It’s been a while! It’s a great project for when we’re away in the caravan. It’s been 5 years since I started this project in lockdown and it’s still toddling along.
Like I’ve said before, I don’t mind how long it takes, it’s more about the process than the end result.
I’ve still got quite a few chunks of cut hexis ready to prep.
Like this pile.
This is what I’ve sewn together so far…
It’s been hanging on my wall for a while now
I’m not sure if I want to continue this pattern or to make it more random and less calico plain hexis. Not sure yet… we’ll see!
When I get my physical copy of my new crafty journal, I’m looking forward to putting my EPP project into it! It’ll definitely help me come up with some more design and layout ideas for my EPP quilt ❤️🐝
I’ve been using bullet journaling to organise my brain since around 2016, so nearly 10years now! But I’ve always loved having some sort of physical diary, planner or tracker so I can keep tabs on everything going on.
There’s something about the physical act of hand writing an event or appointment in a journal or diary that cements it into my brain and prevents it getting lost in all the other mental coming and going’s.
Examples of some of the ways I’ve used bullet journaling in the past and how I’ve evolved it to be more functional and easier to set up over the years
I’ve tried to use digital planners a few times and even made my own but I don’t get the same sense of “setting it“ into my brain.
This year I’ve been able to prioritise making again. Partly due to ill health meaning I’ve had to take some time off work, but also because I’ve been using it as a form of therapy and recovery.
Making things is a proven way to improve your mental health.
With all my new crafting, has come many ideas for new makes. So much so that my tiny little brain can’t keep track of them all. I started looking for ideas on tracking creative projects. Everything I saw online didn’t really cover what I wanted though.
So, I decided to make my own. Originally I thought maybe I could make a printable version and put it on Etsy etc but then I learnt about kindle direct publishing…
Ukrainians have been decorating eggs, creating these miniature jewels, for countless generations. There is a ritualistic element involved, magical thinking, a calling out to the gods and goddesses for health, fertility, love, and wealth. There is a yearning for eternity, for the sun and stars, for whatever gods that may be.
If you’d like more info about pysanka I definitely recommend you look at Pysanky.info where there is so much info about the history and the craft today! It’s so interesting.
My attempt!
This is part of my first ever attempt at it! I really enjoyed it, it becomes meditative as you do it.
And the other side…I tried to do a bit of a traditional design but also I was still getting the hang of using the stylus and had a bit of wax that came loose and dye seeped underneath.
Using blown out eggs, the decoration process involves using the stylus tool, kistka, pictured in the foreground, scraping some beeswax into the top of the cone and gently heating it over the candle until the beeswax melts enough to produce an even thin stream of wax. Once you’ve completed part of your design you then dip the egg into dyes.
From what I understand, the dyes are vinegar based so partly etch into the egg, the wax resists the dye and once dried you repeat the process with different colours working from light to dark. Each layer will add to your design in various colours of dye!
Once you’ve completed your design, carefully hold the egg near the candle until the wax starts to melt (but being careful not to get the egg too hot and cause it to crack) and wipe off to remove the excess wax, what remains adds a sheen and protection to the egg.
My design is by no means a work of traditional pysanka, it’s me just having a go and spending time with my lovely friend having chats and basically giving each other therapy through crafts and chats!
100% recommend giving it a go, it’s an incredible craft and actual pysanka artists make incredible intricate designs ❤️ Definitely recommend having a look!
**”Pysanka” is the singular form; “pysanky” is plural – I’ve probably got it wrong throughout…
I made some art on procreate based on a piece of machine embroidery I made many years ago. I’m not massively confident using procreate but here’s my attempt.
Ps I know it’s “make do and mend”, but I added the comma on purpose to reclaim the concept for modern times.
My son wanted me to help him this evening to fix a drawing he’d done on a wood cookie at forest school. And of course my 2yo daughter wanted to try too…well since everyone was doing it I wanted to play too!
Decorated wood cookie
So we got out our acrylic paint markers we’ve used for painting on pebbles and did some awesome art on our wood cookies!
My son did his name and some cool designs in purple (his favourite colour), my daughter made an incredible, multicoloured surreal extravaganza. And I did some cherries 🍒 Ceirios is my daughters name, it’s Cymraeg 🏴 for Cherry.
Art by Ceirios – All the Colours
At forest school they make awesome things from wood cookies, as well as name “badges/lanyards”. They’re awesome so I made one for Ceirios too.
Looking back through some of my old posts, I saw this picture of my old little sewing nook in our old house in Cardiff and really miss having this little space of my own to be able to sew and craft whenever inspirado takes me ❤️
If you’ve not heard of Inktober, it’s a month long drawing challenge. You’re given the daily prompts and just enjoy, use your imagination at post your drawings on instagram, tagging inktober ❤️ They might share your drawing!
I’ve started it for the last few years, but never finished. But this year I actually have!!!
I’ve also been taking part in Inktober 52 this year. With a new prompt each week of the year, it’s a nice weekly challenge and not so intense as coming up with a new drawing everyday! We’re up to week 44.
Inktober 52 prompt list ❤️ I’ll share my drawings in a few weeks!
I’ve actually finished inktober for a change! There’s a few I’m not fussed with but just glad I finished it all! And tried to do a drawing within a drawing 🎃
Day one was on a separate page as part of Inktober 52 and then the rest of the 30 days fitted nicely onto an a4 spread in my Scribbles That Matter journal.
I decided to do it all on one page this year, partly because I wanted to keep it more manageable, I wanted to do it in my bullet journal and as I was laying it out, I had the idea to try to do the drawing within the drawing. Which definitely kept my interest, and encouraged me to finish it! It also made each individual drawing more challenging, trying to make them part of the bigger drawing.
Day 1 – Dream. Separate because it’s also part of inktober 52 (and I hadn’t quite decided what I was doing yet with the rest of the prompts) Day 2 – Day 31
Seeing all my hexis that I’ve cut out together laid out rather than in a box is pretty intimidating. I’m not sure how many I have, I don’t think I want to know 😱 Just got to embrace the process and accept, this isn’t a quick project.
I’ve been slowly making this since 2020 lockdown, see previous blog for more information. What I’ve completed so far is hanging on my living room wall.
Ignore my stupid face and hair 🫣
I decided to make one of each hexi, as I’d bought some new fabric and hope it’ll go nicely with what I have already.
I was trying to decide how best to approach getting all these backed onto paper with losing the will to live. What I have been doing is making up a few in all the different fabrics and then making a few hexi flowers and starting again, before seeing all the hexi flower together.
This time I’ve decided to just keep a stash of one of the types of ready cut hexis in a box with everything I need to back them. So now I can just whip that out and make a couple as and when I feel like it.
EPP Kit
Seems less intimidating to do it this way, rather than getting the whole lot out each time.
So I’ve got 12 different fabrics now, I like how they all look together 😍 These are the samples I made to make sure they were all ok, and that the new fabrics fitted in with the original fabric I bought 3 years ago 😱
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