‘In Our Space’ – Newcastle Carers Artist Residency final exhibition.

From October 18 to March 19, I worked as Artist in Residence at Newcastle Carers as part of Newcastle City Council’s Arts Team’s residency program. I have blogged a few times about this residency – which I have really enjoyed. It has been a privilege to have worked with such a great and supportive organisation and the people who took part in the creative workshops and who, as you’ll be able to see below, produced some amazing artworks which are now on display at Shields Road in Byker.

It was also a lovely surprise to find out that I had been nominated for an award as part of the work I had done with Newcastle Carers during the residency. What made it even more special was the lovely nomination letter I received stating the reasons why:

“Having Louise in the Café really helped us to relax and take our minds off our caring roles for a couple of hours. We always had a lot of fun and constantly laughing. We loved learning new skills that we can share with our family/friends. It helped us to open up and strengthen our friendships with each other. She also made all of us believe in our selves more and that we can try new things. We are extremely proud of all of our work we created with Louise, thank you for everything.”

Three of the artworks on display at Newcastle Carers.

Over six months, I worked with four groups who meet regularly at one of the ‘cafes’ which are available to carers within the city to meet peers, talk to volunteers who are able to offer advice and support, as well as support workers who are able to provide further help. The individual cafes normally meet once a month, so we decided to add in extra sessions so that we were able to meet each group at least once a fortnight – as members of the café were really enjoying the creative project work they were doing within the cafes. Below, you can see the fabulous finished artworks and quotes that came out of the project, which are now on display in one of the rooms that is regularly used by these groups.

‘A comfy pair of slippers’ made by Byker Carer Café.

“When I first started coming to Newcastle Carers, it was like putting on a comfy pair of slippers or a blanket on.”

Many of the group at Newcastle Carers either already enjoyed knitting and crochet, or were keen to learn. This project has given the group a chance to learn and share skills with each other, from the simple, colourful squares to the flowers around the edge. Traditionally such techniques would have been used to make pieces for loved ones or for practical purposes. The heart shape has been inspired by tattoo designs.

‘Laughing, Caring, Sharing’ made by Gosforth Carers.

The imagery of the jigsaw puzzle reflects both a relaxing activity we might do but also the interlocking pieces symbolise the support given to members or visitors to the group by the volunteers and carers. Some of the pieces have been decorated with images of special places we visit in our minds and others the results of opportunities of experimentation with colour and form. Others have been made to represent important things the carers would like to say: the crocheted flowers say ‘Thank you’ to the people who originally set up the group and the knitted cakes represent having a cuppa with understanding friends.

During the workshops at Gosforth Carers, we have been using inks and fabric paints to decorate the jigsaw pieces, then using beading, knitting and crochet to further embellish the surface.

‘Life has layers’ by Young Adult Carers Café at Byker.

“We can be who we are.”

During the workshops at Newcastle Young Adult Carers, the young people have been learning a number of different creative techniques. These included lino printing, batik, weaving and fabric painting. This piece reflects many of the different aspects of a young carer’s life: school/college/work, friends and socialising, family and caring. The cogs of time continue turning in the background, with the occasional spanner in the works that might slow things down. However, the ‘Tree of Life’ keeps growing, providing new opportunities and experiences – including being part of the group.

A big part of the weekly sessions, besides the creative activities, has been the banter that flows, talking with friends about films and music (listening to Rag’n’Bone Man quoted here); this has fed into the piece that has been created.

“I am giant.”

B.M.E. Carers Group – ‘Time for Me’

Self-care is essential for all of us, but particularly for people who care for others. This piece reflects upon some of the simple things that we could do every day that make us feel happier and more relaxed. These things may not even take long like being creative. The group made these hand pictures and wrote things they enjoyed within them which gave them time to switch off and stop thinking about other things for a while.

Textile books made by Newcastle Young Adult Carers and Newcastle Carer Café.

‘In Our Space’ – Newcastle City Artist in Residency exhibition logo.

‘In Our Space’ – Newcastle Carers Artist Residency

It won’t be long now until my residency at Newcastle Carers , funded by Newcastle City Council Arts Team, comes to an end. I have been based with the organisation since October last year running weekly/bi-weekly sessions at the different ‘cafe’ groups run at Byker and Gosforth. These sessions are open to carers of all ages, but there are also groups specifically for Young Adult Carers and Young Carers.

