Craft Hacker

I've Moved! Find me at www.stylistsownblog.wordpress.com

2011-02-07T08:13:00.003Z

Ummm... there's something I've been meaning to say for some time now (where exactly has the past year gone?!) but here it is: I've moved on. It's not you, it's me. As my career as a stylist has grown, I wanted to talk more about my own work and about (gulp) non-craft-hacked items. I also thought I'd give the guys over at Wordpress a go. So fear not, you can still find me on the interweb, in my new home (yes, that's new since early last year...spotting a theme here...) at my new blog Stylist's Own! (That's www.stylistsownblog.wordpress.com)

Fear not - craft hacking is still very close to my heart and is very much a topic I discuss (and want to do more of) but if you're a fan of nice things and pretty pictures generally, then get thee over there now and sign up!

Hoping to see you on the other side...

Columbia Road Flower Market

2009-11-09T19:44:00.005Z

I often like to take myself off for a little stroll along the wonderful Columbia Road on a Sunday, to breathe in the delights of its weekly flower market. A favourite haunt of bargain bloom-lovers throughout London, its pretty Victorian shopfronts hold equally lovely treasures within, from the oh-so-right combo of vintage homewares and cakes in the appropriately named Vintage Heaven & Cakehole, to mid-century baking paraphernalia (plus more cakes) in Treacle. To fully review the whole street and do it justice would take far too long, but for a few crafty tid-bits, keep reading

Ryantoon - the temporarily re-named store owned by paper-cutter extraordinaire Rob Ryan - has been rebranded in tribute to Ryan's beloved Newcastle FC (apparently there's something football-ey happening at the moment in man-sport-land). In fact, it's quite the most literal take on temporary I've ever seen: the entire store frontage has been wrapped in decorative Rob Ryan parcel tape (also sold instore for £10 a pop, natch). The result, combined with the fantastic window display, really is stunning, and also looks surprisingly resilient. Luckily for Ryan, his team have avoided some of the less aesthetically pleasing colour combo's of other strips and opted for classic black and white (I'm sure this was the number one topic of discussion in the boardroom back in 1905 or whenever these things were decided upon.) NB: I'd like to apologise now to any football fans reading for both my lack of knowledge and level of interest being so low I can't even be bothered to google for correct info.

Anyway, back to topics I know somewhat more about - this sweet little shelving unit caught my eye in retro candy shop Suck and Chew. Whilst it throws up my eternal dilemma regarding destroying already-sound items for the purposes of hacking, it's a great re-use, particularly if you have a somewhat redundant old pre-cm rule.

Couldn't resist including a little hack by Mother Nature herself: love, love, love these ornamental cabbage roses. Neither really one thing or t'other, they sure are mighty pretty.

Finally, the end of the street - with flower vendors dropping their prices by the second in an attempt to pack up before an imminent rainfall, the stampede stopped me actually checking out the shop this sign was advertising - but I was struck by the lovely collage newspaper frame (despite the fact it came out less romantic and more bacterial-looking in these shots).

Crazy Fools

2009-11-02T21:57:00.005Z

It's not every day that you walk past a Victorian boozer and see giant inflatable tentacles bursting through the windows (although depending on how much liquer was involved before you left, maybe you do). Then again, it's not any old boozer that chooses to forego the local darts teams and drunken old men propping up the bar to let 'graf' lovin' Bristolians transform the place into a modern art gallery for a day. Being on the tres sophisticated Upper Street in Islington, though, presumably goes some way to ensuring your regulars won't be up in arms though (or tentacles... boom boom).

And so it was that the weekend of 24th/25th October saw The Library play host to Bristol-based urban art collective Crazy Fools. As well as boyf-pleasing original prints, paintings and sculptures from the likes of Banksy and the fabulously textured 'untitled' artwork by David Walker (above), the work of Sarah Warren also caught my eye. Using collage and layering in her work, I simply lurve the way her images literally leap out of the page, achieved in part by using the mount as part canvas also, adorning it with cut out flowers- a great idea for any have-a-go artists out there.

Craft Hacker, meet Anthropologie. Anthropologie, meet, errr, a quivering, overexcited wreck clutching onto an embroidered pillowcase for dear life...

2009-10-30T14:36:00.006Z

As this has already been covered by every man and his blog, I wasn't actually planning to write about it. I was intrigued, certainly, but feared that anything receiving such high praise would doubtless fail to live up to the hype, much in the same way that new years eve is, whilst often 'nice', rarely like, sooo the most amazing night of your entire life. But that was until I went inside and my heart was duly stolen by the extreme, unbelievable wonderment that is London's new Anthropologie store.

The whole experience is so beguiling, you kind of want to suck it all in so hard that you actually somehow become part of it all. Maybe experience some kind of rebirth as a crafty embroidered teatowel, or edgy vintage-style teacup-with-a-twist. Anyway, suffice to say the hour I spent in there gawping, cooing and generally acting as excitedly at a prepubescent at a JoBro concert was pretty darned special. The thing I frikkin love most about it is that it's just so crafty, folksy and handmade-ey with such original merchandise from lesser-known Brit designers as well as bigger names, and the VM of the store is uber-hot too. Like one huge, giant craft fair spliced with the kind of car boot you see in your dreams. It makes me kinda sad that it took an American brand to bring this level of designer/maker-ness to the high street, but nevertheless I'm still glad it's there. Along with the coupla pics above, these are a few of my favourite things *sung Julie Andrews style, natch*

A peek at just one of the fab instore displays - loving the misc drawers and also the way frames have been displayed with random fabric scraps inside - cute idea

Vibrant Indian fabric patchwork on this outdoor chair - a great way to use scraps plus a darned site more attractive than those dodgy plastic numbers

Having long admired the aesthetic of vintage bottle drying racks, this display shows an excellent hacker-esque way to repurpose one for cup displaying purposes - nice!

These are not just teatowels. These are hand embroidered, appliqued, illustrative visions of joy, who deserve to be hung on a wall and worshipped. Your damp, inferior crockery is simply not worthy of them

More display delights - as well as having groovy contents, even the cardboard boxes holding these fab vintage playing cards has been given a pretty fabric coat

Love, love love the hand-upholstered furniture throughout by Clerke and Reilly - as well as being in scrummy earthy, autumnal shades, there is a subtle patchwork to each item and pieces are hemmed externally giving a lovely homemade, unique finish.

And finally these wibbly-wobbly plates, complete with vintage-style pen and ink drawings

Even the changing rooms were beautiful - my cubicle chair even matched the top I tried on. I didn't purchase it in the end - gotta save myself an excuse to go back there ASAP...

Prop House Pillaging

2009-10-24T20:54:00.004+01:00

Another day, another prop house. Whilst browsing the morning away in the wonderland that is Background Prop Hire in Islington, I happened upon these crafty fellows. Seemingly constructed by wrapping beautiful ethnic and retro style tissue paper around wooden placemats and coasters, this would be an easy hack to disguise any fugly old ones knocking around at home given to you by Auntie Mabel for Christmas in 1996.

Simply cut your paper an inch or two larger than your mat, then stick in place, going over the edges and onto the underside – spraymount should work, though some diluted PVA glue should also do the job, decoupage style. If your surface is patterned, try painting it white or sanding it down beforehand if possible to avoid the original pattern showing through, otherwise a couple of layers of white tissue paper underneath should suitable disguise the offending imagery.Then simply cut a piece of brown paper slightly smaller than your mat and stick it on the underside to neaten. A couple of coats of diluted PVA should seal your masterpiece sufficiently to protect from spills and splatters.

But the fun doesn't end there - my prop house rummage also dug out these hack-friendly little guys. By simply sewing a piece of fabric to fit an empty glass votive nice and snug and trimming with any ricrac or other offcuts you might have lurking, you've got yourself a non-permanent, fabric-scrap-utilising little decorative number right there. Happy snipping!

