Newcastle Craft Mafia

Felt making during Newcastle Fashion week

2011-05-16T06:15:00.003-07:00

Well to kick off our links with Newcastle Fashion week workshop ventures, Made in Newcastle, along with members of Newcastle craft mafia provided a array of felting fun at Newcastle City Library.

We had an array of visitors to our workshop, young and old and old and fun was had by all. We made felted necklaces, rings, as seen by one of our wonderful Newcastle Fashion week team, brooches using the wonderful medium of felt.

To learn more about the art of felt, I would thoroughly recommend one of my favourite informative sites - Sara's Texture Crafts.

Made in Newcastle would like to thank Sitting on the wall and Threadspider Textiles for delivering this workshop.

Maker Faire Day 2

2011-03-13T12:07:00.000-07:00

The second day at the Maker Faire was equally as busy and fun. There are a lot of creative chrildren and adults around .

Maker Faire Day 1

2011-03-12T11:06:00.000-08:00

Well, the first day of the Maker Faire is over and what a day we have all had...

The Newcastle Craft Mafia and Made in Newcastle collaborated on supporting the Maker Faire public make use of the everyday things that we discard to create a wonderful array of arm bands, bracelets and neck pieces with the odd great idea of recycled knitted cuffs and bag charms thrown in for good measure!

Leeanne Lowe from Sitting on the wall, Brittania Douglas from Rule Brittania, Christine White from Threadspider Textiles, Lucy Farfort from Lucy's happy place , Joanna Sullivan and Brigid Campbell from Irish Granny all lent a hand to make the day as creative and exiting as possible for all the wonderful visitors we had to our stand...and as you can see
by the pictures below, there were many.....

2011-03-07T14:40:00.000-08:00

Made in Newcastle are looking for people currently not involved in MiN & fashion students/graduates to showcase & sell their handmade fashion etc in the gallery space for Newcastle fashion week 14-21 May. We are now mainly looking for fashion designers (with particular focus on clothing) and fashion illustrators.

The shop will be heavily promoted during this time by organisers of Fashion Wk & MiN and each guest designer will have a feature on blog.

Please contact lucyfarfort@yahoo.com if you're interested in more info. Please note at the moment this opportunity is only for the fashion week.

Maker Faire 2011

2011-03-04T12:39:00.000-08:00

Calling all budding creatives....would you like to pop along to the Maker Faire and play on our Newcastle Craft Mafia Stand and help the public with our make:

Using a sourced collection of old t-shirts, vintage and ‘throwaway’ objects we invite all to acquire an appreciation of how easy it is to be creative with our junk; the everyday ...things we often throw away.

Drop us a line at: mail@newcastlecraftmafia.com if you are interested...

Below is an array of the types of products the visitors to our stand have the opportunity to make.....

Maker Faire 2011

2011-02-23T15:03:00.000-08:00

Getting our make on ready for Maker Faire, as part of Newcastle ScienceFest! Visit for more information on whats going on:

http://www.newcastlesciencefest.co.uk/

http://www.life.org.uk/

Inspiration Thursday - The Year of the Rabbit

2011-02-09T22:29:00.000-08:00

I found this great video from Benji Davies and Jim Field.

Year of the Rabbit from Frater on Vimeo.

Anyone out here got some Rabbit themed products they would like to share with us?

The Importance of Projects

2011-02-08T08:55:00.001-08:00

When the weather is cold and dreary, it's so easy to feel uninspired, but having creative projects are so important in our often busy and hectic lives. Statistics show that very few people get any sort of satisfaction from their job, and we are constantly being told about what a messed up society this is, what a bad government this is for getting us into debt, etc. etc.

So I want you to stop. Think about when you were in school and you had just finished an amazing project, and you could take it home to your parents and show your good grade to them. For me it was a medieval fashion show I did for history class. Do you remember how proud you were to show it off to classmates, and the satisfaction you got from accomplishing it?

