Our next MeetUp falls on May 1st so in honour of Workers’ Day and in the spirit of renewal and revolution there will be a mending theme to this one.
If you’ve got a pile of mending but just don’t fancy staying at home with your sewing kit, well, you don’t have to! Bring some of it along and join us in giving those old items a springtime revamp.
Of course if you are all caught up on your clothes repairs just bring whatever you’re working on (or just yourself!)
With the sad closure Tea Tree Tea we’ve been on the lookout for a new home for our monthly meetups where we have a blether while working on them projects that fit in our bag. Lots of ideas were thrown about, some fine cafes were visited and we think we’ve got a good one for you. And for those of you who plan ahead you should also know that we’ve moved our regular date to every first Tuesday of the month.
We welcome all makers, from those those trying to make a living off their passion to anyone with an interest in creative crafting. We simply want to provide a place to exchange ideas, knowledge and skills while consuming respectable amounts of local delicacies.
So, our next meetup will be on the 7th of February at Hula Juice Bar, a lovely cafe on West Bow serving yummy smoothies, Artisan Roast coffee and all-day lunch. We’ll be crafting and chatting away from 5:30 to 7:30 and we hope to see many of you there!
Hyperbolic patchwork shirt
Just a quick post to let you know about the Mathematician’s Shirts. It’s a textile installation by Julia Collins of University of Edinburgh and Madeleine Shepherd of Craft Reactor (among other things!) which you can visit every day until 26 February in the ASCUS Projects Space, St James Centre Edinburgh. This is one of four projects funded by ASCUS Art Science Collaborative, all on show in the Project space.
In addition to having work on display Julia and Madeleine will be talking about the work, how they made it and why on Thursday 2 February at 6pm. Do come along – they’ll have demonstrations and hands-on things for you to try too.
See these sites for more info:
Come and see what our members have been up to in their crafty making this year.
Our home for the week will be the Coburg House Gallery in Leith (15 Coburg Street, Edinburgh EH6 6ET). We’ll be open from 18 to 27 November, weekdays 12am-6pm and weekends 10am-5pm.
On Saturday 19th we’d like to invite you to meet some of the makers and have a chat with them over an afternoon glass of wine anytime from 3 to 5pm.
Among others the exhibition will feature work by Karolina Binczyk, Made by Jo, Carmenland, pegeggleg and Madeleine Shepherd.
Who are you, and what do you do?
Hi there, I’m Jo Macrae, your Treasurer and dabbler in many a craft – with varying degrees of success! My crafting is mostly confined to textiles – knitting, felting, sewing and trying to crochet.
What’s your day job? How do you find the time to craft? (Or if this is your day job, how did you get to this point?)
My day job is at National Museums Scotland, where I work on the collections database, across all of the five collecting departments, from creepy crawlies and squidgy sea creatures to rococo vases and Scottish silver.
I craft in evenings and weekends, occasionally selling a bit at craft fairs and I have some work in the Stick Factory Gallery. For most of my life I’ve always had something or other on the go.
What inspires you and/or keeps you going with your craft?
I love colours and patterns and I like to have something to keep my hands occupied. I love to make things, especially from old / recycled / re-purposed fabrics – I have a large stash of patterned fabrics, I like nothing better than to find a lovely bit of tweed and combine it with some great patterns and colours.
What do you do when you’re not making things?
I read a fair bit, watch way too much rubbish telly (often as a backdrop to my crafting), cooking and baking and enjoy a potter along Portobello beach indulging in some dog spotting. If given the chance, you’ll find me haunting charity shops, looking out for pottery and ceramics that I don’t have room for (latest find being a very fetching – well, I think so – 1970s onion pot), old craft books and interesting patterns.
What are your top three Edinburgh recommendations?
For craft – K1 Yarns on Victoria Street – beautiful selection of interesting yarns (and they managed to teach me how to crochet – after a fashion!)
For baked goodness – The Manna House, 22-24 Easter Road – amazing breads and cakes.
For a wee tipple – The Espy, Bath Street, Portobello – kinda quirk pub, often containing a bonus dog, I quite want to pinch the picture above the mirror in the ladies’ loos!
What three websites or blogs do you love?
Pintrest – It might not be wrong to say that I’m slightly obsessed…
Joy the Baker – Random chat, interesting recipes, slightly deranged cat – all good 
I’m a ginger monkey – Lovely quilts, good chat
What couldn’t you live without?
Without doubt, tea!
I've come all the way from Carmenland and I'm ready for my afternoon tea!
On 24th and 25th September the Glasite Meeting House in Barony Street, Edinburgh will be open for you to have a nosey for the Doors Open Days. Craft Reactor had its launch tea party there last year and we’ve been invited back to stage a little pop up exhibition. So the stuffies that come from our studios are planning to have a tea party this weekend. Come along and meet Mr Rob Bot, the Pegglepals, the Hep Herd and the Monsters from Carmenland as they share treats from Twiggd and Plum & Pepper Studio. There’ll be music and cake, too – here’s a link to a map so you can find the party easily!
This time last year we were having a smashing time at our launch party, meeting many lovely crafters and chatting about all that excites us. So, this summmer, to celebrate conquering those first steps and completing a marvelous 1st year we thought we’d try it again. On this occassion we would like to invite all of you to join us on Tuesday, August 30th from 5:30 to 8pm at Tea Tree Tea on Bread Street for our 1st Birthday Party.
Just bring along your inspiring ideas and we will ply you with birthday cake and craft supplies. Everyone should go home with their sweet tooth soothed and a little handmade gift!
See you all there!
It is time for the Edinburgh Printmakers collective exhibition for this festival which this year is held at Coburg House in Leith.
This exhibition brings to light emerging talent from the pool of professional artists that practice at Edinburgh Printmakers alongside works by more established local artists. It is a chance to see newly published works that reflect diverse influences and offer broad appeal. With something for everyone it surely won’t fail to enthuse and excite.
Our member Sharon Whyte will be there too with her fascinating prints of female magicians and extraordinary performing animals.
Preview is on Wednesday August 18th at 6pm and the exhibition will be open 10-6 daily until September 1st.
The amazing artists at Coburg House, inlcuding our own Madeleine Shepherd, are opening their studios to the public over the coming weekend, 5-7 August. Work is available to buy and the artists will be there to chat Friday to Sunday 11am – 6pm.
The lovely folk at the Ragged project would like to invite people who are passionate about what they do to share their knowledge with others during the Edinburgh Fringe. Here’s their message:
Welcome to the Ragged project. If you want to live in a knowledge rich world then this is the thing for you!
We have the great opportunity to bring together people from many and varied worlds to talk in the Out Of The Blue space in Leith during the Edinburgh Fringe. What we want from you is to share what makes you tick in a short talk giving others an insight into the world in which you have invested.
The Ragged project is about trying to mutually realise each other’s work and spread the word on where the information is at! In friendly social environments we get to talk about the stuff we do and show how it is relevant to everyone. The opportunity here is to share it with an international festival crowd and hook into a huge network of people similarly interested. The project is gaining a considerable presence having created free platforms for artists, musicians and theatre companies all of whom were seeking an opportunity to show their stuff to the world.
Grab a coffee, grab a drink, put your feet up and enjoy talking with people who want to know how you do what you do. Please get in touch, we want people like you who have a passion to share…
If you are interested in giving a talk in the Out of the Blue on an August afternoon please get in touch labelling your email in block capitals as: NOTE OF INTEREST RAGGED TALKS.
Thank you for your time