Mechanical Alchemist

2009-10-17T22:19:00.006+01:00

After a day spent trying to work out why Serge the Corsa had spewed oil all over the place resulting in the AA man producing the offending faulty 'bit', I was reminded of the work of the rather clever chap over at Mechanical Alchemist and thought I'd share:

Using pieces like my broken oil-switch-bolt-thingy and other superfluous engine parts, scrap metal and other 'Dad garage' paraphenalia, Pigskin (as he is apparently known) repurposes them into the ultimate in desirable man-craft pieces, mainly around the theme of robots (what else?) Look again though and said robots also multi-task as lamps, a moneybox and even a barbecue, so something practical to keep the ladies happy too. As a chick crafter keen to find any way to get the boyf to show even the slightest glimmer of interest in this arena, such work is to be applauded (and accompanied by a little victory retort of "see! I do talk about things other than decoupage and doilys!!")

Ahhhh, doilys...

Green and Fay

2009-10-13T09:09:00.006+01:00

Another day, another swanky interiors store opening in Islington. As I made my way back from The Best Second Hand Shop Ever In The World, also known to the public as Past Caring on the Essex Road (if you're ever remotely near the vicinity check it out, and bring some readies) I took myself in to new kid on the block, Green and Fay, for a little peek...

And was pleasantly surprised! Green and Fay manages to combine the usual design classics with showcase pieces from new, up-and-coming design talent (they were partners this year's London Design Festival - image above of FKY shelving by For Use). They even stock eco shoes. Best of all is their collection of mid-century furniture, much of which is upholstered with fabric from the amazing St Jude's, who collaborate with a range of extremely talented British artists and print designers and screen-print their fine results from their base in Norfolk (such as this Ernest race chair, below).

So all in all, a cottage-industry-supporting, designey-vintage-fest, hurrah! If you love the look but are looking for more of a price-of-a-sandwich type investment, the good news is you can also buy notepads featuring key prints (including that of my print crush Angie Lewin - see her seedheads design below) - or if your hacking's up to it, go to the website direct and order some fabric to create your own mid-century upholstering at home. Do send in the results!

Sneak Peek at Taiwan

2009-10-04T16:40:00.003+01:00

Errrr, apologies for my minor absence after the lofty claims from my last post... I've been on a two week holiday to the fascinating and extremely beautiful Taiwan, and crammed about a month's work of freelance work into the two weeks before I left in order to pay for it all! But I'm back now, culturally enriched and with ears still popping from the flight. I have about 1million photos to go through plus many other exciting things I'd like to blog about, but for now, here's three little hacks from the far east...

1. Love the contrast of this rustic driftwood fencing painted in delicious fuchsia pink

2. Pretty much every shop, restaurant and business we passed was festooned with Chinese lanterns - this enterprising display, consisting of a string of upcycled Chinese straw hats, made me chuckle. Note the use of eco bulb too for bonus greenie points

3. No idea what any of it means, but these old wooden boards do look rather beautiful with a lick of blackboard paint and vibrant chalk characters and illustrations, wouldn't you agree?

Adding Colour With...

2009-08-22T08:28:00.005+01:00

Welcome, dear readers, to Craft Hacker Plus - OK, it may all look exactly the same to you, but I'm now "comin' at ya" from my brand-new swanky mac and hopefully (once O2 bother to actually connect my line), my new iPhone too! Meaning I should be able to post much more now that I'm not having to rely on archaicly slow equipment. Bear with me for the next couple of weeks whilst I figure out how to actually use the thing, though - the old one was sooo old it was little more than a glorified typewriter, so I now feel like I'm at the helm of the Starship Enterprise or something. So, let's get back to some craft, shall we?

I thought the timing quite apt to post a few more pics from my recent shoot with photographer Max Attenborough, after receiving a tip-off from Mise at Pretty Far West about a post on the fabulous Desire to Inspire blog featuring some of his work, including some styling from little ol' me! Hugely exciting to be out there in inter-web-land so thought I'd surf off the coattails of his success and post some more of our work for any straying DTI readers (welcome, if this is you!)

Well here goes - this is shoot one - think I'll feature shoot two in a coupla days time to tease it out a bit, a la the reality tv show presenter's dramatic pause before finally revealing the winner/loser/victim's name. This shoot is entitled Adding Colour With... , the premise being the colour in each shot only comes from one source. Here goes!

1. Adding Colour With... Wallpaper

A great way to use up old wallpaper scraps and a good (and somewhat less labour-intensive!) alternative to an entire patchwork wall. Hunt down an old room divider or get crafty and concertina fasten three sheets of wood together with some piano hinges. The vase is also covered in wallpaper, simply taped round an old vase and cut flush at the bottom whilst tucked in round the top - surprisingly resilient, though watch out for water splashes!

2. Adding Colour With... Fabric

As featured on Queens of Vintage and referenced further down this blog. Think outside the throw when it comes to fabric - decoupage is a fantastic way to completely transform any old furniture and is also a great way to use up small offcuts of fabric, plus you don't need any specialist skills to do it - a pot of PVA glue and a bit of patience are your weapons of choice here.

3. Adding Colour With... Paint

Turn a dowdy old darkwood table into a neon popping colour riot - more on this little project to appear in a how-to feature soon so stay tuned...

4. Adding Colour With... Flowers

Shun formal flower arrangements and huge bouquets in favour of lots of little blooms in an array of vessels. This shot was inspired by an earlier test shoot I did featuring different ways to display flowers in non-vases - think vintage bottles, shot glasses, milk jugs, teacups...

Hope you like. Keep posted for shoot two - a riot of retro inspired by Abigail's Party - see you there!

RIP Ailing Technology...

2009-08-09T22:39:00.003+01:00

Just a little note dear readers to say I'm still here but after a series of technical malfunctions, both my desktop mac and the boyf's iBook have independently died all in the same week. We also had a powercut one night which didn't help. Plus builders are currently tearing the house to shreds (that's not actually anything to do with lack of bloggage, just trying to add to the portrait of woe I'm currently painting). Anyhoo, am currently in exile at the folks place, using t'internet on their doddery old PC to rinse my credit card and get some new kit ordered ASAP. Which is actually hugely exciting as I'll be able to make the blog bigger and better once I've got myself a super-fast 'pooter, fancy new cam and iPhone. Except I'll probably have to take on so much extra work to pay for it all that I probably won't have time to use any of it. Errrr.....

See y'all once I'm back in the 21st century!

From Orange Pine to Simply Divine

2009-07-14T18:45:00.004+01:00

Forgive the cheesy post title (I just couldn't resist...) but just to draw your attention to my latest article over at Queens of Vintage, where I teach you how to turn this...

...into this!

Unless you're a fan of glossy WAG-toned furniture I hope you'll agree that the update is somewhat easier on the eye. This decoupage-fest took about three hours to make in total, plus about three hours painting further PVA coats to make the whole thing durable, done intermittently over several episodes of Hollyoaks. The great thing about decoupage is you don't necessarily need a lot of fabric, and can easily cover a piece using leftover bits of silk scarf, shirt sleeves and old pillowcases as well as more conventional 'off the roll' stuff.

Shout out to Max Attenborough for his beautiful photography on the 'after' shots (and not for my fuzzy 'before') - pics taken from a recent test shoot which I'll be sure to post here uber soon for your viewing pleasure. In the meantime, for the full how-to, please take a look here!

Lordship Park Location House

2009-07-01T17:48:00.005+01:00

And into July we spring! I've been uber busy of late working on an all-consuming shoot but thought I'd squeeze in a quick post before round two kicks off tomorrow. As most of my shoots tend to happen in location houses rather than studios, it gives me the perfect opportunity to snoop at some seriously drool-worthy properties (before then coming home to the reality of my rented share house with soiled carpets and chipped 80's white formica worktop, prompting a whining sesh with the boyf on when exactly we'll be buying that million-pound London townhouse...)

