Screen Printing

 So I can finally start sharing some of the Christmas presents I made.

Last year I bought a selection of Dinky Screens.  This is a local Bristol independent company run by two young ladies who created a small and compact screen printing kit (it all fits in the tin-how great is that for storage, including the paints!).

I bought the Bristol themed set.

I screen printed in gold the world "Bristol" and heat set the print using an iron.  

Then cut out the shapes, sewing them on the machine and adding some personalised ribbon (it says handmade especially for you by Kyla) and stuffed them with polyester filling and a good handful of lavender from the garden I picked and dried earlier in the year.

There you have it, some fragrant but stylish lavender bags that can either be hung in the wardrobe or placed in a drawer.  I find they are also really useful to keep in suitcases whilst being stored out of season or gym bags!

I hope the recipients liked them....I need to remember next time to make more so I have a few for me!  I added these to the gift baskets I made which also included items such as spiced sugar (with lots of bay, orange etc), homemade elderflower cordial and sloe gin plus a few extras that I will post over the coming days.

Kyla

Dinky Screens

So the past couple of weeks I have been struggling with RA flares and now I have a chest infection and generally feel rubbish.  This means that I am not doing much, which is a pain as it means I have been missing some gigs etc.  

However at the weekend I thought I would get out my Dinky Screens (a local company) and had a go at screen printing. I have not been paid or anything else by this company.  I came across them at a craft show and because they were from Bristol (my home town) decided to stop and chat and was SO impressed with the product I decided to buy a kit and I was so please I did.

I haven't tried screen printing for a couple of years and their dinky kit is SO easy to use.  It contains everything you need from a sturdy mini frame, squeegy, a selection of paints, instructions and 4 stencils-all contained in a lovely tin.  Nice, compact and easy to use.

I had a lovely couple of hours-and really like the results.  Sadly I cannot show you as they are for Christmas presents, but take it from me I will be using this company again.

If you are interested their etsy shop  (they have lots of different stencils) can be found here

Happy crafting

Kyla

 

Craft show stash

I have been absent for a short while.  Work, holiday, blah, blah...life...you know how it goes.

If you follow me on instagram (kylacotterell) then you would have seen my capers and art abandonments etc over the past few weeks.  I am slowly uploading the photos and will update my blog soon.

At the weekend I went for a Coven outing to the Shepton Mallet craft show.  I was lucky enough to be given a couple of tickets from the organisers as they used my photo on their publicity (ooh, get me!!) and I contacted them and they were very obliging.

I was being smug as I only spent £1 on craft.  The fat quarter hidden in the middle of the photo.  I kept walking past the Dinky Screens stall.  A couple of young ladies from Bristol and this was their first show.  Having done some screen printing in the past I was really taken with their compact and contemporary set up.  I chatted to them, wandered off and ended up back at the stall on 3 separate occasions!

As we went to leave to return home I decided it was fate as I walked past them again....out came the cash....purchase made!!  I chose the 'Bristol' stencil collection.  I live near a steam railway and we have the balloons going over us regularly so it seemed really appropriate.

I am looking forward to playing with this.

My only new stash for several months (apart from a couple of magazines and a replacement watercolour paint)....but we do have the NEC only a few weeks away!

Happy crafting

Kyla

Ghibli daps

 Now, I know I am not the only one to fall into this trap.  

You see something on Pinterest and think "ooh, I could make that"

A few weeks go by and several hundred pins later you get round to making a start!

You finish and sit back to admire your work....its rubbish and looks NOTHING like the pin!

Well, on this occasion I was really pleased with the result!

I am a massive Studio Ghibli fan (Japanese Anime) and have seen lots of hand painted trainers on Pinterest recently so thought I would combine the two.

I bought some white daps (Bristol speak for plimsol!) from Lidl for £5 (bargain and surprising comfortable)

Then started sketching out the design in pencil to ensure I had the dimensions right.

  Then I filled the design in using a variety of paints I already had, a mixture of fabric paints and screen printing paints.

I outlined the designs in black and then allowed to dry overnight before setting them with a hot iron (not easy, it involved lots of padding with newspaper and quite a bit of swearing!).

I also gave them a couple of coats of protective spray (the sort for walking boots) and voila, one of a kind Ghibli daps!!

I love these and wish that I had bought more than one pair of shoes now!  If I see them on sale again I may be tempted to buy a black pair and see if I can decorate them too.

I love wearing these and my plan is to try to paint an umbrella next (if anyone has any tips on this then PLEASE get in touch as at the moment it's just a crazy idea!!).

Happy crafting

Kyla