Lustre 2010

It's been a long while again, and hence I have lots to write about. The main thrust of today's posting is to review highlights of 'Lustre' 2010 at The University of Nottingham - 'beautiful things for you and your home'. It certainly disappoint, so more of that later. To kick off, here is my first attempt at carving a pumpkin for Hallowe'en. I took the unconventional approach in carving the base and turning him on his side, and was quite pleased with the results. Rather than risking leaving him unattended and lit downstairs, I stuffed him with coloured paper. On reflection I could have used fairy lights. Maybe next year...


Continuing on my quest for homemade Christmas, I spent a ludicrous amount of time tieing perfect bows on my homemade marmalade. I discovered last year that you can freeze Seville oranges whole, and Nigella has a cheats recipe for marmalade that involves boiling up the oranges whole - perfect when they are slightly soft on defrosting. As a confirmed lover of marmalade, a way to stretch the Seville season throughout the year is welcome. I suppose I could just make more preserve when they are in season, but it is quite time intensive when you have a job to keep down!


I alluded to the fact that M and I have both had birthdays recently, and we have been very lucky to receive this lovely Art Deco granddaughter clock from my Mum. Having been to the nice clock repair man in town for a service, I have learnt the difference between grandmother and granddaughter clocks (Grandaughter - round face, curved top; Grandmother - square face, flat top). We are apparently unusual in specifically looking for a 1930's clock, with most people preferring older models. Ours has a wonderful chime every quarter hour, and it chimed continuously the whole 2 hours it took to drive between Mum's and our house!



I was thrilled with my presents this year, which included a Cath Kidston knitting bag from a very dear friend, and M excelled in purchasing the latest installment in Chris Ware's Acme Novelty Library series of comic books. I am a huge fan and collector of Chris Ware's work, and spent the rest of my birthday money indulging in this.

We also took a trip down to the last vintage market of the year in Bridport, and found this rather lovely 1960's mirror. To me it has a cartoon feel to it, which obviously suits well.

My birthday was topped off by a phone call from Loop to say that my Misti Alpaca sock yarn was in stock, meaning I could finally press on and finish the scarf pictured below; my Fanfare Cowl was featured on the pattern designers' blog; and we had a lovely meal out at the Wild Garlic in Beaminster (owned by Masterchef winner Mat Follas). Top idea from there was sparkling wine with a couple of drops of lavender oil and elderflower.


Now, to Nottingham. We are definately coming back as the city is really good for shopping and entertainment, and there were lots of museums and galleries we'd like to have had more time to explore. First stop was to Wollaton Hall and Deer Park. Set in acres of parkland, the Elizabethan house is home to a 1930's Natural History Museum. We didn't have time to visit the rest of the grounds, which also include and industrial museum.


Continuing with the graphic novel/comics theme, I was (geekily) excited to find not just one, but two comic shops. My favourite things combine here - someone has made a giant Persepolis book with a sewn figure in the middle! I spent a good half hour in Forbidden Planet on Sunday buying up half the shop, and being irritated yet again by their bizarre alphabetising of books by title rather than author. They also seem unable to search their store database by author to check you've not missed anything! I'll stop before I sound even more autistic than I already do.

This was the first year we had been to Lustre makers fair, and we had a great time. Every single exhibitor was producing high quality work, and I can only assume they had hundreds of applicants to choose from. The hardest thing was not blowing the budget too soon! I had heard about the exhibition through Selvedge magazine, and at least two stallholders have been featured in the past six months. The exhibition of graduates work was particuarly heartening. M and I both fell in love with this character sculpture by Gillian Lee Smith. Each doll comes with a name and short story, and as she was only just finished, we are waiting to discover more about her. My next task is to find a relevant antique story book to stand her on, which is the artist's chosen way of displaying them, and makes perfect sense as they feel very literary. I love the meloncholic fragility and the way that she is weighted to look as if she may just fall over, adding to her awkwardness.

