beehive craft collective

One UnBeelievable Year

2012-02-23T10:28:00.000-08:00

Can you bee-lieve (sorry, had to) that the Beehive Craft Collective has been around for a year already? It's flown by in a blur of meetings and workshops and craft fairs and art installations. Not to mention the fact that many of us are full-time makers and/or entrepreneurs in our day-to-day lives. Needlework, Sweet Ice Snow Cones, Bespoke Uprising, Jenna Rose, White Elephant... sometimes it's exhausting to even think about. But that's also the really great part about a collective - the joint support from everyone involved working towards a common goal. I often think about how honoured I am to be a part of a group of such awe-inspiring and talented women.

We're gearing up for some exciting things this year too. We are super excited to be participating in the Craft and the New Economy symposium on March 10th at OCAD University. We'll be doing a pretty informal presentation on how to start a craft collective within your own community, while also providing materials for a crafting circle. We'll have everything you need to join in making paper piecing hexagons, but everyone is encouraged to bring their own projects as well.

Ever since we saw the Quilts! exhibit at the AGH we've all kind of been obsessed with quilting bees and friendship quilts, and this is where our idea stems from. A collective project while discussing forming collectives. We'll be presenting from 6pm-8pm and we hope to see some of you there. It should be an amazing event all around.

We're also working on our submission to be a part of this year's Supercrawl. All we can really say about it at this point is that it will be another large scale textile installation that has the opportunity for community involvement. Does Jenna's sketch give you any ideas? I didn't think so. The Bees are really hoping to be a part of this for a second year, so cross your fingers for us!

And the question that we've been asked most often lately - will we be putting on another Summer Craft Fair? Honestly, we're still figuring out the logistics of this, as we've lost our beautiful location from last year (very happily to CBC) and it's caused kind of a snag in our plans. If not a full scale craft show, be sure to look out for some smaller trunk shows throughout the year. Either way, we'll be sure to keep you updated on our plans.

Thanks for following us during our first exciting year! We look forward to what 2012 will bring for us all.

A Bee Abroad

2012-02-07T06:00:00.000-08:00

In October, I temporarily left the hive to move to London, England, while I study for my master's degree in textiles at Chelsea College of Art & Design. I chose Chelsea because its Textile program has a focus on sustainability, which is becoming an increasingly important aspect of my work, and outlook on life. Chelsea has an unique research centre, TED (Textiles Environment Design) which is part of a larger partnership with Central Saint Martin's called the Textile Futures Research Centre. For anyone interested in textiles in general and sustainability specifically, explore both their websites for volumes of fascinating research and inspiring projects.

My MA project focuses on natural dye printing, something with which I've long wanted to experiment. So much of my own work and teaching involves screenprinting, and as much as I love the beautiful effect of printing with conventional fibre-reactive or acid dyes, I worry about the long term health and environmental effects of all the chemicals involved in the process. I've had a lot of experience using natural dyes for immersion dyeing, some of which we've shared with you here on the Beehive, but little experience with using natural dyes for printing. I had a sense of how they might work for printing, but I'd never really tried to use them.

I thought the perfect way to begin would be to take a workshop at the Maiwa Symposium in Vancouver, which is also something I've always longed to do but could never fit in, as the symposium falls during the fall school term. The workshop at Maiwa gave me the confidence to get going!

Since arriving in London and settling into the studio at Chelsea, I've been experimenting with the colours I can produce using the various natural dye extracts available from different sources. Maiwa, Couleurs des Plantes, Couleur Garance, Earthues and Pure Tinctoria all sell a variety of ready-to-use natural dye extracts from ethical and sustainable sources. The extracts are relatively easy to use as they dissolve in water, but you can also make your own extracts from dried or fresh dyestuffs.

I thicken the extracts with a gum to produce a paste appropriate for screen printing. So far, as I'm only in the early stages of testing, I'm stencilling the print pastes onto mordanted cloth rather than screen printing, which will come later. The colour testing will also involve pushing the range of hues by shifting colours by adding acid, alkaline or other mordants to the colour after it has been applied. What you see here are some of my early samples in progress, which give you an idea of the range of colour you can achieve using all natural colourants, all derived from plant and a few insect sources.

A large part of my investigation is researching the plants that produce dyes, and their chemical, cultural and economic histories. I've been making ink and crayon drawings of these plants from historical herbaria (scrapbooks of preserved dried plant specimens) to develop imagery which I will later use in screen printed patterns.

When I return home, I hope to share my newly gained knowledge with anyone wanting to learn more about these precious and wonderful sources of colour. Read more about my project over the next 6 months as it progresses on my blog, now up and running again after months and months of neglect!

A New Dress

2012-02-02T09:33:00.000-08:00

I'm not totally sure how, but as a mother of three small children I can find time to sew - usually things for the kids. Projects range from clothes, bibs and quilts to dolly diapers and dress-up costumes.

I was recently given a gift from a friend who specifically said that I am always making things for everyone else, so now I can make something for myself. I was so excited to recieve a Colette Pattern, not only to make something for myself, but also because these patterns are simply beautiful to look at and hold. Well printed on good paper in a compact little booklet. The pattern was simple enough for a hobbyist sewer to follow.

The Macaron Dress has what they call a "sweetheart top with a contrasting top yoke." I just call it cute.

I like the pattern so much, I decided to trace it onto freezer paper before cutting it out. This took more time, but I think it was well worth it. Within two days, I had assembled the dress, with a few little distractions.

My favourite part in any dress is finding out it has pockets, so when I noticed the pockets in my pattern I was over the moon. When I finally tried it on, I found it a little tight in the bodice, but letting out the seam allowance fixed it up great.

I am very pleased with this pattern, and I am definitely going to sew it again and again, now I am just searching for the perfect material.

I would highly recommend Colette Patterns, and if you head on over to their website they have a lot of really informative tutorials.

And if you live in the Hamilton area, You can check out Needlework, rumour has it they will be carrying Colette Patterns! Their grand opening is February 10th at the James St. North Art Crawl.

The Bees at Home: Projects in Progress II

2012-01-25T10:00:00.000-08:00

We're into January now - one of the best times for crafting. There's snow on the ground (sometimes, at least!), and the air is cold, so sometimes it's nice to just stay in and make something. We thought we'd catch you up on on what's going on in some of our craft spaces...

First, Jen is making this amazing 'junk mail cross-stitch'. She brought it to knit night on Wednesday, and was explaining some of her reasoning behind this little project. One of the 'men of the beehive' is a mailman, and it's really personified the postal system for her. Thinking that the postal workers probably see a lot of 'no junk mail' posters', she wanted to add some personal time and energy to her sign. It also relates the very tactile quality of sending mail and that of cross-stitch. It's so great, Jen!

(The book she used for the alphabet patterns can be purchased here.)

As you might know, part of our identity in the Beehive is 'homesteading' - participating in a lifestyle of sustainability and self-sufficiency. It's been amazing to see different members of our craft collective tackling these amazing and practical art forms of old, like canning, mending, natural dyeing, farming, and now weaving! Hollie is in the middle of a weaving class and has so far wrapped about 1700 metres of textile, prepped the loom, and should start weaving next week.

In other very exciting news, our very own Jenna Rose was a Featured Seller on Etsy last week! Jenna's handmade housewares and accessories are so beautiful, and regularly and proudly sported by members of the Beehive. Everything she makes is hand screen printed in house, and the illustrated designs are thoughtfully created by Jenna as well. I could go on and on, but the Etsy interview is a great read, so make sure you check it out here.

Lastly, you can always count on Kate to be working on at least one (but more likely three or four!) amazing project...this time it's paper piecing with hexagons. Basically, paper piecing is a hand-sewing technique that is used to improve accuracy when working with shapes that have difficult angles. You fold lightweight cotton around paper templates, and baste them in place. Once everything is whip-stitched together, you press the whole piece, remove the basting, pop out the paper pieces and voila! Super cute quilt top/pillowcase/placemat/table runner/whatever you want.

So, there are a few things that are going on in the background, here at the Beehive. We'd love to see what you're working on at home, or which projects you have on your radar. Just post your link in the comments. Happy crafting!

(You can see 'Projects in Progress I' here...)

Quilts! at the Art Gallery of Hamilton

2011-12-16T11:26:00.000-08:00

Recently the Beehive was granted the exciting privilege of a private visit to the Art Gallery of Hamilton’s exhibition Quilts! A Gift from Carole and Howard Tanenbaum to the Textile Museum of Canada. As pretty much all of us are textile superfans, we gazed with reverence at the 17 quits on display, marveling at the textures, colours and skilled handwork at play in these Canadian, American and British works dating back to the 1830s.

Though many of their makers are unknown (and were certainly not releasing artist statements!) , the quilts in their distinctiveness inspired us to try to imagine the thought process involved in creating them. Pieced Quilt (1880) for example appears to have no rhyme or reason in the colour placement - the maker seemingly having worked their way through their scrap pile, moving on to one fabric as they ran out of the last. Randomness in this and other quilts through the interruption of pattern (or lack thereof) has very personal and charming effect. Equally charming are the backs of the quilts, which we attempted to sneak peeks at wherever we could and oohed and ahhed at the boro-like patchwork or sweetness of a simple cotton paisley.

Some quilts appear to have been made with a more distinct vision, or boast luxury fabrics such as brocades, printed silks, and patterned velvets. Pieced Quilt with Sawtooth Stars and Diamonds Pattern (1836) is a particularly stunning example of a quilt made with naturally dyed silk (prior to the invention of synthetic dyes 20 years later) and has maintained a rich colour palette of purples, maroons, greens and reds. The crazy quilts - irregular patchwork quilts joined through decorative embroidered borders - incorporate many different luxury fabrics as well pieces of cultural history such as Crazy Quilt in 30 Blocks (1885) which includes a ribbon showing the "Great Bridge - length 5989 feet" aka the Brooklyn Bridge which was completed in 1883.

As the quilts range from having been completed in the 1830s to the 1950s, there is some textile history to be learned in this exhibit as well. While earlier English quilts tended to start with a central medallion then finish with a distinctive border (much like an oriental carpet, as seen in Framed-medallion Quilt (1850)), by the second half of the 19th century, quilters began to structure them as a series of blocks arranged in a grid - making them easier to sew as smaller blocks could be made individually and joined later. This style of quilting is much more common today than the more labour intensive method of assembling the quilt from the centre outward. The topic of labour and time came up frequently amongst us Bees as we tried to imagine how many hours must have been invested and wondered how the makers found the time. In our current age of the instant the amount of time invested in the more complex quilts is almost unfathomable and something to be admired.

Though originally intentioned as functional pieces, the Tanenbaums (skilled art collectors) were clearly drawn to these quilts based on their aesthetic impact and artistry. In placing them on the gallery walls, we are asked to re-examine our relationship to these domestic objects that are so frequently lumped in with the curtains or the welcome mat - to consider them as works of art. These are not simply quilts, they are Quilts!

Quilts! A Gift from Carole and Howard Tanenbaum to the Textile Museum of Canada
On view until January 15, 2012
Art Gallery of Hamilton
123 King Street West | Hamilton ON | L8P 4S8
T: 905-527-6610
E: info@artgalleryofhamilton.com
artgalleryofhamilton.com

Photos by Hollie

Knit Nights at the Brain: Make Do & Mend

2011-11-23T10:45:00.000-08:00

Earlier this month, a number of us Bees had the pleasure of attending a special edition of Knit Nights @ the Brain: Make Do & Mend. The evening was lead by the multi-talented and master mender, Becky Johnson, who to our delight agreed to stop in on Knit Night to share her mad mending skills, just in time for the chilly season ahead of us.

Armed with tins full of darning yarn and materials, Becky shared two mending techniques used to tackle the most daunting holes: classical darning, and swiss darning.

Classical darning is a mending technique that's used to repair existing holes in knits. This method is done by using an embroidery needle and yarn (of a weight that's similar to the knit being repaired) to create a warp between the two strongest rows on either side of the hole. The next step is to weave yarn through the warp, creating strong woven material that patches the hole, as well as reinforces the stitches around the damaged area so that the knit ceases to unravel. While the concept is easy to grasp, the real trick lies in creating a patch that matches the same weight and tension as the knit material below; too tight and the knit may bunch; too loose and the knit may sag. A darning egg helps in this process by providing a nice flat surface to work on, but a lightbulb (or even beer bottle, as was the case that evening!) would also do the trick, DIY style.

Most of us Knit Nighters focused on classical darning for the evening, but those who finished their repairs graduated to swiss darning -- a method of mending that's used to reinforce weak spots in woollens, not holes. In basic terms, swiss darning (also called the duplicate stitch) is done by threading new yarn through the knit, following the path of the existing knit stitches. Doing this strengthens the knit, thus preventing impending holes.

Unfortunately I didn't nab any swiss darning action photos, but I highly recommend checking out Becky's blog for some fantastic examples of her swiss darning, and other mending projects. (Sidenote: this is why I refer to Becky as master mender -- look at those socks!) Also worth checking out is this duplicate stitch video - a straightforward visual tutorial on swiss darning.

It was a pretty cozy Wednesday night at The Brain, and it was so nice to spend the evening learning a new craft, with both familiar and new faces. A super special thank-you goes out to Ms. Becky Johnson, for teaching us how to fix all the little (or large!) holes in our woolly lives.

