Macrame- My First Love

      Back in the day- which was a Wednesday- I made hemp necklaces and sold them- I did pretty well selling them on the beach in the summers - well enough that I didn't have to dip into my school money to pay for fun stuff- like beer. Truth be told I loved making  these macrame gems- laden with awesome beads and plenty of imagination- I was fortunate enough to have an outlet to sell them at a time well before the likes of Etsy or really any online store. The popularity of hemp necklaces started to wane but I held onto all my beads and jewelry making supplies and still dabbled now and again over the years.

      Recently there seems to be a resurgence of handmade wrap style jewelry- the friendship bracelet led the call a few years back and now fibre jewelry is popping up everywhere! One of my favourite artists are those behind the small objects and jewelry shop Object & Totem- based out of Philadelphia- Object & Totem offers a minimalist, rustic aesthetic that I totally dig. Click here to see my current design crush- on my wish list and not going anywhere- this is one beautiful necklace!

       Another example of fibre based jewelry can be found in this collaboration between the ladies at 3191 Miles Apart and Quince & Co- I spotted this lovely wool creation the other day and decided to give it a try- with my own twist of course! P.S. adorable blog and magazine- just fantastic!

        The beads on the above left are actually belly beads from Ghana- another treasure brought home by my cousin years ago when our first Little was born- these beads were the inspiration behind the creation of my new necklace on the right. The imperfection of this string of beads could not get any better- the dangling white cotton threads against the perfect line of beads- this was to be my jumping off point.

      This new fibre necklace may hearken back to my roots of hemp necklaces sold by the beach on a summer's day- but the fibre used is a little more sophisticated than the coarse hemp of my University enterprise! Linen and Silk yarn in variegated blues are punctuated by a single vintage glass bead- the wabi sabi simplicity is what I think makes this work.

    This little project was a great way to spend a day making things with my hands- so tactile and working with the linen yarn was a dream. While I do spend a great deal of time sewing and making- it was nice to free style it and just let my creativity loose on some yarn- a trip down memory lane that perhaps my hands should take more often!

January Crafternoon

      The Littles and I have this favourite shop we go to as often as we can- for the Littles to want to go into a shop any where it must be pretty great- and Collage Collage is just that- great! Located in a quirky strip of shops just off Kingsway by Robson Park in Vancouver, Collage Collage is part art emporium and part book shop- a little something creative for everyone.  Recently we popped in for a quick look around- we needed a bit of inspiration and some new projects- wooden stars were perfect, as were the pre made bug bodies (more on that later) and who can leave with out some stickers- we were set!

      These little wooden stars give us the jumping off point for our project- a multi media necklace which helps the kiddos practice their dexterity as well as just being plain old fun! The wooden stars were solid so I punched some holes in them for threading through the wool- wooden shapes like these can be found at any popular craft store or Collage Collage. I shared my Gouache with the kids to paint their stars funky colours- gouache is an opaque watcher colour paint essentially- Holbein brand makes amazing colours and I would say is one of my favourite paints to use.

       We raided our studio to see what other goodies we could come up with to compliment the brightly coloured stars- pom poms- of course, bells, pony beads and some home made tassels were gathered and then the creating began. There are no hard and fast rules to this project- what I had in mind though was showing the kids a bit of restraint- showing them how with just a few beautiful objects you can create something wonderful.

    The end result was bright, colourful and totally fun- the Littles got to work on their needle skills ( not shown is the giant darning needle used to help thread all these wonderful things onto the string) as well as working with different materials- they really let their crafty freak flag fly on this project!

     I am always on the look out for items or ideas that will help us be creative in new and wonderful ways- as an artist myself I get really excited about new supplies- I think our Littles have caught that vibe as well! Collage Collage is such a fun resource to have close by- check out their web site for drop in Crafternoons, classes as well as kits and books- I guarantee you will not leave with your hands empty!