Other highlights for me included:

Katherine Richmond

Pages of old story books are laminated in blocks, laser used to cut text and shapes into the top layers, and the pieces used to construct wall art and jewellery. It was refreshing an exciting to see a precision tool such as laser put to work in a process where the results are not wholly predictable. The pairing with oxised silver made for beautiful pieces, and the use of books gave an obvious oppertunity for storytelling within the work.

Sally Collins

Freeform crochet and metalwork combined to make these unique pieces of jewellery. The colour palette included mainly pinks, red and baby blues. I loved her style!

Jed Green

Jewellery made by a sculptor like nothing I'd seen before. Some pieces were reminiscent for me of models of molecules in science class, and I particularly liked a ring made to look like a lightbulb.

Rachel Eardley

We were particularly drawn to her lithographic prints, full with detail without looking too fussy. She produced some works using Polaroid snaps within the drawing and extending the scene in pen and ink. She is also a skilled jeweller, using shapes cut from coins to create her distinctive pieces. Her brother is a ceramicist and also had a stall.

Jane Moore

Jane is a jeweller and has an instantly recognisable style. I had seen her designs at Hay festival this year and taken note of her name then, so it was great to meet her. The jewellery is layered with transfers and enamelled, and the designs have a real Japanese feel to them. I love washi papers, and these hold a similar appeal. I did find a necklace I would love, but couldn't quite stretch to the required £450. I will have to be patient and wait for a smaller piece to catch my attention in the same way. Her work can also be found here.

Kate McBride

Fantastically over-the-top ceramic tableware. Indescribable, so I won't try.

Katie Heeks

A new graduate, Katie had a number of her 'Gardens of Personal Delight' exhibited. Fabric was mounted onto wood, and laser cut into flowers and other shapes. They were then assembled in boxes to a create a style evoking memories of paper theatres I had as a child. The photos on her site really don't do these justice, and the use of battery powered LEDs within the boxes helped eccentuate the vibrancy of the colours. The varying depths and overlying patterns made me think of magic-eye pictures (but obviously far prettier!)

Felt Making

It's a been a couple of weeks as I haven't had an awful lot to blog about of late, but that doesn't mean I haven't been crafting busily! I have finally completed the tank top for Martyn's birthday, but I'm not posting pics until he has received it. He's not seen the finished article yet so there will be a tiny element of mystery to it. I've not unsurprisingly been unable to be entirely covert as most of it has been knitted whilst sat next to him on the sofa. I've now moved on to making a couple of amigurami toys for birthdays that are coming up.

I know it's early, but when you are planning on making a lot of things for Christmas, you unfortunately have to start thinking about it and preparing for months in advance. You may have noticed that there are a great number of felt flower brooches/corsages in the shops at the moment. I have been admiring them and have noted some female family members doing the same, but I never want to buy them as they would be so easy to make. A lot of them are also quite boring, and in typical style I have tried to develop the idea to make something a bit more original. As a child I had a great time making felt with Mum, and this has been a good excuse to have another go.

You don't need any special equipment, and the raw materials are not too costly. First off you need to buy some carded dyed wool called 'tops'. I bought mine from our local art/craft shop in town.

This will make up the main body of the felt. You can add other bits to give a bit of texture. I used some waste wool yarn, and also some of this uncarded, dyed wool:

Now you will need some bubble wrap, at least twice the size of the felt you wish to make, soap flakes, very hot water and a rolling pin. I made the felt in the bath but watch your back! Firstly, lay the teased out tops in layers on the bubble wrap, bubbles upwards. You're aiming for a fairly even layer each time, and should alternate layers going up-down and left-right to give the finished felt strength. This process takes a bit of trial and error, but I started with 5 layers. Between the layers, I arranged the waste yarn and pieces of uncarded wool. You then sprinkle the wool with soap flakes and sprinkle with hot water, the hotter the better, but not too hot to burn your hands! Gently press the layers together until they are soaked through. Fold the bubble wrap in two, with the bubbles inwards and soon-to-be felt in between. You then rub the whole thing vigorously with the rolling pin for at least 15 minutes. Keep sprinkling more hot water on the felt as you go to keep it as hot as possible. When you are happy the felt has properly bonded, rinse thoroughly and squeeze the excess water out. Dry flat.

