STOP PRESS: SUPPORT BANKMILL PROJECT !

Heritage centre delight

 Penicuik Community Development Trust chairman Roger Kelly at the Bank Mill. The trust is trying to buy it and turn it into a tourist attraction/museum. Dave McCormack hands over the keys to Roger Kelly

Making Space Penicuik is associated with the Penicuik Community Development Trust, and it delighted to learn that today the keys to this ambitious project have been handed over. If the trust is able to secure the tenancy of this property and able to develop this heritage and craft project there Penicuik as a whole will become an asset we all can benefit from. Please read more and support the project in any away you can.

 

An ambitious project to convert a former mill building into a Penicuik tourist attraction is one step closer to reality.
Penicuik Community Development Trust has signed an agreement with Dave McCormack, the owner of Bank Mill, near Valleyfield, to occupy the building for one year.
The trust now needs to raise in the region of £1 million to purchase Bank Mill and neighbouring fish farm to develop its heritage project.
The initiative aims to create a paper-making heritage centre where niche paper products will be produced. There will be a tourist attraction celebrating Penicuik’s role in the paper-making industry. Power could be generated from a water wheel on the mill lade.
In addition, the Bank Mill centre would be situated on the Esk Valley Way, the cycle /walkway, which runs to Musselburgh.
Tourist accommodation could be provided as well as a centre for bike hire and repair.

read more by clicking on links below and make space to support this project

http://www.midlothianadvertiser.co.uk/lifestyle/lifestyle-leisure/heritage_centre_delight_1_299530 

 http://www.makers.org.uk/paper/bankmill

 

Please support project by

1. getting informed

2. spread the word

3. donate

4. sponsor

5. handson action

see full context and background here  https://docs.google.com

Autumn Story Telling in the library

Autumn comes and Mother Nature weaves Her blankets for her children to sleep deep and keep snug. And we did join Her weaving. First we were taught by Vibusha how to make the characters of the story, those magical furry puppets via rolling and needle-felting wool fibres. Then we gathered more of nature's autumn gifts, leaves, grasses and ferns, branches and pine cones. And then we called you to come to look and to listen... and this what you saw at one of the two autumn story session in the library.



At the end of the video you see also Fern building up the seasonal corner we have had now all through golden October in the Townhall during our Saturday crafting sessions, - a source of delight and inspiration to young and old.
Below here some pictures of a autumn gold corner earlier this month.

For more pictures of the Autumn Story felt animal making and nature's blanket weaving go to http://picasaweb.google.com/the.weaver.here/AutumnStoryWeaving#

Hedgehogs and Dinosaurs and other things in felt sculpture making

Yesterday was hedgehog making day, with the new glue gun ready to connect woolly head and pinecone spiked body of hedgies.

Other things were sculpted, too, such as a dinosaur, a Christmastree ball and a snowman!
Winter must be coming!


More photos are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/the.weaver.here/TheMakingSpaceOctoberGatherings#

And Ulla. a local artist, came by to show us her recent pieces of impressive and beautiful felt art, mixed textured media of wool and paint upon hardboard, themes "Birchwood":

Looking back at last Saturday and forward to this Saturday

Last Saturday (16th Oct) lots of folks came to try their hand at felting, and Vibusha, Fern and Caroline were kept ever so busy (no chance of catching all on pics with Anneruth not being about!), and thanks to the meanwhile quite clued up helping hands of the parents many wonderful little creations joined their little or big makers. Thankfully Roger Hipkin managed to catch a few of them before they flew off the table:

This coming Saturday we will be without Vibusha for once, but, inspired by the central character in the story of the Mother Earth's autumn blanket

Fern has started a family of very special hedgehogs

and they have been on some adventures already.. ;-)

{but that story is for another post..;-}

Come along this Saturday (23rd), and make you very own totally natural hedgehog friend with Fern, or maybe you like the challenge of trying your hand on a bouncy felt ball this time?

bead felting and small flat felt shapes tomorrow

Tomorrow, 16th October, our crafting in the community session, at lunch time in townhall, will make space for wetfelt beads making .
Remember the fun we had in Penicuik house?

4th September session in Penicuik House

We won't have that much space in the town hall of course, but enough to either remind you of how to make them or let you find out first time.

