Horsing Around at Grange Place

A lovely up-cycling / recycling project at Grange Place,these plywood hobby horse heads came from the local scrap recycling store. They provided a great support for pattern making and paint. They were going to become planter markers at The Green Patch but everyone was so proud of their work they wanted to put them in their own gardens! You can see more here

The View From Here - Triumph Trees

Sometimes we all need to give ourselves a high five, a pat on the back or a Hip Hip Hooray so Carole came up with a little up-cycling project to express those good thoughts! Old Christmas cards were cut into small labels

and we used a lovely stamp set

to stamp the plain side of our labels.

We each had a ceramic milk bottle

an assortment of twigs and 

an assortment of brightly coloured wools.

We made a series of finger loops around our twigs

and hung the labels from the twigs so they could

twirl and dance out words of encouragement!

You can see more of our trees here

If you live in the Avondale / Grange ward do join us again

for our next View From Here session 

17th April 3.15 - 5.15

The Resource Centre, 

9 Grange Place, Kettering. 

NN16 0NT

The sessions are free.

Threads and Chatter - Pompom Bag Charms

Inspite of the dark stormy afternoon we had a lovely turn out for out first Threads and Chatter session of the New year in our new venue, The Resource Centre in Grange Place. Artist Phiona Richards lead us through an intriguing method of creating small pompoms using wool and a fork!

We added beads and a keyring attachment 

to create stylish bag charms

See more from the session here

 Phiona was highly amused at the amount 

of tying off thread Abby had left her!

It was also great to catch up with Rick who shared photographs of his wonderful, award winning wildlife garden. He was full of hints and tips on what to plant and showed us the wide variety of moths that had been seen in his garden. We have invited ourselves round for a tour this year when the garden is in full bloom!

If you live in the Avondale / Grange ward do join us again 

Tuesday 19th January

The Resource Centre, 

9 Grange Place, Kettering. 

NN16 0NT

Carole will have the kettle on between 2.30 and 3.30 pm

Phiona will be running her inventive, creative 

session between 3.30 and 5.00pm

Sessions and refreshments are family friendly, fun and free!

A Birthday Bunting Challenge!

Up-cycling is part of the Remake Remodel strand of our current A4A project. Having been inspired by her own attempt to help Compton Verney create the world's longest line of paper bunting artist Carole Miles went across to Corby for us to work with the Stevie way art Group. 

They used an old wallpaper sample book and some of Carole's collection of rubber stamps to create 100 pieces of bunting to add to the line forming at Compton Verney.

You can read about Carole's own contribution here

You can read more about the Compton Verney's 10th Birthday World record bunting attempt here

and you can download a participation pack here - anyone can take part so why not use up some scrap paper and help out! All support will be mentioned on the Compton Verney website. We had great fun, thoroughly enjoyed taking part in this community challenge and can thoroughly recommend it to anyone else who'd like to take part!

You can see more pictures from the session here

Up-cycling Old China in Bedford

As part of our Remake Remodel strand children in Bedford worked with artist Carole Miles on an up-cycling project inspired by a Circus dinner service designed by Dame Laura Knight for Art Deco ceramics designer Clarice Cliff. The children really enjoyed taking plain, tired crockery and injecting new life into it with their designs and ceramic pens.

You can see more of their fabulous deigns here

My Old China - Up-cycling in Litchborough

We spent a lovely morning 

in Litchborough Village Hall 

giving some unloved old china a new lease of life.

You can see more of our remaking and remodelling here

Bottles, Birds, Balls, Up-cycling on the Brampton Valley Way

All the birds created from plastic milk bottles found new homes in a garden in Rushden!

Upcycled Accessories

The range of accessories designed and made by Year 1 textile students at Tresham College, many of who participated in the New Vistas project we staged during the Big Draw last year. Inspired by the Textures set of photographs taken by artist Carole Miles along the Brampton Valley Way earlier this year.

Up-cycled Scarves

Here is an update of the up-cycled scarf project Carole has been working on with a small group of Year 3 children in Bedford. Working from images taken along the Brampton Valley Way, they have been designing and making scarves, using up-cycled fabrics as well as silks and cottons. 

A pile of fabrics waiting to be up-cycled

Patterns planned out on paper

Pattern pieces cut out

Fabrics cut out and pinned

You can see images of the finished scarves that Carole was working on in the railway carriage at Brampton Halt and some of the children's paintings which provided a starting point for their designs below. 

 

Photographs of the Brampton Valley Way can be viewed here