Technique of the Week: Paper piecing

This week, I’m sharing my favourite technique, or at least the one I use the most often: Paper piecing. If my favourite magazine is anything to go by, its quite a popular one in the world of card making but I particularly enjoy it as it allows me to combine my sketching and drawing with my paper craft and gives me freedom to create my own designs and styles. It’s also a great way to use up scraps of paper!

I tend to use my own sketches at templates but I do occasionally use existing ones so its no biggie if you aren’t as skilled with  a pencil. This post however is going to go through my process from sketchbook to greetings card.

 

The first thing I do is sketch out my design. I have a small sketchbook especially for my card making where I can jot down a new idea or sketch out a design. My book is A6 which means that even if I fill the page, it will still fit onto the front of my preferred size of card blank. It also means I can actually draft out a full design. (I’d love to say it was planned that way but unfortunately it was just a happy coincidence). I do occasionally use bigger sketchbooks.

 

 

Once I’m happy with my design (and this can take a couple of attempts and quite a while depending on how carried away I get with the sketching. I have been known to completely finish and shade in with extra details before now), I get out my trusty tracing paper. As an architecture student, I used this almost as much as normal paper so I always had some lying around whether a clean sheet or an old drawing or even just scraps. I then trace over the line drawing, not necessarily in very much detail – some things can be added in free-hand later.

 

With the basic template done, it’s time to start transferring the different shapes onto coloured paper. I flip the trace over so that the design is reversed. This is for two reasons. The first, so that I can transfer the design simply by drawing over the template again; the second, so that pencil marks will be on the back of the paper and out of sight without me having to rub them out. When tracing the shapes onto paper, I make sure to leave a little extra in order to glue the layers together, occasionally using on piece for a couple of sections – here, the face and the ear were one piece, with the hair placed on top. Once all the pieces are cut out, the picture can be assembled (this bit can be a bit messy!)

 

To finish off my paper piecings, I add detail with a black pen. This depends on the style I’m going for and can range from simply outlines to more detailed shading.

While I tend to keep the more detailed ones for the frames, simpler designs are great for greetings cards. This Iron Man birthday card was made with very few different shapes. The hand was stuck on using foam pads to give the design some depth but all of the detail was done with black pen and a sharpened white pencil in order to mimic the comic book style.
In contrast to this, the Suits themed birthday card focused on mainly the silhouette of the character, with very little detail added to the hair. I was unsure how obvious this design would be to the recipient but as she is an avid Suits fan, she understood the reference immediately (phew!).

 

Would love to know what you think of my Technique of the Week posts so leave a comment below! Any suggestions for future posts more than welcome!

Victoria Baths II

Sunday was my second time at Victoria Baths for their craft fair. Based on last November's fair, I was hoping for a good day, although my previous fair failures made me a little nervous. Then there was also the fact that the Manchester Day Parade was happening that same day. It could have gone either way.

After having a couple of extremely late nights previous to the fair, a coffee was in order Sunday morning. The sun was shining, I guess the birds were singing but Oxford Road is a bit noisy, and I was super organised and had packed the night before to be ready for the morning. I grabbed my coffee from the Cafe Nero around the corner from me and headed off to the baths.

I was on my own at the table this time and after battling with my (freshly ironed!) table cloth, I was ready to get my cards up on display. I found some make-your-own-bunting in The Works when I was stocking up and decided to give it a go. I've always liked the look of bunting and even considered getting some made but when I found this, it seemed only right that
1) I should make it myself and
2) With me being in the paper craft industry, it should be made of paper
The difficulty was deciding what paper to use!

It amazed me that 6 months ago, I half a table to display my good and this time around, I managed to fill the entire table! I though I would have some space to spare so that I could work on some crafts but it was not to be. I remembered to bring my portfolio of cards with me as well this time and had my shiny new business cards on display (full colour ones this time!)

Mid day came and the doors opened. For a while it seemed quiet and it was quite slow and I managed to make my friend's birthday card and another paper pieced picture but things started to pick up later on in the day.

A couple of friends came to see the fair and I think I sold more to them than anyone else but a sale is a sale!

