Tag: making

  • Repair Café Glasgow

    Repair Café Glasgow

    Though we’ve not seen one another in person for more than 6 weeks, the KDD team are in touch every day, and, at the moment, one of the things we are working on from our separate locations is our People MAKE Glasgow book. Over the past year, we’ve conducted a series of interviews and photoshoots…

  • available light

    available light

    Morning everyone, it’s Tom here. I thought I’d pop in today to share with you some of the odd but interesting things I’ve been doing recently with paper and light. As many of you know, I REALLY like paper! I’ve previously waxed lyrical about the properties of papers and how they fundamentally inform the final…

  • “disorientation enables new perspectives”: Catherine Mountford

    “disorientation enables new perspectives”: Catherine Mountford

    This interview with talented ceramic designer-maker, Catherine Mountford, is brought to you as part of our “chain” celebrating the interconnected work of interesting and inspiring creative women. Catherine was nominated by illustrator / embroiderer, Reena Makwana, whose interview you can read here. Hi Catherine! Can you introduce yourself and tell us a little about your…

  • 5 weeks of knitting season

    5 weeks of knitting season

    We are five weeks in to the Knitting Season Club – a three month exploration of creative making (and handknit design), following a format that’s a little different to previous clubs, with weekly essays and creative assignments as well as the usual collection of new patterns. These essays have been one of the most enjoyable…

  • 5 tips for getting started with your journal

    5 tips for getting started with your journal

    Journals can be many things to many people. Dot-grid journals seem perhaps to be used most frequently as a sort of personal planner: setting health goals, tracking habits, creating useful calendars, checking off items on a to-do list. These are all fantastic ways to use a dot-grid journal – and there are lots of resources…

  • Duntreath

    Duntreath

    I’m so pleased to be able to introduce you to Duntreath! After we successfully launched our lambswool snoods last year, I really wanted to develop a line of garments. Having researched and written a book all about the history of yoke sweaters, I knew I wanted to make yokes, and I also knew who I…

  • Making books by hand: part 3

    Making books by hand: part 3

    Making Latitude Hello again, it’s Tom here with my third, and final, instalment about making my new book, Latitude. In my previous two posts I’ve spoken about the craft of bookbinding and the importance of the choice of materials to the finished book object. Today I’d like to tell you more about the concepts and…

  • Making books by hand: part 2

    Making books by hand: part 2

    Hi, it’s Tom again, with part 2 of my series about my new adventures in book making – and specifically about making a particular book, which I’ve named Latitude. Latitude is a photographic project I’ve been working on for the past year or so. It’s a made-object, as much as it is a collection of…

  • Making books by hand: part 1

    Making books by hand: part 1

    Hello, everyone. It’s Tom here – popping in to the KDD blog to share my latest obsession – making books by hand. . . One of the most enjoyable aspects of my work at Kate Davies Designs is the making of books. I’ve talked about the creative choices involved in making a book with a…

  • Etac and me

    Etac and me

    One of Handywoman’s central themes is the importance of tools and made-things in everyday life. I have a different, and much more nuanced, understanding of well-designed tools and objects post-stroke simply because my own physical deficits forced me to notice, and to reflect upon, how such objects addressed (or often failed to address) my body…

  • two-shade Strathendrick

    two-shade Strathendrick

    This sweater has been getting a lot of comments and requests for information – so I thought I’d tell you a bit about it. It’s a simplified two-shade version of my Strathendrick design, which I produced for my West Highland Way book. This sweater says quite a lot about my design process, and the integrality…

  • Elizabeth’s hands

    Elizabeth’s hands

    We’ve just heard that one of Tom’s photographs has been shortlisted in this year’s EEF Manufacturing Photo Competition! The theme of the competition this year is “Made by Britain, Loved by the World” and surely few manufactured products speak better to that theme than Shetland wool? A fibre raised and processed in a particular locale;…

  • Making Milarrochy Tweed

    Making Milarrochy Tweed

    We are all busy here behind the scenes – putting the finishing touches to the pattern collection that will be released as part of our forthcoming club, and awaiting the arrival of our new and much-anticipated yarn – Milarrochy Tweed. Milarrochy Tweed is produced for us by our friends at Donegal Yarns – a company…

  • making stuff (at Lockies)

    making stuff (at Lockies)

    One thing you can say about knitting: it really makes you think about the many different processes that producing textiles involve. For example, prior to becoming an obsessive knitter, I had never really considered blocking a woollen garment (with water or with steam) . . . . . . nor had I understood what a…

  • Odradek

    Odradek

    Thankyou for all your comments on the Albert Anker post. I have to say that I find his work deeply moving – as someone who knits and makes, as well as someone who knows what it means to recover their creative abilities following a stroke. I should also mention that I too was very interested…

  • Helen Robertson

    Helen Robertson

    If you’ve read my introduction to The Book of Haps then you’ll already have come across Helen Robertson – a Shetland artist and craftswoman whose work I deeply admire. Working with silver wire and other precious materials, Helen has developed a uniquely thoughtful aesthetic which celebrates, commemorates and reflects upon Shetland’s history and heritage –…