Monday 6 January 2020

The Wild Witches' Journal


I'm working on creating a set of journals for Pagans and Witches.
The first of which is The Wild Witches' Journal.
It is illustrated on every page and also contains a Wheel of the Year with dates for Northern and Southern Hemispheres, Planning pages for each of the eight festivals, Moon Phases & Dream Log

The journal is created for recording ideas, thoughts and plans



Tuesday 12 December 2017

The New Workshop 4- Starting the inside..


Paul has been building the worktop for me to incorporate a sink.
The worktop will be home for the kiln and grinder also and underneath I will use the space for storage.
The building is very near the house so I wont have far to go to work..Useful for me because I very often wake in the night and want to start work! Yep..crazy but true..


The New Workshop 3 - Construction

The workshop's coming on but its still more Mordor than the Shire out there :)
Now it's snowing and the temperatures are falling below zero with high winds so there have been some delays in getting the roofing felt on ( just when we need it most!)






Riley's inspected the work and is far from satisfied..








Friday 17 November 2017

How to make your own handmade Christmas Crackers

HELP CHRISTMAS GO WITH A BANG...




If you have time to make your own Christmas Crackers it is well worth it to have something beautiful and unique to add to your table on Christmas Day..or any special day for that matter.
The beauty of making your own Crackers is that you get to choose the design to fit any décor and occasion and also to suit your guests. You can use the crackers as place setting too by adding a tag to write a name on.

And if you don't have the time or the motivation to make your own then you can always buy a box of my handmade crackers :... which as you will see have handmade stained glass gifts inside too. Every cracker is unique.

I have used little hand~painted stained glass gifts in my crackers.
Each one is different and made by me :)

If you'd like to order a box please email me:
rachael-3sisters@outlook.com



But if you want to make your own here's an idea of how to do it.
This is just the way I do it and you may have different ideas of your own. You will certainly have your own ideas on decoration and little gifts.

Here's what I used:
THE STUFF:



1. Small Gifts ( I have used stained glass danglies with animals on, that  I make- & chocolate mints)
2. Cardboard Tubes (Kitchen Rolls cut in half - seemed more hygienic to me than toilet rolls)
one for each cracker
3.Crepe paper
( four different colours) cut into strips that will fit around the kitchen roll with a cm overlap for sticking. cut the strips the width of the tube length.
4. Tissue paper. Different colours. ( or paper that will 'break' easily when pulled)
Cut into lengths that will wrap around the cardboard tube and overhang the ends ( for pulling) by about the same length of the cardboard tube each side.
5. Thinner strips ( about 4cm ) of pretty paper for decoration. Mine is hand painted but you can use wrapping paper if you don't paint.
6. Scissors
7. Double sided sticky tape ( like all good BluePeter makes! :))
8. Raffia or ribbon for tie-ing the ends. I've used gold and green raffia cut into 30cm lengths.
9.tags for writing names on. I have used star shaped card and raffia for tie-ing.
10. Paper hats ( one for each cracker)
11. Snappers ( one for each cracker)
12. Terrible jokes ( one for each cracker)
13. paper glue ( I used pritt stick for ease of use)
14. Small guaze bags to put all the little things in to go inside crackers.
15. Ruler
16. Gold ink and stamp- for decorating tissue paper

I addition to this stuff I also had boxes with a label lined with tissue. I  put four crackers in each. Nice to do if you giving a box as a gift.You could decorate lavishly to match your crackers :)



raffia ribbon

chocolate mints..be careful not to eat them all like I did and have to buy some more!


crepe paper

my hand painted strips


roll of double sided sticky tape- it's fiddly to use but still neater than using cellotape



HOW TO MAKE THE CRACKERS:

I'm assuming now that you have cut your tissue paper, crepe paper and decorative strips into the right size pieces to fit around your tube. And that you have cut your ribbon or raffia into 30 cm lengths...
and that you have filled your little gauze bags...




1. Decorate the edges of your tissue paper. I used gold ink and a snowflake stamp. This edge is the bit that will be held to pull the cracker. Give the ink time to dry...




2.Insert your gauze gift bags (full of your gifts, hat, joke and chocolate coin/mint)
and the snapper into the cardboard tube.




3. Glue on the tissue paper around the tube  so that you have enough overhanging each end to tie and hold on to when you pull the cracker. You can use the double sided sticky tape if you prefer.


4. Tie the end with your ribbon, making sure you catch the snapper in the tie and that your gifts haven't fallen out and vanished under your settee...


 Trust me it's much easier to tie the end up before you add the other decorative paper.

5. Now stick on your pretty stuff...crepe paper, patterned paper strips, tags...whatever you like..I found the double sided tape gave the neatest look and was strong enough to hold the thickest paper.
Have fun with this bit. It's what will give your crackers individuality and personality.
You can use decorated papers, beads and glitter and paper leaves, faux berries..gingerbread men..whatever the Christmas Elf in your Wonderland mind desires :)



Now, do as many as you like and box up or keep safe somewhere until you need them :)

I'd love to see what you make so please feel free to contact me with your photos of your crackers.
Have a cracking time! 












The New Workshop 2...Delivery & Digging the Foundations

DELIVERY & DIGGING FOUNDATIONS





As always there were no parking spaces by my tiny Victorian terraced house ( my hobbit hole) so the enormous lorry laden with my workshop panels had to park around the corner. Luckily my large and sturdy friend , Paul was on hand to help the poor driver carry the panels to my front garden. 

Everything then had to be carried through the house (all hands on deck) and into the garden for storage.


At this point you kind of wonder how these abstract pieces of wood will ever become a proper building...

Paul also dismantled the existing shed in order to prepare a space for the new foundations. 

The old shed...

That done the foundations ( just over 7' x 13' in area) had to be dug out so that gravel could be laid in the trench. But initially we had the problem of not knowing what to do with all the soil.

I had a brainwave to build a raised bed for my herbs into which the soil could be transferred and utilised. Paul dug and slung, whilst I raked and levelled. It was backbreaking work and then it began to rain heavily..and then to get dark...we were caked in mud and totally knackered by teatime ...but we got it done :)
















I put gravel and stones on the surface of the new raised bed. I will plant herbs in it next spring




So this is the story so far:
...Trenches dug ready for the chippings and a new raised herb garden built so that we could utilise the soil from the dug area and also some of the wood from the old shed...So two jobs in one!

Not very scenic at the moment but we are getting there.




My Nephew Alex helped out :)