The Jewish cemetery in Ipswich has been treated with such appalling disrespect, you cannot help but wonder if Ipswich suffers from an anti-semitic attitude. (See… Read More »The Jewish Cemetery In Ipswich – Why Is It Being So Blatantly Disrespected?
As people scurry around Ipswich in their cars, many will come very close to a site of huge historic significance. A site that even has a connection to Suffolk’s celebrated, world-renowned artist, Sir John Constable.
However, many will be unaware of the sacred, historic burial ground where the remains of the town’s once thriving Jewish community were laid to rest.
Why? Because despite the deep and interesting history attached to the site, it appears to be neglected and largely ignored as part of the town’s rich and diverse heritage.
Junk Jewellery is an obsession with me.
Why?
Because making junk jewellery is fun, inexpensive and helps recycle waste.
When people give me presents, I am just as grateful for whatever wrappings, boxes or tissue that come with them.
Only last month my lovely friends in Brighton sent me flowers that came with gorgeous red tissue.
After I had arranged the flowers, I set about turning the ‘junk’ they were wrapped in (the stuff people often screw up and throw away), into jewellery.
One of my favourite things to do is make something from the detritus of people's kindness and send it to them as a gift. Click To TweetMy theory is, it will always remind them of their own kindness and let them know how much it meant.
So that is why I turned the tissue in the pic below into the junk jewellery you see bedside it.
To find out more about paper beading click here.
You can also use your own abstract artwork to create the pendant front. The paper pendants you see above were made from card cut out of a cereal box.
They were shaped and moulded by a sophisticated technique which requires the most inexpensive tool in my craft room – an empty toilet roll tube.
And I created the channel through the back of the pendant, where the stringing material goes through, by using another amazing technique involving a skinny, flexible birthday cake candle.
Oh yes – I have all the latest crafting gadgets in my craft room!
Paper pendants made from junk are fun and easy to make. Click To Tweet
If you want to find out how I created these paper pendants, visit www.funcraftstodoathome.com where you will find a step-by-step video tutorial explaining how I use my very unsophisticated tools to create these bright, chunky and durable pieces of jewellery.
It is good practice to remove metadata hidden in photos before you post any pictures on the internet. http://youtu.be/e-cFpdqLJGE This is especially true if you use smart… Read More »How To Remove Metadata From Photos
Always something there to remind me.
Maple leaves falling in Autumn always bring echoes from another life for me. A life that was cut short with no warning.
But I survived and came home to England with two beautiful little reminders of the life I’d had in their father’s country. There have been 31 Autumns since I returned and my sons have grown into fine, strong men with babies of their own. Canada is nothing more than a bitter sweet memory because I never went back.
But there is a third souvenir from my old life. When my parents came to see me in 1978, I lived on the leafy Rusholme Road in Toronto. One day my father picked up a ‘helicopter’ that had spun down from one of the beautiful Sugar Maples on my street.
He put it in his jacket pocket and forgot about it.
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Toothache – there is nothing quite like a particularly bad one to ruin your day. Anyone of a certain age in the UK will remember… Read More »Toothache – An Unusual Approach
Magazine writing is an area many aspiring journalists find attractive. As a published writer with commissions from popular UK magazines, many people have asked me… Read More »Magazine Writing – Fed Up With Rejection?
Art is a wonderful thing but the art world seems to be dominated by snobs who won’t let me into the Royal Academy just because… Read More »Art – Can You Paint More Than Just Your Toe Nails?