When I was pregnant, with my now two year old son, I was miserable, and ill. So I threw myself into making him is own special wardrobe. I wish I had some pictures of it before, but it was really too ugly to warrant the desire to take photos of it. The previous owner of our house had left it behind, and we kept it, because we needed the storage, and because it was really heavy. My husband and I both love animals and wanted to share this love with our son, so decided I would paint animal scenes on panels. My husband measured up the doors and bought MDF panels that I could paint, then he could attach to the front of the wardrobe. My husband painted the whole of the wardrobe green and I got to work on the panels. Now my son loves to tell us stories about the animals, and I get a warm fuzzy feeling of deep joy and satisfaction that we made it for him.

So have a think about it. What would give you some satisfaction in life? Learn a new language, learn to play the guitar? Or what about going through your memory cards and finding a brilliant photo from your last holiday, and getting it put in a really nice frame? Every time you walk by it you can take pride in the photo you took? Think back on the things you used to enjoy as a child, try reliving those days where you really just sat down and created, not for anyone else, but for yourself, you might be surprised by your own talent.

Pricing your handmade goods

2011-01-27T12:55:00.000-08:00

A great article produced by our friends at UK handmade. Larissa Robinson-Joice of www.giggleicious-photography.co.uk covers that age old topic of "pricing"!

Some points she makes are:

You ARE a business person, no matter what your craft and should organise yourself as such.
You should pay yourself NO LESS than the minimum wage and this should be factored into the prices of your goods.
Factor in the WHOLE cost of making your goods; both waste and used materials (such as off-cuts), shipping (to you), your tools and equipment costs, rent, repairs, phone, internet, website costs, electricity, advertising and office equipment. (You will need to make educated guesses with regard to utilities, especially if you work from home.)

To see more information on this blogpost, visit:

Etsy Treasury Feature

2011-01-27T07:01:00.000-08:00

Our very own Leeanne from 'Sittingonthe Wall' had a great mention in an Etsy treasury today .

What else is happennig in the North East?

2011-01-19T15:24:00.000-08:00

An exhibition from our friends at the Empty Shop in Durham.

'The 3rd annual Empty Shop Open opens with a hell of an opening night at Empty Shop HQ. Featuring work by artists from across the North East of England the exhibition marks the 3rd Birthday of Empty Shop.

Time: Friday, January 28 · 6:00pm - 9:00pm

Location: Empty Shop HQ, 35C Framwellgate Bridge, The Gates Shopping Centre, Durham

Also taking place that evening you will have the chance to see the installation in the Stairwell Gallery by Cardiff based Spike Dennis and a whole host of other exciting art activites.'

Visit their Facebook page to confirm your attendance or visit them at emptyshop.org for more information on this great creative venture.

Valentine Treats

2011-01-18T05:42:00.000-08:00

A selection of ideas from our members web sites to suprise that special person in your life .

Check out the family page at

http://www.newcastlecraftmafia.com/

Crochet Skill Swap

2011-01-14T13:14:00.000-08:00

We all had a wonderful Skills swap session this month with the wonderfully talented Bridgid, from 'Irish Granny'

Brigid showed us how to chrochet....well she showed everyone else...the 'loppy left handed Leeanne' from Sitting on the wall (me!!) was absolutely hopeless....Whilst the other NCM members got it really quickly, I did not...Bridgid has suggested the mirror is needed next time, I think a better idea would be for me to stick to the sewing machine and realise im never gonna be able to crochet!

Maker Faire 2011 here we come

2010-12-23T07:39:00.000-08:00

Newcastle Craft Mafia have just been accepted to be part of the Maker Faire 2011!! Woohooo!

Watch this space for more details!