I was lucky enough to be at one of my favourite houses over the last few days, over at Lordship Park in North London. Whilst the house is undeniably gigantic and amazing, its clever owners have employed a few craft-hack-friendly design tricks to keep the space unique, that could be applied to more modest abodes. I shall share:

How much would you have lurved this swing seat when you were little?! OK, I'm fooling no one - if this was in my house even now you'd have to prize me off the thing. I'd be curled up on there with my interiors books grinning like a loon for 23 hours a day. Though if you avert your eye skywards, you'll notice the extremely pretty ornate banister - or, to be technical - an old bedhead-cunningly-turned-banister, customised to fit the space by lopping a bit off one side and using it to fill the other. Quite simply genius.

These doors are the sort of thing you glimpse at the back of a dusty old antiques warehouse and marvel at what a grand space they'd fill. Whilst there's no denying these are some pretty big beasts, however, they've been cleverly utilised to replace some standard sized doors in a standard sized frame (note how the doors are considerably higher than the doorway is). By mounting them outside the doorway, as opposed to inside the doorframe as standard, the fact they are outsized simply does not matter.

Alright, so that last one is pretty 'out there'. But hands up who's got boring, flatwood, featureless doors? Well then this one's for you. By covering both the door and surrounding walls with this glorious thick embossed wallpaper and topping it off with a pretty handle, these doors manage to become both invisible and a grand feature all at the same time. There's an almost magical quality to them, like you've discovered the gateway into Narnia or some other such silliness.

Finally on this whistlestop tour, is this retro-tastic wall covered in beaten copper panels, as featured in a bedroom so fabulously cool even a 70's James Bond would feel somewhat inferior to its awe-inspiring aesthetic. I believe this panelling is a leftover set-up from a previous shoot, though if you're handy with a hammer and happen to have some spare panelling lurking about, it's actually a pretty simple set-up, jigsaw style. Another take on this look could be to cover a wall with a mixture of different sized canvases, either painting them or covering them with mismatched wallpaper, allowing enough breathing space for chinks of wall to peek through.

Flower Power - Get Crafty with your Blooms

2009-06-12T20:05:00.009+01:00

One of the best perks of my dayjob is I often get to take home flowers after a shoot - sometimes just a couple of wilting lily's, other times enough to make Elton John feel a twinge of excessive embarrassment (OK, that's a slight exaggeration, but you get my drift). When such occasions arise it often forces me to think creatively in the vase department, to ensure I have enough vessels for all my blooms. I took the following mini-shoot after a particularly prolific day of leftovers and thought I'd share a few crafty ideas on floral display. Personally, I like breaking up bouquets and having lots of little casual arrangements throughout the house to spread the floral joy around, which is also a good way of making a little go a long way. Hope you enjoy!

Like a pristine white, fluffy cloud in a perfect sky, little beats the hydrangea for me in terms of floral perfection. These two white mopheads sit resplendent in a miniature galvanised bucket I painted with a lick of gloss white.

If you've only got one or two statement stems, make a feature of them by juxtaposing them in a short vase for maximum impact. Think about your backgrounds when working out what should go where - pairing your petal colour with wall shade can look rather sophisticated, or go for a colour clash for a vibrant statement.

Go retro by teaming 1970's favourite, the yellow chrysanthemum, in a bottle green chalice from the same decade. This wide and stumpy vessel doesn't require many short-stemmed flowers to create a cup that runneth over. (sorry.)

In-keeping with the retro theme, this pretty dessert goblet makes an attractive holder for this spray of mini chrysanthemum green heads, and would make a great table decoration when teamed with a few more, or in singluar form, is a great way to add a cheery splash of colour to a windowsill.
The only actual vase to feature in this post, this mini vintage number looks super-cute with some oversized blooms tumbling out of the top. Couldn't resist styling in my new Favourite Thing Ever - this little vintage storage pot owl, who sits beside my computer and actually stores my USB pens, along with providing me with great joy every time I look at him.

These hurricane lanterns, designed to hold church candles, also make great flower receptacles due to their bulbous base yet narrower necks, allowing the flowers to sit tight and fully fill the hole.
A bit of country vintage chic - nothing beats a pretty enamel jug to create that just-picked-from-the-fields-outside-after-milking-daisie vibe. OK, so I live in central London, but you get my drift.

Do you have any clever ways of displaying flowers you'd like to share with the Craft Hacking community?

Frock Me at Home

2009-06-09T12:47:00.005+01:00

A friend of mine encouraged me to visit the Frock Me at Home vintage-fest at the resplendent Chelsea Old Town Hall this Sunday (not that I needed much persuasion, but hey hoe). This is the second occasion the usually fashion-exclusive Frock Me shebang has turned its attention to us homeware lovers, and there were goodies galore. It has to be said, I was slightly disappointed with the amount of homewares on offer as there was still a huge amount of fashion for sale (at least 50%), and the bulk of the homewares were textiles, with probably only about 15-20% 'hard' homewares. Luckily, the textiles were so eye-wateringly glorious that I was kept enthralled for several hours, and even dusted the cobwebs off the ol' wallet and parted with some Serious Cash (£35 for a single item - not a lot to some, but for a car booting/charity shopper rarely crossing over the five pound barrier, this was my equivalent of hitting Louis Vuitton with an AMEX).

There weren't any real bargains to be found, but prices on the whole were fair apart from a few slightly cheeky vendors asking over the odds for mass produced 70's bits. Several of the vendors seemed to source much of their textiles in France, including some gorgeous patchwork throws from the 30's and 50's, plus an abundance of crochet so rich with detail it's a wonder the makers lived long enough to finish it. And Alan Bradbury's stall, occupying the whole stage at the back, featured a huge amount of vintage trimmings, rik-rack and threads, which always make great craft cupboard staples.

I think the trick to avoid being overwhelmed by such an abundance of treasure (I spent much of the first half hour simply standing still, wide-eyed and gasping like an oxygen-starved fish might behave) is to try and think of how you might use or repurpose whatever it is that's caught your eye. Could those too-short curtains be used instead as a trim on a longer pair? That gorgeous crochet tablecloth used as a decorative wall hanging, or curtain pelmet, allowing the daylight to emphasise its details and trim?

In the end, I picked up the following and plan to use it thus:

A tea towel from 1980, complete with calendar from said year. I love these bold colours and simple, curved illustrations, and as this is the birthyear for both me and the boyf I think it would have simply been rude not to part with the £2 it cost me. I plan to frame it and put it on the kitchen wall of our Future Home (no wall space at the current houseshare abode, so in the meantime this will most likely be confined to the garage full of stuff at my parent's house also awaiting the same fate).

A silk scarf and oversized hankie: The colours on the former were too outstanding to not snaffle this up, and I love the delicacy of the sheer fabric of the latter. I'm thinking... cushion covers?

An old unfinished French tapestry: the unfinished section really sold this for me - I'm a sucker for being able to literally see the handiwork and 'real-ness' of things, and the story it tells. Who was embroidering it, and why did they stop? Again, perhaps a cushion cover, backed with some vibrant red or yellow fabric to pick out the detail?

And finally, my £35 piece da resistance: my hand embroidered, floral linen folksy tablecloth, currently being repurposed as my bed throw. I heart it so much, I've taken to staring at it in awe when I first wake up in the morning. Again, once I'm in the Future Home maybe I'll be able to return it to its intended tablecloth function or even use it to cover a sofa or chair, but I couldn't keep it squirreled away until then.

Crafty updates to follow on how I end up re-using my other finds!

Clothkits for the Noughties

2009-05-31T20:50:00.004+01:00

Anyone who was anyone in the 70's and 80's, prepare for a flashback: Clothkits has been relaunched and given a snazzy new image perfect for 2009 (this isn't literally 'new' news as the launch was several months back now, but I keen forgetting to post about it. Anyhoo...) As a child of the 80's, much of my favourite clobber was made by my Mother courtesy of these kitmaker extraordinaires, most memorably a Hawaiian outfit consisting of jungle print skirt, boob tube and matching headband. Despite being about six at the time and therefore still very much flat-chested, the boobtube was my favourite part of the whole ensemble and I just KNEW I was literally the coolest kid on earth when playing out front in that get-up.

