A year of upcycling

In honour of #nationalupcyclingday (and due to the fact that I have unexpectedly been up since 5), I thought I would take a few moments to reflect on some of the upcycling projects I’ve been working on over the last year or so.

It was with some excitement that I found a while ago, that that thing what I had been doing for most of my life, that whole making use of things I already had, tarting things up, making do etc.. It actually had a name. And it was rather fashionable, don’t you know.

Yes, upcycling is terribly trendy at present, but let’s face it, it’s nothing new. I’ve stepped things up a notch over the last couple of years though, especially with all the fabulous blogs and Pinterest boards that are out there. Jen Gale of My Make Do and Mend Year fame, continues to rally the upcycling movement and provide all sorts of inspirational ideas, but most importantly connecting a whole community of people who want to live more sustainably.

Jurassic Chintz

So.. Back to the original train of thought.   This year has been about expanding my repertoire and I’ve been working hard to find ways of continually replenishing my inspiration reserves. The #100daysofproject has been surprisingly revealing, not just in giving me new ideas (see #100daysofsilhouette for details), but also in giving me an insight into my own personality. It’s shown me that I can often lack sustained focus and have a tendency to flit between projects.. Something that I’m working on! I have come up with lots of new silhouette ideas as a result though and still don’t think I can top one of the earliest in the process, my Jurassic Chintz hurricane lamp.

Pom-poms in jars

Other projects this year have included the slow growth of a pom-pom rug (unfinished), the revamping of our hearth with decoupage (unfinished), a decoupage wall mural (again, unfinished) and a decoupage standard lampshade (finished.. Hoorah!). What I have been proud of achieving though, is my first exhibition in an actual, proper gallery space, which spurred me on to produce all sorts of new upcycled glass ideas and in particular, to develop my silhouette glasses. As a result, my house (and shed) are now brimming with glass items, mostly vintage, some upcycled, some not, but all providing the inspiration that I’ll need for another year of creativity.

Displaying now at Worcester City Museum

Our upcycled glassware is back on display in the craft case at Worcester City Museum & Art Gallery, Foregate Street. There also happens to be a fantastic exhibition on in the main gallery upstairs, of the work of renowned artist Stanhope Forbes.  Well worth a visit!

There’s still time to reserve your ticket for the Pink Ribbon Foundation Ladies Night at The Pear Tree Inn, Smite.. Just give them a call!

Busy January

January has already been a busy month. The Crafted for You exhibition at Worcester City Museum and Art Gallery ended a few days ago and I had a lot of interest in my upcycled vintage glass, especially, it would seem, the glass punchcups.  I’ve started to offer glass decoupage tutorials and the punchcups are a nice way to start with the technique. They’re quite small and give a nice result,  so they’re ideal pieces for people to make up and take away with them.

Our ‘Crafty Creatures’ group has continued to meet once a month to chat, eat cake and maybe do a craft or two. As previously blogged, this is great for keeping the creative juices flowing and we’ve decided to offer each other masterclasses, utilising the various skills that we have collectively. A perfect practice run for my decoupage tutorial! Here are a few of the items that were completed over a nice glass of wine and good conversation.

In other news, remember that lampshade I set about upcycling a few months back? Well, I’m ashamed to say that it has taken all this time to complete!  It’s been quite a fiddly piece to complete, in particular, it’s tricky to keep the right level of tension in the paper in all directions. I think I would tackle it differently next time, but it’s been a useful learning piece and I hope will be enjoyed in its new home. Certainly, I’m pleased with the final result, and feel that it’s a vast improvement on the original!

From this..

...to this!

An affordable Christmas

This year we had possibly one of our most handmade Christmases in a long time. I’ve never been averse to making do, buying second hand, making our own and so on, but this year I was determined to start early and not feel the stress of last minute panic buying (or making for that matter). I am also working hard to get out of debt in the aftermath of redundancy and was therefore determined not to spend more than we had.

I’m pleased to say, this Christmas was a success! Almost all of the presents that we gave (with the exception of a few specific requests) were either handmade, upcycled, secondhand or vastly reduced in price. We even managed to incorporate handcrafting activities into the gifts themselves, for instance,  my sister is a fan of the Great British Sewing Bee, and I managed to find the book that accompanied the series, via The Book People (new, but much cheaper than the RRP). I look forward to seeing some of her creations during 2015!

Our teenager has been hankering after an X box 360 for a few years now,  and while there is a big part of me that is resistant to bringing games consoles into the house, I think as long as the gaming is balanced with other activities, it’s not entirely unhealthy. We relented but not to the tune of £300+ as this just isn’t doable (or sensible as far as I’m concerned). We were able to acquire a secondhand console with several games and all the gubbins for £60 – an absolute bargain and worth every penny for the happy face when he opened it on Christmas morning!