The world-famous Maker Faire returns to the UK to headline Newcastle ScienceFest. Expect a weekend of cool robots, garden-shed inventions, knitted wonders, the occasional fireball and oodles of opportunities to make your own creations. Perfect for creative people of all ages!

http://www.makerfaireuk.com/

Heres a quick reminder of what we got up to last year:

Maker Faire 2010

There were so many people of all ages creating 'life skills badges', telling everyone how good they were at something . There was a lot of creativity going on ,thread and fabric everywhere .Who said that sewing skills were being lost , well they were well and truly found over the weekend.

Here are some of the people who joined us , proudly wearing their badges.

MIN grand opening

2010-12-19T01:32:00.001-08:00

The first day nerves of the new Empty Shop project from the Made in Newcastle Team is over! A fun packed days was had by all and the shop was busy, busy busy!

Remember our current empty shop will be a month long project so come and get your wonderful array of handmade goods from the MiN team, including some of your favourite Newcastle Craft Mafia members whilst you can and do your bit for the handmade industry whilst you can.

Thanks to the lovely Brittany Coxon for taking the first of our new product photographs.

2010-12-14T08:16:00.000-08:00

Made in Newcastle will be opening to the public this weekend!!! YAY!!! Come and get your last minute christmas presents from the new store...

Made in Newcastle will be at 79 Grainger Street for the holiday season.

Visit Facebook for more information

Made in Newcastle MetroCentre fair

2010-12-02T10:53:00.000-08:00

The North East is 'thigh High' in snow, but despite this many of our lovely Newcastle Craft Mafia members and other Artistic creatives of the North east turned out to present their wares at the Made In Newcastle Chrsitmas Fair at The Metro centre yesterday.

Should you have some spare time to pop along today, it would be great to see you there! If not and you still want to bag a creative present from one of our members online, visit our online store...

Made in Newcastle Craft Fair

2010-11-25T08:14:00.001-08:00

Some of our wonderfully creative people will be taking part in the MIN craft fair at the Metrocentre Gateshead, next Wednesday and Thursday -1st and 2nd December. Why not pop along , say hello and pick up some handcrafted individually made gifts for Christmas. We look forward to seeing you all.

Japanese woodblock printing with the Hatton Gallery and Northern Print

2010-11-12T10:11:00.001-08:00

A couple of weekends ago, I got up extra early and went on a half day course at Northern Print, to learn the basics of Japanese woodblock printing. The course was organised by the Hatton Gallery together with Northern Print and was run by the lovely Helen.

We learned how to use the various cutting tools to cut our designs out of a wooden block, and then had time to print them using the studio's press. Helen also taught us useful things like how to carve the wood without cutting any of our fingers off.

I tried to be really speedy and cut two designs - one out of each side of my wooden block - so I could print them on top of each other. Helen also showed us how to use paper stencils to prints shapes over our prints as well.

The print on the top left is on Japanese rice paper so looks slightly different from the other three.

The next print is just using the secondary design which I carved out of the back of my wooden block. You can see that I didn't have time to cut out all the wood properly,so there are lots of lines around the leaves.

The third print (bottom left) uses both of the designs, and the print on the bottom right uses paper stencils over the first green layer.

If you've done any lino printing, this seemed fairly similar to me, but obviously you can get various effects from the wood grain in your print which you wouldn't get with lino. And like lino printing, you don't need a press as you can print from your blocks at home, using a wooden spoon or a baren to press the paper and block together.

Charity Christmas Bauble Event

2010-10-28T00:48:00.000-07:00

Two members of NCM were , along with members of 'Made in Newcastle' , taking part in the event yesterday at the Metro Centre where we were raising money for the Great North Childrens Hospital and Breast Cancer Awareness . We had a great day , there were lots of children decorating baubles to put on the centre's Christmas trees and also to take home with them. There was glitter everywhere ! The event is on for the rest of the week . Why not pop along and help us raise some cash for two great causes.