Aviator

2011-11-10T11:33:00.001-08:00

I always get excited when summer draws to a close and my most favorite season approaches. Fall has so many great things. Wool sweaters, apple picking, garden harvest, warm drinks, fires in the wood stove, and Halloween!

Growing up, my mom would make us the best homemade Halloween costumes - Pigs in Space, Frogs, Toasted Westerns, Pippi Longstockings, Care Bears, She-ra, and so on.

Now, as a mother myself I pride myself in making the coolest costumes for my kids (at least, what I think are cool). It sometimes takes some negotiating, to convince my three year old that he doesn’t want the generic store bought Halloween get up. And I always wait in anticipation to see if the tough critics will approve. Last year they wouldn’t put on their Red Riding Hood and Big Bad Wolf costumes until the actual day, and I am not going to lie, I was a bit worried.

So after convincing my son this year to be an Aviator, I got worried when he told me he was going to be a kitty cat or Wall-E only days before the big day. Luckily we both came through and the costume was not only simple but I’d say a hit.

I made the hat out of vinyl lined with fleece, I made a rough pattern and then shaped it to his head for a perfect fit. I borrowed my friends snap press to add a few finishing touches.

The goggles are a pair of welding goggles we had laying around the house (I just took out the darkening lenses). I found the almost perfect fitting jacket at a local thrift store added a fleece collar and pilot patch to the sleeve. A scarf and a mustache were finishing touches to our simple but very cool costume.

The Bees at Home: Projects in Progress

2011-10-26T06:00:00.000-07:00

Our blog has taken you to the farm, to knit night, and to our planning meetings, but we thought it might be about time to show you some of the crafty things us Bees work on in our spare time. Most of the time, we've all got something (or a few things!) in progress at home, so we're going to start showcasing them on the blog a little bit! Hopefully this will give us more motivation to get these projects finished, and maybe inspire you to start (or finish?) a project you've had on the go as well!

First, Kate is working on an assignment for her program at Sheridan - embroidering a number of fashion related pieces. She's working them into this AMAZING dress she designed, which she'll then have modeled and photographed to create a look-book:

Second, Meg is working on an alphabet crewelwork sampler. Using all the standard stitches, this piece is interesting and enjoyable, and will likely take a while to complete. Every letter is totally different, and the colors are super fun!

Next, our east-coast member, Anna, has been naturally dyeing some silk. The growing seasons in Nova Scotia are a little shorter than in Ontario, so when she moved back there recently she managed to just catch the end of the Goldenrod flowers. Anna dyed a piece of satin silk tied up with shibori knots (see second picture). Anna said that the color was very subtle, but a lovely muted yellow-green came through and with a simple rolled edge it will make an elegant scarf.

Last, Hollie has been working on a quilt! This is her first attempt at one, and she started all the way back in January with the guidance of quilting pro Melanie. Progress was halted due to a busy summer and a finicky old sewing machine. She recently acquired a new-to-her machine for her birthday and has been getting back at it. She chose bright and busy fabric and a simple half-triangle design for her first quilt. She's looking forward to finishing it any day now!

So, there's a little sneak-peek into some of our current projects! If you've posted your progress on a piece you've been tackling, feel free to link to it below, as we'd love to see! Happy crafting!

Real Bees!

2011-10-20T10:13:00.000-07:00

It's no secret that we're big fans of bees over in these parts. Within the last couple of years, I personally have taken a great interest in beekeeping, and dream of one day having a backyard hive of my own. When our friend Brandi decided to put bees up on the farm that we all help out on, it was like a dream come true. I was lucky enough to help Brandi, along with our friend Sean, with her first ever honey harvest a couple of weeks ago.

Oh, and just a little sidenote before we get into it - Brandi is an actual descendant of Old MacDonald. As in, Old MacDonald had a farm. Ee i ee i o. Pretty perfect for a modern beekeeping farmer, no?

Brandi has two colonies up at the farm. The first one she got in the early Spring, and the second one she added mid-Summer. It's seemed as though it was a productive year for the bees, but being Brandi's first year she wasn't sure what to expect. The three of us got together on a rainy afternoon ready to work like worker bees.

After Brandi removed the honey supers from the hives and brought them to the barn, the next step was to remove the layer of beeswax that the bees cap the combs with once they are full of honey. We took turns doing this carefully with hot knives. You can buy high-tech beekeeping electric knives that stay continually hot, but a kettle full of boiling water did the trick well enough for us.

The frames were then put into the extractor that Brandi borrowed from her fellow beekeeper friend Jess. An extractor works by placing the frames within a barrel, and then spinning them around. This removes the honey by flinging it out and allowing it to collect at the bottom of the barrel, while doing no damage to the frames so that they can be used again in the hive.

While we watched the motor running on the extractor, Sean (owner of Downtown Bike Hounds, and a serious bike enthusiast) came up with the incredible idea of making our own extractor powered by the pedals of a bike. Maybe next year that's how we'll be doing things.

And then liquid gold poured out when we opened the spigot at the bottom of the extractor drum.

At this point, the honey is still full of small bits of wax and other debris, so it is poured into food grade containers with very fine filters, and is left to drip drip drip slowly over a period of days. It was impossible for us not to sample the goods at this point, and man oh man, I've never had better honey in my life. Sweet and floral and fragrant. We wanted to bathe in it.

Between her two hives, Brandi ended up with around 12 gallons of honey from her harvest. Not too shabby! And really, the bees did most of the work! I'm so grateful to Brandi for letting me help out and learn some of the ropes of harvesting honey. Now all I have to do is convince my husband to let me put that (illegal) backyard hive in our yard.

Beehive Excursions: The Toronto Garlic Festival

2011-09-27T07:12:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, I visited the first annual Toronto Garlic Festival at The Brick Works. Many of us Bees have been very excited about garlic this summer. There was a really good crop of it at the farm, and we've been enjoying it in almost everything we cook. We've also been dreaming about making our own garlic braids. We've learned a fair bit about it, and I think we'll be giving it a try next summer.

Who knew that there were so many varieties of garlic?? The number of types of garlic was almost overwhelming! It seems that "Music" is the most common variety in Ontario. It has large cloves, is quite flavourful, and stores well. We picked up a number of different types, and plan to plant some in our garden this fall.

Mmm, pickled garlic scapes. We discovered garlic scapes this summer and became absolutely obsessed! They are the leafless flowering stem that comes from the plant, which are removed so the plant focuses it's energy on bulb growth. They are so delicious lightly sauteed in some butter and served as a side dish. Or just eaten straight out of the pan. Or you can make a tasty pesto with them.

In addition to the braids and bunches and bags of garlic you could buy, there was also a selection of delicious food containing garlic to eat. Needless to say, we had extreme garlic breath by the end of the day. But it was ok, because so did everyone else.

Knit Night On The Brain!

2011-09-15T10:03:00.000-07:00

This past weekend in Hamilton was amazing. Supercrawl was so so good. The best ever. I was so impressed and thrilled to share such a great Hamilton event with some friends and family who were visiting. And we completed our giant knit façade of The Brain, which we've been working on since June/July.

We were literally knitting and piecing the installation together as it was going up. And many of us were knitting non-stop in the week leading up to the deadline. Towards the end we pulled out the big guns to speed things up - mega huge knitting needles! Thank goodness for chunky yarn and big needles.

We couldn't have done this without our friends and family. In addition to all the knitters that helped with the actual creation of the piece, we could never have installed it without the tireless help of Gary. THANK YOU GARY! Sky Jack operator extraordinaire. And Kieran and Mike. HEROES. And thank you Heather who patiently let us take over The Brain, inside and out.

Oh, and that amazing knit recreation of The Brain logo? Yeah, that was Courtney. She's the mastermind behind this entire thing. Not only is she speediest knitter I've ever met, she's also a genius when it comes to making up patterns. Three cheers for Courtney!!!

And now it's done. Our first giant Beehive project! If you swing by in the next little while, you can still check out the yellow section with The Brain sign, which is still up.

On The Brain

2011-09-08T09:08:00.000-07:00

We are busy busy busy busy bees (how many times can we make this joke?). Our knit installation for Supercrawl has been taking up all of our time for the past couple of weeks. Knit knit knit knit knit knit knit. We'll finally be installing the whole thing tomorrow, and it will be available to view tomorrow evening at the art crawl and all day Saturday at Supercrawl on the facade of The Brain at 199 James Street North.

Over 70 knit scarves, 2 knit window boxes, a knit sign for The Brain, half a dozen crocheted flowers, 18 constructed wood frames later and we're ready. It's going to be incredible. We do hope that you'll be able to check it out. It couldn't have been possible without the local crafting community stepping up and pitching in. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Okay. Back to knitting for us. See you this weekend.

Canning Peaches

2011-08-31T09:23:00.000-07:00

On Sunday a few of us got together at Thea's to can peaches! This wonderful fruit is at its best right now and we really wanted to capture its deliciousness and preserve it for future enjoyment.

The most time consuming and messy part of canning peaches is the peeling and slicing bit. The more hands helping out, the better! In order to make the peaches easy to peel, we blanched them in boiling water for 30-50 seconds. Then we peeled them, sliced them, and put the slices in a bath of water with lemon juice in it. The lemon prevents the fruit from darkening unattractively.

It's best to can peaches that are just beginning to soften. If they're too soft, they may just fall apart when cooked. If they're too hard, they're a major pain in the derriere to peel.

Thea informed us that peach pits contain pips that have an almondy scent and flavour (peaches and almonds are related after all). So she cracked a few pits open with a hammer, and put some pips in a tea infuser, which we placed in the syrup to give it a slight almond flavour. Yum!

In batches, we added the sliced peaches to our sugar syrup mixture. We made a medium syrup, a combination of 6 cups of water with 3 cups of sugar. The peaches were cooked in the syrup for 5 minutes. This is the "hot pack" method of canning, since the fruit is heated before being canned. It's the most commonly used method for preserving fruit since it is a bit safer, and makes it easier to get the fruit in the jars. You can also "cold pack" or "raw pack" the fruit by putting it in without cooking it in the syrup, and then pouring the hot syrup on after.

With a slotted spoon, we ladled the peaches into hot sterilized jars, then added the syrup until there was about 1'' headspace. Wide mouthed funnels are a canner's best friend.

We processed the canned peaches in the canner for about 20 minutes.

Et voila! Peaches galore! They will provide a wonderful taste of summer in the cold dark days of winter. Yum.

Summer Craft Fair

2011-08-23T11:30:00.000-07:00

Wow: the only word that captures all of our collective feelings over the incredibly successful and well received Summer Craft Fair that came and went last weekend. Just, wow.

It really was incredible to witness 7 months of planning and preparations unfold into such an enjoyable weekend, with the Old Friendship Shop looking its finest, and the place packed full of amazing and talented artisans. The air was buzzing with excitement on Friday evening, and it was pretty much impossible for anyone to walk into the Old Friendship Shop without a huge smile their face. Really, how could they not?


Katie Walker's screenprinted scarves

Petra Cuschieri's adorable pencil cases (I snagged that dark floral one on the left)!

Katie Muth's greeting cards and prints

Viola Fibers and Sartoria

Pin Pals

Since the fair was our first major event, and none of us had quite planned anything like it before, it was definitely a learning curve for us all. Overall the whole experience, from the application process, to getting the keys to the Friendship Shop, to meeting our vendors, was wonderful. The Summer Craft Fair was totally exceeded our expectations, and we can't wait to do it again.

Although we thanked all of our friends and family in our last blog post for their generous love and support, I can't help but echo that sentiment again. So, a huge thank you to DJ Donna Lovejoy for providing hot beats on Friday evening, Amanda McCavour for her beautiful window installation, our countless friends and family, our neighbours, and all those who came by to say hello, and support our vendors.

And of course, a truly special thank you to all of our incredible vendors: our fair wouldn't have been as magical without your many talents.

From all of us Bees: Thank you, thank you, thank you.

PS - To view more photos of the fair visit Hollie's flickr set, as well as Kate's.

Worker Bees

2011-08-12T04:50:00.000-07:00

Well, today is the day that we Bees have been waiting for. Seven months of planning come to fruition starting tonight, and continue along on Saturday. We're thrilled, nervous and a little overwhelmed. Mostly thrilled. Very, very thrilled.

We've done our best the past couple of weeks to showcase some of the amazing talent that make up the fair. Never in our wildest dreams did we expect to be working alongside such creative and accomplished artists. Initially, we had our fingers crossed that we would get enough applications that The Old Friendship Shop wouldn't look empty. And suddenly, there we were, with more applications than we had room to accommodate. This fair is just bursting with extraordinary talent.

We wanted to contribute something material as well. Although the actual logistics alone of this whole event took up most of our time, we felt we had to create some kind of souvenir of our achievement. So we added a couple of more projects to our plate.

Jenna and Thea spent the beginning of this week screen printing tote bags. It's been mentioned on the blog before, but we all really love our wreath logo. Jenna did such a beautiful job designing it. Really, it'd be a shame NOT to print the design onto totes. Jenna and Thea printed up a limited number for the fair - more once we all realized that all 11 of us would like one ourselves - in a beautiful mustard colour onto sturdy canvas bags. In my head, I've already designated mine for transporting my Knit Night supplies on Wednesday nights.

During our last social meeting, most of the Bees got together and had a good old fashioned button making party. We spent a couple of hours in Roisin's new studio cutting out designs in different colours and sizes, pressing them into buttons and eating scones. I'm so thankful that most of our meetings revolve around good food, as well as learning new skills and good conversation. And gosh, our buttons turned out so cute.

