How wonderful is this hand-stitched illustration by artist Stephanie Hart?
I find the characters intriguing – I’d love to find out their stories, how they met, hear tales of their time together. The stitching is so incredibly delicate and detailed too – my own efforts are definitely a long way off!
She’s selling it on her Etsy shop right now if you fancy picking up a lovely Valentine’s gift. And you can check out more of her artwork and embroidery on her blog.
Check out these great pics from the Craftivist Collective‘s latest action, which took place at the Hayward Gallery last week.
To coincide with Tracey Emin’s exhibition ‘Love is what you want’, which explores themes of love, the collective produced a giant embroidered letter asking gallery-goers to show love to ‘our global neighbours struggling in our unjust world.’
Around 60 crafters ‘signed’ the letter by stitching their names onto tags, along with a sentence describing the ways in which they would try make a difference to the world.
I love projects like this – they prove that contemporary craft can be relevant and topical, as well as providing a fun and engaging way of involving the public in activism. It’s far more enjoyable than just signing yet another e-petition.
If you’d like to get involved with the group’s actions, head to the Royal Festival Hall cafe at 6.30pm tomorrow to join the ‘Don’t Blow It‘ workshop and learn how to stitch a letter to your MP onto a hankerchief.
Photos courtesy of Robin Prime
Today’s London Paper has a double page feature on the city’s craft scene. If you’re a better person than me and never pick the rag up out of protest at its wateful use of paper, or because you don’t care what Peaches Geldof did in Bungalow 8 last night, then I salute you and shall reward you with a summing-up of its contents.
The Papered Parlour opens in Clapham this Saturday 2 May, and hopes to bring a bit of culture and creativity to an area best known for chain bars and Australian youths in bad loafers. Acting us a creative community hub, there’s a cafe and studio where anyone can drop in for a cup of tea, a natter and – hopefully – some artistic skill-sharing. There will also be exhibitions, performance space for hire and classes on everything from screen-printing to jewellery making. Plus they sell some exquisite-looking cupcakes. It sounds so fabulous that I might just brave the walk down Clapham High Street to get there, which says a lot.
The Make Lounge aims to provide ‘contemporary craft workshops with a stylish, social twist’, and they have a brilliant range of niche workshops on offer including A-line skirt making and a ‘zipper clinic’ (which I could definitely do with popping along to…). They also offer bespoke craft parties for you and friends, although be prepared to recevive handmade presents from all your guests if you throw one for your birthday – fine when they’re good crafters, but slightly rubbish when they’re not.
I Knit, based in Waterloo, is an absolute haven for all yarn junkies. Browse the extensive collection of quality wool, take one of their classes to brush up on your needle skills and pop along to their knit groups (every wednesday and thursday) for some yarn-bonding sessions. Also sign up their online newsletter for all knit-related goings-on.
Candid Arts is a slightly more high-brow institution, and primarily acts as an exhibition and education centre, but has an extensive range of art courses for those wishing to expand their skills beyond those GCSE paint splatters you did ten years ago. Plus there’s singing and music lessons – in a definitely non-x-factor-ish way.