Ogglebits

2010-10-26T10:42:00.000-07:00

I would like to introduce you to some new friends of mine, the Ogglebits. Not many people were aware of the top-secret laboratory on Holy Island (that would be what makes it top-secret). Some mad scientists were holed up there, most trying to take over the world, but a couple decided to study the relationship between clouds, marshmallows, jelly, and small fury animals. Unfortunately, disaster struck, well for the scientist at least, and it exploded. This however was not a disaster for me as I have been able to rehabilitate them to be released into the world. Each has their own sets of quirky characteristics, and all proceeds go back into the Ogglebits fund.

This purple three-eyed creature is Ralph. Ralph is a shy creature, he needs a lot of love and attention. He loves ribbon and old movies, particularly black and white ones. His favourite food is the little balls of dust that collect under beds, chairs, and other large pieces of furniture.

The top hot-pink Ogglebit, is Lucy. Lucy is a very silly Ogglebit, one of the silliest we have ever come across in fact. She needs someone good at tickling. She loves cotton wool and dried pasta shapes. Her favourite food is the fluff that gets left behind in clothes driers.

NCM Challenge Number Two

2010-10-26T10:04:00.001-07:00

I have a confession to make. I no longer go to the hairdresser's. I haven't been for around 3 years, and prior to that, the visits were sporadic, everything 6 months to a year I would try one out, and I've tried them all, everything from your £10 cheapy to the £45 one with the massaging chair, and I always walk away feeling like they didn't listen to a thing I said I wanted, and could care less. Essentially, I know better what I want than a trendy 19 year-old teen who thought being a hairdresser would be glamorous not boring and repetitive. So I cut my own.

I first cut my own hair at the age of 5, when attempting to look good for school photo's I lopped a chunk off, I think my mother might have cried she took me to her friend's (who was a hairdresser) to attempt to fix it. Then a more serious attempt at the age of 17 where a cut a long fringe, bleached it blonde, then shaved the rest to a number 2 and dyed it black. I fancied myself somewhat of a punk, again, I think my mother may have cried. Luckily I would soon have a best friend who started training to be a hairdresser, and she taught me a lot. So now I would say I cut my own hair 80% of the time, only going to the hairdresser's if the cut I want is way to complicated for my attempt, or for the hairdresser to fix my attempt (oh, it has happened, the hairdresser commenting that I seem to have more than one hair style going on, me remarking about the nutter at the salon who cut my hair, i.e. me.).

Now at this point, you may ask, why cut your own hair? I say, why not? It's not really that hard, and it can save you loads of money, and you know your style, your hair type, your face type, better than anyone else anyway. And it's a bit of giving a big middle finger to the man, like making your own clothes.

First rule to cutting your own hair? Use haircutting scissors! Do not attempt to use normal ones, your hair will get caught up in them, it will split your hair and cause all sorts of habit, again I am telling you from experience when I could not locate a beauty supply shop in Australia. Luckily, here you can find decent scissors at big chemists as well as beauty supply shops. And they only cost around a tenner. If you have thick hair you may want a hair thinner which is the toothy looking one on the right. Also buy yourself some clips like the one above, they're cheap and will help you section your hair.

Generally you should always cut your hair wet, but leave the fringe for last as this is easier to cut when drier. But, and this is a big but of Sir Lance-a-Lot proportions, if you have really curly hair always cut your hair dry, because curly hair shrinks and shortens mega-time as it dries.

Now always remember this very important mantra, HAIR GROWS BACK! I know, as a chemo patient, I was bald for 10 months of my life, including my 21st birthday, so if anyone knows this, it's me. And you might find that scarves and hats really suit your face.

Also, always keep in mind your face shape. Your friend with the little delicate features and tiny face will suit a pixie cut, whereas it would draw attention to round cheeks and faces, so look at celebs who have similar features to you and see what you like.

And if you are cutting your hair short, do so with a friend, you know, I'll cut the back of yours, you cut the back of mine.

