Woollen Woods in Belper starts on Saturday May 23rd at 3.00pm and continues until the evening of Monday may 25th. Come down to the Belper Parks Woods to discover so many animals ad other things hidden among the trees. Things are displayed in the woods in the area called Great Park Wood. The ‘Woollen Woods’ is an event happening all over the country. Woollen woods was started by Eden Arts in 2013 when they asked people to make items from wool to be displayed in the woods of Acorn Bank NT House. I visited this house in June 2013 and loved all the things I saw. Continue reading Woollen Woods
Category: Making
TED Talks
I love listening to TED talks and also watching them on You Tube. TED stands for Technology Entertainment and Design. Here is the definition from Wiki Answers ‘TED is a small nonprofit organisation devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, and Design. TED talks are motivational ways to improve your life, while learning a variety of new “life tricks” and many self improvement techniques.’ Continue reading TED Talks
Sustainable Luxury, Social Entrepreneurship
I have just finished reading an interesting book, ‘Sustainable Luxury and Social Entrepreneurship, stories from the pioneers’.
It is a book written by entrepreneurs who have started businesses making beautiful things while at the same time thinking about their effect on our planet and the lives of the people who produce the items.
Continue reading Sustainable Luxury, Social Entrepreneurship
Here and There
The ‘Here and There’ art walk is to take place in the Belper Parks wood during the weekend of May 23rd to May 25th. Artists who would like to take part can find out how to apply on the Corridor Arts website. I am writing this blog to encourage knitters, crocheters and textile artists to make pieces of work inspired by nature. These will be exhibited as part of the ‘Here and There’ art walk.
May 15-24th 2015 is Voluntary Arts week. During this week woods all over the country will be decorated with woollen creatures and vegetation as part of the Woollen Woods. The part of the art walk weekend that I am involved with is ‘Here and There’, inspired by the Woollen Woods. The plan is to get as many people as possible to make items to decorate the woods.
What If Machine Derby
I am sitting enjoying a cup of tea after an enjoyable, exhausting weekend making part of a ‘What if Machine ‘ at Derby Silk Mill Museum. It was such a fun experience that I wanted to record it straight away. To explain, a What If Machine is based on the idea of creating a very complicated machine to cause something very simple to happen. These type of machines were drawn by Heath Robinson in England and Rube Goldberg in America. Neither illustrator made their machines but have inspired many to try. Wallis and Grommet films have some fantastically complicated ideas for achieving simple tasks.
Harley Gallery and Welbeck Village
Last weekend I visited the Harley Gallery and Welbeck village. The village is owned by the Duke of Portland. He is responsible for continuing the Welbeck Project started by his Aunt, Ivy the Duchess of Portland. The village is not usually open for the public to walk around so it was lovely to be able to visit it.
I Love Making Things.
I love making things hence the title of my blog, Anne Clark Handmade. I also like to create small worlds using papier mache, fabric, wire and knitting. There is a lot of fun to be had experimenting with different materials. A couple of years ago I spent a day attending a Jessie Chorley workshop at Hope and Elvis in Nottinghamshire. We were given an old cutlery box to do something with and I made it into a small room with clock, curtain and dressing table.
A Shed of my Own.
I really need a shed and that is why I am entering the Beast Shed competition. It may seem strange but I have dreamed of owning a shed for many years but to buy a good quality one that will last, does cost a tidy sum. I imagined my shed to be quite a pretty affair with bunting hung outside, a metal cafe type table and chairs where I could sit and savour a cup of tea. A place to enjoy the garden even on wet days and a place to pot up some plants or do some knitting.
Global Service Jam 2014
I have just spent an enjoyable, challenging and exhausting weekend joining in with the Global Service Jam at Quad in Derby. It is the first time that I have ever been involved with something like this so I am giving some feedback on how I found it. To start with, here is some background information on what a Global Service Jam involves. The global bit is easy, it takes place all over the world on the same weekend or as near to that as is possible. This year over 100 cities joined in with Jam sites existing on six continents. On the poster below you can see the Derby Ram just over halfway down.
WaterAid, Knitted Raindrops.
I love knitting and wanted to make something to raise money for WaterAid. WaterAid is an international charity that transforms lives by improving access to safe water, hygiene and sanitation. In this country we can take water for granted, especially this year and many of us must feel we have seen enough rain for a life time. However it is not the same everywhere and thousands of children die each year because they do not have clean water to drink. Lots of information on what your donation can provide and the projects that are going on can be found on the WaterAid website.