military feel that the colours and the world's ugliest earrings give it. Completing a long-ignored item feels good!

Hat Makeover: Red Felt Cloche

This hat's story begins in 2008, still early times in my forays into millinery. The first classes I took were taught by Christine Thompson (of Christine's Millinery, check out her awesome stuff!) who also lives in the Blue Mountains. I took a class with her on drafting flat patterns in Rozelle or somewhere equally wacky, then discovered we both lived hours away from there, and about 20 minutes away from each other. The second course was at Christine's home studio (thank goodness!), and was on blocking felt. This was the hat I made in that class.

Since this was my first go at blocking, we stuck to a really simple cloche shape as I learned about the techniques. I was pretty excited about how nicely it matched my red coat!

Over time, however, I've gotten a little bored with it, and it also has a little hole in the felt at the front. You can't see the hole from a distance but up close you sure can.

At last year's International Millinery Forum I did a class on free-shaping felt hats with Watraud Reiner of Torb and Reiner. One of the other students had a felt hood with a hole right in the centre, and asked for advice for how to get around that issue. Waltraud took the felt, folded the fabric over the hole and worked from there. I felt like the class collectively dropped their jaws in amazement at the simpicity of this solution.

So after removing the binding from the edge, that's how I started too. Then I just played, folded, stretched, played and trimmed until I had this:

Here's a view of it flat, where you can see the back a bit and how the feather goes through to the other side.

A bit different huh? What do you think?

7 ways to make your crafting more ethical

Like many people, I'm getting pretty concerned about waste, the environment, and the bad things going on around the world. By handmaking things, we're already taking a step in the right direction. Anything we make ourselves is something we know wasn't made in a sweatshop somewhere.

Rhiannon and I are always looking for ways to improve our ethical practice. Here are some of the things we keep in mind while crafting.

Try to use your stash
Obvious steps first. Avoid buying unless you have to. Also, I find that searching through what I own stimulates my creativity and encourages me to think in different directions.

3 pumpkins from one old tea towel

Buy ethically
When you do need something your stash can't provide, think about the materials you are buying. Make sure you know exactly what amount you need so you don't buy wastefully. Consider that natural materials will potentially be compostable at the end of their useful life. They are also often much nicer. Organic is another thing to look out for.

Buying local is a lot harder to do with craft supplies than, say, food, but if an opportunity does come up - take it!

Also look into second hand. Some vintage shops have fabric scraps or trims, and most op shops do too. Also nice fabrics from clothes and linens can be rescued for other crafts. You will also find more unusual and interesting fabrics.

This petticoat was an op-shop sheet

Do crafts that work on different scales
Most of my stash is leftover from the days when my primary focus was clothes and costume. When I started making hats, I discovered how far the leftovers from clothes would go on small hats. Some pieces have made half a dozen hats. Playing around with tiny crafts, like Christmas ornaments, means even smaller bits of scrap are useful.

Lots of little scraps were used up on this guy

Use even the smallest scrap
I've been saving everything recently, including thread, and using it to stuff soft toys (in the centre, surrounded by real stuffing to keep it soft). Don't make soft toys? Maybe pincushions or little padded Christmas ornaments could help. Or if you are using natural materials, chuck them in the compost.

This whale is made from a leftover school project apron and partially stuffed with fabric scraps

Organise a Craft Swap
Maybe you aren't sure that you like that fabric or trim anymore, but you have some crafty friends. Get together over some cakes and exchange for something more your taste.

Maybe you don't need ALL these ribbons...

Use libraries and the internet
I love a new craft book as much as the next person. As fun as buying brand new craft books can be, most libraries will have a range of craft books that contain information and project ideas, and huge amounts of information, tutorials and patterns can be found on the internet. If you do buy, try to buy second hand.

Giving up a craft? Give your supplies away
Someone will want them! Op shops will take a lot of stuff, if you don't personally know anyone who'll take it. Ok I don't think I've ever actually given up a craft, but theoretically it might happen!

Compost monster likes ethical crafts

What steps do you take? We'd love to hear any more ideas.