Clothkits 2:0 is much the same as old: purchase your kit in your chosen fabric, cut out the pattern pieces and sew it up yourself at home. Not so nifty with pattern cutting or just keen to save a bit of sewing time? These kits are a most timely relaunch for all those time-poor, craft-hungry Primark converts out there keen to start running up their own but not sure where to start.

Kits include clothing for children and adults, as well as a range of accessories and even cushion covers, including this fab one pictured, a collaboration with prolific line drawing artists People Will Always Need Plates.

Not to be left out, papercut whizz Rob Ryan also gets in on the act with this 'Hold Me' skirt, at £45. Such collaborations have also helped put the once ailing brand back on the craft map. Don't leave us again, Clothkits, and please start reissuing some of your vintage designs as of immediately, please. Plus a grown-up version of that jungle number if you have it...

All picture credits to www.clothkits.co.uk

Needlepoint in the News!

2009-05-28T10:33:00.005+01:00

I happened to catch the teatime bulletin of Five News last night (if you're sick and tired of the doom and gloom of 'proper' bulletins, do tune in: it's kind of like real news spliced with E! Daily Ten). But I digress. Today's fluffy end story was not the latest on Jordan/Petergate, it was, in fact, a little piece on the 'hip new trend' of needlepoint!

First up, a look at the work of tapestry kit maker and designer of these Kiss and Hug cushions that I heart deeply, Emily Peacock. After a peek at her work, a short talking head piece ensued about the general greatness, easiness and 2009 relevance of needlepoint.

Followed swiftly by a trip to a Cupcakes and Cross Stitch workshop, courtesy of the fantastic Urban Cross Stitch, where Five's roving reporter got down to some embroidery hoop action with London's hip kids.

With so much craft news in the press these days, it sure is an exciting time for us crafty folk. But if needlepoint is the new knitting, what's going to be the new needlepoint? Potato printing and hobby-smock-making, a la my earlier post? What are your predictions?

(picture credits: courtesy of www.emilypeacock.com (first three pics) and www.urban-cross-stitch.com (last two images)

Credit Crunch Canvas: eBoy Poster Hack

2009-05-20T20:32:00.006+01:00

Hack time. My boy housemate has for some time now coveted an eBoy poster for his walls (for those unfamiliar, think quirky, lo-fi pixel artwork. Cityscape posters of said artwork are on sale in Magma from around the £15 mark (plus framing costs) - but they also sell an identical version printed onto sheets of giftwrap, for a fraction of the cost. Never one to turn down a bargain (I train them well over at my gaff), Boy Housemate duly purchased two sheets, two artist's canvases from art-supply-bargain-haven Cass Arts, and we set about making our own credit crunch version of his beloved print.

After working out which parts of the print we wanted visible on each canvas, we simply cut away the excess paper, pressed folds around the canvas edges to keep it looking slick, then used a little trusty sellotape around all the edges on the canvas back, allowing the print to smartly wrap round the canvas sides.

Et voila!

Mounting them side by side, smug admiration of our thriftyness, followed by a celebratory coffee, ensued. We even used the paper offcuts to customise a chest of drawers, but let's save that excitement for another post.

Vintage Craft Books

2009-05-11T22:23:00.007+01:00

A recent foray into a second hand bookshop introduced me to these two beaut's which, I think you'll agree, are far too good to keep all to myself. What could beat crafting, other than - vintage crafting, right from the 1970's original horse's mouth?

First, macrame: my Mother was somewhat prolific in this act of tool-less weaving back in the day, knocking out many a hanging plant pot and decorative wall hanging. I have hazy memories of having a go myself as a child, but am hoping to turn hazy memories into modern-day reality now I have this little number in my arsenal. Fingers at the ready!

Happily I bounded to the till ready to make my purchase, until this little number caught my eye.

At only 40p it felt rude to say no - particularly when confronted with a world of craft possibilities, including: A painted paper mache lampshade (check out the food styling - were bread rolls a special and luxury food item back in the day to deserve such product placement?!)

...a bit of good old honest potato printing on cushion covers (surely time for a revival in the potato print department - can you think of any good examples of print or motif?)

...a double whammy of rope covered plant pots and decoupage

...plus - just for fun - a sleepsuit, playmat and knitted toy modelled by a baby with the best afro IN THE WORLD.

But wait, I hear you cry - what should one wear to protect one's clothing when crafting such projects? Well, I'm glad you ask: what else, other than....

Yes, the Hobby Smock.

These books bring joy to my life every time I flick through them, and I sincerely hope to be posting some of my retro crafts on here very soon. God Bless the crafty 70's.

Repurposing Article on Queens of Vintage, and some not-so-sad Sacks

2009-05-03T17:06:00.007+01:00

Happy Bank Holiday one and all!

First things first - I have a new article published over at Queens of Vintage! This time, I focus on five ways to reuse vintage in the home - from turning teacups into plant pots and chandelier crystals into tablecloth weights, to repurposing old biscuit tins for storage and framing vintage fabric patterns to create bespoke artwork.

Above: selected pictures from the article

Also, a musing: I've long been a fan of coffee bean hessian sacks for their texture, prints and olde-worldy feel. But what to do with one? Well, a few options have been catching my eye recently. Firstly, they make a perfect oversized cushion cover (which I saw at a recent craft fair but helpfully now can't find details for) - though my Google search subsequently threw up this alternative on Etsy, by ErnstandThistle (picture credit to them):

A visit to an independent coffee shop in Bristol introduced me to this rather charming artwork - this would be so simple to recreate by stretching some sackage over a wooden frame or box canvas.

And finally, a quick visit into eco clothing empire Howies unearthed my third find: Used to reupholster a chair, this manages to look both slick and rustic in one hit.

Chess Table

2009-04-23T14:24:00.004+01:00

As I'm on here already, I may as well do a double posting as this keeps slipping from my mind: Passing by Redchurch Street in East London (home of the outstanding interiors store Caravan) on the weekend, I passed this somewhat elusive, nameless and closed vintage furniture shop, featuring this in the window ('scuse dodgy phone cam pic):

It's quite literally a chess table, and whilst I have no idea how to play chess and no intention of learning, I still desperately want it. There's something about oversized versions of everyday items that I love, and this really appeals for that very reason and also as I think it'd be quite an easy hack. Well, the tabletop would anyway, with a few black and white tiles (or cream and brown, or indeed any other colour combo you dare to dream up) grouted onto an existing square table. As for the chess pieces, short of whittling down some trees, perhaps these could be substituted with appropriate vintage objet - a perfect excuse to further trawl the charity shops for numerous small, pointless pretty things. Hurrah!

Ikea Hacker blog inspires Independent on Sunday

2009-04-23T13:13:00.005+01:00

Fantastic to see crafty topics hitting the weekend supplements once more (yes, I know it's Thursday now - I'm something of a slow reader). In particular, the wonderful Ikea Hacker blog has received an amazing piece of coverage in The Independent on Sunday (Pimp My Ikea: How to 'Bling Up' your Billy Bookcase, 19th April 2009), where several designers (including Michelle Mason, whose doily-esque felt rugs I deeply covet) have been invited to pimp out several Ikea basics, inspired by said blog.

The Ikea Hacker blog is up there with my all-time favourites, and in part inspired me to create my little blog over here too (both in spirit and in partial-name-nickery, but I hope they'll see it as the compliment it's intended as). If you've not visited the site before then get over there now. The premise is simple - members of the general public send in their submissions of Ikea items they've customised. Sometimes, the results are a simple repaint of a table, others are far more heavily pimped - from splicing several items together to create something new and doing 'clever' things involving wiring and lighting, to entire rooms bursting with repurposed, re-envisioned Ikea-ness (check out their top 20 hacks of 2008 to give you a good overview). As the yellow and blue giant's produce is literally everywhere (can you think of a single person who doesn't own at least one bit of Ikea?) the world can surely use a guiding hand in individualising their generic pieces.