Using text from a vintage typewriter, typed onto special ‘fabric’ paper, to add to our textile books.

We have been working towards making pieces for an exhibition, with it’s opening on the 29th March. The different groups have been working on their own piece. At Gosforth, the group has been working on a textile hanging which takes it’s inspiration from jigsaw pieces, how they interconnect and support each other – just like the group. Each jigsaw piece is painted, using inks which has given us very rich tones and then they are added to using textile glue paints which have a beautiful iridescence. Some of these pieces are then further decorated with stitching, beading, knitting and crochet.

Jigsaw piece, decorated to reflect how the group feel about the group at Gosforth Carers.

“I feel better when I have been to the sessions – very restorative.” 

Jigsaw pieces made for the Gosforth Carers wall hanging.

At Newcastle Carers in Byker, they are making two (if not more) pieces for display. The first is a large ‘tattoo’ style heart which I am having cut in wood and the group are knitting and crocheting squares to cover it, like a patchwork blanket. Blankets are traditionally made for those we love, to warm and protect and this reminds me of a quote from one of the group recently about how coming to the ‘Carers Cafe’ makes them feel:

“When I first started coming it was like putting on a comfy pair of slippers or a blanket on.” 

Using typed text to add to the fabric pages of the textile books the carers are making.

The outside of the heart will be decorated with knitted and crocheted flowers, symbolic of the flowers we would give someone to say ‘Thank you’. This we do not do enough – especially to people who give their time, love and energy to keep us safe and well. Through the middle of the heart will be a ‘swag’ with a phrase or a saying which sums up how the group feel about the support they get from each other and the carers organisation.

Decoration ideas for the Gosforth Carers hanging.

At Newcastle Carers, some members of the group are also working towards a collective textile book or a personal one. Some group members have also been making pieces for our project at home, which has been really inspiring to see.

Additional pieces made at home by one of the carers for her own textile book.

I am also working with a group of Young Adult Carers, who have been very industrious trying out lino printing, batik, fabric painting, weaving and writing. They are also making couple of pieces for the exhibition, including a textile book and possibly their own large ‘tattoo’ heart – but worked in a very different way.

Pages for the textile book.

As part of the residency, I am also very fortunate to have a third year art student from Northumbria University working alongside me. He has been extremely supportive to myself and the carers, encouraging people to try different techniques, suggesting ideas and he will be taking the lead on the larger piece made by the Young Adult Carers. We are also hoping that we will be able to take this group to visit Northumbria University, to look at the art department and the art students studios.

Evan, Year 3 Art Student at Northumbria University and Student in Residence, working alongside carers to create a textile book.

 

‘Life has Layers’

Newcastle Carers – Artist in Residence

From October 2018, I have been working as Artist in Residence at Newcastle Carers an independent charity which supports young carers, young adult carers and adult carers across Newcastle upon Tyne. This is a six month residency as part of a larger project by Newcastle City Council Arts Team to place artists within the community. I was so delighted to be picked to be part of this project as I passionately believe in the benefits of creativity on wellbeing.

One of the aspects of the residency I felt very important, was that the people involved would be able to learn new skills or rediscover old ones, and that resources would be put in place that they could develop the skills further after I have left, rather than the skills stagnating and being lost.

Over the first few months, I have been meeting with the different groups which meet as part of Newcastle Carers, from cafe’s at a number of venues across Newcastle where people meet to have a cuppa, chat to friends they have made through this support network and talk to the workers and volunteers who are able to provide the detailed information and support individual carers need.

As part of the residency, there will be an exhibition at the end of the project and we have planned to make a number of pieces which will hang in the main building on Shields Road, in Newcastle. Each group I am working with are making a different artwork for display but as we are still at the development stage, trying out techniques that the group haven’t tried before or would like to develop further.

One of the groups has decided on a direction of their artwork, which will take the shape of a textile jigsaw approx. 1.2 m x 1.4m. It came about through our initial chats about what people enjoy doing, what they find relaxing and one person mentioned jigsaws and suddenly there was a lovely long discussion about it.