I made my felt with the finished flower idea in mind, hence I have 3 roughly circular areas of pattern within my piece of purple felt. I plan to machine embroider the felt with metallic thread to give it extra stability and interest before cutting the pieces out. I'll keep ou updated - I'm aware it doesn't look like much now but I'm optimistic about the finished article.

I have just come back from re-visiting the Vintage Market at Bridport, and was pleased to find this late 50's/early 60's style clock.

It goes perfectly in my recently revamped small but perfectly formed kitchen:

This week I'll hopefully joining the ladies in Weymouth for a 'Stitch and Bitch' meeting on Tuesday. Should be fun! Now... which project to start next?!

Market Days

It's been another busy week in the Norris household, and we have been continuing to enjoy the festival summer season. First up, for the bank holiday weekend the French market is in town. M and I both have a love of all preserved meats and we have stocked up as you can see below. Parma ham, chorizo, and various sausages. Who could pass up the oppertunity to try kangaroo sausage? The meats and smoked garlic are making our kitchen smell divine! We also treated ourselves to fresh goats cheeses, bread, olives, and artichokes.

To celebrate this culinary haul, we had a gorgeously smug lunch with fruit and veg entirely home grown. Rocket, melon and radish salad with your parma ham? Oh, yes! I opened a bottle of 2001 Cairanne bought when I was a house officer eight years ago and it set off the food brilliantly. It's a hard life!

My mum is staying this week which is really nice, and yesterday we had a day out in Bridport for the Open Studios weekend. They also had a Vintage Market with mainly furniture and had a lovely time mentally rearranging and redecorating the house to accommodate the pieces for sale. In the studios I discovered one artist in particular called Paul Blow. He is an illustrator working predominantly for magazines and I was instantly struck by his work. I'm definately going to keep an eye on his work and aim to invest in piece one day. I had to rein M in a bit and remind him we didn't have any room for another vintage electric fire... We were really excited to find a set of rare Woolworths 'Homemaker' 1950s crockery at the market, which we snapped up in a blink. Amazingly the lady had had them for a while and having trouble selling them as a complete set. Annoying she sold a singular teacup and saucer from the set, but it's still the largest collection I've seen for sale. Most of the pieces are the early Ridgeway prints.

We already have some Jessie Tait 'Quite Contrary' ceramics from Midwinter, also from the 1950's. I can see a collection growing here! I am embracing the era by watching Mad Men as I put this blog together.

On the sock knitting front, I have finished my latest pair as a gift for Christmas. Another design from 'Knitted Socks, East and West', this time using 'Casbah' by Hand Maiden. They were lovely to knit and I'm very happy with the end product. Next project is a cable tank top from Easy Knits.

I made use of the buttons I bought at Goodwood on this high street cardigan. I was really pleased with the result - they match better than I could have hoped for and instantly made it something special.

Last weekend, my sister and her husband came to stay, and we had a lovely walk around Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens. I bought a Taipei Silk plant (with flowers as pictured below) for my patch at the allotment. I'm trying to record all my flowers here so that I have half a chance of remembering what they all are.

I don't tend to talk about my family and friends on this blog, but my Grandma died this week. This is for her.

Vintage at Goodwood 2010

Yesterday the long awaited Vintage at Goodwood was finally upon us. It was great. We started the day meeting up with friends who live near the site, and made our way to the festival ground about noon. Having obsessed about not forgetting the tickets, placing them ready in my bag from the night before, an ill thought out plan to photograph them before leaving home resulted in them remaining in our dining room all day. Bum. Luckily the nice people on the gate were able to check our booking and let us in without paying again. Phew! As someone who prides herself on time keeping and organisation skills, I took this failure rather hard. There was plenty to distract me from procrastinating too much though. The all important outfit was finished in the nick of time, as I completed my socks for the event the night before. They are another Japanese inspired Judy Sumner design, and I've made them here with a silk/merino blend from Malabrigo in colourway Redwood Bark.