Overall, it was a really good day and although not as successful as my first fair, definitely better than the other since then. I also picked up exactly where I need to improve - each fair is a learning experience and I am looking forward to the next on to work on my social skills. Speaking of learning, it was really interesting to look back at my first fair and see how far I have come. From not having a clue and my brother doing most (all!) of the talking to standing on my own and doing it by myself (although I could really benefit from his charisma!) 

Then

Now

Back in Business!

After not crafting for what seems to be a very long time, I finally got back at my craft mat and made some cards. Now that I think about it, before this week, I hadn't made any cards since before Easter - so essentially a month! Really not good!

Anyway, as I was saying, I had some cards to make this week and I because it's been so long, I think I am a little bit excitable about them this morning*. Unfortunately, I can only share one of them at the moment as the other is a commission which hasn't been sent yet so that one is coming later!

This card was inspired by the new Iron Man film that came out earlier this week. I went to see it for a friend's birthday so it only seemed appropriate that his birthday card had the same theme to it.

I used the same kind of technique that I used for my Iron Man paper pieced picture back in November - coloured card with lots of pen detail. This time however, I got my trusty white pencil out as well to add some extra details. As it was a card and not a picture, I didn't make it as 3D as last time but it made my life a lot easier! I did however make the hand more pronounced by using foam pads (I can normally never get the foreshortening right!)


Looking back at the first Iron Man I did, it's kind of interesting to see how it has evolved - I know that it entirely due to the images I based them on, but it's still in keeping with the films. I think the 'newer model' definitely an improvement and I think I will be looking into make the other Avengers in this style very soon.






*well, morning when I wrote it anyway. See, over excited about new things to publish! I've already spammed my Facebook page with the photos so I thought I should hold off just a little!

Gabs Fundraiser 2: Gaza

Well, as promised, the next instalment of this weekend's events: the St Gabriel's Hall Fundraiser. This year, the money is going to a charity that will set up water pumps in Gaza and therefore supply fresh water to school and hospitals in the area.

Last year, we raised money for the Japanese earthquake and tsunami relief. I offered to sell my cards at the event and the rest, as they say, is history. I got such a buzz from selling them that I had to do more so I found craft fairs and kept making cards - I was making so many that there was no way I could just send them by myself. 

Japanese Fundraiser - 2012

Gaza Fundraiser - 2013

So this year, I had to do it again. The only difference was that I had about 12 months experience this time around. It was interesting to look back and see just how much that experience had changed me and my cards. It's a bit like spot the difference looking at these two pictures!
I think the main thing that has definitely improved is my presentation - my cards now come pre packaged although, ironically, I'm taking them out of the wrapper to display them. I also have my lovely boxes to display - and store - all my cards. 

The event was - from my end of it anyway - a success, although it was quieter than last year and  I didn't sell as many this time around. I was also sharing a table with a girl that lives just down the corridor from me. I learnt today that she makes beautiful jewellery. She was explaining how she used to do it but stopped when doing her A-level and would only make pieces to give to friends for their birthdays. It sounded so familiar that I couldn't help but smiling! Between the two of us, our table raise £100. There is still the henna, food, entrance and a few other bits to be added to that tally so I can't wait to hear what the final count is - I will make sure to put it up on Facebook when I find out.

I also donated one of my paper pieced pictures - the Emma one - to the little market we also had going this evening. I noticed that it was snapped up very quickly, funnily enough, by the girl who did a lovely henna design on the back of my hand. 

Overall it was a really good evening and I even got to have a go at apple-bobbing - something I haven't done since I was in Brownies. It was just as well I wasn't wearing any make-up! I also got to try some delicious Spanish food - empanada and paella.

I should probably call it a night now, back to the day job, aka my studies, tomorrow. *Sigh. It's nice to have a break every now and then.

Paper Pieced Pictures: Past, Present, Future

In this post, I wanted to write about my paper pictures. I realise that I have mentioned them several times before but wanted to give them a proper entry seeing as I am making quite a few of them these days.


So, first up was of course, the best Doctor ever to travel through time and space. I think I was actually watching the most recent Weeping Angels episode when I was putting this one together! I really do love this one and the black pen makes it look as if he's just stepped out of the glossy pages of a comic book. I now have several jealous friends but I feel it is my duty to keep the first - and tester - one. I tried to layer everything in this one so each part of the suit is on a different layer to really make it stand out from the frame.