On reflection, the symbolism behind the design of a jigsaw stands for a lot of things the different groups as part of Newcastle Carers mean to the people who come along: giving support to each other, making links to other resources available, without each other the picture wouldn’t be so clear. Twenty fabric jigsaw pieces have been cut out in a finished puzzle shape, which people are individually painting with images that maybe important to them or an abstract design, These will then be further decorated with beads, stitched words, found pieces etc and made into an individual mini work of art which will be stitched back together with the other jigsaw pieces.

In the New Year, I have planned to start working with the Young Adult Carers on a more regular basis and they have asked to try batik painting and lino printing during their first sessions. Another group has started creating personal pages for a possible memory book they would each like to develop and you can see some of the backgrounds for these pages above.

Over the last three months, we have had a lovely time trying out new techniques, learning new skills and enjoying each others company. I have been given great feedback from the carers who have attended the sessions, who found the opportunity to loose themselves in their creativity a chance to relax and forget about things that may have been worrying them, plus giving them something to be thinking about outside the sessions. I have also been told, that people who may not regularly attend the sessions have been coming more often and that Newcastle Carers feel that the residency has been ‘beyond their expectations’ – which I am so glad to hear as it is a lovely project I am really delighted to be part of.

 

 

New interactive pieces for The Sill, Northumberland.

The Sill, is a new landscape discovery centre in beautiful Northumberland, very close to many of the famous Roman sites along Hadrian’s Wall. The Sill helps visitors to look deeper into the landscape, culture, history and heritage of Northumberland.

View from The Sill roof

Last year, whilst The Sill was still being built, I was asked by the Education Team to work with them on creating some interactive bags for schools and community groups to use whilst visiting their building and galleries.

Inside The Sill’s gallery, which explains many of the uses of the landscape, materials and habitats found in the area.

A large part of last year I spent working on the Shipley Art Galleries Centenary Quilt but as soon as that was finished, we started planning in more detail what interactive materials The Sill would benefit from first and how they would like them to look. So the first two interactive bags I worked on was the Moorland Curlew Bag and the Geology bag.

Curlew Children’s mask

The Moorland Curlew bag was great fun to make. The bag itself is large enough to carry all the interactive pieces in plus room for teachers notes. I always find children love as much opportunity to dress up – so any chance to make wings and masks is great!

Curlew wings, child size.

The Curlew bag also had a crochet nest, with eggs plus worms for the Curlew to eat!

Curlew nest and eggs.

Habitat bags always need a predator and what better than a fox – great fun for interactive role play!

Fox mask.

The Moorland Curlew bag itself had two sides, as the curlews nest in the moorland building their nests on the floor and they also spend their time at the seaside amongst the mudflats – which you may have seen, with their long, curled, distinctive beaks.

Moorland Curlew (mudflat side) and Geology bag being used at The Sill.

The geology bag looked at how the stone and the Whin Sill had been created over thousands of years. The bag itself illustrates very simply how the stratigraphic layers in the area have built up to create the landscape and stone in the area.

Geology bag cover, textile illustration of the stratigraphic layers in Northumberland.

To help illustrate to children visiting with schools and community groups, small textile panels were made to show how the local stone is used in Hadrian’s Wall, making roads, sandstone walls and limestone kilns.

This bag was also quilted so that rocks and stones, plus other materials could safely be placed inside.

Four textile panels illustrating the use of stone in the area: top left – road building, top right – sandstone walls, bottom left – limestone kilns and how limestone enriches the ground and bottom right – Hadrian’s Wall.

These bags have now been delivered and I am now working on a ‘Dark Skies and Mythology’ bag plus a large, layered map which will be used up on the grassed roof, to assist discussions about how the landscape has changed over the last two thousand years.

How to: Knit Socks Part 1

First finished sock.

To start with, knitting socks can be tricky….but well worth the effort! AND, once you’ve grasped it, you’ll never stop! Socks make great presents for anyone and everyone, for almost every occasion. Plus, the great thing is, what you need packs away really small, so if you have a nice small bag, you can keep the contents of your sock knitting inside and take them anywhere – so hours previously wasted sitting on the bus, long car journeys, by the side of swimming pools or gym lessons etc can be put to good use!

Over the next few blog posts, I will try and talk you through, step by step, ‘how to’ knit socks, using some of the funny little tips I’ve picked up from other sock knitters to help you on your way.

