Sydney Brown Owls

Dear Brown Owls

It’s with a great deal of regret that we post this post.

Brown Owls has been in decline over the last year, and despite our relaunch at the beginning of the year, we don’t seem to have captured your hearts and minds in the way we would have liked.

Organising for Owls is time consuming, so after a great deal of talk amongst ourselves, we’ve decided it’s time to focus our energy elsewhere.

We’ve all loved being part of Brown Owls, and thank each and every one of you for coming along to the events we’ve organised.

Some of us Craft Addicts will still be meeting – if anyone is keen to join us, please drop me a line at iamtheseamstress@gmail.com

Hopefully we will see some of you around the traps.
Best
Fran, Manu, Kamilla & Kareena

Alannah Hill Tonight

Hi Everyone

I'm terribly sorry to do this at such short notice, but we've had a personal emergency so will not be hosting the workshop preview at The Evening Star tonight. Yarn in the Pub will not be going ahead either.

The workshop will be held but not in March I'm afraid. When we have more definite details, we'll let you know.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused.
Best
Fran, Manu and Kamilla

Alannah Hill Your Life (on a St Vinnies budget)

Do you love Alannah Hill, but does your heart stop at her prices?

Do you look at your plain black cardi and think "it just needs a little something"?

Then we have the workshop for you.

Come along to a preview of what you can learn at the Alanna Hill Your Life workshop.

The Evening Star Hotel this Thursday 17th March, from 5.45pm and see

some of the techniques you'll be taught at our upcoming workshop, including the where and when.

RSVP below

See you there

Pinhole Photography Competition at Myrtle Street Studio

Pinhole Coulour Photography 'Vibrant Ornage Dahlia' in silverslipper's etsy shop 

Who would have thought, 24th of April 2011 is World Pinhole Photography Day!

As part of this, Myrtle Street Studio in Brisbane is hosting a Pinhole Photography Competition.

Pinhole cameras are simple cameras that don't have a lens. You can easily make your own. Have a look at this tutorial here.

There are two categories in the Competition, Landscape and Object and there will also be a People's Choice Award. The competition is open to Australian and International participants. Email your images until the 14th of March, they will be printed and exhibited at Myrtle Street Studio form the 9th of March

Find all the details at Myrtle Street Studio

Check out the flickr pinholers group for inspiration

Get ready for the Gocco Workshop

What to print - Inspiration

Have you been thinking about what to print at the Gocco Workshop?
If you have not booked yet, you have two more days to do so! Still some spots to be had!

I had a bit of a look around and wanted to show you some nice gocco printed examples, to illustrate the different use of colour in a few different way.

First some examples of solid, one colour prints.  You can see how large solid areas get a sightly uneven effect.

Astronaut Boy by bubbledog 

 

Partridges in teal by Dee Beale

Gocco is easiest printed as a single colour print. If you want to add a variety of colour, why not print the outline and add some colour to the print later. Kate Pugsley does this with water-colour as you can see below, but you could also use pen or pencils to do something similar.

paper bag head by Kate Pugsley

 

You can use two colours in one print if you separate the colours with a little separator strip from each other. Just make sure there is enough space between the different colours. You can see an example below. The white and red ink is far enough apart to allow for a little strip to be placed between the two.

The Early Bird by moirama

Also, have a think about what paper to use. I will bring some white card, but you could also bring  kraftaper, old book pages, pages of music, different coloured papers or lined or gridded paper or anything else you can think of to create different effects.

Get Ready for the Gocco Workshop! Preparing you Artwork

Nordic Blue Hares by Dee Beale 

We have a Gocco Workshop coming up, where we will show you how to print your own image using the clever Japanese 'Print Gocco' machine. The Workshop is in two weeks, so still a bit of time, but you should start thinking about the motive you would like to print and then prepare your image.

If you haven't booked yet and would like to come, please buy a spot in our etsy shop, there are still some spots left.

I'll explain how to prepare your image today, so you are ready to print on the day. You will have to have a black and white image on paper. The areas you want to be coloured in your print needs to be in black. The black needs to contain carbon. The carbon will react with the gocco screen when you expose it and will allow the ink to pass through in these areas.

There are a few different ways you can create a carbon based image:

• You can draw your image by hand with a carbon pen. Check out this link for a list of pens that might be suitable. If you have your own gocco machine, it came with a suitable pen, just use this.
•  If you don't have a suitable pen you can draw the image with any pen and just photocopy the artwork.
• You can make a digital image and print it on a laser printer

The screen that we use for printing are called a print master and it is approximately 110mm x 150 mm in size. To print properly you will have to stay away from the frame, so your image should probably not be bigger than 100mm x 140mm .

