Wednesday, September 09, 2009

a first attempt on wirework with a whisk giveaway

IMG_5465

My first attempt on classic Swedish "luffarslöjd" (vagabond craft) at the unpretentious workshop the other day was great fun. About 20 keen and more or less talented crafters got to try this old style traditional wirework craft first introduced by vagabonds in early 20th century Sweden when job was scarce and they walked the countryside selling their useful craft.


IMG_5470


I've been wanting to take a course in this for many years so I thought this workshop for a very (ridiculously) modest fee would be a perfect opportunity to see if it really was something for me. The answer reached during those hours of great fun was that


A) yes, the work made with thinner wires certainly made me want to learn and practice more.

B) The thicker wire stuff, not really my thing since I apparantely am a weak little person (oh the irony when a little fragile elf of a girl managed to easy peasy cut the wire I had been working on for five minutes), it was just too hard to bend and twist into something useful. Hence, another prooof of my knack for craft pottering definitely not leaning towards the more heavy metal part of the scale.


IMG_5531

Behold my generously sharing the perfect example of my non-talent for a simple Wednesday evening amusement; this is what was suppose to be a stainless steel latte/cocoa whisk, turned olive spoon, but does look like an incomplete candle extinguisher. It took ages to finish, and a whole lot of muscle strength. Which obviously is not my cup of wirework tea.


IMG_5468

A cute wirework bike that I'm not at all anti in trying to recreate one day when I've hopefully learnt to master the tools and the wires properly.


IMG_5526

The simple ornament flower, that might not look like it was intended to look, but at least it's all my doing, not to difficult and a rare piece of... wire.

But what I most of all loved working with was the miniature whisks and the thin wire, there's just something completely irresistably charming and enchanting with miniscule stuff and even if they still need a bit of tweaking (as well as my smaller jewellery pliers) I think these delicate little things turned out rather sweet looking. I'm thinking earrings, but they can certainly be used in a doll's house or as a simple miniature installment.


IMG_5499

As I'm in a generous mood I'm having a little blog give away, the purple, the red and the orange whisks will be sent to three lucky (I hope so) recipients that leave a comment on this post. The recievers will be announced on Monday 21st (after an exciting draw with the help of some furry inspectors and the non wirecrafty loafer of this house). Leave a comment no later than Sunday the 20th and a pair of miniature whisks may be heading your way.

IMG_5459

13 comments:

Shaheen said...

They are all so pretty, I especially like the lizard or is it a gecko?!

I envy you for having a go on such a course.

Dana said...

Lovely, I like the earrings and the bike.

Mei Tan said...

Some wonderful wire work you have there. You must have lots of fun making them. I would if I were you. Only that we have no such course here.
Specially like the wire lizard :D
Mei

Hawk and Weasel said...

Oh my goodness vilka söta!

Anne said...

Earrings! Earrings! They're incredibly cute! :)

Dagmar said...

Oh, how cute!

heidikins said...

I don't know how I missed this--those earrings are adorable!

xox

Wendy said...

Missed this first time round! Such a great hobby. :)

Jennyff said...

That looks hard to learn, think I might stick to knitting but the little whisks are adorable, well done.

Anonymous said...

You DID do this yourself! Very cool. Very impressive as usual.

Paz

AidanF said...

Lovely, art.

Fritz

Anne said...

Was this class in Stockholm? I'd love to know where, and if they have other similarly-crafty offerings!

Pia K said...

thanks, mangocheeks, it was surprisingly funny on many levels, i hope there will be more classes soon.

thanks so much, danangib.

thanks, mei, glad you liked it!

tack, tack, hawk and weasel (och grattis till vinsten...;)


thanks, anne:)

thanks, dagmar!

thank you kindly, heidikins.

thank you, jenny, a bit tricky at first, but when you get the hang of it...

thanks, wendy, and congrats to being one of the three...:)

thanks for those flattering words, paz!

thank you, fritz.

anne, it sure was, i'll send you an email with the info.

and here is the exciting drawing + result -
http://piaks.blogspot.com/2009/09/winners-of-whisks.html

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...