For a traditional pair of socks, you will need 4 double pointed needles size 2  3/4 [12], a ball of 4 ply sock wool and a tape measure. I have used sock wool which is variegated and gives the impression of fair isle.

Part 1: cast on and rib ankle cuff.

For an adult sock, cast on 64 stitches using ‘Cable Cast-on’. (See also photos below)

Cable cast-on: take needle between the two stiches to ‘cast-on’ the new stitch.

Row of ‘cast-on’ stitches, ready for next step.

Next, separate the 64 stitches onto 3 needles – I separate them 20, 24, and 20.

Cast-on stitches separated onto 3 needles.

Before you start to knit on these stiches, one tip I was given, was to take the first stitch and place it on the last needle AND then take the last stitch and place it on the first needle (these stitches over lap each other and pull the circle together).

ALSO, ensure that you cast-on edge is not twisted and runs evenly around the base of your stitches.

Knitting in the round on 4 needles, with first and last stitch ‘crossed over’.

Now you begin to work the 64 stitches on 3 needles ‘in the round’. Using the fourth needle, you knit across the first needle with 20 stitches on it. As you come to the end, this needle you have just worked is now free of stitches and will be used to knit across the next row of 24 stitches. As you come to the end, this needle you have just worked is now free of stitches and will be used to knit across the next row of 20 stitches. You have now finished knitting your first ’round/row’ of stitches.

Continue working in rounds using ‘Rib Stitch’ (knit 1, purl 1) until the cuff of your sock measures 6cm.

TIP: When knitting the last stitches on one needles and the first stitches on the next needle, keep your tension tight, to ensure you don’t get what looks like a ‘ladder’ appearing between these stitches. Elsewhere, knit with a slightly loose tension as one danger I have found is that if the cuff is too tight, some people may find it harder to pull the sock over their feet.

Completed sock rib.

Once you have completed the ribbed cuff of your sock. Change to knitting rounds in ‘Stocking Stitch’ and complete the first section of the sock using the length guides below.

NEXT TIME: Turning the heel.

‘All We Are Saying’ Peace Squares blanket update.

Just a quick update, showing you some of the lovely new peace squares we’ve received over the last couple of weeks for the Peace Blanket which will be part of the ‘All We Are Saying’ exhibition at the Holy Biscuit, in Newcastle upon Tyne in September.

To date, we have over 40 squares (many I still haven’t shown you yet!) that have arrived to us from around the World, to be sewn into the blanket but I also know there are many more making their way to us.

There is still time, if you would like to be involved, check out the details at the below all these beautiful Peace Squares.

Call out for squares:
We would love people to submit squares to be stitched into our blanket. These can be made in any textile media, including crocheted, knitted, embroidery, beaded, fabric painted, patchwork and quilting. They can be as detailed as you have time for and we are very happy to encourage as many young people and children to be involved in this, too. When designing your piece, please remember that this is an optimistic and positive project and we do not wish to offend anyone with the wording or imagery. The squares should be 20 x 20 cm, with an extra 1cm for seam allowance.

These squares can either be made in the gallery during the exhibition in September or can be posted to:
Blanket for Peace,
The Holy Biscuit,
1 Clarence St,
Shieldfield,
Newcastle upon Tyne.
NE2 1YH

Please send your squares before the end of September to ensure their inclusion in the ‘Blanket for Peace’.

Peace Squares update.

It has been fantastic to see the response to the call out for Peace Squares to be made as part of the Artists for Peace  ‘All We Are Saying’ exhibition at the Holy Biscuit in September. I would like to share a few of the squares which have recently arrived.

All We Are Saying Peace Squares, a selection.

The squares above were made by members of the North Shields Embroidery Guild and the Tuesday Crafternoon group. They are a fabulous collection, even using found items like shells to decorate the square.

Peace Square made by Margaret Graham.

Embroidered and progged Peace Square made by Kath Price.

If you would like to make a Peace Square and send it to us – wherever you are in the World – then please send it to:

Peace Blanket

The Holy Biscuit
1 Clarence Street
Shieldfield
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE2 1YH

The squares can be made in any textile technique – knitting, sewing, proggy matting, fabric painting etc. If the finished design size can be 20 cm square and please allow a few more cm around the square for sewing. The only thing we ask is if the square is not to be overtly religious or political, as we would like this to be a very inclusive work.