Without getting too sappy here, we wouldn't have been able to pull this off without all the support of so many other worker bees. We have countless friends and family members and partners who have donated their time, their houses, their skills and their love to make all of our projects possible. Big, huge, bottom of our heart thanks to Kieran, Jeff, Peter, Dane, Kevin, Mike, Erick, Jesse, Doug, Sean, Ted, Gary, Copydog Tom, Tim, Heather, Rachael, Amanda, Ella, Dave, The Brain, Mulberry Street Coffeehouse, all of our families, all of our vendors, everyone who applied and especially to you. Thanks for being interested in what we do.

We really hope that you'll join us this weekend. We've worked so hard. For you.

Vendor Spotlight: Fidoodle

2011-08-11T11:40:00.000-07:00

We are very excited to have Fidoodle at our Summer Craft Fair. Jen is bringing some of the quirkiest and cutest creations that are aimed at kids and young people, although I'm sure even the oldest among us will be charmed by some of her pieces.

Melanie Senko: Tell us about yourself.

Jen Bulthuis: My name is Jen Bulthuis. I grew up in Hamilton, but have spent the majority of my adult years living in Toronto. Years ago I primarily worked with people through community arts initiatives in Toronto as I continued to develop my printmaking and general making practice, but Fidoodle has developed over the last 6 years paralleling my journey into parenthood. I have two children (age 6 and 1). We live in a great neighbourhood in Toronto and for the most part, everything that I make is built in my home studio.

M.S.: Where/when did you become acquainted with your craft?

Jen: Trained as an educator and woodblock printmaker, I’ve been developing Fidoodle out of a long running interest in art as interactive object, and in the imagination of children. My fascination with the materiality of wood evolved from printmaking to include intricate construction of traditional wooden marionettes. Printmaking led to an interest in bookbinding, then the creation of flipbooks involving stop motion animation. Years of work in the community arts, particularly with street involved youth, led me to a style shaped by drawing together, in the moment.

M.S.: Where do you draw creative inspiration from?

Jen: I’m inspired by the stories that we create through objects in our lives and especially the stories that children build through objects that they play with. I’m also intrigued by small details of our natural environments and by the worlds we create for ourselves. I love the feel of sanded maple in my hands and the versatility of industrial wool felt for building objects.

M.S.: What do you love most about your craft?

Jen: I’m very happy that I get to make up or invent so much of what I do. I can choose materials and I can make up processes. I love to draw and with screen-printing, I’m able to tell stories through illustration on several objects that I make.

M.S.: What are your most favourite materials to work with?

Jen: I especially love to work with wood, industrial wool felt, organic cottons. I like surfaces that I can print onto easily and materials that I can build with.

M.S.: Is there another craftsperson/designer/artist that you admire?

Jen: I admire lots of makers. Here’s a little list: The illustration of Fiep Westendorp, and Tove Jansen, the wooden dolls of Alexander Girard, furniture by Charles and Ray Eames, Trashbonbon, Brothers Dressler, ceramics by Jeremy Hatch, Rob Southcott, Coe and Waito. So many more.

M.S.: How do you get your work out in the world? Where else can one find it?

Jen: Fidoodle is out there through a variety of weekend fairs and Etsy and I sell my work in a few small boutiques in Toronto. This information is all on Fidoodle’s website.

Vendor Spotlight: Katie Walker

2011-08-11T10:00:00.000-07:00

Next up in our Vendor Spotlight series is textile designer Katie Walker. Using gorgeous silk and cotton, Katie hand dyes and screen prints her own designs to create the most wonderful scarves, perfect for this late summer weather. Read on to learn a little bit more about Katie and her work.

Elizabeth Simpson: Tell us about yourself

Katie Walker: I am a twenty-something textile designer and lover of all things crafty! I just finished school at Sheridan, and have moved back home and started my own tiny studio in my basement. I love dyeing and silk screen printing, but also have a new found love for hand embroidery.

E.S.: Where/when did you become acquainted with your craft?

Katie: I grew up with an artistic family, and a mother who embroidered my whole life. After finishing grade 12 I moved to an arts high school, where I got to take art classes all day long for 2 years. That's when I fell in love with textiles and surface design. I had always liked fabric, but didn't really know all there was to it. At that school I got to weave, sew and print, and then decided it was what I wanted to keep doing. Then I went to Sheridan, where I fell in love with screen printing, and created my line of dyed and printed textile accessories.

E.S.: Where do you draw creative inspiration from?

Katie: I get inspiration from everywhere: magazines, the internet, daily life. My collection of prints right now was all inspired by urban and industrial patterns and textures. I draw and paint a lot, and also get a lot of my inspiration from photography.

E.S.: Do you have a favourite place/spot/time of day/etc. to work?

Katie: I am defiantly a night owl. I am way more productive from 8 pm to midnight than I am all day. And at the moment I have a new studio space to work in. My boyfriend and I just revamped a room in our basement into a nice little studio space for me with a print table and a sewing area.

E.S.: How do you get your work out in the world? Where else can one find it?

Katie: I just finished school and have just started up my little business, so I'm in the process of getting my work out. I have an Etsy shop online, and some of my work can be found in Bayfield at the Artsee Cafe, as well as in London at Curiosities Gift shop starting in September. And I'm hoping to do more shows like this one in the GTA, as well as London area.

Vendor Spotlight: Pinpals

2011-08-11T08:01:00.000-07:00

We're getting so close to the show! Just a few more vendor spotlights for you! This one features the lovely ladies as Pinpals...an international craft duo with one part living in Montreal and the other in Colorado. Samantha and Sarah combine craft and illustration to create cross-stitched earrings, brooches and buttons, as well as lots of other cute goodies.

Meg Makins: Tell us about yourself.

Samantha: I'm one half of Pin Pals, and I live and work in Montreal where most of my time is spent in a corner of my studio rapidly expanding with knick knacks and craft supplies. When I'm not working you can find me thrift shopping, reading, or walking somewhere.

Sara: I'm the other half of Pin Pals (the drawing, paper puppet making half). I used to live in Montreal but I recently moved to Denver, Colorado. Now I eat green chili, camp in the mountains and drink margaritas!

M.M.: Where do you draw creative inspiration from?

Samantha: All sorts of places, thrift stores, craft books, folk art. Lately I've been inspired by restaurant decor of all types, and watching people.

Sara: All sorts of places. I'm inspired by movies, music videos and TV, food packaging and American grocery stores, people, the way they spend their time and the objects they surround themselves with. I like comedy and I know that gets into my drawings somewhere too. Can I be inspired by the Larry Sanders show? I think I'm inspired by the Larry Sanders show.

M.M.: What do you love most about your craft?

Sara: I can't write or act but I like stories and drawing is my creative outlet for telling stories.

M.M.: Is there another craftsperson/designer/artist that you admire?

Samantha: Some current illustrators that I admire lately are:

Riikka Sormunen
Bjørn Rune Lie
Jennifer Davis

Sara: Some of my favorite fibre based artists are:

Goodnight, Day
Suzen Green
Tara Bursey
Misako Mimoko
Jazmin Berakha

M.M.: Tell us about your process.

Samantha: I usually putter around for more time than I'd like to admit, then at some point I settle into my desk where I start counting tiny squares from graph paper and transferring them into stitches on cloth. If I'm making jewelry I'll then assemble and package everything, and if I'm working on a larger piece I'll work until my eyes have had it for the day.

M.M.: Describe your 'perfect atmosphere' for crafting...

Samantha: Sunny or rainy outside, talk radio, coffee, semi-clean desk, good lamp, glasses.

Thanks for your time, ladies!

Vendor Spotlight: Sartoria!

2011-08-10T10:47:00.000-07:00

Sara Tori of Sartoria knows what all we Canadian folks need to get us through the depths of our epic winters. Her long-johns, tank tops and undies are made with love from reclaimed materials of the highest quality to keep you cozy as you cycle down windy streets, bustle to and from subway stations or just lounge around your living-room on a cool fall evening. Merino and cashmere wool sweaters are taken apart and re-sewn into one of a kind cozy garments, perfectly fit for a wide variety of body sizes and heights with no sacrifices made of style in the name of keeping warm.

We are so happy to be showcasing Sartoria in the Summer Craft Fair so we asked asked Sara to send us a little bit about about herself. She had some lovely things to say about her upcoming collection and all the wonderful folks it's dedicated to:

"The 2011.2012 collection : Entangling with Hope

This collection pays homage to individuals in every land who knew and know that to nurture hope is to keep alive the richest aspects of being human. Sartoria salutes these people who, in the face of atrocity and oppression, hold and nurture hope, in themselves and in community.

This collection is dedicated to all of you who are entangling with hope. who are finding a way to keep your spirit alive in these turbulent times. Who are remembering that compassion runs incredibly deep in us and who are reclaiming our value from the mandates of the government and the corporations. These luxurious fibres gifted from our animal allies, these pieces are made for you."

Sara totes her sewing machine along with her to top craft fairs like the Distillery Art Market and One Of A Kind Show in toronto as well as the Circle Craft show in Vancuver B.C. (and of course this weekend at the Summer Craft Fair!) You can also find her on line in her Etsy shop.

While I hate to say that fall is now fast approaching, I cant wait to pick up a pair of these lovely undies to match the tank top I already own (and love!) I'm hoping to spend winter entangled in some blankets adding my Sartoria outfit to the layers of natural wool I rely on for surviving the cold.

Vendor Spotlight: Leikey Designs

2011-08-10T08:49:00.000-07:00

I was first introduced to Keiley Stewart's work in May of this year, when Sheridan College had its textile grad show during the James North Art Crawl, and I was able to pop over and check it out. I even wrote about it here. Keiley's work was a total showstopper - giant felted animal heads that you could try on yourself. We were thrilled when we received her application for the show, and instantly fell in love with her penchant for foxes! Consider me super impressed when I checked out her portfolio, fell in love with her whimsical Honey Do hats and saw her long list of talents, from felting and silkscreening to embroidery and cooking pretty good bacon. We're all pretty proud over here to be showcasing new craft talent.

Hollie Pocsai: Tell us about yourself.

Keiley Stewart: My name is Keiley (kee-lee) Many people confuse my name with Kylie, Kelly or Kiwi (yes, like the fruit.) I grew up in Burlington, ON and I just graduated Sheridan College from their wonderful Textile program. In 2009, I began Leikey Designs (lee-kee) where I design and make textile accessories for people to wear and share. My adorable cousin gave the nickname Leikey to me when she was just a 1yr old and is a jumbled-up version on my actual name. Since then, it’s just stuck with me.

H.P.: Where/when did you become acquainted with your craft?

Keiley: I have fond memories as a kid, knitting and sewing along side my Nanna. I was always impressed with the things she could make and also terribly disappointed that I wasn't very coordinated, but I was happy making anything. Going to school for textiles gave me a chance to hone those skills and learn some new ones too.

H.P.: Where do you draw creative inspiration from?

Keiley: A lot of my work incorporates animals and one of my favourites being foxes. It’s sort of an unconscious thing, not something I aim for but I don’t avoid it either. For the most part, I generate inspiration from colours and textures. I’m in a constant search for new ideas through the things I see and touch.

H.P.: What do you love most about your craft?

Keiley: Textiles is crazy versatile. There are so many applications for textiles. You can wear it or hang it and it can be durable or delicate. Also the portability. Although silk-screening isn’t terribly portable, knitting, embroidery even needle felting – you can take it anywhere and pick it up right where you leave off.

H.P.: Do you have a favourite place/spot/time of day/etc. to work?

Keiley: I am a night owl. I like to do most of my planning and set up during the day and then quietly work into the night. For smaller projects I like to work at my desk or in a comfy spot, listening to music or watching a movie. For the most part, I like to be comfortable with alittle bit of white noise in the background so I can gauge how long my work takes or should take me -like a movie egg timer!

H.P.: What are your most favourite materials to work with?

Keiley: One of my favourite materials is wool. Raw or spun, I love it. I enjoy felting a great deal too. It’s also super versatile: sculpted or flat, the applications are unlimited. Another favourite is thread. It is infinitely useful. I’ve recently starting a collection of small crochet and tatted pieces done with just regular thread. I really enjoy the look and delicate nature of crocheted thread.

H.P.: Is there another craftsperson/designer/artist that you admire?

Keiley: Everyone that makes or designs has my respect. It’s cheesy and true. Anyone that has the drive and vision to make something out of nothing amazes me. Suzanne Carlsen is a Textile/Jewelry Artist I admire. Her work is incredibly creative and innovative. Cushioned fabrics with teeny tiny hand embroidery, fitted into intricate hand-cut metalwork. Amazing! Pin Pals is another one of my favourites. I just bought a pair of their heart button earrings from White Elephant. Their paper work and cross-stitching is so lovable and the imagery I could just eat with a spoon!

Vendor Spotlight: Petra Cuschieri

2011-08-09T13:00:00.000-07:00

I first became acquainted with Petra Cuschieri's work during the Beehive jurying process, and I can't express how greatly I am glad for it. Her beautiful pouches, each made with reclaimed or deadstock materials, were love at first sight. They are just perfect for keeping your most precious coloured pencils and pens safe, or if you're like me, your hooks and needles. Petra also prints her adorable patterns and illustrations onto greeting cards, and you can expect to find these at this weekends craft fair as well. Keep up with Petra's creative doings and everyday life here.

Elizabeth Simpson: Tell us about yourself.