Happy boy!

Among my favourite gifts this year was this upcycled mirror, made for my Goddaughter and her little sister.

Upcycled mirror

  I was very grateful to the kindness of strangers in order to produce this item; en route to work one morning, I happened upon the mirror propped up against the front of a Victorian semi-detached house, with a note saying  ‘free to take’ attached.

As previously reported,  I also made lots of lovely soy container candles using some of the vintage glass pieces that are so beautiful in their own right that they need no interference and make really affective centrepieces.

I wonder whether I can keep this up for 2015 – I may have to expand my repertoire a bit so that I keep everyone guessing. Happy New Year everyone!

A river named Trevor

Well, that’s what you get when you attempt to play a game with a child born post 2000, reliant on the general knowledge of a child born in the 1960s or 70s. News flash of the day; my kids’ have appalling general knowledge. In fairness, Harriet is only seven (Trevor was one of her witticisms) though perhaps what was more telling was the fact that neither she nor Jacob could name a household chore beginning with any of the letters that the wheel landed on, after multiple spins. Hmm.

So, the premise of the game ‘Tell Me’ – the grand quiz game’ (found at a charity shop, as reported here) is pretty straight forward. The preamble to the instructions calls it ‘a jolly party game – for young and old alike. Instructive, humorous and altogether enjoyable’. Any number of persons may take part. A ‘leader’ is chosen to operate the spinning wheel and take the role of ‘Impartial Questioner’ (sounded terrifying). Each round is conducted by the Inquisitor selecting a card, reading the question out to the players (like q. name a river, name a fairy tale) and then spinning the wheel to see what letter the answer must begin with (a. Trevor, Edwina Currie). You get the idea.

Actually,  this game, in spite of all the difficulty, was a roaring success. The kids LOVED it. The fact they couldn’t answer half the questions (what child under the age of 47 can name an opera beginning with the letter ‘e’ anyway?) didn’t stop them from laughing their socks off at every silly response they came up with.  No tantrums, no petty squabbles, not even any complaint when the question master effectively cheated by allowing Trevor to pass as correct, just because it was the more entertaining of the possible responses.

We award this game 5 stars. Certainly it was instructive, humorous and altogether enjoyable.

Waddington’s Memory Game: the game that should come with a health warning..

Sunday night and time for another vintage game. What could be more delightful than sitting crossed legged on the floor in the mellow light from our seasonal decorations,  playing the fabulous 1960s edition of the Memory Game?  For the love of all that is festive,  do not try this with a crotchety 7-year-old. We learnt this lesson the hard way.

It all began so well. Harriet got dressed specially for the occasion in her Santa’s Little Helper costume,  and looked thoroughly angelic in an impish kind of way.  Jacob was a little late to the party,  preferring to ‘hang out with his mates’, but joined us one round in, and this didn’t seem to matter too much as we didn’t have any matches by this point.  For anyone who hasn’t come across this game before,  the idea is that you lay out the 50 or so pairs of tiles, face down in a random order and proceed to take it in turns to turn over 2 at a time,  attempting to match the pairs up. Unfortunately, the imp within our midst is rather a sore loser and happened not to be on form on this occasion.

With each round,  and every narrowly missed pairing,  Harriet’s ire became more apparent, and more audible. By the time we had paired around two thirds of the available tiles (which, incidentally are rather charming,  archetypically 1960s in their designs) she was screaming blue murder, accusing all within earshot of cheating, producing floods of tears and making the sort of sounds that you’d expect to hear from a BBC-scripted teenager.  Unfortunately,  the actual teenager in the room was not doing a good job of stifling his sniggers as he took every advantage to claim those pairs that Harriet had marginally missed in the turn prior to his. The realisation of what was coming each time she miscalculated only served to exacerbate her rage further. By the end of the game, I found myself exhausted from the effort of trying (and failing) to keep the peace, Harriet was a sobbing heap, and Jacob sat in the midst of it all, smiling serenely over the spoils of victory, having defeated his opponents decisively. Final score: Jacob 19, Mummy 15, Harriet 8.

Verdict: “It’s not fair,  I hate this game, I hate you,  I’m rubbish at this game, I’m never going to win….. urrrrrrggggg…raaaahhhhh”.

Thankyou Harriet, I think that’s a 1* rating then.

Why I love vintage glass

As I’ve previously blogged, a love of vintage is something that has been with me since a very early age.  That enjoyment I hope comes across in all my posts, and encompasses a wide area of interest, from board games to random street furniture (though that’s probably a post for another day).  Vintage glass though, seems to have captured my imagination more than anything else and I was pondering upon why this might be last night.

