The homemade home for children

Is it strange that there are fashions in books the same way that there is in wallpaper, furniture, clothes and food? The latest book trend is for everything to look slightly homespun  and shabby chic ,this is one of those books, even its spine has a line of faux silver stitches that give the appearance of hand sewing.

Sania Pell has jam packed her book full of charming projects to make, many of which recycle common household items such as jars and tins and wooden crates. Lots of the items  can be made by both adult and child together. There are nursery, bedroom, play, clothing, storage and outside chapters each of which have very quick projects such as treasure jars and paint can storage. Sania Pell is a stylist, and both the book itself and the projects within  are lovely to look at. I feel some, such as the pebbles with letters are totally impractical and although fun to make might not last for long with a robust and lively child.

What an ingenious idea to make a dolls house from bookshelves. It is not surprising to learn that Sania’s background is in Textile design she is a graduate of Edinburgh college of Art . This is reflected in the feminine projects such as the floral wall hangings and the butterfly lamp shade that I feel are some of the most successful in the book.

I love the house that hangs over a clothes line as it reminds me of making camps when I was a child. If you are a parent or grandparent who likes making things then this is the book for you. It is excellent value for money and will provide hours of fun.  Sania’s blog is www.saniapell.com/athomeblog

A Hot August day in London

A hummungusly hot day  at last. Great, it seems so long since even a hint of real summer. It is now 6.30pm and there is a warm breeze, quite heavenly. Already August and I havn’t written a single  blog  entry this month. Ok it is only the third but…. I have been out and about. This weekend was spent with dear friend  Jane and her son Henry aged 10 3/4 and we just had to go to Black Gang Chine on the Isle of Wight. As amusement emporiums go,  it is one of the better ones. We wobbled in the  crooked house, walked bandy legged down the wild west high street. There was also a   pirate ship, a singing bridge and the obligatory pink fairy castle. Having visited Wimbledon Art School’s theatre department, I now see where all the talent ends up, making weird and wonderful creatures for places like this.

A crooked house

A crooked man in a croked kitchen

A talking waste bin

RSPCA collecting box

Tableau from the haunted house

Jane

Taking aim with the new cap gun/rifle

More papier mache, this time a vase

This vase is made out of a soup container covered in papier mache and then painted. See yesterday’s blog for instructions on making the paste. Once you have done that, you layer the pot in the same way as the tin  was done. To add weight to the pot I papier mached the lid from a tin can onto the base of the pot.

To make a frill. I spread paste onto a  piece of used typing paper and folded it in half and added more paste and folded it again. This made quite a thick strong piece of  paper with which to work. I then pleated it and stuck  it to the rim of the pot, using  more layers of papier mache.  The whole pot was then painted white before decorating  with bright poster paints.

A pen pot

Turn a tin into a pen pot, or a vase. This is not a project you can do quickly as you need to wait between layers for the  papier mache to dry. It is fun to work on lots of projects that are all drying at different times. If you are a child then you will need an adult to  mix the glue  as it heats up on the hob.

To make paste you need

Plain Flour

Water

Saucepan

Mug

Wooden spoon

Hob

Instructions

Measure 1 mug of flour and 3 mugs of water. In a saucepan mix the flour with a little of the water to make a smooth paste. Add the rest of the water and heat the mixture until it boils stirring all the time. Turn the heat down and simmer until the paste thickens. Leave the mixture until it gets cold. If you do not use all the paste at once, cover the bowl with cling film and store it in the fridge.

To make a pen pot

You will need

Paste (see recipe above)

1 tin can (after the contents have been used)

newspaper or old writing paper

pva glue and a brush

an old comic

Instructions

1. Put lots of paper on your work surface to keep everything clean.

2. Get everything near to you, as once you start the gluing process you will get sticky and you won’t want to be traipsing glue across every surface. .

3. Rip the paper into long strips and  using your hands spread the paste onto the strips as you work. Stick the strips round the tin can. When the can is covered in newspaper it will need to be left to dry. If it is sunny put it outside where it will dry quite quickly, and then you may add the next layer of  paper and paste.

4. Continue until you have 4 layers, press them down making sure there are no bubbles.

5. When the last layer is dry, rip up the comic and add that as the final layer. Leave to dry.

6. When the last layer is dry add a coat of PVA glue. This is a little frightening as the images on the tin disappear, however once the PVA is dry it becomes clear and shiny and works as a protective coat.

