Steampunk Inspiration

Kelham Island Industrial Museum

A recent trip Sheffield saw a visit to Kelham Island Industrial Museum.

Showcasing The City's Tool making and steel production heritage.

What better place to get some inspiration for future Steampunk projects?

It just so happened that on the day of our visit there was a 1940's exhibition on as well.

Thanks for looking

John & Heather xx

500 Years In The Making

Little Morton Hall

Built in 1504 and still standing, I love this place.

So many hand made glass "quarries" in this place it literally sparkles in the sunlight.

It even has a moat.

This is one of the coolest National Trust properties that we have visited.

Its only a few miles from Congleton in Cheshire.

This place is so quirky and must have the most uneven wooden floor I have ever seen.

Its even more uneven than my new shed floor

If you get a chance you need to check this place out.

Thanks for looking

John & Heather

Biddulph Grange Gardens

Out And About Again

The National trust membership has been getting a bit of a bashing lately.

This weekend we have been to a couple of places 

Firstly we went to Biddulph Grange Gardens in Staffordshire

I suppose you could say it is a bit of a Victorian Folly.

It is in fact quite a cool place with a Chinese section and an Egyptian section.

For any body who is a supporter of the National Trust, the membership is such good value for money especially if you have kids.

There is so much heritage on our doorsteps but you need to make the effort to go and check it out

whether you are into to gardens, or the history of the country.

It is just cool to be out and about and a privilege to have all this heritage available to us.

Thanks for looking

John & Heather xx

Coughton court

Out And About

Last weekend was fantastic . 

Sunday saw us visit Coughton Court a great National trust property.

This place has an amazing garden and has ties to the Gunpowder plot.

If you've never been here, we would highly recommend it.

Check out their Ice cream and also the head in a bag ( reputedly that of Sir Walter Raleigh ).

Thanks for looking

John &Heather xx

Powertex Newbies

More Garden Plaques

 Its always nice to meet and teach new people.

A new venue for me The Fabric Cabin in Ripley.

 They teach lots of different workshops here all fabric based.

We may even book on a couple ourselves just to have a play at something new.

The Garden plaque is a fantastic introduction to Powertex.

If you would like to try your hand at fabric sculpting I am sure there will be an instructor near you.

Remember all Powertex workshops are taught by accredited Powertex Instructors 

The Instructor should have their accreditation certificates on display.

Thanks for looking

John & Heather xx

A Special Occassion

A Touch Of Class

It is always nice to give someone  a bottle of wine or champagne as a gift.

So why not make your gift stand out by giving it a personal touch. Its easy with one of these lovely bespoke bottle cuffs and matching glass

This Powertex workshop taught at Craftstation, Kirkby in Ashfield was a complete success with every project turning out fab.

Like most workshops we teach, its the little tips and techniques that are invaluable for when you go away and have ago yourself.

All these projects were made with bronze Powertex liquid hardener, Powertex easy varnish and Powercolor pigment powders.

Thanks for looking 

John & Heather x

Pixie Village Phase 2 Construction

More New Builds On Pixie Lane

Another fantastic Powertex Pixie house workshop at Sewilicious, Sutton in Ashfield.

Only one week on from the last Pixie house workshop here and we are back again.

Once again every finished house is unique.

It was great to see some people returning as well as some new faces,

What a great bunch of ladies and all booked to come back to the next workshop.

If you haven't checked out Sewilicious they are on Outram Street, Sutton in Ashfield.

I have so many if these I am thinking of building a small village in the garden.

No doubt somebody will do it before me now lol.

No crafting can be done without Tea and Coffee.

Thanks for looking

Donald & Daisy xxx

Six Of The Best

A Stick And  Head!!

This past bank holiday we had the pleasure of teaching 

a fantastic Powertex statue sculpting workshop

A lovely laid back workshop that produced 6 fantastic statues

5 of these were made using the Majhani head and one using the Carmen head.

It still always amazes that the "workshopees" although starting of with identical products 

turn out unique and stunning statues every time

Thanks for looking 

John & Heather xx

The Construction of Pixeville

More Pixie Houses!

Another fantastic Friday evening at Sewilicious with Jenny and her group.

The latest Powertex workshop offered by Heather and I

I taught a group of 8 while Heather taught a one to one

10 more pixie houses constructed on Friday evening 

A great workshop in a great venue.

They offer lots of workshops here why not check them out?

Thanks for looking

John & Heather xx

Shabby Victorian Iron

"Tarting It Up"

Something a little different for you today.

Heather recently picked up a couple of Victorian cast iron, Irons.

They were as you can imagine very old, very dirty and in need of a little TLC.

I think she has done a fab job by adding a bit of ( but not too much ) bling.

A base covering of Poppies decoupage paper and a few embellishments and hey presto what a transformation.

Thanks for looking

Bjorn & Bennie xx

Penny Pincher?

Skeleton In My Closet

I know we all have skeletons in our closets 

but I thought this one deserved to be brought out into the light.

Made out of cast iron this mechanical money box is cool.

As a kid we used to call these penny pinchers.

They came originally in lots and lots of designs.

Have you ever had one? or a variation.

Thanks for looking

Bill & Ted xx

Rusty Gold

Red Is The Colour

As a mixed media artist my passion is colour and texture, 

particularly texture created by time and the elements.

This is an heavy engineers set of drawers that would have been home to his tools.

The paint flake and oxidation are fab, unfortunately to save these drawers 

I am going to have to do a sympathetic restoration.

I think maybe a gentle wire brush followed by a good coat of wax??

It has had a lot of interest in the few days its been at the studio so it may go to a new home before 

I get to finish it.

Thanks for looking

Posh & Becks xx

Sieze The Drink!!

A Nice Little Drinks Table

Something a little different this week 

I found myself a nice little wrought iron Magazine rack/table a few weeks ago.

After sanding and touching up the enamel I decided to paint myself a nice poignant phrase.

A little distressing and its almost ready to serve its purpose,

A nice little drinks table.

Blackboard Paint and white chalk paint and a little sand.

All done just needs sealing and re-assembling.

Thanks for looking

Augustus & Drusilla xx

A Natural Progression

Metal Workshops In Preparation

It's quite hectic here at the moment but this week I have been designing workshops.

To follow on from Saturdays introduction to metal embossing taster.

This is for the people who enjoyed the taster and are wanting to take the step to the next level.

All this is geared towards the piece below which is quite advanced with lots of techniques included.

This should give most people the skills to attempt almost any project with the right tools.

you should have a very good understanding of the tools and techniques involved.

Thanks for looking

John & Heather xx

Dabblelicious

Good to be back

Hi all how you all doing

I know I have been quiet of late. We have had  a lot going on a the moment.

Anyhoo I am back after a great day last Saturday at the Craftstation Dabble Day.

For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, we had 50 ladies in 5 groups of 10.

Add 5 demonstrators each with their own individual project and off you go.

Each person gets to do 5 projects throughout the course of the day and to cap it off lunch and Cake is thrown in.

What more could you ask for?

As you can see my project was an introduction to repousse more commonly known as metal embossing.

A simple butterfly motif was the ideal introduction.

I think its safe to say everybody had a great time, I know we did.