Petra Cuschieri: I'm a Toronto-based graphic designer. I work part-time doing design work for a local record label. I also work part-time at a paper store, and I do freelance design work as well. I love music, cooking & baking, bicycles, furry friends...

E.S: Where/when did you become acquainted with your craft?

Petra: My dad is a tailor and he taught me to sew, so I've been sewing for most of my life. I started making bags when I was in high school, under the name Petrified Baggage. I ran that business for a few years, but it was hard to keep up in college. My mother is very talented artistically, and my grandmother was a knitting/quilting/needlework master, so I've kind of always been surrounded by people who make things. Just recently I learned how to operate a Gocco, so I've been printing my little patterns and illustrations onto greeting cards! I can't wait to start real-deal screenprinting.

E.S: Where do you draw creative inspiration from?

Petra: A variety of places, but I think I am most inspired when learning about creative people's process and how ideas are formed. Collaborating and feeding off of others' creative energy is always good! Debbie Millman's podcast Design Matters is one of my favourites, she asks amazing questions and really knows how to get into her interviewee's head. Also, traditional craft practises often inspire my graphic design work.

E.S: What do you love most about your craft?

Petra: I love textiles, so I love the initial stages of planning and pairing patterns and colours when designing a bag. I want to eventually design my own fabrics because I love designing patterns as well.

E.S: Do you have a favourite place/spot/time of day/etc. to work?

Petra: I usually end up doing my best work late at night. (Or i'm left with no choice, because i procrastinate!) I was the one in college who had no problem pulling all-nighters.

E.S: What are your most favourite materials to work with?

Petra: I've been using mostly reclaimed and dead-stock fabrics lately and I love the feeling of giving them another life. I like mixing heavy tweeds and denims with faded old floral prints. Also now it feels more like a treat to buy a beautiful piece of new fabric.

E.S: Is there another craftsperson/designer/artist that you admire?

Petra: There are quite a few... I love Karen Barbé's needlework. I love Luci Everett, she is a graphic designer who infuses handmade elements and collage into all of her work. Maira Kalman is another big favourite, I love her illustrations and paintings and narrative style. I also love reading about the women of the Bauhaus such as Gunta Stolz and Anni Albers... the work that they produced is amazing and so inspiring.

Vendor Spotlight: Melanie Cronyn

2011-08-09T07:07:00.000-07:00

We are delighted to have the jewelry of Silversmith Melanie Cronyn at our summer fair. Originally from Hamilton, Melanie creates textural and graphic pieces with clean lines, largely inspired by nature. I recently spoke with Melanie to find out a bit more about her and her work.

Jenna Fenwick: Tell us about yourself.

Melanie: My name is Melanie Cronyn and I was raised in Hamilton and also spent some time growing up in the Mount Hope/Glanbrook area. After college I moved all over the province of Ontario following different jobs around. I currently live in Burlington with my husband Grant, 18 month old son Cash, and our dog Marty.

J.F.: Where/when did you become acquainted with your craft?

Melanie: I’ve always been creative and love working with my hands. I first studied Cartography (which is the art of making maps) in college and worked in the field for some time, I can’t really tell you how (without boring you to tears) but I ended up in the Engineering field with no creative outlet. Five or so years ago, I started looking for that creative outlet and discovered an intro to jewellery class at George Brown College and I was hooked. From there I started taking silversmithing classes at The Devil’s Workshop in Toronto.

J.F.: Where do you draw creative inspiration from?

Melanie: I am mainly inspired by nature, many of my pieces are modeled after things I see in the great outdoors such as trees & plant life & the beautiful lakes & waterways of Northern Ontario.

J.F.: Describe your 'perfect atmosphere' for crafting...

Melanie: This is something I daydream about almost daily. Currently my studio is in a teeny tiny corner of our garage which isn’t overly inspiring, so in my daydreams I first picture my little family living in a beautiful old restored home out in the country, with lots of land. I could walk out my back door and across the grass to a little studio surrounded by trees and wildflowers. Inspiration everywhere.

J.F.: How do you get your work out in the world? Where else can one find it?

Melanie: Currently you can find my work online on Etsy.

Vendor Spotlight: Oak Savanna

2011-08-04T11:09:00.000-07:00

Today's post features the always lovely Melissa -- the amazing knitting talent and designer behind Oak Savanna. Melissa uses superfine merino wool and/or silk to create beautifully delicate, one-of-a-kind scarves, shawls and kerchiefs; all of which are crafted from her own patterns, and knit with her own two hands.

Elizabeth Simpson: Tell us about yourself.

Melissa: My name is Melissa. I have a day job as an environmental engineer and run Oak Savanna during my free time. Knitting is one of my favourite activities, along with hiking, playing board games and drinking craft beer. Also, I have a very large cat named Artemis.

E.S.: Where/when did you become acquainted with your craft?

Melissa: My mom taught me many forms of crafting in my childhood and knitting was one of them. I learned to knit for the first time when I was 10 years old, to help occupy my time at my grandparents' house during a teachers strike. I made a very chubby bookmark, too chubby for any book, and promptly lost interest in the craft. I retaught myself to knit when I was 18 and haven't stopped knitting since.

E.S.: What do you love most about your craft?

Melissa: What I love most about knitting is the flexibility you have when making something. There are so many different types of yarns and techniques available to a knitter, so it's possible to create anything you can think of (nearly). Also, if you make a mistake, you can easily undo the project, fix the mistake and continue on without any trace of the mistake in the finished product.

E.S.: What are your most favourite materials to work with?

Melissa: It's hard to pick a favourite, but yarn that is a hand-dyed merino wool or a hand dyed blend of merino wool and silk. Yarns made from natural fibres in general are a joy to work with.

E.S.: How do you get your work out in the world? Where else can one find it?

Melissa: Since my business is fairly new, my work is only available online at my Etsy shop and of course, it will be available at the Summer Craft Fair.

Vendor Spotlight: Viola Fibers

2011-08-02T17:30:00.000-07:00

I spoke to Emily Folden of Viola Fibers about her beautiful yarns. She hand-dyes all of her yarn and fiber in very small batches, achieving lovely variety of shades, bursts of hues and speckles and splotches of colour. We first became acquainted with Viola Fibers fine work when our very own Bees Courtney and Elizabeth discovered her at Knitter's Frolic.

Thea Haines: Where/when did you become acquainted with your craft?

Emily Folden: I became acquainted with my craft while working in a yarn shop. The best part of this job was helping customers select colours for their projects...colour quickly became an obsession!

T.H.: Where do you draw creative inspiration from?

Emily: I draw inspiration from dreams, water, gardens, music.

T.H.: What is your favourite time of day to work?

Emily: My most productive time to work is the morning. I love getting up early and always get lots don't in the bright quiet of the morning...I also love the coffee!

T.H.: Describe your 'perfect atmosphere' for crafting...

Emily: My perfect crafting atmosphere is full of light, good music and pretty things...flowers, paint chips, antique tea cups, fabric and of course lots of yarn!

T.H.: Tell us about your process.

Emily: My creative process is rather wild. Creating new colours is the most fun job. I begin. With a dye stock and slowly add bits and bobs of colour until I like what I have in the pot, the more muddy and complicated the better! I love when colours surprise me - even the ones I've dyed a million times before!

Thank you Lion Brand Yarn!

2011-07-28T09:08:00.000-07:00

Over the past month, the Beehive and many of our friends and family have been working away on our Knit Night on the Brain installation for Super Crawl. In case you've forgotten, the piece will be a replica of the façade of a bar in Hamilton called The Brain, home to Knit Night, and it will be suspended over the front of the building. We will be recreating the brick work and structural elements of the building while also adding a few touches of our own.

When we came up with the idea for this project, we contacted Lion Brand Yarn to see if they would be interested in donating yarn for the project. Many of us use Lion Brand for our own personal projects all the time. Especially being fans of the Vanna's Choice line.

Founded in 1878, Lion Brand is America's oldest manufacturer of craft yarn. We approached them for help because we knew of their commitment to the knitting and crocheting community and to outreach and charitable works. First we measured the outside of The Brain, then Courtney came up with a pattern, and from that we calculated how many square feet of yarn we would need to cover everything that we wanted to with the installation. We then went through their catalogue in both their Wool-Ease Thick & Quick and Vanna's Choice lines, and picked colours that matched the existing brick and mortar of the building. It was easy to do so with such a beautiful and diverse selection of shades.

We drafted up a proposal, sent it to Lion Brand and crossed our fingers that they would be as enthusiastic about our project as we were. And they were! Five boxes full of their gorgeous yarn were promptly sent to White Elephant where we all squealed and jumped for joy upon arrival.

All of us have been taking our knitting wherever we go. Beehive meetings, the cottage, coffee shops, picnics. There's nowhere we won't knit. And look! A boy knitting! A relatively rare sight.

Even Hollie's cat Tanooki has been trying to help, in his own way...

Once all 69 scarves are complete, we will be assembling them all together to resemble brickwork. We also have to knit the actual sign that hangs on the front of The Brain, which is the silhouette of a human head with the brain exposed. There's a contest among some of the Bees of who will finish the most, with Courtney and Anna currently in the lead, with 9 and 8 scarves completed respectively. We've got lots of helping hands pitching in, from mothers to grandmothers to co-workers to complete strangers who want to contribute. It's amazing to see the knitting community of Hamilton come together for a project like this.

Once disassembled, all the scarves will be cleaned and then donated to Mission Services on James Street North. Art with a purpose! It's so satisfying to know that the scarves that we are working on will be used by someone really in need of them. There's still time for you to pitch in too. You can download the PDF of the pattern on the sidebar to your right, and can pick up some yarn from us every Wednesday night at Knit Night at The Brain, at 199 James Street North.

We can't thank Lion Brand enough for their generosity. Without them, this installation would not be possible. They are a really amazing company dedicated to progressive thinking within the textile community. We love you Lion Brand.

Vendor Spotlight: Katie Muth

2011-07-26T05:56:00.000-07:00

I spoke to Katie Muth about her beautiful hand printed graphic lino-cuts prints and cards. Katie is an independent artist, illustrator, and printmaker based in Toronto, Canada. She designs and prints in her home-based workshop. The lino-cut images depict things from her life that she cherishes most. Her intent is to make beautiful creations that share this joy. You can see more of Katie's beautiful work on her website.

Thea Haines: Where do you draw creative inspiration from?

Katie: Things in my life that I enjoy and value. I think I'm a designer at heart, so I really enjoy solving a creative problem. I like to do collections that follow a calendar year because I thrive on the framework of finding the best representation of what's good about each month.

T.H.: What do you love most about your craft?

Katie: A lot! I love the clean, binary nature of the lines in lino-cut (there is no grey - it's either printed or not printed), and the way the hand is slowed by the process of carving, making the images strong and deliberate. It's also a bit of a magic trick! You have to carve everything in reverse, so you don't know exactly what it's going to look like until the first time that you roll ink on, burnish the paper onto the lino-block, and reveal! It's pretty exciting. And finally, the BEST thing about my craft is that while it's a big investment of time and work to carve the block, you can continue making prints from it for years (unlike a painting that you have to say goodbye to when you sell.)

T.H.: Do you have a favourite place/spot/time of day/etc. to work?

Katie: I recently moved to a place with a lovely deck overlooking my vegetable garden. I used to have to heat the linoleum in the microwave to make it easier to carve, but now when I work out on my deck, the sun warms it to the perfect temperature!

T.H.: How do you get your work out in the world? Where else can one find it?

Katie: The internet is a wonderful thing. When I first started my card business, I would get a few orders in one day (from California for example) and it would be because someone blogged about my work. Mixed Media on James St. in Hamilton has been a great supporter of mine, and they carry a wide selection of my cards. I really love doing arts and craft shows though, because nothing compares to seeing all of the original prints displayed together, and the lovely tactile quality of ink on paper that can only be appreciated first-hand.

Pea Preparation

2011-07-22T09:00:00.000-07:00

Several weeks ago a few of us were able to get up to the farm, and after an evening of much needed weeding we rewarded ourselves by pick some peas. We ended up with so many peas (about a bushel and a half) that I decided to take the opportunity to bring a little over half a bushel home to freeze some so that we could have tasty peas all year round.

First you need to shuck the peas. We did this while watching Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 to get ready to see Part 2. I have to say that fresh peas might be a better movie snack than popcorn.

To properly prepare peas for freezing (and most other vegetables and fruit) they have to be blanched to kill the enzyme that causes the peas to lose their freshness. To blanch the peas they need to be submerged in boiling water for 90 seconds.

I put a few handfuls of peas into a metal steaming basket to contain them so that I didn’t have to chase the loose peas around with a slotted spoon in a boiling pot of water.

Once the peas had been in the boiling water for 90 seconds I dropped the basket into a bowl of cold water to stop the cooking process.

After cooling in the first bowl of water for about 30 seconds I would dump the peas out of the basket into a second bowl of cold water. I would keep the peas here until the next batch of peas had come out of the boiling water.

The peas would then be poured into a strainer, then onto a paper towel to blot off the excess water.

(To me it looks like the peas are in the shape of North America, anyone else see that?)

Once the peas have been dried off they can be spread out on to a cookie sheet to freeze. When the peas have frozen solid they can be collected into sealable container. Freezing them this way allows the peas freeze separately, not stuck to their neighbour so you can take as many as you want to add to your meal.

I had so many peas that I had to make a second layer on both my cookie sheets with tin foil.