Sock it to me Pillow Case

This pillow case was decorated copying brightly coloured children’s socks.

You will need

Jars of fabric paint or fabric pens I used Dylon in red, yellow, blue and green, although you can mix yellow and blue to make your own green, red and yellow to make orange and blue and red to make purple.

Some brightly coloured socks to copy       

Cardboard  from a cereal packet

Pencil and scissors

Brush with which to apply the paint

Lots of newspaper

Kitchen paper

Piece of cotton fabric

Masking paper

Instructions

1. Draw a sock shape on the cardboard and cut it out.

2. Open up the pillowcase and line it with newspaper.

3.Cover the table in paper to protect it from dye. Tape the pillowcase to a protected table.

4.Practice on a piece of fabric first of all, to get the feel of applying the amount of paint you need to put on. It is best to start with too little, rather than too much, paint as you can always add more.

5. Draw round the stencil with a pencil and add the patterns then go over this line with a fabric pen, and then fill in using fabric paints or more fabric pens.

7. Leave the pillow case to dry, and then turn it inside out, and iron on the back to fix. Once it has  been ironed it can be washed in a normal washing machine.

My Birthday

Today is my birthday and so  I am posting my blog the day before. One of my Norwegian friends, Monica,  has sent me pictures of the cake she made for her sons birthday. A wonderful bug made out of highly decorated cup cakes and sweets. As this blog is as much about what I see, like or make, I had to put this gnarled sculpture onto it. It was one of a couple when I first moved to the area 18 years ago, sadly the other has been vandalized and no longer exists. This one has also  been partly spoilt but I love its gnarled form.

Hieroglyphic beret

Finished beret

Having made such a mess with the last beret I decorated,  I went for the conventional felt, rather than rather than mohair, this time. I copied the hieroglyphs from a Feng shui leaflet. I chose Dylon orange expanding paint to decorate a peacock blue  beret. I roughly drew on the hieroglyphs using tailors chalk and then went over it with the expanding paint. It needs 2 or 3 layers of paint and needs to dry between layers. The paint can spurt out so have a piece of kitchen paper to hand to wipe any excess paint as you go along.

Trying it with chop sticks

Re cycling bits and bobs

Take one old mirror, old Christmas decorations, toys, beads dice, chess pieces, wooden animals and anything else that comes to hand. Arrange on the frame so they looked balanced and then stick with adhesive.

Ingredients

Stencilled shed

The shed that is decorated with dolphins and sharks was a gift to my daughter Alice for her seventh birthday, she is about to be 19, so it has lasted a long time. It was great fun to build the shed between Alice  going to bed one evening and waking up the next morning. The shed was later personalized by painting and adding curtains and a window box. The inside was painted with blue paint and then the stencils were added.

You will need

Pencil and paper

Images dolphins and sharks to copy

Stencil acetate

Craft knife

Masking tape

Emulsion paint in  black and white

Stencil brush

Newspaper

Instructions

1. Copy the shark design onto paper

2. Copy the dolphin onto paper

3. Place the drawing on a cutting board or piece of wood. Tape the acetate on top of the drawings.

4 Using the craft knife, cut out a stencil of both the shark and dolphin.

5 Pour each colour paint into a different saucer.

6 Tape the stencil onto the wall of the shed and dip the brush into the paint. It needs to be applied fairly dry and build up the colour or else it will seep under the edges of the stencil. Practice on a bit of paper first.

More from the Knitting and Stitching show

I have written books on papier mache, decoupage and 3D decoupage, and yet I came across something, new for me, called decopatch. A cross between decoupage and patchwork? The man demonstrating the craft told me the very thin 20g/m2 thick paper is also very strong and when the glue/varnish is applied, unlike tissue paper, it doesn’t disintegrate. The varnish glue is a white paste that becomes transparent on drying. To be honest it looks like PVA glue to me. I said as much to the demonstrator. I think  on large areas and applied with imagination it could look great but on small objects I am not sure I would be bothered. The range of papers was vast and as a craft it is as easy as cutting and sticking.

A few of the lovely papers available

I love this bonkers tree

For materials and information go to www.decoupatch.co.uk