My second was a birthday present for my room mate who would probably be Mrs Jack Skellington, if only he was real! I took ages drawing him out in my sketchbook - not because it was laborious, just because I didn't know when to stop shading! I remember I messed up slightly with his tie - I think I got the layers mixed up a bit - and I could have done more to stick it down firmly but I am happy with him. White pencil on black card will always be something that I enjoy doing and the look is so effective. I probably should have done him a little bit smaller so I didn't have to squash Zero into the top corner.











Iron Man was on my list nearly from the beginning. This one was based on the comic book character although the original inspiration came from the films (Who wouldn't be inspired by RDJ!). Honestly, I'm not overly happy with it. I just couldn't get his shape right but, again, love the black pen detail. I remember this one being quite fiddly to do because of the yellow parts fitting in to the red but the starry paper background really finishes it off. This frame was one of the four that were made for the Victoria Baths craft fair and one of the two that were sold. I may have to make this one again and, now that I have seen The Avengers and Iron Man 3 and The Avengers 2 coming out in the new year, I will have to have a go at some of the other characters . . . . 

Alice in Wonderland has been a running theme throughout my crafts this year, possibly because it being Jubilee year and Alice and Tea Parties being quintessentially British or because of the amount of artistic licence, either way, it is probably one of my favourite themes. These two frames, like Iron Man, were made for the Victoria Baths craft fair. I was inspired by the original illustrations from the book but I didn't want to just copy them. A few years back, I got some Kate Knight papers which were absolutely perfect for this project. The bright and almost garish colours and patterns were definitely Wonderland-esque while I was able to use some more toned down colours for Alice herself. Again, my black pen makes an appearance to add the final details.
I used a bit of recycling in the Cheshire Cat picture; the tree was made out of the paper that filled the frame when I first bought it - fun fact #1!
Fun fact #2: For the Caterpillar's shisha pipe, I used thread, wrapping it all around the picture. It was a bit of a pain to do but the best way to do it and it gives a nice finishing touch I think.
My sister, who funnily enough is also named Alice (all the jokes have already been done!), was eyeing up the Cheshire Cat picture before it was sold at the fair. Sorry, Alice!














I couldn't very well leave my guitar silhouettes out of the picture - no pun intended - so I picked myself up a smaller frame and had a go. Using silver with the black and white works so well and maybe once I manage to sell this one, I'll make another!

My Jane Austen designs are my most recent and I hope to make some more of these. The first one I made featured a quote, which just happens to be one of my favourites, from Pride and Prejudice. These were a bit different from my original frames as they aren't layers as such, just decorated. I felt that I couldn't really do any novel for my second one other than Emma and I admit I did have to look up the quote on-line - but only because I don't have my books with me! (excuses, excuses, I hear you say) My next step with these is to work on my font, maybe even get out the ol' calligraphy set, and get a list of suitable quotes written down.

The last one I want to talk about can't really be talked about so shhhh! This one is my first commissioned piece so it's all very exciting but I can't really say more than that. Here's a picture though to get you thinking, but if you know what it is, don't say anything!







I still have plenty of ideas to be put down into paper and I think I will be having a go at some of these in the new year but because I'm such an awesome person, I am going to give you some ideas of what you'll be seeing soon.

More period costumes. Computer game heroes. Pie makers. Paranoid Androids. Steam-punk  Nerdy roommates.

Craft Fairs . . . . A Learning Curve

Yesterday was my third craft fair but unfortunately, it wasn't as good as I had hoped it would be. Like the one in Prestwich, it was fairly quiet and the venue wasn't as conspicuous as Victoria Baths which is a shame but The Jellyfish Rooms is an up-and-coming project so hopefully, the next one will be even more successful.

This one was a bit different as well. At the other two fairs I attended, the tables were provided - which made my life easier. They weren't today but disaster was averted when dad bought up an old camping table and a Christmassy table cloth for me to use. 