How do you use your peas throughout the year?

photos by Courtney Lakin

Vendor Spotlight: Rosalyn Faustino

2011-07-21T12:32:00.000-07:00

Spotlight time! Rosalyn Faustino is another vendor in the Beehive Craft Fair this summer, and all of us are simply thrilled about it. Rosalyn is one of those crafters that seems to do a little bit of everything she can get her hands on and her blog is full inspiring pictures of new crafting skills that she is constantly picking up. White Elephant carries some of her crochet wire and thread necklaces (pictured below) and they are a huge hit. We're excited to see more of her work this summer at the fair.

Photo - Karyn Valino

Jane LaBatte: Tell us about yourself.

Rosalyn: My name is Rosalyn Faustino, born and raised in Calgary, Alberta. I went to school at the Toronto School of Art, University of Toronto and Sheridan College focusing on Sculpture and Design. You can normally find me at the workroom or the dance floor when I'm not craftin' it up.

Photo - Karyn Valino

J.L.: Where/when did you become acquainted with your craft?

Rosalyn: I was always surrounded by craft by both my parents. My mom would always tat, sew, knit, crochet for my sister and I, and my dad always loved to assemble things. I felt that when I was in elementary and girls were chasing boys, I was too busy cross stitching. I would have taken it with me everywhere I went and while I was watching tv. I stopped crafting for awhile and focused more on my fine art practice. It wasn't until I was in my 4th year university when I discovered using my domestic techniques and altering them by using non-traditional materials.

J.L.: Where do you draw creative inspiration from?

Rosalyn: Everywhere, but mainly through nature - trees, organic objects.

Photo - Karyn Valino

J.L.: Tell us about your creative process.

Rosalyn: My process involves no pre-determined conceptions as to how the overall work would become. The work manifests from the trial and errors I encounter and where every it can take me. This way of creativity has allowed me to work subconsciously

Photo - Rosalyn Faustino

J.L.: How do you get your work out into the world? Where else can one find it?

Rosalyn: I've only recently started showing my work into the world. I was a vendor with my partner Caitlyn, of COSMIC LATTE, at City of Craft in 2009. From there, I was invited to be part of the Wunderkabinet 2 in Berlin. The Beehive Fair will be my first show going solo!! I'm hoping to open up an online shop soon...so keep your eyes open!!

Photo - Karyn Valino

J.L.: What do you do when you’re not working on your craft?

Rosalyn: I like to do dancing and discovering all the little shops and eatery places in Toronto!

Vendor Spotlight: Dear Edna

2011-07-19T08:03:00.000-07:00

Next in our lineup of wonderful vendors is a local Hamiltonian: Erin of Dear Edna. She makes gorgeous aprons (for girls and guys!), cute screen printed totes, and has a fun blog that does a great job of letting me know what's going on in Hamilton each month.

Kate Hunter: Tell us about yourself.

Erin: My name is Erin McIntosh and I’m the one-woman show behind Dear Edna, a small handmade accessories company based in Hamilton, Ontario. I was born and raised in “the Hammer”, but it wasn’t until I had spent four years at the University of Western, two years in Japan and Australia, and three years in Toronto that I decided to move back to my hometown, reignite my relationship with my sewing machine, and finally turn my life-long hobby into a creative business. When I’m not sewing, I am a full-time editor, tea fanatic, bookworm and baker.

K.H.: Where/when did you become acquainted with your craft?

Erin: I come from a long line of crafters. My grandmother was very well known for her quilting skills. I think she made a quilt for every new grandchild and every wedding in our family, and I have fond memories playing beneath her quilting frames. Many of my baby and doll clothes were handmade thanks to my aunts, and my mother’s crocheted afghans and doilies are warm reminders of home for me. I began teaching myself to sew at a very young age, when my mother inherited a sewing machine from a friend. I was immediately fascinated with it, and after practicing sewing line after line into tea towels, I progressed to creating pencil cases, skirts and dresses, and finally, home accessories. It’s only in the last year that I’ve picked up screen printing and I’m really excited about where that will take me.

K.H.: Where do you draw creative inspiration from?

Erin: Hopefully it is evident in my work, but I am heavily influenced by the past – florals, houndstooth and plaid; doilies and lace; brooches and pearls; high tea and happy hour. Browsing antique stores is one of my favourite things to do and I could do it for hours on end.

I am also really inspired by the handmade tradition. Skills such as sewing, needlepoint and weaving that have been passed down for generations are now disappearing art forms. I am really eager to try my hand at many of them and find ways to incorporate them into my work.

K.H.: Do you have a favourite place/spot/time of day/etc. to work?

Erin: I live in a two-story condo with my boyfriend in downtown Hamilton. We recently created a sewing room and office that takes up almost the entire top floor and opens out onto two rooftop patios, which I just love. Words can’t describe how nice it is to have my fabric collection on display, all my tools within arm’s reach, natural sunlight and a dedicated space to just create. My favourite time of day is currently unavailable, so let’s just say it’s evenings and weekends.

K.H.: How do you get your work out in the world? Where else can one find it?

Erin: I primarily sell my work online through my Etsy store: www.dearedna.etsy.com. I also have a few pieces for sale in White Elephant.

Vendor Spotlight : Fieldguided

2011-07-15T09:07:00.000-07:00

Time for another craft vendor spotlight! Today we’re talking to Anabela of Fieldguided. She’s the mastermind behind the Thunder in Our Hearts totes you saw everywhere this past year (and that five different members of the Beehive own themselves), as well as the oh-so-sweet neckties featured below.

Amy Kenny: Tell us about yourself.

Anabela: Fieldguided is me, Anabela, and my partner Geoff. We live with our two cats in the Dufferin Grove area of Toronto.

A.K.: Where/when did you become acquainted with your craft?

Anabela: We don't really have a specific "craft" -- we like to do a lot of different things. I like to think that we've always been fairly creative, and that knowing each other has brought out different strengths in each of us. For example, I didn't know anything about photography before I met Geoff, and earlier this year I flew to London to attend the opening of a group photography show I was in. He's taught me a lot over the past 7 years.

Above photo courtesy of Hannah Hayes

A.K.: Where do you draw creative inspiration from?

Anabela: All over the place, really. The internet, magazines, books, our educations, our childhoods, our friends...a lot of the time when I'm riding my bike around I'll have ideas spontaneously pop into my head and those tend to be my best ones.

A.K.: What do you love most about your craft?

Anabela: I get really excited when I spot someone on the street carrying one of our tote bags. The fact that other people like what we do -- that's what I love the best.

*Above photo courtesy of Francesca Zmetra

A.K.: Do you have a favourite place/spot/time of day/etc. to work?

Anabela: I love to work in our living room in the middle of the afternoon but that doesn't happen too often since I'm usually at work at that time. The light is just perfect then.

A.K.: What are your most favourite materials to work with?

Anabela: Fujipro 400H film, neon pink fabric ink, cotton, linen. A bit of everything, really.

A.K.: Is there another craftsperson/designer/artist that you admire?

Anabela: So many! Jessica Williams, Alice Saunders, Nigel Peake, Eviana Hartman, Aidan Koch, Laura Lombardi. We could go on for days about this!

Hip to be Square: Granny Square Blanket!

2011-07-13T07:29:00.000-07:00

Way back in the winter our fellow bee Courtney was kind (and patient!) enough to teach a few of us how to crochet simple granny squares at The Brain's regular Knit Night. In general I tend to gravitate towards simple projects that I can pick up and put down easily or do while watching a movie; it makes me feel like I'm being productive! Granny squares were the perfect project to fill my idle hands and use up that ever growing yarn stash. Slowly but surely, one square at a time, you're bound to build up enough little squares to make an afghan without having to tote around a large and daunting project.

Jenna Rose used some gorgeous light airy colors for her granny squares (above).

I love natural colors of wool and using Canadian or hand spun yarns, so for my project I used up some hand spun Manos del Uruguay left over from an old project and purchased some Briggs and Little yarn while on christmas vacation in Nova Scotia. I love Briggs and Little because it's a Canadian company and is very inexpensive for pure Canadian wool, which they buy direct from the producer. It makes an ideal yarn for natural dyeing as well as for large projects like blankets.

I started by dyeing some of the wool with onion skins, one of the easiest and most rewarding natural dyes to work with. After saving up my onion skins until i had enough to fill a pot, I dyed two balls of natural white "Heritage" (2 ply) yarn from the Briggs and Little line. I boiled the onion skins 'til the water was full of their dark rust color, then I filtered them out and placed the water back on to boil. I dyed one skein first which soaked up the strong darker yellow right away - the ball in the back of the picture below. Then I dyed the second skein in the remaining water - this is called an exhaust bath. The water is not as potent with dye but this second round will produce a softer, often more beautiful, shade of yellow.

To go with the natural yellows, I picked up some Heritage yarns in shades of grey and started making the granny squares that Courtney had taught me. The stitch was surprisingly simple. Starting with a small circle made with a few chain stitches and then working outwards with little "shells" of three double-crochet stitches followed by a few chain stitches you eventually get a square. There are many great books and videos on making granny squares and tons of variations of patterns but I thought I'd stick to the simple square, mixing up my colors to make every square just a little bit different from the last. Soon enough (and thanks to a couple seasons of "Mad Men" that I definitely needed to catch up on...) I had a big pile of granny squares ready to be stitched together into a blanket.

As I made up the squares I added in some bright fun bits of left over wool in my stash to fill out the blanket and add some different colors!

Using the same basic pattern of three double crochet stitches I edged each square, and stitched them together by picking up the edge of the previous square as I went. When I was all done I edged the whole blanket with a gradation of grey to black yarns to frame the whole thing making the lighter grays and yellows pop in the middle of the blanket.

And just in time for summer weather, voila! the perfect picnic blanket for Bay Front Park!

I think I'll spend my whole summer right here.

photos by Jenna Rose and Anna Taylor

Vendor Spotlight: Scout & Catalogue

2011-07-08T09:00:00.000-07:00

Here's another spotlight on one of our craft fair vendors! We're so excited to have Scout & Catalogue in the Beehive fair this August. Breanna's collections (mostly scarves and pouches) are heavily influenced by the bohemian beach culture of Mexico. In her 'scavenger collection', Breanna upcycles thrift store finds into limited edition pieces. We're so excited to see Scout & Catalogue at the fair! Breanna was kind enough to answer a few questions about her work:

Meg Makins: Tell us about yourself.

Breanna: My name is Breanna and I run the small fashion accessories label, Scout & Catalogue. I grew up in Vancouver, lived for a bit in Mexico and am now residing in Toronto with my boyfriend and a cat called Mouse. While I currently spend most of my days sewing I started my professional career as a graphic designer working in ad agencies and more recently as a creative director at the fashion retailer Aritzia. Leaving my 9 to 5 was both liberating and terrifying and I currently spend my days longing for co-workers to chat with and relishing in escaping the endless meetings that took up so much of my time in the office.

M.M.: Where/when did you become acquainted with your craft?

Bre: Before coming to Toronto my boyfriend and I lived in Mexico and it was there that Scout & Catalogue was born. There were no real art stores in the town I lived in but tons of fabric stores since Mexican women still sew for their families. I started to fiddle around with fabric, dyes and studding and began to sell my stuff online to make some extra cash. Mexico has a really strong artisan culture and it felt natural that I could make my living by selling work I'd made by hand. Obviously Mexico's low cost of living made that reality a lot easier than back home in Canada! These days S&C has changed from a diverting project to a (more than) full time job but the rewards of running my own business are worth all the extra work.

M.M.: Where do you draw creative inspiration from?

Bre: I draw inspiration from all over the place and tuck it away for future collections. These days I've been liking hazy summer photos, neon accents, the markets of Istanbul and India and summer cocktails served in Mason jars. I've also been obsessed with house listings - mls.ca is my go-to site for future fantasy dreaming.

M.M.: Describe your perfect atmosphere for crafting.

Bre: My perfect atmosphere would be a shared studio space with a few other industrious and talented artists. There would be great light, a giant laundry sink (to save my bathtub from anymore abuse) and possibly a little patio garden to grow herbs or flowers during the summer. It would also be extremely cheap, easy to commute to and close to cute coffee shops and restaurants. It's an extreme pipe dream that I nurse on a daily basis.

M.M.: How do you get your work out in the world? Where else can one find it?

Bre: I sell most of my work online and have just started to work with retailers to have my pieces in shops. I'm currently only sold in one Toronto boutique but that should change as my production capacity increases. I also sell at craft sales and will be participating in the upcoming holiday One of A Kind show.

Photos via of Scout & Catalogue

Bee's BBQ

2011-07-06T11:05:00.000-07:00

When I wrote this, Mel (one of our very own Bee's) was about to have a baby, but right before I posted I found out that little baby Margaret Jane was actually born early this morning! How exciting! A few weeks ago, we thought we'd celebrate by hosting a Beehive BBQ in honor of this little one.

We gathered at Kate's place, and had a lovely time chatting, and enjoying so much amazing food. Kate made a totally delicious rhubarb rosemary spritzer (you can find the recipe on her blog, here).

The rhubarb spritzers were wonderful, but my personal highlight of the meal was Kate's fiancé, Erick, rocking the BBQ. He grilled veggies, Black Walnut Lane sausages, and divine rosemary chicken burgers - amazing! All of the meat came from local farmers, and you could taste the difference. Everything was so yummy!