©RubyRedRocket2009

To print these little gingerbread men gift-tags for Christmas I used the image below, that I had created digitally. I printed it on a laser printer. The areas that will be coloured in the print are black on the printout

 

©RubyRedRocket2009

Let me know if you have any questions or need help with this. I post again tomorrow and show you a few gocco examples and how to work with colour.
Meanwhile, if you would like to do some reading and find out more about Goccos, have a look at Pips fantastic Gocco blog post with lots of Gocco links.

Learn How to Knit AND BYO Crafting Social this Thursday

It's time for some owlettes to venture over the great Sydney divide and head OTB (over the bridge) this week. As some Owlettes who live in this mysterious place can attest, it's not that bad... actually it's quite livable ;) In the tradition of Yarn in the Pub, we will be meeting at 6.30pm at The Oaks Hotel, corner of Military and Ben Boyd Roads, Neutral Bay (www.oakshotel.com.au/) It is a huge hotel, so I recommend that we all meet in the 1936 Bar which is located on the street corners of the whole pub complex and has lots of comfy couches. There are mussels and gourmet pizzas to eat as well as delicious jugs of Pimms and White Sangria for those who like a tipple. But beware mixing alcohol and knitting as this might happen:



It is incredibly easy to get to from the city. Just catch any bus leaving Stand A at Carrington Street, Wynyard and get off at the first stop after getting off the Harbour Bridge - this will be in front of the Big Bear Centre and The Oaks is just next door. Simple! (If you get lost, please feel free to call 0410 452 511 for directions.)

This week we'll be teaching those who don't already know, how to knit. In my case, I'll be looking to learn how to knit something more than a scarf - after all, an owl can only have so many. And for those who are already knitting experts, please just bring your own project and some of your expertise to help those owlettes who are just starting out.

Speaking of which, a new owlette who joined us for the first time last week, Chloe, was so inspired by learning how to crochet that she has already started blogging about her crochet experiences. Check out what she has to say at: http://chloerobot.wordpress.com/ With such enthusiasm, I know it won't be long before she is getting inked up with something like this:



So now that the weather has calmed down we hope to see as many friendly faces at our next Brown Owls meeting as possible. Please RSVP to this event in the comments section below.

It's Too Darn Hot

Craft Night at Evening Star 

Amigurumi Crochet

9 February

I'd like to sup with my baby tonight
and play the pup with my baby tonight
but I ain't up to my baby tonight
cause it's too darn hot
It's too darn hot, It's too darn hot

Cole Porter: "It's too darn hot"

I think we might all be feeling like this at the moment. With Valentine's Day just round the corner we may want to make a little something for our respective "baby" or bring back the original idea of Valentine's Day - our secret "baby". Come along and sit in air conditioned comfort and make a crocheted heart or maybe a little love bird, learn that elusive technique - magic ring or bring your favourite craft.

See you there from 5.30pm till late
Evening Star HotelCnr Elizabeth & Cooper Streets
Surry Hills NSW 2010

RSVP in the comments below

Papercraft at Berkelow Books in Leichhardt

photo from here

Meet us Tomorrow, 01.02.2011 at
Berkelouw Books in Leichhardt
for some paper craft.

There will be star-shaped origami boxes to fold, paper turned into fabric (magic?) and noodle boxes turned into wedding favours.

So if you don't have anything planned for tomorrow night, come along and meet us there from 6.30pm!


RSVP in the comments below!

Gocco Workshop coming up!

On the 27th of February we will be having an exiting Gocco workshop in Lane Cove.

We will  have a set of a screen and some bulbs for everyone. So you can print your own design on  postcard size cards or paper. We will show you how to use the Gocco machine for printing and how to use the screens like a mini silk screen, so you can even reuse the screen at home without the need of a Gocco machine.

The last Gocco workshop was very popular and spots are limited to 15 People, so you better get in quick. To RSVP for this workshop you will have to purchase a spot in the workshop. We have set up an etsy shop to do this:

www.brownowlssydney.etsy.com

You need to RSVP no later than the 15th of February to give us enough time to order the screens and bulbs!

Costs are $ 32  this is for a screen and some bulbs, inks, some basic paper and venue hire.
We will have to have at least 10 bookings to run this workshop.

We will post some more information closer to the date, giving you a little introduction and letting you know what to bring and how to prepare your artwork.

If you don't know what a Gocco is, have a look here:
http://www.savegocco.com/what-is-gocco/