Life has been a bit hectic round these parts since September, largely as the result of being asked to write a tutorial for UK craft magazine, Crafty. Keeping the deadline meant various other projects had to be put on hold temporarily, and then (more recently) the catch-up period commenced… I was very excited about the magazine project, and it was very hard for me not to mention in advance, but I received my contributor’s copy today & it will be in the shops tomorrow (Friday 8th), so I can finally share the news!
I was given carte blanche for a DIY weaving project, and was very happy when the go-ahead was given for my handwoven airmail envelope idea. The observant amongst you may have noticed my sudden resurgence of interest in the Handwoven Postcard Project, and an unprecedented number of posts where I shared (unbeknownst to you!) my prototypes for the magazine tutorial.
You may or may not have also noticed that my blog posts are usually conspicuously free from pictures of myself (largely because there is no camera in my household), but now that a photo has been published in a national magazine, I decided to break with tradition and share the (actually quite old!) pic I shared with them. There I am!!! >>>>
Far more interesting to me is the nice job they made of photographing the actual handwoven postcard – much more enticing than my usual flat scan…
By the way, the magazine people very kindly returned my handwoven postcard sample, so I have popped it into the TangleStore for somebody to snap up a little piece of TangleCrafts history! (Sorry, someone was quick off the mark with this! Look out instead for limited edition ‘custom’ handwoven postcards, available soon…)
The Crafty feature provides step-by-step instructions to weave your very own postcard-that-looks-like-a-letter. To complement the project, I have also just added a new TangleClub* freebie – printable airmail stripes and/or background – to make the non-woven airmail border that little bit easier to achieve. (Of course, you can also use the printable for non-woven mail art projects if you feel so inspired. 🙂 )
Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough space in the Crafty article for the extra steps I had prepared for adding the ‘address’ and ‘stamp’ to the weaving/postcard/letter, so I will be working on a new kit/instruction booklet which will include those little finishing touches as well as various other bits & bobs. Watch this space for availability!
There are lots of other exceedingly cool projects in this month’s issue of Crafty (I especially can’t resist those Clanger-esque needle-felted mice on the front cover by illustrator Gretel Parker) and I notice there is currently a half price subscription offer on the Crafty website, which sounds like a bargain to me! If you check out the magazine, please stop by and let me know what you think. 🙂
*TangleClub membership available here.
tanglecrafts.wordpress.com 
I am absolutely stoked for you, Su! As you know I’ve been following your career for a few years and it’s fab to see you spreading your mailart wings and getting your crafty goodness to an even wider audience. Congratulations!!!! And I am glad I got here in time to purchase the famous sample 🙂
Aw, thanks Sam. 🙂 I’m really happy that you’re the one to give my ‘prototype’ postcard a new home. Fingers crossed it manages to reach you safely all the way over there in Australia (it’s a pretty grim start from this end with pouring rain to contend with)!