The article features Michelle Mason, who customised a Henriksdal dining chair with felt silhouette's of classic British design items, as well as...

...Jamie, Astrid and Phil from Jam Design, who created an individual 'picture frame' tabletop for the Expedit glass-top coffee table (see Rockett St George for another take on this - they supply this fantastic fake lace tape which could be used instead of the frame tape shown here)...

...plus a hacked-up Billy bookcase, courtesy of Black and Blum - love the way they've repurposed to create a computer desk with fold-down shelf, instead of just a purely decorative hack. I myself am about to inherit an old Ikea wardrobe which will require serious hacking if it's going to store all my clothes and paraphernalia whilst also (hopefully) look stylish - am feeling inspired by all this designer camaraderie to get cracking once it arrives!

All pictures courtesy of www.independent.co.uk

How-to: Decoupage Wallpaper Canvas Hack

2009-04-08T21:50:00.007+01:00

High time for a hack I feel: this time, a simple affair featuring a rather crumpled offcut of some Laura Ashley wallpaper, some snazzy blue paint and a canvas with some previously rather shite artwork emblazoned on it.

Said canvas had been hanging on my bathroom wall since a previous housemate created it prior to my tenancy, and for some time I've been meaning to do something more exciting with it. Cue a bin rummage at the end of a recent magazine shoot where I salvaged this piece of vintage-tastic Memento wallpaper. Far too pretty to use as just wrapping paper, yet too crumpled to use in its entirety, I decided to liberate the print from its plain cream background. Several hours of cutting and scalpel-ing later, my pattern was freed. I decided to go for a contrasting colour on my canvas so painted over the old artwork in this gorgeous cobalt blue, which really picks out the blue/grey tones of my bathroom wall. I then simply arranged my rose on the canvas and stuck it down with some UHU adhesive, along with a few butterflies also on the original wallpaper. Et Voila!

Simple yet effective I feel. I had intended to go over the slightly dodgy sticky-up corners with more glue but actually liked the extra texture they gave to the piece (plus had already tidied everything away) so decided to keep them as a deliberate feature.

Stay tuned for more exciting wallpaper-offcut hacks - with the bank holiday almost upon us, a little DIY action seems as inevitable as stuffing my face with cream eggs to the point of feeling sick.

I'm a Queen (of Vintage (on the new Queens of Vintage website))!

2009-03-27T20:19:00.005Z

Have been a little absent of late (did you miss me?) as I've been kept very busy with the dayjob (style assisting on a catalogue shoot this time) plus working on....

Make Do and Mend a Vintage Scarf, by Joanna Thornhill, at www.queensofvintage.com

This! This dramatic build-up is due to the fact that not only have I crafted this cushion cover from a vintage scarf with my own fair hands, but it also forms my editorial debut on the fabulous Queens of Vintage website, on which I am now going to be a contributing writer on all things interior and make-do-and-mend related. Tres excitement!

Click here to see my first post, detailing how I turned this 25p charity shop headscarf into a gloriously kitsch cushion cover, complete with decorative Oxford trim. I would re-post it here, but apparently Google gets cross if you do that - luckily the website is full of lots of other exciting posts too so it's well worth the visit. Enjoy!

Jamie Ward Upcycled Fly-tip Furniture

2009-03-09T20:37:00.004Z

Nothing like a bit of fly-tipped furniture hacking to get a girl a bit hot under the collar on a chilly Winter's eve (shouldn't it be spring by now?!) Thanks to today's Daily Candy email alert, I am now fully versed and oh-so-slightly jealous of the creative furniture genius that is Jamie Ward. Not even out of uni yet, this pioneering Manchester-based chap forages for discarded furniture and furniture bits to upcycle into brand-new character-filled pieces. Not content with merely sprucing up an existing find with a bit of paint, he actually splices: a chair seat teamed with stool legs, chair backs combined to form a seat pad and so on. His ideas combine skilled craftsmanship with simpler hacker formats such as decoupage and upholstery. Here's my favourite five:

1. Upcycled window pane table - I love any project that involved recycling original window panes, and personally think anyone who rips out original wooden frames to replace them with UPVC should be locked up for crimes to humanity. A great re-use of a vintage classic.
2. Decoupage 'This Is Manchester' stool - not sure the origins of this piece, though it looks like newspaper photocopies decoupaged over a re-hacked stool, finished in a high gloss varnish. Keeping the colour palette monochrome enhances the classy finish.
3. Red-top stool - great juxtaposition of wooden vintage legs with what looks like a slick formica top - would be a practical choice for a kitchen table hack, too.
4. Stripy Collection - fantastic way to use up leftover paint. A good have-a-go hack - choose a selection of colours to match your interior scheme, and keep the lines handpaintedly jaunty.
5. Wooden chair with customised back: by removing the edge back spindles, a standard design somehow looks somewhere between cutting edge and Art Deco.

Upcycled original pieces diverted from landfill to become functional eye candy - Jamie, Craft Hacker salutes you.

Images and information all courtesy of www.jamiewardfurniture.tk

Tin Can Pendant Light

2009-03-03T22:26:00.005Z

I keep getting told off by the boyf for my inability to throw away empty jars/tins/milk bottles and other items usually befitting the recycling bag "in case they come in useful for something". It seems, however, I'm not the only one, judging by my recent scouring of the design blogs. Dutch blogger Danielle de Lange over at Style-Files highlighted a very craft hack-ey use of tin cans as light fittings (see picture below). Taken originally from (also Dutch) magazine website 101 Woonideeen, the feature includes make-your-own instructions in, yes, you've guessed it, Dutch. Helpfully, Danielle notes the following in English: "To make the lights you need clean empty tins with a printed label (so no paper label) and a fitting with cable and a plug. Create (with a drill) an opening for the fitting through the top of the tin and pull the fitting through this opening. Then you only need to put a bulb into the fitting and your lamp is ready to shine!"

These would look adorable strung several in a row as low pendants over a kitchen breakfast bar (and would also be very appropriate for the setting) as well as gathered like this. I'd be tempted to have a go at spraypainting tin cans in some cheery pastels and even punching some decorative holes in them for an alternative to a printed can.

Thanks to www.style-files.com for flagging this up!

The AA

2009-03-01T20:22:00.006Z

A little birdy told me that the website for Atelier Abigail Ahern, interior stylist-turned designer, shopkeeper, soon-to-be author and all-round interiors guru, has just been relaunched - so naturally it'd be rude not to take a peek. Abigail's bijou store resides in Islington's Upper Street and, thanks to the dramatically dark colour scheme that fully wraps around its petite proportions, provides a welcome contrast to the bright white showrooms of norm. Showcasing furniture, art, textiles and accessories all curated with a gallery-level eye, this deeply, darkly whimsical space is oh-so-stylishly full of the macabre and the unexpected. Take a look for yourself to get the full picture, or for my Craft Hacker-inspired favourite bits, read on (sadly I can't grab any images off the site so you'll have to link over for these too, but anyhoo...:)

Figurine Collection: These little beauties, cast out of concrete, manage to combine dainty and dangerous in one fell swoop. Love the way a simple colour change gives these usually gilt-laden kitsch ladies a completely different vibe. How about conjuring up your own version by giving a charity-shop figurine a new lease of life courtesy of a can of black spraypaint?

Bus Scroll Wingback Chair: You may have seen vintage wonderland Pedlar's re-use of old bus signs turned into light boxes, art prints and even deckchairs (see below) - now witness the same technique applied to the classic wingback. The sort of hack that requires degree-level upholstery skills so not for the faint-hearted, but inspirational nonetheless.

(picture from www.pedlars.com)

Rejste Side Table: Celebrating our British love of doily/tabletop action, this table cleverly nods to doily heritage in a 21st-Century, laser-cut metal type way. For more doily action, check out my earlier post on Ghost Furniture. I've recently become obsessed with the idea of setting some old doileys into a recessed tabletop with resin. Has anybody seen/tried this? Project being mentally added to the 'to-hack' list now...