Now you will probably not be able to master a straight thick fringe right off the bat, but for more laid back layers, and shaggy dos it is really quite simple. Section your hair with some clips then twist a few strands the size of a candy cane stick in between your fingers, open the scissors then slowly close them around the hair moving up and down over a couple of centimetres, this is like a razor cut. Do this a bit higher on each section of hair and you'll have a layered bob, or do this a bit higher the further back you go and you have a graduated layered look. Add a side fringe or a long fringe, the trick being to start of cutting it a lot longer than you want and then holding your fringe in between your fingers at the spot you would want it the shortest cut with your scissors facing up, which gives it a piecey look. But whatever you do, have fun, because, guess what? If you really mess up you can go to the hairdressers like you would've before and you can make fun of the manic barber that destroyed your hair on holiday.

If all this is too frightening for you, next time you are at the hairdresser's watch what they do, how they do it, then maybe you'll feel comfortable too attempt trimming it at home, leaving you more time in between hairdresser's appointments, saving you a bit of cash, while all your friends exclaim at how brave you are.

And lastly, remember, honestly, it will grow back.

Christmas Bauble Charity Workshop

2010-10-21T00:27:00.000-07:00

Some of our members will ,alongside fellow artists from Made in Newcastle, be hosting this charity event at the Metro Centre during next weeks school holiday. Why not come along and take part . It's for charity after all.

visit the shop to start your christmas shopping early

2010-10-19T07:55:00.000-07:00

Rule Britannia has just listed some of her wonderful products in the NCM online shop in time for the start of the Christmas season, get in early to bag a bargain!

Click to go visit the online shop.

A big welcome to three new members - well four really!

2010-10-13T08:05:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since we last had some new members on board, then three fantastic members come along at once. So without further ado, I shall introduce them:-

The lovely Fiona Ray, who runs the online boutique Frayed Frocks sells a range of reclaimed vintage dresses and hat pieces.
We first met the wonderful duo Chris and Merle at The Autumn market and pleased with them to join us believing their product range to be totally fantastic!! Check out their online store, Peggy Day.

And who could resist this wonderful Moose ring?

Last, but by no means least is the wonderful Josie Clementine who again we bumped into and 'proposed 'to at a craft Fair. Her product range is exquisite and expertly produced knit pieces that just scream 'wear me!' Josie does not have and online shop currently, but she does have a fantastic blog that reflects her product range perfectly. Click her to take a look. Maybe if you all moan to her to get a shop, she will go make an online shop?

Newcastle Craft Mafia

Felt making during Newcastle Fashion week

Maker Faire Day 2

Maker Faire Day 1

Maker Faire 2011

Using a sourced collection of old t-shirts, vintage and ‘throwaway’ objects we invite all to acquire an appreciation of how easy it is to be creative with our junk; the everyday ...things we often throw away.Drop us a line at: mail@newcastlecraftmafia.com if you are interested...

Maker Faire 2011

Inspiration Thursday - The Year of the Rabbit

The Importance of Projects

Pricing your handmade goods

Etsy Treasury Feature

What else is happennig in the North East?

Valentine Treats

Crochet Skill Swap

Maker Faire 2011 here we come

Newcastle Craft Mafia have just been accepted to be part of the Maker Faire 2011!! Woohooo!

Watch this space for more details!

Maker Faire 2010

MIN grand opening

Made in Newcastle MetroCentre fair

Made in Newcastle Craft Fair

Japanese woodblock printing with the Hatton Gallery and Northern Print

Charity Christmas Bauble Event

Ogglebits

NCM Challenge Number Two

Christmas Bauble Charity Workshop

visit the shop to start your christmas shopping early

A big welcome to three new members - well four really!

Using a sourced collection of old t-shirts, vintage and ‘throwaway’ objects we invite all to acquire an appreciation of how easy it is to be creative with our junk; the everyday ...things we often throw away.

Drop us a line at: mail@newcastlecraftmafia.com if you are interested...