Peace in many languages.

The beautiful piece above was sent into us anonymously and it’s a lovely piece on pretty fabric.

Two part peace square.

Give Peace a Chance embroidered square.

I hope to share more of the squares we’ve had delivered again soon.

Birthday on a Budget/Best Present Ever!!

A Unitopian Birthday!

At the weekend my youngest daughter turned seven. For a long time now, she has been obsessed with unicorns. In fact I think many of her presents from previous birthdays and Christmases have involved unicorns. So much so, it can be very difficult to get in her room for them. When asked what she would like this year for her birthday, unicorns were once again her answer.

This year, as I work as an artist, money has been more tight than usual. There has been massive cuts in the sectors I traditionally work freelance for and I need to ensure I can still pay my studio rent, insurances etc. So spending on day to day has tightened and certainly what we would normally spend on our girls for birthday presents has cut right down.

Luckily, as you may have seen on my previous pages, I can turn my hand to most craft/making/arty thing. So, I decided to hunt out some unicorn related crochet patterns and make her seven unicorns for her seventh birthday. Which was quite time consuming, proved inexpensive. The pattern I used is Amigurumi by Lan-Anh Bui and Josephine Wan, published by GMC Books. I’ve used this book before and it has great, simple instructions for outrageously cute amigurumi creatures. I adapted the horse/zebra pattern by adding a unicorn horn, plus using very bright colours.

First crocheted unicorn, in sparkly wool.

Each unicorn took about three hours to make and the wool we already had around the house or was topped up from our local Poundland. The fun part was choosing the colour combinations!

Unicorn with fairy-tale house.

Over a couple of weeks, I worked on the unicorns.

Five made, two in pieces…

Once the unicorns were finished, we decided it would be even more fun to make a unicorn head band! So, mixing three wools together, I crocheted a triangle shape which could be sewn into a cone shape and attached to a headband.

Crocheting the unicorn horn.

On her birthday, her two elder sisters had created a treasure hunt for her unicorn presents. She was given her unicorn headband to where and the first clue to find them. Then she was off, racing around the house to find all of her seven new friends. Since then, they have not left her side and great fun has been had, giving them all names.

A new uni-tastic friendship has begun!

All in all, I probably spent about £15 on buying more wool, stuffing and the headband. Not bad for the ‘Best Present Ever’!

How to: Yarn Bomb a chair!

WARNING!! -This is a really fun one and could possibly get addictive!

Finished yarn bombed chairs.

You will/may need:

Knitting wool – double knitting and above in thickness, and lots of colours!

Crochet hook or knitting needles,

Wool needles,

Foam/seat pad,

Fabric for patchworking,

Webbing and webbing stretcher if there is not ‘seat’,

Tacks/small nails,

Hessian or similar fabric for underside of seat.

This is a great way to recycle an old chair you/friend may have or that you’ve found down a charity shop. Firstly, you need to clean your chair and tighten up any nut and bolts. If your seat has wicker for the ‘seat’, strip this as close to the wood as possible.

Strip wicker or any fabric/wood from the seat.

If you have a wooden seat, check there’s no nails etc sticking out, which could be dangerous. If you have a seat which was a woven wicker, which you have now stripped, then you will need to ‘web’ a seat – YouTube has many sites explaining this method.

Finished ‘webbed’ seat.

You are now ready for the fun stuff! Using either crochet or knitting, make narrow strips according to a rough estimate of the width and length of you chair. I started with the legs. I calculated roughly by first crocheting a chain which I wrapped around the base of the leg and worked in treble crochet, making brightly coloured stripes.

Striped lengths of crochet for chair sections.

When I had reached a ‘joint’ in the chair, I would slightly decrease the number of stitches to work around the joint, then increase again after. (When two joints meet the crocheted sections will be sewn together to cover the join.)

Once, the crocheted length was the correct size, I would cast off, then sew the section to around the leg of the chair, pulling tight to ensure the wool stitching is discreetly disguised.

Continue working this way, making lengths of crochet to wrap around the different joints of the chair.

Stitching the ‘joints’ together.