Cruelty Free Rugs: Combining witty with pretty, these ingenious rugs by Mancunian designer Jon Male involve craft hacking traditional ruggage into a cowhide outline - subversive and cheeky. Do take a peek at Jon's own website for other inspired hacking, such as these 'A Soupcon of Light' lamps:

(pictures both taken from www.jonmale.com)

Bernard Pye Paintings: If Warhol had cast his eye back a further 200 years, we might now be able to go to Snappy Snaps and have our face recreated in print like this rather than the much-imitated Marilyn Monroe style pop art we all know and love. Yet another fab example of a familiar style we all know and love being reworked to look truly fresh and 'now'. Why not raid the history books yourself and go crazy in photoshop - or keep it old-skool and go to town with a photocopier and some florescent markers?

I for one am rather excited at the prospect of a whole entire book on such matters, and eagerly await the launch of A Girl's Guide to Decorating, out in May.

Headboard Hack

2009-02-18T13:27:00.011Z

I think it's high time I posted a how-to hack! In an attempt to avoid the temptation of the January sales, I decided to distract myself from sales temptations by implementing a headboard makeover (thus spending the best part of a week covered in paint and thread and therefore barely presentable in my own living room, let alone retail outlets). But I digress.

Before I began, I was left with this:

The previous tenant in my rented room was also a keen interiors-er and had constructed this rather snazzy creation out of some good ol' MDF and an assortment of supportive struts - it houses all my art and craft supplies in pull-out trolleys and even has a section for my boyfriend's clothing (I, of course, have two full wardrobes elsewhere in the room whilst the long-suffering chap has been relegated to a tucked-away rail up top). But the colour wasn't really doing it for me and I longed for a comfy back to rest up against. Plus I'd just inherited some fabulous curtains (a leftover make from a photoshoot) I subsequently customised with slick, chunky black ribbon along the vertical edges, which I was keen to refer to visually elsewhere in the room to help tie the look together.

So I did this:

It's not quite pink enough to upset the boyf but is such a glorious shade it's all I can do to keep from licking it to see if it tastes as good as it looks (I used Designer's Guild Mulberry). By painting the routed lines black, rather than keeping them the same colour, the whole structure really seems to come to life and all its handcrafted joints are lovingly highlighted, plus it echoes the lines of said fab curtains.

For those reading who don't happen to be renting a room from a former interior designer who kindly left handmade MDF structures upon his departure, however, here's a couple of ideas that could be adapted to work in any space:

1. Feature wallpaper stripe.

A quick and easy way to get a shot of colour and pattern into any space. I used some leftovers of this flock-tastic wallpaper from Colefax and Fowler and simply stuck it straight onto the headboard unit using double-sided tape, taking care to pattern-match all five sections required to fill the line. Easy peasy. You could use this method to add a stripe in an alcove, or even stick some to a piece of wood to make bespoke artwork. Still not loving my inherited light fitting but until I'm struck with an ingenious idea for customising that too it'll stay as is.

2. Padded headboard

Another bargain hack (not that I ever do expensive ones, but even still) - through using fabric and upholstery nail strips already in my collection, my only expense was getting a piece of foam cut (which cost around £10 from Pentonville Rubber), which I measured to fill the width of my bedframe and end just shy of the inverted shelf on the headboard unit. I then attached some raspberry silk around the whole foam piece, holding it in place with pins poked through both the foam and fabric.

Then for my feature fabric - a vintage piece of sari fabric I used as a net curtain in a previous flat. After pinning this taut at the back I stitched it straight at the front to hold it in place, before adding my somewhat triumphant finishing touch - upholsterer's nail strip, usually used to trim solid furniture, which I salvaged from a bin (OK, it was a bin at a photoshoot as these were the leftovers from some "proper" upholstering - but a crafty find nonetheless). As luck would have it, by splicing all the leftover bits together I had just enough to cover both sides and it really pulled the whole look together. A simple bit of stitchwork was enough to hold this in place.

And as with the wallpaper, the whole thing is (miraculously, somehow) held in place with some trusty double-sided tape - again, this should also work sticking/leaning the foam directly to a wall, or onto a simple sheet of wood for extra support.

I now sleep far more sweetly basking in the glory of my hack - it also proves to be a much comfier vantage point from which to dream up the multitude of further hacks I have earmarked for the space. I'm getting twitchy fingers just thinking about it...

Repurposing Ideas, Repurposed

2009-01-30T22:41:00.005Z

Doing my usual internet trawling for design ideas and to avoid the washing-up, I happened upon this article from Real Simple, detailing 14 ideas to repurpose items for a dream-yet-bargainacious wedding. Flicking through, however, many of these ideas are far from nuptually exclusive, and would work for an array of events, dinner parties or just a bit of credit-crunch repurposing fun. Then it occurred to me that I was actually repurposing an article about repurposing and I got rather excited (and a tiny bit smug about the workings of my ingenious little brain). Anyway, do click on the link to peruse in full, or check out the Craft Hacker tidbits below:

1. Use pretty vintage teacups and soup tourines to hold flowers and food nibbles: filling teacups with sugared almonds is great for a wedding, but why not try candy-coloured foil-wrapped chocolates for afternoon tea, skittles or M&M's for a tweenager's party, or - if you're an ambassador and want to really spoil your guests - some Ferrero Rocher to round off your evening soiree in style.

2. Repurposed cake stands - scour charity shops and you can pick up an array of these vintage beauties. Use for holding fun finger foods, or candles - a great idea to stop them dripping onto your tabletop and to allow you to pack more into the same space through clever tiering. My inner Anthea Turner loves the tip also listed about adding a spritz of cooking oil spray onto the area first to allow for easy cleaning of wax drips.

3. Clothespegs as namecard holder - would look very sweet at a rustic summer's barbecue party, or turn up the vintage by substituting for Grandma's old dolly pegs. With either variety, spraypainting would be a quick and easy way to update if the natural wood finish happens to clash with your hordeuvres. For a more masculine affair, a good old bulldog clip would look great teamed with the right placecard, or even a chunky oversized paperclip, bent out of shape to hold the placecard upright.

Bedcrumbs and Tea Parties

2009-01-25T19:44:00.008Z

Perhaps not the most helpful of notes to self whilst trying to embark on a post-Christmas detox, but the cheery encouragement ‘eat cake in bed’, appliquéd onto a handmade silk dupion cushion, is perhaps one of the best excuses to indulge that I can think of. When it comes to cute Brit company Bedcrumb, though, and their sugar-sweet website boasting itself to be full of ‘self indulgent home accessories’, it would be almost rude not to partake. As well as anti-dietary slogans, their cushion cover range also includes rather delightful, spider-ey scrawled fashion illustrations with characters named Josie and Betsie amongst others (craft hacker kudos for mixing vintage brooches and fabrics in with each original piece). Also of note is the hand-picked mismatched crockery sets, available for singletons (tea for one) to full-on tea party proportions. I’d like to claim the drool patch developing around my chin area was caused purely by the lovelies on this site, though sadly I fear the images of ‘food porn’ (cupcakes) are somewhat responsible too…

Thanks to Decor8 for the tip-off!

If that's whet your appetite for more vintage crockery without the food-based distractions, however, then make your way over to Katie Potts Tea for Two. The aptly-named Potts scours the land to find the most delectable forgotten vintage British china from the 1920's to 1950's, pairing pieces together to make whole new teasets presented in beautiful, reusable hat boxes specially designed for the job. There, forgotten about the cupcakes now? Errrr, no, thought not.

Haunting Hacks from Ghost Furniture

2009-01-12T22:40:00.005Z

Happy new year! I trust you had a crafty Christmas? I've been catching up on lots of reading, doing a few craft hacks and generally idea generating, which I tend to be rather good at - it's just the remembering and collating of said ideas that is my downfall. However, rested and buoyed by the numerous press coverage on how craft is going to be THE big story of 2009, I start the blog anew as of....NOW!