So with my table over my shoulder and carrying my wheelie suitcase behind me, I set off on a surprisingly not frosty December morning. I got to the venue and found my spot.
The great (and annoying) thing about doing craft fairs for the first time is that it is a learning curve. It doesn't matter how many blogs etc, that you read about craft fairs, there is always more to be learnt at the next one that comes along.
Yesterday I learnt that having your table right by the door, despite me thinking that was a good thing, isn't that great. People who stopped to look were then blocking the entrance (the fair was in a couple of small rooms). I also noticed that the first thing most people did when they entered the room was look behind the door. I guess this could be to do with the fact my stall could be seen from down the corridor whereas you couldn't see the other stall until you actually came into the room. I think the phrase my primary school would use is 'letting the cat out of the bag'. 
Sitting by the door also made me the information point about there being more tables upstairs and normally by people who had just walked straight past my table without so much as a glance. I'm not bitter. Much. Seriously though, it would have been nice to sell more but I guess I'll do better next time. I would love to hear about other people's craft fair learning experiences!

 

I do have a few commissions to be keeping me busy though. I won't go into too much detail but I have had my first paper pieced commission recently. I will also be working on a couple of new ideas in the next couple of weeks. Now that I don't have any more craft fairs coming up, I can concentrate on crafting MY Christmas cards and, like every year, its December and I still haven't started. Some things never change!

Made by Emma . . . . .Woodhouse?

Just a quick entry before I go down and help decorate the St Gabriel's Hall Christmas tree.

Saturday sees my third craft fair (they're like buses, you know) so over the weekend, I was busy replenishing my stock of Christmas cards - because if they were ever going to sell at a craft fair it would be this one! I now have over 70 although I haven't even started making personal ones yet (note to self: GET A MOVE ON!)
I also picked up a few more frames to paper-piece. I have been commissioned to make one as a Christmas present for a friend so I shall be posting that one after C-Day but I still had two to do for Saturday. This had me stumped and for the best part of yesterday evening, I sat in front of my laptop thinking up a new idea - I felt it was too soon to be repeating designs.

I can't remember what exactly sparked this idea but it is one I had already considered. Kind of. I  have a list of ideas for my paper pieced pictures, one of which was dresses. But that is such a wide theme. And then it hit me:


Regency ------ Miss Jane Austen

I love the three books I have read (three because I haven't got round to read the others yet) and decided to base my next creations on the work of Jane Austen. I felt it was pretty obvious which one I should do first: Pride and Prejudice. I sketched out a regency outfit - finding an amazing dress-up game on Deviant Art in the process - and found some 17th century style paper to make the dress out of. I added some detail using coloured pencils before sticking it down to the background. To finish it, I hand wrote those famous opening lines from the novel and attached that with sticky pads. I thought about added a bonnet to the outfit but maybe next time. I have to come up with my quote first. I feel it should be from Emma, but I have left my little book of Jane Austen quotes at home so I will have to really on the internet.

I also want to share another of my latest creations. One of my course mates is a massive Suits fan (for those who don't know what that's about, its a legal drama based in New York) and she recently celebrated her birthday. So naturally, it had to be a Suits card. 
As I do with all my cards, especially ones with a pop culture theme, I shared it too my Tumblr blog and had a rather large response. My friend had also shown it to her Suits fan friends who said 'That was YOUR card????' The word is spreading! Today: Manchester, tomorrow: the World!

I did receive possible the best thanks I have ever had from a card from Jen though:

WORDS CANNOT EXPRESS HOW AWESOME MY BIRTHDAY CARD IS. SERIOUSLY.

That made me laugh.
She actually asked me today for some Suits themed Christmas cards to send to friends. Suddenly, World domination doesn't seem that far away any more!

There's Good Days and Bad Days . . .

Reflecting on the last couple of weeks bought to mind this Kaiser Chiefs song. I have had not one but two craft fairs in the last fortnight and as you can probably guess, one good and one not so good.