First of all, glass has got to have some of the best green credentials of any material known to (or at least created by) man.  It is produced from 100% natural materials and once created, is infinitely recyclable and reusable.  According to the organisation Friends of Glass, one ton of recycled glass saves 1.2 tons of raw materials, and saves 700kg of CO2 emissions.  Always a good start and part of the reason that I do what I do.  I’m afraid what really pleases me about vintage glass though, is much less worthy than that.  It’s because it is beautiful.

Souvenir glass from Queen Victoria’s Jubilee celebrations of 1887 – recently discovered at a car boot sale.

I am constantly amazed by the sheer variety of colours, forms and patterns that can be found, not just in vintage glass but going back over hundreds and even thousands of years.  I’m always fascinated by the painted Roman glass found in places like Vindolanda (scroll through the photos in this article to see the piece I mean) but almost equally enjoy the cheap pressed souvenir glass produced by the ton in the Victorian period.  Here’s one I found earlier (inset).

Moving into the 20th century, and especially looking at Art Deco glass, the designs just explode with colour and shape.  Just looking at my collection of trinket dishes (and it’s an extensive collection), virtually every one is different.  I do feel I should be cataloguing all the different types, but that’s probably just the archaeologist in me.

Just a small selection of the myriad colours and forms found in vintage glass trinket boxes.

Oranges, pinks, greens, blues, cranberry and amber, white glass and smoky glass, pressed, cut, bobbly and geometric, pedestalled, flat-bottomed, circular and square.  The beauty of it is that I never know what I’m going to find the next time I step into a junk shop or call into the local car boot sale.  The difficulty is, knowing when to stop!

Crafted for You – exhibiting now!

Well – we officially have our upcycled vintage glassware on display at Worcester City Museum & Art Gallery!  This time, it’s not just a handful of items in the craft case, but a space in one of the main galleries.  It’s been such an enjoyable year getting to this point, and I’ve been developing my ideas rapidly, trying new things and exploring new ways of displaying material.  The Crafted for You exhibition which runs until early January, feels like a fantastic end to what has been a very busy year. I’m excited to be sharing the space with gorgeous ceramics, silver work, scrap metal sculptures, felt work and textiles.  Well worth a visit (alongside the World War One: In the Words of Worcestershire People exhibition, also on now at Worcester City Museum) and one way of getting ahead with your Christmas shopping, as all items are for sale, and all unique!

A view towards the Decadia Designs glassware display, with Alison Dupernex‘s beautiful, wearable art in the foreground.

Upcycling vintage furniture

Before

Watching Kirsty’s Fill Your House for Free the other night, I was minded of some of the furniture items that I’ve produced over the past year.  One of the pieces produced was a lovely new desk for a teenager’s room, with the top covered in old sheet music.  I used a similar technique to upcycle this very tired old table, which I’d found in a charity shop and upcycled for a friend.

 

 

It’s all win, win as far as I’m concerned; save something from landfill,

…and after!

give something to charity, produce something unique and beautiful.  It’s good to see reuse of old items becoming fashionable again!

To upcycle, or not to upcycle

 

Every now and then I have a crisis of conscience when upcycling a piece of vintage glass. Occasionally, I can feel conflicted between the wish to freshen/ revive a piece that has sat unloved and dusty at the back of a charity shop shelf and the purist in me, that calls to me with pursed lips and complains at my modernisation of a perfectly usable and authentic vintage item.  This conflict between my love of authentic and the need for creativity isn’t one I’ll ever fully resolve and I’m sure there are plenty of full-on vintage purists who would shudder at my flagrant disregard for the original.

My new (vintage) glass display cabinet

That said, I like to think that I’m respecting those vintage qualities and the elements of design that make each item so unique.  Over the weekend I was busily moving furniture around to accommodate my lovely new (to me) glass display cabinet and filling it with a mixture of upcycled glassware, glass awaiting the upcycle treatment and items that need no such enhancement.  I think that’s the difference; it’s recognizing where an item is just downright beautiful and needs no interference.

This beautiful piece of 1930’s pink glass,  is a bowl with the impression of basketry in its moulding.  Such an item needs no enhancement and I hope will soon find a new home with someone who genuinely enjoys the beauty of vintage glass.  While vintage has become very fashionable in recent years, in almost all its forms, there still seems to be a lack of appreciation for 20th-century glassware.  By showcasing the best of the myriad quirky shapes and forms that vintage glass takes (and upcycling some), I hope to see its renaissance!