I'll be posting a few hacks I've been working on very soon, with some step-by-step instructions, but for now feast your craft-starved eyes on the work of hugely talented duo Di Overton and Harvey Roll over at Ghost Furniture (tagline: "Bringing quality furniture back from the dead and making it hauntingly beautiful.") Whilst I love my 'day job' as an interior stylist, their existence does sound somewhat idyllic - scouring the land for overlooked vintage treasure ripe for their very innovative, often humorous brand of makeover, all created from the belly of their Northumberland workshop. Pieces range from the almost sculptural, such as the Dinner for One table, to more functional objects like the Flapper chair (so-called due to its fabric applique detail, taken from a piece of 1920's loungewear.)

One of my favourite elements of the company is the great detail they go into to describe where each piece originated and how it was created - a complete polar opposite of mass production. Casting my eyes over this sublime collection has certainly inspired me to get working on a coffee table makeover project I've been mulling over for a while now. How about you?

Country Living Christmas Fair 2008

2008-11-15T20:02:00.014Z

Firstly, apologies: if anyone other than me and Mr Craft Hacker is reading this, I have been exceedingly slack of late and this half-written post has been languishing in my 'edit' pile for some two months now, along with several other exhibition reviews which I hope to post shortly. For the purposes of not having to rewrite my introduction, let's pretend it's early November...

Purveyors of Cath Kidston knock-off vintage-a-rama needn't lose sleep about the credit crunch if the crowds at last week's Country Living Christmas Fair at the Business Design Centre, Islington, are anything to go by. The place was teaming with hoardes of housewives and reluctant husbands escaping the home counties for the day to pick up some festive faux-rustic farmhouse style, recreated in urban central London (a concept that never fails to seem somewhat macabre). Putting aside the numerous Cath-esque stalls and granny-knit cardigans, there were, however, several rather interesting companies on show. Along with some familiar faces, including Jan Constantine (one of the biggest needlepoint success stories, with her range of gorgeous union jack and 'love' cushions), new brands such as Lasso The Moon (see pic below) stood out for all the right reasons, with their beautifully presented selection of original, handcrafted products and eco credentials.

Unsurprisingly, vintage fabrics featured heavily in the work of many exhibitors. Acorn & Will showed a somewhat whimsical collection crafted from vintage fabrics and buttons used to make adorable hairslides and toiletry bags, whilst the highly innovative Refab touted rather funky little doorstops made from recycled fabric offcuts, which are sold 'flat packed' for the owner to fill with rice. Poppy Treffry pimped up her fabrics via the craft of applique, embellishing cutesy designs along a cupcake vibe onto tea cosies and the like, even using her fabric remnamts to make tiny pin badges.
Personalised goods seemed to be a big theme of the day with many companies championing letters and nameplaques as decorative home gifts, the most prolific of these being Jonny's Sister, whose Love Letters are available in an array of pretty paisley and gingham prints, and even in soap form. Dee Puddy added a level of practicality to the trend with these ceramic porcelain labels, which the OCD labeller in me is quite obsessed with (see picture). Stunning ceramics were also to be found at Luna, where gorgeous votives and lights featured a delicate yet streamlined punched letters design. Spell out the name of your beloved or, for the serious crafty romantic, there's always the specially designed 'marry me' votive set (altogether... ahhhhhhhh.)

Strong crafty touches abounded from Bay Design, namely their lovely range of lampshades customised with vintage tape measures and buttons as decorative trim, or hand-painted with sweet Cath Kidston (who else?) style spots. My personal favourite, however, is the ruched shade (see below), created entirely from the same trim laid flat throughout the body of the shade but gathered to create the bottom trim - fab idea for making the most of a ribbon or fabric trim if you don't have a standard trim to finish a job. Further craft big-ups were to be found at Buttonbag, whose fantastic sewing craft kits should be enough to lure mini-hackers away from Guitar Hero long enough to make their own toys and games. Delightfully old-skool, Craft Hacker loves this retro owl family kit, plus the Victorian classic theatre-in-a-box, repackaged for 21st century craftsters.

Illustration proved ever-popular and looked fresh against all the other vintage offerings. Favourites included work by Made in Hastings, a sweet collaborative hailing from, errr, Hastings, with resident illustrators, ceramicists and print designers producing a range of homewares, clothing and children's gifts with a handspun vibe. Jam Tart also featured retro-style line drawings of campervans and Parisian cafe scenes adorning tea towels, oven gloves and ceramics.

An eco shout-out goes in particular to Handcrafted Wood, with its stylish range of (funnily enough) handcrafted wood decorations and gifts, all created from reclaimed wood local to designer Carol Ridler. Also on an eco tip, Dream Acres combines the worlds of crafting and herbs with its pretty scent-filled sleep sacks and pet scent pouches, alongside decorative gifts such as these fabric flowers (see below) - a great idea for reusing old fabric scraps. Finally, cosy on down for winter with the rather lovely collection from John Arbon Textiles - featuring tea cosies and bedsocks handspun from British farmed alpaca wool spun at the regenerated 200 year old Coldharbour Mill in Devon, a smug snuggle is guaranteed.

Craft Hits the Headlines!

2008-11-04T21:53:00.006Z

As us craftsters already know, craft has been big news for years now - but what with the dreaded credit crunch hitting full swing, my favourite pasttime has been enjoying rather more media attention than usual of late. And for good reason: according to a Google press release out this week, searches for 'sewing classes' are 60% higher than usual as more and more people are attempting a little make-do-and-mend. In London Town, contemporary craft nights have been slowly growing in popularity for some time - from the long-standing Craft Night at the Notting Hill Arts Club to newer kids on the block such as The Make Lounge, whose roster of established craft professionals tutor in anything from making a retro apron to creating your own candles in vintage teacups. And the latest edition of the Sunday Times Style magazine even features a hand-hacked front cover print, to accompany its headline article The Joy of Thrift, which looks in-depth at the fab-sounding new book by writer India Knight, The Thrift Book: Live Well and Spend Less. Broken down into sections, Knight examines how we can all live fabulously for less in terms of eating, beauty and, of course, crafting, with particular big-ups to Craftster.org and Etsy.

Even the multi-nationals are getting in on the act, notably Sony with their latest venture, Little Big Planet. Far be it from me to even pretend to understand the world of computer games, in layman's terms the planet in question is made up of collage-y, crafty layers to create handcrafted worlds inhabited by the rather charming 'sackboy' (a kind of knitted, customisable doll). As part of their press launch over the past week, they have collaborated with the Shoreditch branch of the Women's Institute to create customised sackboy dolls based on female celebrities, and have even been putting on their own free Creative Arts and Crafts workshops at the Thomas Neal's centre in Covent Garden , open to anyone wishing to go down and get involved in some crafting action. These stills below, taken from the game itself, are (almost) enticing enough to encourage me to wrangle the PS3 control out of Mr Craft Hacker's hands and have a go myself.

Cold War Modern at the V&A Museum

2008-10-24T19:14:00.006+01:00

With several bags stuffed full of leaflets and brochures to look through still from the London Design Festival, I've decided to leave them aside for a rainy day and carry on blogging about other design topics - but return to them (sooner or later) I shall! Anyway...

My thoughts on the Cold War Modern exhibition at the V&A Museum: I must confess to having numerous gaping holes in my general history knowledge, the Cold War being one of them. After a slightly muddling start to this uber-exhibition, however, I found many of these gaps slotting into place as a deeper understanding of the era, and how this shaped interior and product design, fell into place. To surmise, without getting too history-lesson about it all, the highly competitive spirit between the East and West pushed designers to be more innovative, forward-thinking and resourceful than arguably at any other time during the 20th Century. Designers such as Alex and Peter Smithson, who created the House of the Future exhibition at the Ideal Home Exhibition in 1956, had many crafty, extreme design ideas even by today’s standard (see pic below for one of their room designs).
The concept of a table that retracts electronically into the floor, whilst somewhat snigger-some an idea, is fundamentally a rather clever concept if adapted to a somewhat lower-tech version – what better idea for our 21st century cramped living conditions than a dining table that we can easily convert into a coffee table or even flatten down completely, to suit our immediate requirements?