It was just so nice to sit together in the afternoon sun and, instead of talking about the craft fair and our knitting project, we just got to relax and learn more about each other. We even invited the boys to this event - that's a first!

The BBQ was completely delectable, and so much fun. By the end of the of the evening we broke our own rule and started talking Beehive projects. We can't help it, it's just too exciting!

Perhaps we should just make all of our meetings barbeques?

Photos courtesy of Meg and Kate

Vendor Spotlight: Bread and Butter Pottery

2011-07-05T11:20:00.000-07:00

Bethany Butterworth, of Bread and Butter Pottery, is one of our vendors traveling the farthest just to take part in our lil’ fair. (All the way from Halifax, Nova Scotia, guys!) Her sweet, light-hearted pottery has been delighting east-coasters for the past few years since she graduated from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and we are more than a little excited to share her work with you all! I caught up with her over email to ask her a few questions about her work and inspiration.

Anna Taylor: How did you first get acquainted with your craft?

Bethany Butterworth: I studied at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design from 2003-2007. Somehow I knew where I wanted to be, so by the second semester I had made my way into the ceramics department, where I stayed.

A.T.: Pottery is the kind of art/craft practice that is difficult to do in your own space and I know that you are the executive director of a co-operative pottery studio called Turnstile Pottery. How have you found working in that kind of shared environment?

B.B.: Turnstile is a co-op studio, currently there are 8 of us. We share costs and responsibilities, so what would be an overwhelming amount of things for one person to run is divided among the group. We keep a small storefront and have a working studio, and we also run workshops and classes. Working in a shared space was challenging at first, but once you get used to it, sharing studio space is a wonderful thing. The group right now is darling. I honestly don’t know what I’d do without it. Having others around to generate ideas and share experiences is a treat.

A.T.: Besides selling through Turnstile’s shop front what other ways have you gotten your work out in the world?

B.B.: I have work at a few stores in Nova Scotia including Love, Me Boutique in Halifax, Salty Rose’s Local Craft and Trinket in Cape Breton and the Flying Cloud Boutique which is an airstream trailer that travels across the province. I also sell at a number of craft markets including the Halifax Crafters and [now] Beehive. I’m still working out other places to sell, like the Halifax farmers market and online...

A.t.: I’m totally in love with the “North End” line your posted on your website! Can you tell us a bit about how your community in Halifax Nova Scotia informs your practice?

B.B.: Yes! The North end of Halifax is an excellent place. You always hear about how things move more slowly out here, and that is true in this neighbourhood for certain. The streets are lined with trees, neighbours talk to one another, cats prowl, things happen in backyards and spill out into the street. I’m lucky enough to live in the thick of all this, and my house and studio are less than a block apart. I’ve been inspired by the funny sass of the neighbourhood, so I’ve been trying to get that feeling into my work! I’m totally fascinated by the cats. They are so funny and weird, there are tons of them around, and they each have ‘people’ names, like Benny or Jack or Tina or Harrison. Conversations can get confusing pretty quickly.

A.T.: You did an interesting collaborative project with tumblers a couple of times in the last few years, can you tell us a bit about the project?

B.B.: The project is called Secret Tumblers, I start in November and have a release in mid-December (strategically just before Christmas, so people want to buy these tumblers!). I ask 5 artists to collaborate with me, generally they are local artists/illustrators. I make a set number of tumblers and each of the 5 artists decorate them, usually each artist chooses a consistent idea, so last year one person drew fences, another did really lovely abstract drawings. Each artist decorates these tumblers and at the end they each get to keep an entire set (one of theirs, one by the other 4 artists) and I sell the rest at a release party. The artists get to learn a new skill and I get to spend time with them while being inspired by new ideas. Then we all have a party to celebrate, which is always fun. This project always destroys me but it is incredibly rewarding.

A.T.: I’ve been familiar with your pottery work for some time but recently I was happy to hear you talk about taking on a more official business model for your craft. What services did you take advantage of to help you in this process?

B.B.: I have been lucky enough to participate in the government’s Self Employment Benefits program. This program is national, but each province organizes it differently. Basically if you are in this program you receive financial support and access to workshops to assist you in starting a business. It is an excellent resource and I wish everyone I know could participate in it.

A.T.: Have you found them to be helpful?

B.B.: Yes for the most part they are very helpful. Honestly the biggest help is the time.

A.T.: What advice would you have for other crafters just starting out in building a business?

Find the time to do it. It can be scary but keep your chin up and you will persevere.

Photos courtesy of Bethany Buttersworth

Summer Fair Vendors Announced!

2011-06-28T10:32:00.000-07:00

With just over six weeks until our summer fair, it's time for us to announce our lovely group of vendors for this years show. Last month we all gathered for our 'viewing party'- an evening of reviewing applications and eating yummy treats.

We were overjoyed with the number of applications we received, including some from as far away as Montreal and Halifax. The only problem was that they were all so good that it was hard to narrow it down to the number of booths we could fit in our space.

The show will have twenty one amazing vendors, plus a small selection of crafts made by the members of The Beehive. With work ranging from textiles and wood to prints and jewelry, these talented crafters are sure to impress.

Upcycled cashmere under garments from Sartoria.

Aprons and totes by Dear Edna.

Screen printed wood blocks and toys from Fidoodle.

Screen printed bags by Anna Zygowski (left) and tea towels by Bespoke Uprising (right).

Totes, ties, and more from Fieldguided.

Jewelry by Lesley Ashton.

Scarves and bags by Scout & Catalogue.

Cross-stitched jewelry from The Pin Pals.

Prints by Chris Foster (left) and Katie Muth (right).

Hand-dyed yarn by Viola fibers.

There will also be ceramics by Bread and Butter Pottery and jewelry by Melanie Cronyn and Rosalyn Faustino. You will also find textiles by Katie-did, Leikey Designs, and Jenna Rose. As well as Knits by Oak Savannah, pouches and prints by Petra C., and fashion journals by Worn. You can also see the full list of vendors with links to their websites over on our summer fair webpage.

Starting next week we will be featuring some of our vendors here twice a week leading up to the show. So please be sure to check out these features as you are sure to build up as much anticipation and excitement for this event as we have.

Photos courtesy of Hollie and the artists mentioned.

Flour Power

2011-06-21T09:40:00.000-07:00

We eat a lot of bread in my house. Two of us will easily go through about four loaves a week.

We'd probably eat less if I didn't make it myself, but once you've had homemade, storebought's a downgrade (burn, Wonderbread)! Who can resist the sweet, salty allure of fresh-baked bread with butter? Not me! Why try?

First off, get your head around the misconception that bread-making is so time-consuming and super-precise, you have to be an iron chef to get it right. There's more room for error than you think (I'm a big fan of the "dash" and it's worked out so far) and you only end up doing 9-11 minutes of actual work. As long as you have a window of time where you're home for three hours, trust me - you can bake bread.

The below recipe is the whole-wheat one I use regularly. It comes from Paul Hollywood's fantastic book 100 Great Breads. The pictures in this book are beautiful, the breads, rolls and sweet treats (like the sour-cherry-and-chocolate bread) are soooo tasty, and some of the measurements are by weight which (if you're a fan of Alton Brown, you already know) is the most accurate way to measure things.

This recipe makes a single loaf, but please save yourself the trouble and double up. An equal amount of work goes into it whether you're making one, two or four loaves so you might as well eat for a week on your efforts.

- Scant* 2 1/2 C whole wheat flour
- 2/3 C white flour
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1 oz/30 g yeast
- 1/2 stick (this is 2 oz) of butter
- Scant* 1 1/4 C water

* I've never understood/heeded "scant." It basically overstates the measurement and just means you should measure exactly, which is what measurements are anyway so...?

Since any bread recipe, followed to the letter, is pretty straightforward, this post includes tips and tricks I've picked up/made up over the years. They've consistently worked for me. Hopefully they'll do the same for you!

For starters, I always dissolve about a tablespoon of sugar in a bowl of roughly 1/4 C warm water, then mix in the required amount of traditional bread-making yeast (not quick-rise or bread machine yeast). This is called proofing and it's usually only done if you're not sure how old your yeast is/whether it's still active, but I do it with straight-from-the-store stuff too and find that it acts like steroids for my dough.

Let the sugar/water/yeast sit for a few minutes until it's smooth (like cappucino-flavoured yogurt) and bubbly like this...

Once the yeast has started happily belching itself into activity, mix the flour, salt, yeast and butter in a bowl. A KitchenAid mixer is A-amazing for this, but if you don't have one, by-hand works too.

One other tip - melt the butter. The recipe doesn't call for this, but if your butter is hard at all, it's such a pain to mix evenly. Instead, measure it out and throw it in the microwave for 30 seconds before adding it to the dry ingredients.

After that, add the water slowly and mix until all the flour has been picked up, the bowl is basically clean and the dough is slightly sticky.

Tip it onto a floured surface and knead for five minutes.

This is one area where it can be easy to lose the loaf. Kneading expands the strands of gluten and affects the texture of the finished bread. It also creates little air pockets for the yeast to fill with gas, which is what causes the dough to rise. Try to think of this while you're kneading. Don't just roll and punch the dough - really pull and fold the edges to trap mini-air-caves for the yeast to party in.

After about five minutes, you should have a dough that's smooth and uniform-looking. It shouldn't feel dried out, but it shouldn't stick to everything it touches either.

At this point, many recipes will tell you to put the dough in a bowl and set it in the oven with the light on, but the heat off.

Ignore that and do what I learned in my 10th grade foods hospitality class.

Put a little olive oil in the bottom of the bowl and roll the dough so it's got a thin layer of oil all over. I would normally cover the dough with a clean towel and set it to rise near a heating vent or in a sunny window. However, I have a dog who loves to eat dough. If you do as well, turn your oven on to 115 degrees F, cover the dough with tinfoil and slide it in.

Spend the next hour patting yourself on the back, running errands, working, napping, etc. then come back and uncover your dough.

Unless it has uncovered itself by bursting from the bowl!

Take it out and shape it to the pans you have at your disposal. No extra kneading or punching here. Just form it to the pans. I stand like craaaaazy behind the red silicone ones you see here. They're cheap at Canadian Tire.

Cover with foil and put the pans back in the oven (or towel them and set them near your heat source) for another hour.

After that, remove the foil, crank the oven to 450 F and bake for 35 minutes.

Bam. Your days of shelling out dough (pun intended) for Dempster's are over. You'll save money, you'll feel like a pioneer, you'll enjoy toast in a whole new way, your house will smell amazing and you'll feel confident enough to advance to things like pizza...

Cornbread...

And my fave - the oatmeal molasses bread recipe in Earth to Table.

What's your main squeeze bread recipe? Share it in the comments!

Knit Night on the Brain

2011-06-15T09:49:00.000-07:00

The Beehive has been working on something big and by big we mean huge. So big, in fact, that we need your help.

We are creating a large installation piece for SUPERCRAWL! The piece will be a replica of the façade of the Brain, home to Knit Night, that will be suspended over the front of the building. We will be recreating the brick work and structural elements of the building while also adding a few touches of our own.

The majority of the piece, all the brick work, will be made up of knit scarves. Once SUPERCRAWL is over the piece will be dismantled and the scarves donated to Mission Services Opportunity Centre where they will be distributed to those in need of something warm to guard them against the cold.

This is where your help comes in. Although many of us in the Beehive are avid knitters we will simply not have enough time to get all the scarves completed while working on the rest of the piece. Also, we think it would be awesome for the entire craft community in Hamilton to get together on this one!

We have created a pattern of the scarf we will be using to recreate the brick work. The pattern is available for you to download here. The yarn you will need to make the scarf is Lion Brand Wool Ease - Thick and Quick. We have also created a list of yarn colours to use to keep the whole piece uniform. The brick colours: Hazelnut #640-125, Pumpkin #640-133, Spice #640-135, Apricot #640-136, Butterscotch #640-189 and Wood: #640-404.

And the mortar colours: Linen: #640-098, Wheat #640-402, Oatmeal: #640-123 and Barley #640-124

Lion Brand Yarn has graciously supplied us with yarn for creation of this piece. If you would like to contribute a scarf to the project you can pick up yarn at Knit Night at the Brain every Wednesday from 7 to 10pm. If would like to support the project but are unable to come to Knit Night you can head over to your local yarn shop to purchase any of the Lion Brand colours listed above.

Completed scarves must be submitted by 5pm on August 13 at The Beehive Summer Craft Fair. They can also be dropped off up until that deadline at Knit Night

If you have any questions about the project or the pattern either stop by Knit Night or send us an email. We are happy to help you with any of your questions, and could even teach you how to make one.

Photos courtesy of Hollie and Courtney

Introductions

2011-06-08T10:15:00.001-07:00

Dearest readers,

Today's post comes to you via both Elizabeth and Kate of The Beehive. The two of us are so very excited to share some plans that we've had in the works since the Beehive first formed back in January. Introducing our new and upcoming venture: Needlework!

Our concept for Needlework is to provide Hamilton and its crafty, DIY community with its first ever sewing lounge; a sew by the hour, creative workspace. We envision Needlework as a space where you'll be inspired to learn new skills, finish old projects, and make something new; all while being surrounded by a thoughtfully curated selection of fabric, fibre and notions.

We are still very much in the beginning stages of this venture, and thus we would like to ask for your help. We would love to get a sense what you want and need in a fabric/yarn/notions store/workspace, so we have created a survey to gather some of that information. If you could take the time to fill it out, and pass it on to friends and family living in the Hamilton area and beyond, we would be ever so grateful. By participating in our survey, you also have a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to either White Elephant, or Mixed Media. Fun!

