In January we held our first ever Craft Snippets talk at Upper Riccarton Library and were lucky enough to have Chris Woods as our first speaker. Craft Snippets is all about finding out from crafty artisans what they do and wow, what hasn’t Chris done?
Print-making, sewing creations, paper-making and more
Chris chatted and showed us some of her creations and gave us some fabulous tips on how she did things and places she has found. She showed us some wonderful sewing creations including pod purses and children’s interconnecting blocks. You use tiny stitches and they cleverly open and close in ways you wouldn’t expect.
Chris does wonderful printing on fabric and had some great tips on how to do this using your very own home computer printer and fabric conditioner. Also there is Ferrymead Printers where Chris does a lot of her work including print-making using linocuts and book-making and book-binding.
Chris brought along lovely examples of her work and quite a few people were keen to find out more and go along to one of the sessions at Ferrymead. They have a regular newsletter (you can sign up online) listing events and also a Facebook page where you can keep up with classes.
Paper-making is another crafty thing Chris has been experimenting with including using damask table cloths. She has found someone who has created a special swirly machine that shreds the material and creates a pulp which is then put out onto trays and dried naturally.
A charity that Chris and some of her quilting pals are involved with is Days for Girls which is all about increasing menstrual care for girls in developing countries, allowing girls to still go to school rather than stay home when they have their period. Chris and her team make material liners and cute bags for the girls to keep them in. They are always on the hunt for winceyette material if you ever see it, and also they have sewing bees that people can pop along to and help. You don’t have to be a sewer - there is always ironing and other things you can help with.
New and upcoming
Craft Snippets will be held at Upper Riccarton Library on the last Wednesday of the odd month 6.30 - 7.30pm. The format is that we have a speaker talk for around 20 minutes, some question time, a show and tell of what is new in the library in the way of crafty books and mags, and a chat about what is coming up in and around Christchurch to do with craft such as our ever popular Upper Riccarton Library Stash Swap on Sunday 23 February.
If you would like to know more about Craft Snippets do please keep an eye on our online events calendar - we will add more information about who the next speaker will be. As a taster though coming up we have:
- Wednesday 25 March - Sandy - theafterworkphotographer - amateur photographer who has only just started and has been busy taking photos, writing blogs and held an exhibition at Upper Riccarton Library.
- Wednesday 27 May - Amy - sewer, upcycler and mender who will chat all about the joys of mending and darning.
- July - Gina - macramé artist, will show us her lovely work and chat about this craft which is definitely popular again.
These are the books and magazines that we looked at during our first session of Craft Snippets.
Angela, Library Assistant
Upper Riccarton Library
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