As is often the case with design launched ahead of its time, many of the more avant-garde ideas never made it past the prototype stage, though many also went on to become enduring design classics, such as Eames’ plastic armchair, revered at the time for its use of polypropylene Of course, political issues came into play – I won’t even attempt to try and explain any of that, though perhaps the artwork of American Interior No.7 by Erro is a rather lovely, decorative way of highlighting the differences and conflicts between both parties.

The exhibition also introduced me to the work of Jiri Kolar, Czech’s master collage artist and one of the founders of froissage (a form of collage using the lines of crumpled up paper to form drawings). As a massive fan of collage and decoupage, I particularly enjoyed his pieces reworking old maps into futuristic landscapes, which simultaneously manage to look old and comforting yet somewhat disconnected and alien. Having come across a map decoupage table by Bombus on the fantastic craft website All Things Original some months ago, this has inspired me further on ways to craft hack old maps.

One of the elements of the exhibition I found most interesting, however, was the way designers gradually came to consider the impact of the work they produced on the environment – far from being the ‘topical’ issue the press would have us believe, eco concerns were catalogued as far back as the 1960’s. To surmise the blurb, designers became concerned with “how to design new technology for the benefit of humanity without producing inhuman effect…how to imagine modern lives outside conditions set by the marketplace”. If only all designers/town planners/manufacturers would heed this manifesto – in the meantime, there’s always craft hacking to fulfil the brief!

…Perhaps now, more than ever, we need design to respond to the current state of the planet in as big and loud a way as any of the innovations to emerge from the Cold War movement.

Cold War Modern runs from 25th September 2008 – 11th January 2009

100% Design 2008

2008-09-20T20:13:00.004+01:00

Just wanted to jot down my thoughts on today's visit to the 100% Design exhibition in Earl's Court, London, before I visit a whole load more exhibitions tomorrow and the whole thing becomes a whirling design blur in my head. Next week I plan to make some sort of sense of everything I've seen (and file my multitude of leaflets and brochures somewhere other than around my feet by my desk) but that'll have to wait for now.

Despite the event's corporate overtones (think stalls manned by salesmen wearing ill-fitting suits trying to flog light fittings), there was a surprising amount of original and innovative design on show from both bigger brands such as Umbra, and a plethora of new/graduate designers and small design companies. A highlight for me was the Lighten Up exhibit, in association with (Re)Design, showcasing a highly craft-hacker-ey array of lighting made from anything from bottle tops to vintage lace. Favourite pieces included lampshades made from lace remnants fused with plastic milk bottles, by Lizzie Lee (see pic below), and the Beryl and Friends range by design group WEmake, featuring vintage lights shrink-wrapped in plastic to create an ethereal, Miss Haversham-esque vibe.

General trends emerging from the show included an influx of sustainable design (the message seems to be getting stronger and stronger each year) and a hark back to handicrafts reinterpreted for the 21st Century - think delicate lace cut-outs reinterpreted with a stronger silhouette sheet in sheet metal and felt (see Michelle Mason's Stella rug, below). Texture within wall finishes was also big news, with stunning handmade (and often eco-friendly) wallpapers in abundance.

Let's get things started...

2008-09-14T20:04:00.006+01:00

I'm going to try and add a few images and links to get things on the road... have no idea how to do this so let's see if I can figure it out...

Anyhoo, I thought I'd begin with a few pictures from my own archives to illustrate some of my own Craft Hacks. As London Design Week 2008 is getting ready to open its doors to a myriad of new design talent, I'm planning to get some images and reviews up here on my favourites, so seems best to add my efforts in now before I'm completely upstaged...

1. Lampshade Jumper : A friend passed on this rather lovely crochet top to me, but it somehow always made me feel a bit 'bulky', and as such spent much of its life languishing at the back of the wardrobe. One evening I was gazing up with annoyance at my previous lampshade, which served no function other than to obscure most of the light in my already rather gloomy bedroom, when inspiration struck. By using the existing framework from my old lampshade, I hand-stitched the top (pre-cut to below the sleeve) to the upper frame, and allowed the original bottom trim of the jumper to form a rather sweet fringing around the bottom framework (also hand-stitched in place). The result is an original lightshade, me no longer leaving the house with blotchy blusher as I can actually see to apply make-up now, and I even have enough remnants left over for a follow-on project. Hurrah!

2. Oriental Fishtank : When Ben, our antipodean housemate, arrived home with a donated tropical aquarium, much excitement was felt around the homestead. However, excitement soon turned into abject distress when I realised that said aquarium was fully integrated into a black ash-effect melamine base unit. A quick rummage through my ever-increasing collection of unused wallpaper samples, however, turned up this little trump card - a stunning, subtle oriental design picked up in trusty B&Q. By simply taking off the door handles, cutting the paper to size and sticking it down with some double-sided tape, the 1980's throwback is transformed into a bijou little home for our aquatic friends.

3. Quaker Oats Tin : A little example of some upcycling - one of my favourite terms and something we should all aspire to do a little more of - in essence, taking something that is disposable and transforming it into something of greater use and value. This mini-project is a fairly simple interpretation of it, inspired by the wonderful tropical gardens seen on a visit to the Eden Project in Cornwall. I love the idea of repurposing items and using them outside of their original intended use. What else could you use as an indoor planter - an old teapot? A milk bottle? Old bean tins, spraypainted or decorated with some fabric offcuts?

Craft Hacker Manifesto

2008-08-21T15:58:00.001+01:00

Welcome, one and all, to Craft Hacker: a one-stop blogging shop for your daily(ish) crafty needs. Whether you’re a die-hard craft aficionado or a fair-weather window shopper, Craft Hacker aims to inspire, highlight, educate and entertain on all topics crafty and interiors-related with a big, healthy dollop of eco and vintage thrown in for good measure. So, to get things started, a little background info:

Q: Who is Craft Hacker?

A: It’s me: I’m Joanna Thornhill, and I’m a Craft Addict. Whether I’m repurposing an old table or knocking up a lampshade out of an old jumper, I get a massive kick out of crafting and looking at pretty, crafty things. Just as well really when it comes to my day job – I work freelance within interior styling, set dressing and props for broadcast, stills, events, domestic interiors and any other companies willing to pay me! My work means I often have to think on my feet, customising things to fit the brief at the last minute – from chopping up fabric to create a textured wall panel, to stealing a faux flower from an Easter bonnet to jazz up a cushion cover.

Q: What is Craft Hacker?

A: Craft Hacker is the best term I can think of to describe exactly what it is I love doing, and what I admire so much in the people and products I see around me. To me, the term means to create or repurpose something using skills and ideas taken from traditional crafts, but reworking them to suit the individual’s purpose. I strongly believe that the only thing you need to be a Craft Hacker is a little imagination – specialist skills, pots of money and regimented formulaic design have no place here. With the credit crunch weighing down over us and the volatile state of our planet, it has never been more relevant for us all to look around us at what we already have before hitting the shops: we owe it to both our pockets, and the planet, to adopt a more grassroots, make-do-and-mend mentality. At the same time, however, I also strongly believe this should not, and does not have to be, at the compromise of good design. I’m all for turning old toilet rolls into desk tidies, as long as it doesn’t actually look like I use bog-roll innards to hold my pens. There are ways and means of doing things, and Craft Hacker is here to help guide, both by example and through highlighting the work of other talented crafty folk out there in cyberspace.

Q: Why blog?

A: To inspire and educate other good craft, interiors and design-loving folk out there, and to ‘big up’ the British craft scene in an information superhighway which is currently very US-centric.