Hope to see you :-)
If you can't make it you might like to google wet-felt bead making?
Just found one description here for making beads a different way, via the wool-snake method.
http://www.woolcrafting.com/wool-felt-beads.html
Whichever way you make them - have fun and come by (tomorrow or any other Saturday during a crafting in the community session) and let us see them!

The other plan for tomorrow is more dry felt (needlefelted) animals and shapes for felt storytelling board.


And, don't forget, next week we have the autumn story telling session in the library!
(click on link above for more details)

spinning and all that

Today we recreated the old ways of gathering round in a circle to prepare raw wool for spinning and to learn (or start to learn rather!) how to spin a thread using a spinning wheel.

It used to be always the task of women and children to share the labourintensive process of separating the raw wool fibres into loose locks of wool, taking out any still entangled plant matters such as seeds and grass, and then card it into rolags ready for the actual spinning process. Re-engaging with these processes today anew gives us a sense of timelessness and peace. We might not feel that of course if were under any production pressure to make our own jumpers before the winter comes, unless we would be established practicioners of that heritage craft .-) !

But the fun supporting one another together with the fine touch of the lovely Jacobs Fleece Marjorie donated and Anneruth had washed for our spinning explorations is simply priceless.

Joan's second time at the wheel was already more fun than the historic first time a month or so ago, also because this time the task of keeping the wheel turning was mastered co-operatively by Vibusha. And everybody in the circle went home with a couple of yards of their very first own homespun yarn.

Caroline meanwhile was busy needlefelting with some old and now friends:

 For more pictures go to our October pictures.
Pictures #40 - #64

Autumn programme of Saturday Townhall Craft in the community

Our full autumn programme flyer is available for download and distribution here.

 We are now fairly confident that we can sustain the free craft in the community skill share session for this season. It is basically now every Saturday 11.30 am - 1.30pm in the Townhall , as well as some extra seasonal events in the library such as the  forth coming autumn interactive story telling sessions.

Keep your eye on the blog here for any special features, and do get in touch: making_space  @  talktalk.net
Looking forward to see you around, and enjoy the exploration and sharing, and bridge building....

 

featuring tomorrow: Spinning raw wool

Norman McLean teasing wool at a Galgael event, like back on Lewis!

Tomorrows craft in the community will have 'Spinning from raw wool' as its special feature, and you can join in perparing the fleece for spinning

Pictish-re-enactor Alan Torrance from Galgael carding wool

and to maybe even try your hand in spinning, too.

Melissa's Shetland wool

 And there will also a bit of everything else we had so far, depending on who can facilitate what when and what you request.

wet felting in home zone

Wetfelting is great fun, but also needs space and space to be messy with water and soap, as well as a sturdy table to do the fulling (rolling). Maria and her 3 girls made space on their dinning table, and the outcome was a great first flat felt fabric for her to make a wee bag (looking forward to see it when it is finisihed!) and a firm storytelling felt for the girls.

(See a couple of more pics here, #28-#38)

And Marieanne also got a chance to finish her first pegloom fleece rug off, and she came up with the fab idea all by herself: to make plaits with the fringes:

a felt window view for you

Samantha, one of the participants, has just sent me that lovely picture of her felt picture she did in the Friday feltmaking workshop in Penicuik House, and which she finished off uniquely and beautifully like this:

Makes my heart dance that felt view!
Magic, Sam!

Announcing Interactive Story telling events with Vibusha and her felted friends

read and download poster here

Big pictures, a purple angel, small broaches, dolls and pets out of wool

Many hands big and small met today in the town hall for fibre fun...
see and read the story here

and wait and see what the flat felt pieces will look like, turn out as once some folks will meet for Making Space at home during the week!

dry felting tomorrow in Town Hall

Tomorrow's crafting in the community session in the Townhall will focus on dry felting projects of your choice, such as broaches, pictures, little animals, etc.

We will also start on doing the dry felting part of one or more story board felts, a bit like what you can see here http://picasaweb.google.com/woolcraft.atgalgael/FeltingPathsAndPossibilities# under the Gruffalo story board pics # 11 - 13. Vibusha is planning to do an autumn story session in the library soon for 3 - 6 year olds and their mums (and any young at heart person, of course!), so we need some storyboard felt sheets!

Looking forward to see you tomorrow!