As has become a tradition now, here is a photo of the goodies I came home with. Very restrained for me. There were hundreds of Vintage stalls with lots of lovely things, but I had promised only to buy if I saw something I felt I couldn't live without. I tried on a couple of things but they didn't fit. Probably for the best... The souvenir brochure was a hardback annual, enduring evidence of the thought that went into the whole event. Design heavy, nothing was remotely ugly or out of place all day.

Even the wristbands were cool. Holographic vintage watches, no less.

Here I am, relieved to have been let in despite not having the tickets with me (phew again) in my self-crafted, vintage inspired get-up. Very thoughful of them to produce the brochure to match I thought.

M was looking rather dapper too, although not vintage (maybe just 25 years early?). The great thing was that enough people dressed up to make it special, but there were enough of us in 'civvies' not to feel left out or awkward.

I'm not sure if you can discerne it from this photo, but Martyn collects pin badges for the strap of his satchel. He politely declined my offer to buy him this gem... (My sister and I had the 'vintage' edition of 'Happy Families' these were mounted on. Does that make us old?)

Some revellers really committed to the look. Only mobile phones betrayed the fact that all was not as it seemed.

We spotted curator Wayne Hemmingway a couple of times during the day...

The centrepiece of the festival was a pop-up main street. It was like walking in a pop-up book of our youth, and was ambitious to say the least. Complete with a pub, art cafe, cinema, many shops and even an Indian take-away. All as expected looked beautiful. Is this the most glam Oxfam shop you've ever seen? Mary Queen of Shops - eat your heart out!

John Lewis has never looked better. It was lovely to see lots of people getting involved, learning to knit, crochet and sew.

Another highlight for me was a sewing school run by a company that shaped my childhood wardrobe (and now my adult one), Clothkits. I was keen on a new fabric made for them by Mini Moderns, but even I couldn't justify nearly £30 a metre having had half the year off work so far. It was designed for a skirt kit, and given that I have nearly 15 skirts at the moment, I was wanting to make a dress with it. One day maybe.

Whilst in Clothkits, I came across this lovely knitting/sewing box. Is this the coolest knitting box ever?

The answer came just seconds later. No, this one is. Red wins every time when you're me.

A little further along in the day, I found something else to grab my geeky attention. As a seasoned fan of all things Scrabble, a vintage travel set was rather exciting. Unfortunately they were props for her stall and not for sale. She smilingly told me they were quite hard to come by. I couldn't help but notice she had two. Now that's just rude! I did however admire her partners' jewellery made with broken watch pieces and scrap charms. There is one on the right edge of this photo.

The DeLonghi art cafe was bedecked fittingly, and M blended in rather well.

Airstream buses were very popular throughout the site for stall holders, 'glampers', and there was one particularly fine example up for auction.

The Chap magazine staged it's very own Olympiad at the festival this year. Cucumber sandwich discus, Hop, Skip and G&T and the Pipeathlon featured. The Pipeathlon required the brave chaps to keep a pipe lit whilst sauntering for 10 yards, cycling 10 yards, and travelling the last 10 without his feet touching the ground. Being carried by friends and the classic 'wheelbarrow' were employed in the round we were witness to.

Next up we have the Bad Art Studio, which was hilarious.

Check out this politically ill-advised gem...

Alongside the Bad Art was the Bad Taste Disco.

(In my best Jim Bowen voice) And here's what you could have won!

This Meccano scultpure was growing throughout the weekend...

...and the Rollerdisco was a big hit!

Even Banksy made a contribution.

We headed over to the main stage to see Martha and the Vandellas. IT WAS FAB!!!

Under sufferance, M joined me to see Swing Out Sister. I'm not sure how familiar the rest of the world is with their work, but my sister and I spent many an hour singing along to their first album thanks to our parents.

Here is a selection of other low res pictures from the day.

Until next time! x