A big thank you to our friends and family, and of course The Beehive, for being so supportive, helpful, and encouraging in our endeavours thus far. We love you all, and couldn't be making this big step in our lives without you! Thank you!

Much love,

Elizabeth and Kate

p.s. If you would like to get in touch with us, or be added to our mailing list for future Needlework updates, please feel free to email us at needleworkhamilton@gmail.com.

Beehive Workshop: Soap Making with Imke

2011-05-30T13:02:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago Hollie mentioned that her new friend, Imke, was visiting from Germany and was an experienced soap maker. She wondered if we'd be interested in doing a soap making workshop with her before she headed back home. Yes, please! We gathered the list of ingredients and supplies and met last week to make two kinds of soap, one for hair and the other for the body.

The first one we made was a body soap made of olive oil, hemp oil, and crushed bay leaves. Each ingredient was carefully measured on a digital scale. To each soap we added Lye, which had to be mixed outside since it will burn the skin upon contact. Note the gloves and goggles. Scary stuff.

We used stacked paper cups as our molds so we could easily divide the soaps up amongst the group, although she also recommended silicone muffin tins as molds. We put a layer of newsprint in between the cups to insulate them and keep the soap warm while it hardened overnight.

The second soap we made was beer hair soap. Yes, beer! Flat beer is good for your hair. The protein in the hops and malt help repair the hair and give it a beautiful shine. This soap was made using frozen beer, olive oil, castor oil, avocado oil, coconut oil, and rosemary oil. It smelt a little funny at first but the addition of the rosemary oil made it smell so good.

We each took one bar of each soap home. Once they were hardened the following day they were removed from the molds and now have to sit for 6-8 weeks before they are ready to be used. The website she referenced for these soap recipes was in German, but she did suggest bramble berry as a good reference site if you are interested in trying your hand at soap making too.

Thank you Imke for taking the time to teach us the process of this lovely craft. And a special thank you to Keiran for letting us use his spacious kitchen for the workshop.

Edith's Dollhouse

2011-05-25T05:49:00.000-07:00

I had been spinning my tires searching for the perfect dollhouse for my 2 year old, Edith (and her big brother). Once you start looking, there are so many well-designed ones out there. It can be a bit overwhelming and a little prohibitive financially.

I was having a hard time finding something affordable that wasn’t plastic and that we wouldn’t want to hide whenever company came over. And I didn't know if I wanted to go for something clean and modern, or something more classic.

I decided to be a little creative and come up with some different options. I came across this gem and fell in love with the legs. I think I went to every Value Village and thrift store from Brantford to Burlington looking for the perfect side table to transform into a dollhouse.

Since I had a bit of a due date, Edith's birthday was only a week away, and the perfect piece of furniture wasn't presenting itself, I opted to build (with the help of my handy husband) one myself. I built the frame based on this dollhouse.

We bought two pieces of pine shelving for the framework, and a piece of masonite for the backing. I printed some vintage wallpaper images that I found online, as well as some scrapbooking paper and spray glued them to the back and walls of the house. The wainscoting and paneling were made from coffee stir sticks carefully cut and pieced together. For the staircase, I used cove moulding nailed it upside down to an angled board.

There is something fun about working in miniature. I made a makeshift doll bed from the bottom half of a hinged-wooden box, cut a mattress from some foam and sewed up fitted sheets, pillows and a blanket.

Even though there is a lack of accessories, the dollhouse was a huge hit. The kids play with it daily, and it excites me to know that I have an ongoing project that I can work on and furnish. I've been dreaming of miniature lighting, furniture, mirrors, picture frames and even a sheepskin rug. Although, it does make two houses I have to maintain!

Surfacing

2011-05-18T09:15:00.000-07:00

This past weekend marked a highly anticipated event in the Beehive calendar. It was the opening of Surfacing: contemporary textile and craft objects at James Buttrum & Son gallery on James Street North. Comprised of the work from eleven graduating students of Sheridan College's Textile program, this show aimed to illustrate and encourage discussion on the topic of contemporary crafting; specifically in regards to textiles and fibres.

I had some downtime during my own art crawl preparations at White Elephant (which never happens) and I knew I wouldn't get the chance to check the show out later in the evening, so I stopped by Friday afternoon, camera in tow. As each of these artists studied under one of our very own Bees at Sheridan - Thea Haines - I knew that this show would not disappoint.

Sabrina Parrish

Katherine Cordero


Katie Walker

Keiley Stewart

Left: Rachel Morrison Right: Melodie Flook

Barbara Romanovsky

The students demonstrated a wide and impressive range of skills from hand-stitching to quilting to paper-making to machine embroidery thread drawing and natural dyeing. Keiley Stewart's wet and needle felted animal heads provided an interactive and amusing element to the show. Her partner, Owen, was nice enough to take an instant photo of Jane, my sister Nicole and myself, and he would continue to do so all night of patrons trying on the heads, as a part of the piece. It's funny because afterward we all discussed how all three of us each had huge grins on our faces as the camera snapped, realizing after that our faces were totally obscured.

Being a part of a craft collective, I may be biased in thinking that this was one of the best shows I have seen in recent history as a part of the art crawl. I think that a lot of times people equate crafting or fibre art with folk art (which is not necessarily a bad thing) and Surfacing served to redefine that view, exemplifying that textiles can be exquisite and delicate and detailed and fantastic and fun all at the same time. Beautiful work, beautiful show. I can't wait to keep an eye on each of the artists involved in the show as they continue to grow and fine-tune their respective crafts.

Beehive Excursion: Greenwood Quiltery in Guelph

2011-05-09T19:19:00.000-07:00

Before I went to Sheridan College to study furniture/textile design, I attended the University of Guelph. I don't know how I missed it, but the entire four years that I lived in Guelph I never knew about the amazing fabric and yarn store that is Greenwood Quiltery. It was only when I met Jenna that I learned about it's existence. After all, the owner is Jenna's lovely mother, Joanne Greenberg!

Last week, Jenna, Liz, and I drove up to Guelph to visit the store. Greenwood Quiltery is located in an absolutely stunning old home just barely north of Guelph's downtown centre, on Woolwich Street. Joanne started the business in her home 10 years ago, and originally only sold fabric. Since she moved to the current location she has started carrying a selection of high quality yarn as well. Jenna had of course been in the shop countless times already and knew what to expect, but Liz and I walked around in awe, transfixed by all the lovely patterns and colours.

The selection of fabric at Greenwood Quiltery is very impressive. Joanne carries essentially all the popular contempory designers, including Heather Ross, Melody Miller, Amy Butler, Denyse Schmidt, Cloud 9 organic fabrics, and many others. And there are countless patterns and books to choose from as well.

I also really loved all the samples that Joanne and her employees had sewn up and had on display. That little girls' dress is adorable. Can I have the big girl version please?

Liz, the most devoted knitter of the three of us, was particularly drawn to the yarn section of the shop. Joanne only carries really nice yarn (like Tanis Fibre Arts, Koigu, Rowan, Cascade, Mission Falls, Spud & Chloe, etc) - you won't find any of that acrylic stuff here!

So next time you're in Guelph, go visit Greenwood Quiltery. Oh, and located on the second floor of the building is a gallery, so check that out too. And if you live in the Guelph area and are keen to learn some new sewing skills, Joanne offers a range of workshops you can choose from. So go! Go now! You'll be duly impressed.

Beehive Excursion: Knitter's Frolic

2011-05-03T08:00:00.000-07:00

For the past 14 years, the Downtown Knit Collective have been hosting an annual Knitter's Frolic - a two day knitter's marketplace with over 50 vendors selling the finest yarns and fibre art supplies.

I attended the event last year for the first time, and was blown away at the sheer volume of yarn to be had. It was incredible. Needless to say, when I caught wind of the dates for the Frolic this year, I was super excited!

Fellow Bee Courtney and I decided to check out this year's market together, and it did not disappoint.

The Knitter's Frolic was held at the Japanese Cultural Center, and we arrived right at 9am to quite the impressive line up! Obviously we weren't the only ones excited for some yarn shopping that morning.

Right away the Centre was buzzing with excited knitters, crocheters, and fibre artists; fun!

In addition to the marketplace, the Knitter's Frolic also hosted a wide array of workshops, ranging from crochet for beginners, to entrelac on the round, and pattern drafting. Courtney and I decided to start off the day with an introduction to fair isle, taught by Gloria Williams.

I've always had trouble wrapping my head (and fingers) around knitting with both my left and right hands, but thanks to this workshop, I've got my continental knitting skills down pat. Neither Courtney nor I have ever had formal lessons in knitting, and we both found it very helpful to have a instructor to follow, rather than trying to figure it out ourselves.

After all our hard work in class and a quick snack to boost our energy, it was time to indulge in some yummy yarn!

Beautiful display by Manos Del Uruguay.

Viola Fibers!

We had the pleasure to make acquaintance with Emily Folden, the beauty and brains behind Viola Fibers. Isn't she adorable? Her yarn and colourways are to dye for (pardon the pun)!

Mmm, sock yarn! Sock yarn is my preferred yarn to knit with. Courtney took home several skeins in this curry colourway. We thought it was particularly Beehive-ish! Very pretty. I took home a really pretty robins egg blue skein; the one pictured below.

Now the question is: what to make from our newly acquired stash! That will have to be another post altogether.

***

A quick thank you to all that applied to our Beehive Summer Craft Fair! We will be reviewing the applications this week, and will let applicants know of our decisions by May 12th.

Happy Wednesday!

Don't Forget! Apply apply apply!

2011-04-27T12:51:00.000-07:00

A gentle reminder from us Bees - there are three days left to apply for the Beehive Summer Craft Fair!

We have been receiving exciting packages all week (we love getting mail!) and are very pleased with the number and quality of submissions so far. For any of kindred spirits out there who expressed interest in the fair, there is still time to apply! It is going to be a lovely summer, and a wonderful fair.

Please see our Beehive website to download the application and apply!

Cookies for Breakfast?!

2011-04-26T05:18:00.000-07:00

For the past year and a half I have been commuting to Oakville for work. During this time I have been constantly looking for a convenient breakfast option that is easy, tasty and not full of garbage. I have finally found it:

The Breakfast Cookie.

I found this recipe on Canadian Living and have tweaked it to suit my taste and pantry. You could make endless variations of this cookie. When I was substituting I kept in mind the original ingredient and tried to match the texture and consistency.

What I used to make one batch of 36 cookies:

2 eggs
½ cup liquid honey
¼ cup butter, melted
1 cup grated carrot, packed
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut (I have a sensitivity to nuts so did not use walnuts)
½ cup dried cranberries (instead of raisins)
½ cup finely chopped apricots
½ cup chopped dates
½ cup chopped dried apple
1 cup all purpose flour (this time I used whole wheat)
1 cup minute oats
¾ tsp of cinnamon
¾ tsp of nutmeg
½ tsp of baking soda
¼ tsp salt
1 cup of granola (instead of cereal Os)

Preheat your oven to 350 F with the rack set at the top and bottom thirds.
Next, line your baking sheets with parchment paper, I used tin foil as I never seem to remember to pick up parchment paper.

In a large mixing bowl whisk together the eggs, the honey and the melted butter until smooth. Then add the carrots, the coconut, the cranberries, the apricots, dates and the dried apple. Using a large spoon mix everything together until everything is wet.

In a smaller bowl combine the flour, the oats, the cinnamon, the nutmeg and the salt. Once mixed together stir in the granola.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix together well till all the flour mixture is incorporated.

Spoon out about 1 tbsp of batter and form it into a ball. I make mine about the size of a two bite brownie. Place them about 1” from each other on the cookie sheets. You should be able to fit about 12 per sheet.

Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes , until they are slightly browned and are firm to the touch. I put two cookie sheets in the oven at once switching racks after 8 minutes, then leave them in for another 8 mins.

Once they are done, remove them from the cookie sheet with a lifter and place them on a rack to cool. When they have completely cooled place them in an air tight container. They will keep for a few days on the counter, a week in the fridge and two weeks in the freezer.
These little cookies really pack a punch and you will be surprised that you are full after only two.

Location Location Location

2011-04-20T06:40:00.000-07:00

When we started planning the summer fair we knew we wanted its location to be on James Street North. It was not just because we wanted our Friday night opening to be a part of the art crawl, but also because we are so excited about the wonderful restorations that are happening to many of the old storefronts in the area, and we wanted our fair to be a part of it all. Plus, I think the decorations we have planned will look pretty great set against the exposed brick walls and tin ceilings characteristic of many of the old restored shops down here. We were all thrilled when we received confirmation on the location and today I am so excited to announce that the fair will be help at the old Friendship Shop at 118 James Street North.

This building has undergone some major transformations since its new owners purchased it in February 2010. The building had been owned and occupied by a family for the previous 15 years or so, during which time its facade was covered in white aluminum siding.

This is the building today. The facade is just one of its major transformations. It's still under construction, but well on its way, and the floors that are finished are stunning. Hollie did a feature a while back on the architect firms office on the third floor- click here to view this beautiful space.

The craft fair will be held on the first floor, in the vacant storefront shown above. Although currently under construction, this really is our dream space for the event. The store that had previously been in this space was called the Friendship Shop. We all feel a little giddy inside that we get to say our fair will be held at the old friendship shop.

