The Make Lounge

Valentine's Craft Night at The Make Lounge

Our Valentine's-themed DIY Craft Night was a great success - thank you to everyone who joined us for a night of drop-in crafting.

Special thanks to Qype, for coming along and for making this lovely video, and to Craft Guerilla for creating the fantastic kits (more than a dozen to choose  from!)

The tattoo brooches were very popular...

 

...as were the adorable felt egg cozies.

We're already looking forward to our March DIY Craft Night!

Crafty Kids Holiday Club at The Make Lounge

We've gone a bit quiet this wek, but it definitely hasn't been quiet at The Make Lounge! Quite the contrary, as we've had 14 kids on hand for our Crafty Kids Holiday Fun Club. We've been making monsters (above)... 

... batik T-shirts (using easy-to-wash-out soya wax)...

...in a variety of lovely designs...

...including this one from football mad Emma.

We've craved colour...

...decorated photo frames...

...and made plenty of other projects, from snow globes to gorgeous marbled paper, which we used to create Japanese stitched journals.

What a week!

In praise of oilcloth

Image and tutorial at Craftstylish

I've had oilcloth on my mind of late, not least because I've been ordering it in prep for this week's Zips and Buttonholes Intensive at The Make Lounge.

Of course, traditional oilcloth is a heavy cloth with linseed coating, used to make tents, heavy coats and sailing hats. Most of what we call 'oilcloth' today is actually PVC (yes, that evil stuff) bound to a flanneled cloth. Even so, it's a great fabric as it's easy to cut and the edges won't fray, so no sewing is required.

Oilcloth is also water resistant, which makes it the perfect material for a stylish cosmetic bag, lining for a swim bag, or even the basis for a collapsible dog water bowl, as shown in this easy tutorial on CraftStylish.

Brilliant stuff.    

Plastic is fantastic

I've always admired the striking, geometric necklaces that feature bold Perspex shapes in their designs, but have always been floored by how much they cost.

The reality is that the individual elements are not terribly pricey (though shops do require a fairly large minimum order when laser-cutting the shapes).

In fact, armed with the proper tools, a bit of creative know-how and some practice, you can easily create something to rival what you'd find in the designer boutiques, at a fraction of the price.

Taught by jewellery designer Merle O'Grady, students in last Saturday's Geometric Necklace class fashioned chunky, oversized necklaces using oversized wooden beads, grosgrain ribbon, bold laser-cut shapes, vintage chains and jewellery findings. 

Here's proof.

 

Meet people, make stuff at Twestival

If you’re on Twitter you already know about the power of social media.

On Thursday, 12 February, nearly 175 cities will harness that power, by hosting meetups of Twitter communities around the globe to raise money in support of charity:water. Charity:water is a non-profit organisation that brings clean, safe drinking water to people in developing nations.

When Twestival London approached The Make Lounge about participating, we said yes immediately.

In California, where I spent much of my childhood, water shortages were common. If you watered your lawn, you broke the law. Though residents resented the inconveniences (many actually went so far as to spray their brown, withered lawns with green paint), the ‘hardships’ were trivial compared to those faced by our global neighbours.

If you're coming to Twestival London this Thursday, stop by The Make Lounge’s friendly ‘creation station’ to create and take away a stylish Twestival bird item using, felt, vintage buttons and scrap fabric. (If you're not, visit the Twestival web site to find out how you can help.)

Free amigurumi heart pattern

 

I generally like my Valentine's goodies a bit less sweet (and a bit more tough) than this, but the part of me itching to learn arigurumi couldn't quite resist. 

Get your free crochet heart pattern over at Roxycraft, home of 'patterns that don't suck.' 

Okay, she's a little bit sassy after all. :)

Cookie monster cupcake

Cookie Monster Cupcake, originally uploaded by Nick^D.

Impossibly cute.

