Another rainy crafternoon…

As has frequently been the case in Derby of late, yesterday afternoon was of the rainy persuasion.  What to do with such a damp occasion?  Another crafternoon with Britta (JaguarSnail), of course!  I was mostly on the production line, folding envelopes in anticipation of a new version of the TangleClub to be introduced in June, making address labels to include as extras with craft fair goody bags, and then unwinding with a couple of new collaged notebooks.

Colours for this one chosen by Britta

Colours for this one chosen by me!

Britta’s new mini zine

TangleCrafts, as drawn by JaguarSnail!

Britta was working on a couple of embroidery samples from her new mini zine (coming soon to a TangleStore near you – but not quite yet!); then while I collaged, Britta drew me in action, using her new copic marker pens.  She was filling up gaps in an old sketchbook from her university days, hence the JaguarSnail trial business card shown (with personal info inelegantly edited out by yours truly) to the left of the drawing.  Flattered though I am by the portrait, I’m afraid it does err to the flattering side & my face is definitely not quite so hollow-cheeked…  The hair looks great, though!

Britta was having a ridiculously creative day, and after using some of my excess stamps to trial a little postal patchwork, she then took a different direction with them, and made this oh-so-awesome envelope design:

Presidential Mail Art by Britta Jarvis

I love this ‘doodle’ so much!  I immediately scanned it, then printed out a sheet as labels, so that Britta can actually mail them (the original being trapped on a tea-stained page within the afore-mentioned sketchbook). Thinking of adding them as a label set to the TangleStore – what do you think?

I should have had even more of Britta’s mail art to show you, as she brought along a whole batch of pre-artified envelopes, ready for me to list in the TangleStore.  But I noticed (far too late in the day) that she had not signed her work, so they have temporarily left the building again, to return in the near future inc. JaguarSnail maker’s mark.

Yep, there was an awful lot of craft (and art!) afoot in Tangledom yesterday, and there’s still so much more to come!  I have new projects coming out of my ears, so please keep an eye on the TangleStore, Twitter, and of course here on the blog for all the latest updates. 🙂

Zines I Like #5: How to draw like a Nut by Andrea Joseph

Yay – another handwritten – and hand-drawn – zine!  This 16 page, half-size zine is completely jam-packed with incredibly detailed drawings (all drawn with ballpoint pens), creative inspiration, tips & techniques, and lots and lots of text meandering around the prolific illustrations.
The first double page spread, in a ‘cunning’ play on the zine’s title, consists of a detailed tutorial of how to draw a monkey nut shell.  On subsequent pages, Andrea rambles engagingly about shoes,  pens, where she finds ideas (“anywhere & everywhere (but as I am reclusive they mainly come from around the house)”), and if following the text around in multiple directions does not make you feel seasick, you will pick up lots of practical tips, as well as inspiration.  And lots of anecdotes about Andrea’s life & habits. There’s also a fun double-page spread of Andrea’s living room, complete with 10 loose ballpoint pens for you to locate!

As we all know, I personally cannot draw, and did not labour under the illusion that this zine would magically teach me how.  If you already have a degree of artistic talent, however, it might give you a few helpful pointers.  Most of all, though, this zine is just a funny & fascinating insight into a creative mind, combined with many pretty impressive ballpoint illustrations.
Visit Andrea Joseph’s Etsy Store for your copy.

Pebbles

A couple of months ago I did a doodling project and (left) became fascinated by a pebble mosaic technique that I tried out – which itself was an extension of a doodle I started playing with last autumn (right).  With the first trial, I loved the mosaic effect but did not complete the rectangle because I could see the definition of the ‘circles’ disappearing, the more pebbles I added.  With the new version, I realised that varying the size of pebbles in each row of ‘contour lines’ kept the initial pattern clearly defined.  This week, in stray moments between printing, folding & packaging zines, I explored the idea of making a word mosaic:

Overall, I think I prefer the more abstract pattern (above left), but at the same time, I have a few weddings to attend this summer, and it occurred to me that a pebblified word might make a nice greeting card to commemorate an occasion.  Now I just need to decide on a ‘love’-themed word that is neither too twee nor too pretentious & start doodling.  Quickly, because the first wedding is next weekend…!