If you have webbed the seat, stitch the lengths of crochet through the webbing. If you have a wooden seat, using small tacks, nail the crochet length around the base of the seat, ensuring your tacks will be covered over with your seat pad later. Also, ensure all tacks are safely hammered in.

Wrapping the length of crochet around the webbed seat.

Once your chair is fully yarn bombed, you will now need a foam seat pad which you can either buy pre-cut from a shop. Then, you will need to decide how to cover it. I choose to cover my seats using my daughter’s skirts and trousers they had grown out of. These were in great fabrics – ideal for upholstery – such as cord, velvets and denims. I decided to cut them and sew them into ‘crazy patchwork’. This is a traditional technique, which uses up small pieces of fabric. But, you could choose to continue with the crochet/knitting and make a cover or use a full piece of fabric to cover the cushion pad.

Chair covered in crochet yarn bombing.

The fabric, with the pad positioned underneath, was tacked around about 1cm from the top edge of the seat. I then, made a crochet binding to cover the tacked edge, by crocheting a long length in two rows of double crochet. This was then discreetly sewn onto the patchwork and the chair.

Crazy patchwork seat cover, with crochet binding.

You’re now almost finished! To make your chair look neat and tidy, it’s always best to cover your working, so that there’s no little wool ‘tails’ dangling from your chair. I would, therefore, recommend to now cover the underside of the seat with hessian to hide your working. This can be done with a small square of hessian, or another fabric you have at hand, and tack that to the underside of the seat.

Underside of seat, with the ‘working’ of your chair hidden underneath.

Now, you can enjoy your most gorgeous and fabulous seat – invite your friends round and maybe make another!

My finished chairs on display at Ouseburn Open Studios this weekend.

Finished chair.

Recent finished projects

It’s always great to report that you’ve actually finished something, as often I have many W.I.P’s (work in progress) but I thought I’d do a little catch up – mainly to make me feel better – about some of the things I’ve finished recently and a couple I didn’t blog about at the time. Like the socks below, which I had speculated about finishing in time for Christmas to be my present to myself – which I did – but I became so caught up in the fun of family Christmas stuff and my jazzy, stripy socks were left forgotten in the blogosphere.

Christmas present socks

This week, I also finished another pair of socks for my birthday! This is not like me, I hasten to add, normally every pair of socks I make are usual given to friends and family, so to have actually made myself two pairs of socks in three months is pretty good going! Sock knitting is something I do a little of, often. I have a very cute little bag a friend gave to me a couple of years ago and it always contains my current socks in progress, so that if I have to hang around for a while whilst the girls are at a party/swimming lessons, the bag is taken with me. Below are my lovely new, very bright, slouch socks.

Slouch socks, a present to myself!

Now, I apologise for not up dating on whether I’d finished my Stash Buster Challenge in time during February! Well, I did, literally the night it needed to be finished to complete the challenge in time, at about 30 minutes to midnight, my tank top was finished!! I had made my own pattern up for the tank top and I probably could have made it a size smaller as the lovely wool I used, ‘Click by Sirdar’, was quite stretchy and forgiving. But it’s lovely, soft and cosy!

Stash buster challenge tank top February 2015.

Last week, I was busy preparing my studio for a visit by a local satellite TV channel Made in Tyne and Wear to discuss Ouseburn Open Studios and my work. So besides tidying, I decided to make a lovely Spring Wreath to go on the front of my studio door.  It is made using freeform crochet and has now got me in the mood for more crocheting – so I may yarn bomb the street where my studio is – or even just a few of my chairs!! My interview will be on the TV next Monday and I may – depending on the results – try and embed it into my blog… we’ll see.

Spring Wreath in Crochet.

Well, I said I was inspired to go a bit mad with the crocheting, and after seeing another crocheted gnome house on Facebook, my daughters have decided we need to make a village! This was last nights Gnome house and we now even have designs for the rest!! Still, when your youngest daughter is 6 years old, your allowed to not take life too seriously sometimes! And going off on a slight tangent today, I also made her a crocheted unicorn but that’s for her birthday and hopefully there will be a whole blog post infested with unicorns soon!!

Gnome house!

Another future idea, developed from the mad gnome house, crocheting craziness, as we have an allotment, I may also make some gnome houses using plastic garden twine, so that they can stay down there in the vegetable beds!! Might make a spring wreath like that, too…