Skip to content

{ Category Archives } art

More Needle-felting

Although my experience with the mutant blue-tit was somewhat off-putting, I had been given a second needle-felting kit for my birthday, so I thought I’d try again. This one was proudly Welsh, and contained undyed raw British wool from Grey Welsh Tops, Dorset Horn, Black Welsh and Brown North Ronaldsay sheep – so it was […]

Needle Felting Fail

I was given a needle felting kit for my birthday. It’s not a craft I’ve ever tried before, but according to the kit it was “easy peasy” and suitable for complete beginners from the age of 10 years upwards. The reality was rather different! The result looks like a diseased bird crossed with Marge Simpson…… […]

Banana Cake

I had some very elderly bananas left from my packed lunches, that were far too brown to eat but not yet so far gone to be binned. So I thought I’d be brave and try cooking a banana cake to use them up. It’s not a recipe I’ve done before, as baking is really not […]

Walking around Ancient Rome

No sooner had I finished the on-line course on the “Hobbit”, when I got an email from FutureLearn saying in effect “If you liked that, how about this?”, and pointing me towards a free short course run by the University of Reading on Ancient Rome. The USP of this particular course is that it’s based […]

Counted Cross Stitch

I’ve always enjoyed doing craft work as a hobby. Perhaps it comes from being an engineer and wanting to make things? I suppose these days my main craft hobby is pottery, but I also knit, sew and embroider amongst other things. But one thing I’d never done is counted cross stitch. Until, that is, I […]

Not just prehistoric archaeology

Although the focus of the trip was clearly on the prehistoric, and specifically neolithic, remains on both Shetland and Orkney, our tour leader was keen that the group should also get an understanding of more recent history. In particular, the sheltered anchorage at Scapa Flow, surrounded on all sides by the Orkney archipelago, was a […]

Muji Models

The weather these last few weekends has been pretty miserable, so I thought I’d break out the last of my Muji Model kits, which I’ve been saving for a wet weekend. For the past few Christmases, my parents have given me a selection of these cardboard model kits. As an engineer, I find them extremely […]

Back at the pottery

I’ve spent another day back at Eastnor Pottery, something I always enjoy. Jon the Potter only runs his weekend throwing workshops from autumn through to late spring, finding that there just isn’t the demand for them over the summer. He focusses instead on the more lucrative business of children’s parties, hen parties and his “Flying […]

Glass fusing – the results

I got home from work this afternoon to find a parcel waiting for me – the results of my glass fusing. I’m very pleased with the three bowls I made. The first two are pretty much as I had imagined them. The last one, which looked rather unpromising in its raw state, has come out […]

More glass fusing

Last autumn I spent a very interesting day learning how to make glass bowls at Rainbow Glass studios in North London. My sister and brother-in-law were so interested in my description of it that they decided to go on the same course the following month, with the result that it was glassware all round as […]