 Victoria Baths was my first fair and it was amazing. No, more than amazing. Words cannot describe how  awesome it was. 
I arrived at about 10:45am which gave me more than enough time to set up and meant I didn't have to hang around longer than I needed to in the cold cold baths (6 feet of cold air underneath you + glass roof + old victorian building - heating = absolutely freezing my tights off!) The fair officially started at 12pm and it got busy very quickly. My parents came all the way from home to visit the fair and they had to queue to get in. At 12:30!!!!
They found me as I was making a sale and I never really stopped making sales. My brother, who had been on a Young Enterprise team at school helped me to re-arrange my stall and to help draw customers in. He seemed to be taking over a bit although he denied everything but it did help so much as I had never really done this kind of thing before.
So, Jamie's top tips for running a stall:
1. Scatter business cards on the table, not just in a box - people are more likely to pick them up.
2. (For card makers) Don't leave all your cards in the box, spread a few out on the table. Apparently boxes scare people!
3. (Again for card makers) Put you best designs at the front of the box - this draws people in if they see something they like and would encourage them to delve deeper.
4. ENGAGE!!!! Jamie couldn't stress this one enough and if I didn't get in there quick and say hello to everyone that came within 5 ft of my stall, he would! Not only was I instructed to greet everyone, when every someone looked at my card-lympics, either me or him explained the story behind them.
5. Don't display all your stock at once. I had a lot of repeats so they went back in my bag for the time being. This reduced the number of cards on my stall and made it a bit less daunting to those having a browse.

Baring all these things in mind - and repeating myself quite a lot - I had a very successful day. I even sold a couple of my paper pieced pictures - Iron Man went to one of my fellow stall holders and Alice and the Cheshire Cat was sold so quickly! A man just came up and asked how much it was and bought it just like that. Then he bought half a dozen cards as well! Probably my best customer of the day.

So that was the good, and here is the bad.

If you have been on my Facebook page recently, you may have seen that I have been supporting a project called Tube Cubed. This is my university project at the moment and it's a pavilion that we are building for Dunham Massey's winter garden. We have been working on this for the last couple of weeks (hence why I haven't had much time to post). I offered my services as a card maker to try and raise some funds. This leads us onto my next craft fair. I was told about it on Monday and was umming and ahhing over it until it was suggested that we could sell the off-cuts if we sanded them down to a good finish and decorated them with sketches, illustrations and, courtesy of one of our group members, names written in Chinese. After a very stressful week of cutting, sanding and varnishing tubes (Check out our blog if you want to find out more) it was nice to sit down and doodle. 
It was an early start on Saturday to get the the fair in Prestwich but we managed it in plenty of time and got our stall set up. I would share the photos but for some reason, my laptop isn't reading my card at the moment so they may have to wait. 
It was looking good apart from our part of the table being a little bit in the corner. And then it opened.

And nothing happened.

Nobody came.

Well that's not strictly true but there weren't very many people there at all. We sold a few cards and a few more wooden decorations. It was a bit of a flop of a day really. Later, we found out that the conservative club up the road was holding their Christmas fair that day, which probably explains the poor turn out. It was worth a try though, better luck next time I guess.

I already have my next craft fair lined up. It's in Chorlton on 1st December. So watch this space!

Craft Fair

This post is unbelievably over due and for that I apologise. Everything had been so chaotic that sleep has had to be put on hold. I hope that this isn't a pattern for the future - I'm not sure I'll be able to cope!
This week, university-wise has been chaotic! I have had to work full hours during the day and sometimes into the evening which means I have very limited time to get on with my craft fair preparation. And the fair is this Sunday! I have been able to get on with most of the thins that need doing but still have so so much to get ready.

I spent the Halloween packing my cards into bags and wrapping shoe boxes in wrapping paper while watching scary movies with my room-mates. It was only then that I realised I had ran out of A6 sized bags with still over 50 cards to pack! So tomorrow morning I am off into town to get more along with the float for my stall. 

It doesn't sound like I have much left: two paper pictures, about 20 cards to make and the rest to pack. But it's the time remaining that's the problem. I have tonight and tomorrow morning to get everything done as I am, surprise surprise, busy again Saturday evening although I can see myself getting very little sleep as I make last minute arrangements. Despite all of this, I am so really really excited about the fair. My first fair, in an architecturally stunning building to raise money to restore it back to its former glory.

But for now, I am going to share some of my goodies:

















First up are my Christmas cards. This are obviously a major item for this fair as it it less that two months until C-Day. I made a similar card to these a couple of years ago and decided to re-introduce them at the fair. I created cards following the same theme. These I have also made before, I found the template in one of my magazines but this time I added a message and some hand drawn stars to finish them.