Love-a-Fayre in Bethnal Green

If you're in London tomorrow (Sunday), do stop by the 'Love-A-Fayre,' on from 12 noon to 6 p.m. at the Bethnal Green Working Men's Club.

Just in time for V-Day, you can stock up on some great gifts for ladies and gents, including vintage and handmade burlesque treats, hand-drawn Valentine's cards, craft kits, and even choccies and cakes. (Plus, ahem, a fully stocked bar and DJs throughout the day!)

Our very creative friends from Craft Guerilla (who we're working with for our Valentine's Craft Night on Wednesday, Feb 11) are among the participants, so it's bound to be good. 

If we didn't have a full day of events at The Make Lounge, I'd be there in an instant. So go say hello and buy lots of goodies!

Chain maille jewellery

Wednesday was our first Chain Maille jewellery workshop. (Our next one takes place Tuesday, 17 March). I was downstairs teaching, so didn't get to sit in on the class (not fair!), but I did get to see some of the amazing creations toward the end of the workshop.  

I'll admit, I didn't know much about this ancient technique before I met our instructor, the lovely Jean Power. And I was a bit skeptical about how someone might make an gorgeous necklace (and possibly finish a bracelet, too) in just three hours. (Note: photographs just don't do the jewellery justice.) 

And the rings! So many rings! 

Yes, the process involves fitting together dozens and dozens of jump rings, plus coloured beads (in a wide variety of colours) in specified patterns, over and over again. This pattern is known as Byzantine chain. The work is repetitive, but also quite meditative and stress-relieving!

Students learned the same technique that was traditionally used for making armor to wear in battles. Jenny, pictured here, knew someone who worked in the costuming department on the Lord of the Rings film trilogy. She said that apparently the team worked so hard and long on creating the armor for the films, using tiny metal rings, that some of the crew literally rubbed away their fingerprints!

(Thankfully, each of our students left the workshop with fingerprints intact.)

Do you Twitter?

I just discovered this fun application, Twittersheep, which shows you a bit about your Twitter followers. Words are pulled from their bios and arranged in cloud format. (I especially like that ours are interested in all sorts of crafty things!) 

Are you on Twitter? If so, please follow The Make Lounge. And be sure to say hello!

Creative creature-making with Julie Arkell

Over the weekend, The Make Lounge hosted a creature-making workshop in conjunction with Loop featuring the lovely and talented Julie Arkell. (Yes, she really is that adorable in person!) 

If you aren't familiar with her work, Julie is London-based contemporary folk artist who works in papier-mâché and mixed media. She runs workshops only occasionally and when she does, participants are in for a real treat!  

The creatures, hand made by Julie, arrive looking very bare and slightly embarrassed. . .  

Then throughout the day-long workshop, their new owners lovingly fashion hats, dresses, tops and tiny aprons from wool, scraps of vintage fabric, buttons, tiny pins, charms and other ephemera.

 

Aren't they amazing?

Fabric manipulation workshop

A few of the cushions created at the Fabric Manipulation Workshop last week at The Make Lounge.


I wasn't quite sure how the techniques, which create quite sculptural effects, would play out on the printed fabrics, but I really do love the results.

Her Morning Elegance

Amazing clip, thanks Maradoll!

Stitch & Bitch night at The Make Lounge

One thing can be said about knitters - they are definitely a prompt bunch. At least a dozen arrived 15 minutes early for our recent knit night (held in partnership with our pals over at Stitch & Bitch London). Before long, the place was heaving with more than 100 knitters commandeering every spare surface - including stairs and floor. One guest dubbed the night 'a house party with yarn,' a description that definitely made me smile!

Some arrived with projects-in-progress (check out those knitted gloves!) while others arrived quivering with yarn-tastic anticipation.

Special thanks to Rowan Yarns for helping out with yarn, and to the lovely Stitchettes (that's Stitch & Bitch London co-founder and teacher extraordinaire Laura in the photo above) for their tireless teaching efforts.