Item(s) number 2:
My card-lympics cards. My heart is screaming NOOOOOO at this but all they are doing is sitting in my big card box looking pretty. So they are going to be sold - but I will be making it known what they are! I have the photos for them but it will be sad to see them go :(

My last items are my paper-pieced pictures. This still need to be done, well, two of them anyway - this is what I shall be spending my Friday evening doing! I have currently done Iron Man and one of my favourite designs - my silhouette guitar. The other two that I am planning on doing are Alice in Wonderland themed. Yesterday, I made sketches of the original illustrations and I am going to paper-piece the scenes of Alice and the Cheshire Cat and Alice and the Caterpillar. These are going to be slightly different to the originals and I wanted to avoid Disney. 



I must go now but I hope this has convinced you that I haven't fallen of the face of the Earth! I shall write after my craft fair to let you know how it goes! Wish me luck

The Card Maker's Birthday

Yes, that's right. Today I enter my third decade (feel old not being a teen any more) . But, I have now booked my craft fair so all that is left to do is to make sure I have plenty of stock ready but that shouldn't be too much of a problem. I did a recent count and I have about 150 cards just lying around although, I haven't done much crafting since I last posted. With this one exception . . . 

Yesterday saw my room mate's birthday and as I am still experimenting with my paper-pieced pictures, I decided to make one for her. 

If you can't tell by the photo, she is a BIG fan of The Nightmare Before Christmas, with Jack Skellington being her Halloween costume this year as well. I used the same sized frame as my Doctor Who one but was able to get it in black (which looks so much better!). I got a bit carried away with my rough sketch and ended up shading it properly but it gave me a template to work with.

To make his pinstriped suit, I used black card and drew the stripes on with a sharp white pencil. I sketched on his mouth and skeletal hand details with black pen but to add a bit of depth, I cut the eyes and nose out and glued some black card behind them. I did a similar thing with his bat bowtie although next time I make him, I don't think I will make it stand out so much as it did get a little bit damaged in transit.

I couldn't give her a present without a card so I made one to match. Originally, I was going to do a similar design on an orange card blank but I couldn't resist the black and purple combo. I am really pleased with the card and as a finishing touch, I had to add a Tim Burton-esque flourish on the envelope.

Paper-pieced Pictures

What a day! Finally stopped working long enough to write this entry. Currently waiting for tomorrow's presentation sheets to publish to PDF. They certainly throw you right back into it in second year!

Anyway. Last night, I finally got to try something I had been meaning to try for a while now. Back in the summer, I made a paper pieced card following the theme of The Joker from Batman. This was - at the time - probably the most complex paper-pieced/decoupages I had ever done and I felt it was wasted on a greetings card. Plus there was that danger of being to fat to fit in the envelope!

So I thought, what if I created decoupaged images to frame. Never actually got around to it until this weekend when I actually went out and bought a wooden picture frame from Wilkinson. That was Saturday. Apart from group project work to be done, I was out Saturday night. Slept in Sunday morning. Was rowing Sunday afternoon. Went to church Sunday evening. Watched Downton Abbey Sunday evening. FINALLY, I got the chance to make my prototype. . . .

I am a big fan of Doctor Who, especially David Tennant's Doctor. I decided to make this the theme of my picture. I had already jotted down a design so I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I just had to sketch it out properly. It was easiest to start with the smallest piece, the shirt and tie and from there I worked up to the suit jacket, bottom part of the suit, trousers, bottom part of the coat, coat sleeves (and lapels) and finishing with his Converse - kinda like dressing an actually person . . . . . concentrate Emma! I added pen details such as pockets, buttons and shadows as I went along. After I had finished, it was not-so-simply a case of choosing the right backing paper and then assembling it all in the frame. I am so happy with the results but have decided that it is not good enough to be sold, it being my first one and so, I have been resigned to having to put up with it sat on my bookshelf. Such a hardship and I suffer greatly because of it!

The finished and framed picture

I hope to make more of these and already have plenty of other designs lined up to try. I may even have a go at making some to sell at my soon-to-be first craft fair (that's a story for next time!).

Would love to hear what you all think about it/them!