If you are interested in being a vendor at the fair, please remember that the deadline to submit your application is next Saturday, April 30th. Visit our site to get all the application details.

Photos courtesy of Jenna

Craft Books for the Masses

2011-04-12T06:29:00.001-07:00

If you've driven through our beloved city recently, you've probably seen the beautiful new building that is our public library. The central branch was recently renovated, and it's absolutely stunning! It's attached to the new Farmer's Market, and has become such a hotspot in our downtown core.

Want to know a few great things about the library? First - it's just a nice place to sit! You can grab a coffee from the market (try this!), find a seat and spend the day catching up on reading. It's cozy and comfortable and nice to look at!

Second - you can make new friends! Every time I go to the library, so many people say hello and ask me about what I'm reading. A lot of times it's really easy to find yourself in a great conversation with a complete stranger, talking about all the exciting new developments happening in the city. When I was there taking pictures, I had a nice conversation with a gentleman who just couldn't grasp the invention of digital cameras. He insisted that film was better. I don't know that I disagree...

Another great thing about the library (and the real reason I'm writing this post!) is the amazing selection of craft books they have. Have you ever thought 'Boy, I'd like to learn how to _____'? If so, you need to go to the library. Knitting? Crocheting? Calligraphy? Natural dyeing? How about sewing? Needlepoint?

Anna was even able to get books on how to decorate pysanky for our last Beehive project! They have such a great selection, and it's actually really inspiring to see all the possibilities in terms of projects you could try out.

(The Sewing Book by Alison Smith)

Just a few examples of what I pulled off the shelf when I was there most recently:

(The Natural Knitter by Barbara Albright)

(Glorious Inspirations by Kaffe Fassett and
Quilting, Patchwork and Applique by Caroline Crabtree and Christine Shaw)

(Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross)

Honestly - that is just the smallest taste of what you can find. You really need to get down there and check it out if you have the chance. We plan to do some book reviews on the Beehive blog, spotlighting some of our favorites. If you have something you want to recommend (see: 'mother of all craft how-to books' in this post)...please leave it in the comments!

Photos courtesy of Hollie and Meg

Ambitious Little City

2011-04-07T09:22:00.000-07:00

This promotional video of Hamilton in the 1940's made the rounds yesterday on local Facebook and Twitter accounts. But it's just too good not to share with everyone. This short film shows some excellent examples of how beautiful our fair little city is, and it's no wonder that all of us Bees are so passionate about the place we call home. Enjoy.

Our Roots, Part IV: The Farm

2011-04-05T20:20:00.000-07:00

Two summers ago, a group of us were toying with the idea of starting a shared vegetable garden somewhere in the downtown area. That’s when our good pal Gary stepped in and offered up a much better suggestion: his parent’s farm had an acre of land that we could use, just outside of the city. That summer, The Farm was born.

The Farm belongs to the Buttrums, a family of farmers (and friends) who have been at the Hamilton Farmers’ Market for seven generations, since the 1880’s. Gary’s parents run the farm and sell their produce at the market. Squash, potatoes and tomatoes are their key crops, but they have grown all sorts of vegetables over the years. When they offered us up some of their land, we were beyond thrilled.

The first summer, we cleared the back acre of land up at the farm and planted our crops as quickly as we could. It was already late May by the time we started farming, so we didn’t have a lot of planning time. We started heading up a few days a week to plant seeds, move rocks, weed, weed some more, and finally, harvest. When the harvest came, it was bountiful. It was also a little crazy. Beans sprouted up faster that we could possibly pick them, and by the time the frost came, we probably had about 300 heads of cabbage that we needed to find homes for. Some of the excess went to the Hamilton Farmers’ Market, but even then we still had too much.

With the help of Gary and his parents, we’ve learned a lot about farming since that first summer, and we’re still learning. Last year more friends came up to the farm, and we expanded our farming area to cover the other five acres of farm land owned by the Buttrums. We helped farm their key market crops, and in return we got to use the remaining land for delicious tomatoes, beets, potatoes, hot peppers, onions, carrots, broccoli, cucumbers, zucchini and more.

It’s hard, but rewarding work. Most of the weeding takes place on your hands and knees, so you often leave the farm a little worse for wear. Still, when the weather is nice, or the sun starts setting, I can’t think of a better place to be. It’s so satisfying to grown your own food and know exactly where it came from, and what (if anything) went into it. It’s a rewarding experience to get back to the basics, and become part of something so sustainable.

We don’t use any chemicals at the farm, and even though we prefer it that way, sometimes the crops suffer as a result. Last year these pesky Colorado Potato Beetles pretty much wiped out our supply of potatoes, and most of the tomatoes suffered from a blight. It’s a small price to pay for knowing we are eating natural, pesticide-free food.

Last summer we grew a little of everything you could possibly think of, and we did our very best to minimize any waste. We planted in phases so that not all the crops were ready at once, and we had a steady system of weeding and harvesting going on all summer. We hosted canning parties, made lots of soups and stews, and organized an outdoor market outside of White Elephant during the art crawls. Everyone from the farm volunteered to help harvest & transport the vegetables, and set up the stand outside of the shop. Hollie’s sister Nikki was often the face of the market stand, and she did an amazing job.

This summer we are seriously stepping up with the farm. We have a ton of new friends who are interested in coming up, and we are taking this job seriously. Gary has appointed Hollie as Farm Manager, so we have someone to help organize and keep us all on track. We’re growing new crops, and bringing in something we are all really excited about: BEES. Some new friends are bringing their 3rd generation beekeeper experience to the farm this summer, and we’ll have our very first hives.

We’re also planning to plant a natural dye garden, full of Madder, Indigo, Goldenrod, Hollyhock and more. There’s going to be a 6 x 20 foot natural dye garden, so you can expect lots of Beehive dyeing projects in the future. The weather is just starting to warm up here in Hamilton, and farming has been on everyone’s minds. I can’t wait to get back out there and get started on all the new ideas and projects we have planned, and I’m sure you’ll hear a lot about it this summer on the Beehive blog. Photos courtesy of Jane, Hollie and Gary Buttrum

Leather Lovin'

2011-03-29T10:21:00.000-07:00

Two years ago, when I decided to try my hand at bookbinding, I figured my first roadblock would be finding a place to buy leather. I was amazed when a quick Google search pulled up a result just couple a blocks from my house and quickly realized how lucky I was to have such a valuable resource so close by.

Tundra Leather (located at 313 King Street East) has been a staple in the city of Hamilton for decades and a constant in my days ever since my first visit. They have it all – from raw materials and tools (including hides, furs, beads, buckles, hardware, thread, stains, dyes, paints, conchos, decorations, books, videos, creams, finishes and more) to mountains of experience and a sincere desire to share that knowledge.

I'm serious. I can't say enough good stuff. They legit live by the oath that hangs on the wall of the workshop area...

I can't count the number of times I've stopped by with a question, only to have Peter (Peter Grove owns the shop) or Sean (Sean Dalgetty has been his sole employee since 1995) drop everything and spend the next two hours talking me through the many ways I might come at a project, or offer up their own equipment for my use.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's open with a story that's awesome and hugely motivating in terms of knowing that it's possible to turn passion into profession.

Peter started working at the store when he was 12 years old. At the time, it was a Tandy Leather franchise and Peter swept and mopped the floor in exchange for scraps of leather. He eventually learned to tool some of the pre-cut and punched kits Tandy sells and went door-to-door with his own makeshift portfolio - a catalogue cobbled together from cut-out flyer images of the various belts, wallets and purses he knew how to make.

He's since progressed...

In the ensuing decades, Peter worked for Tandy in various capacities. When the company opted to close its Hamilton location in 1991, he bought them out and re-named the shop, Tundra.

Where to begin? First of all, yes that is a snake face hanging by the industrial-strength sewing machine. Secondly, every corner of the shop is equally fascinating and full of similar stories (like what that sewing machine can do to your arm if you use it incorrectly -not pretty- and the fact that Sean has more chocolate stashed in his tool boxes than Claudian Kishi hid during 14 years of the Baby-sitters Club). I could blab to the ends of the Internet.

One of the many great things about Tundra is that there are no pressure sales here. Peter will be the first to tell you the eight tools in the little leathercraft starter kit he sells will allow you to do 90% of the projects you might have in mind. However, if you do want to drop hundreds of billz on new tools and toys (yes please!), Tundra has more than enough merch to oblige you.

Besides new stock, you can sometimes pick up beautiful antique pieces that satisfy form as well as function. Both Peter and Sean (but especially Sean) have a penchant for turn-of-the-century European tools and I’ve been lucky enough to score a few old-school finds they happened to have doubles or triples of.

These head knives, for example, are about a hundred years old. Sean has dozens in sizes ranging from "deck of cards" to "pool deck," though he admittedly has no idea what you would use the guillotine-scale knife for. He just knew he had to have it.

He meticulously hand-stitches covers for all his tools using the top-notch, decades-out-of-production Irish linen thread from Barbour or Campbell - if you can find either of these on ebay, they seem to trade as good as gold among leatherworkers.

Speaking of - below is a shot of Sean working on a pair of gator-skin cowboy boots. They'll take about 100 hours and he'll hand-sew everything because his stitches put sewing machines to shame.

How much do you want to be able to make your own cowboy boots? Something about that idea is just so romantic. To be able to craft your own kicks and then go off adventuring in them -because surely you wouldn’t be doing anything run-of-the-mill in cowboy boots- knowing that your hands made your travels possible? Unreal (for the record, Sean disagrees with Garance Dore - he says every woman needs a pair of cowboy boots).

In addition to gator skin, Tundra carries creamy vegetable-tanned tooling leather in many weights, snake skin, pig skin, cow hide, deer skin, suede (much of which is Ontario-local) skunk fur and even boxes of foxes! If you think leatherwork is something you might be interested in, definitely swing by the shop. Don't be put off by a pre-emptive perceived lack of skill - there's something about working with leather that is so unlike wrestling with any other textile. I'm a complete disaster when it comes to fabric, but leather has a quality that makes things click.

Don't believe me? Peter and Sean will be more than happy to talk shop with you. Be sure to ask about their five-week tooling workshop. So worth it.

If you're curious to know how exactly leather tooling works, check out my website this Thursday - I'll be posting a little photo tutorial as I work on my entry for the upcoming 61st annual meeting of the Canadian Society for Creative Leathercraft.

Photos courtesy of Amy

Pysanky!

2011-03-22T07:00:00.000-07:00

Last Monday evening Hollie was kind enough to welcome us around the harvest table in her lovely home to try our hand at traditional egg decorating. Since I was a kid, Easter has been my favorite holiday. There's very little pressure, it comes with spring AND there's chocolate...what's not to love! With spring - and a late Easter, for those inclined - around the corner, eggs were on our brains and had us thinking of the very impressive craft of pysanky (pih-SAHN-kee). Traditionally, Ukrainian woman would create effortless-looking decorative eggs by drawing resists in beeswax on the surface of eggs and successively dipping them into various dyes, layering intricate pattern over intricate pattern. While some of us remembered childhood attempts at this or similar egg dyeing crafts, none of us really knew what we were doing at all. And let us tell you...it's hard! We were not as instantly expert at this as we thought we would be, but it was a lot of fun!

The endeavor began with a trip to The Ukrainian Store in Dundas. When you go in it's hard not to get distracted by all the fresh locally made specialty foods, after all, they boast the "best perogies in town"...a statement that has since been tested by Beehive members and met with much satisfaction. The owners were extremely friendly, fully stocked in every thing we needed and willing to patiently translate the directions on the bright packages of dye.

The supplies needed were candles, dyes, beeswax and kistkas (KIST-kuh - a simple stylus made from a cone of metal fastened to a small wooden dowel with wire). The Ukrainian store has a variety of sizes of kistkas that produce different thickness of line with the beeswax. They even supply electric ones for the expert hand! Dyes can also be made naturally using plants and vegetables like beets. We gathered onion skins to make a yellow dye using just the same method as for fabric dye.

The Hamilton Public Library was full of beautiful books on the subject, and proved invaluable for inspiration.

We mixed the dyes according to instructions and laid out everything we needed to get started. each of us had a little candle in front of us and our egg to decorate. Some times you can blow out the yoke in your egg ahead of time or - as per tradition - leave it to slowly dry out over a few years.

You start by heating the metal part of your kistka until you can easily scoop out a little beeswax, filling the larger open end. With further heating, the wax should run down into the cone, getting ready flow out onto the egg's surface. I found I had to heat my tool often to keep the wax flowing and TOO often we would heat it too much and a large flow of wax would blob out the end of our tool, muddying our attempts at perfect designs! We had to ditch our pride and realize that straight lines and symmetry come with years of practice.

Where the wax is drawn on a resist was made on the egg so that those areas were left white when we dipped them into our first dyes. After you take it out and pat it dry you can add more wax before dipping the egg in a second color, and so on. Wherever the wax has been put on, the last color dyed will stay resisted until the end. We worked from light colors to dark ones. When we finished, we gently scraped or melted off the wax resists revealing all the bright colors we had captured in our squiggly patterns!

I think we were SUPPOSED to be having a meeting too...but I'm not sure we ever got round to discussing anything.

Some of us have since become addicted to the beautiful end results of this craft, and this week for Knit Night we left our needles and hooks at home and filled a whole table with dyes and candles and set to work on some more eggs. I love our folksy (albeit a bit wonky) attempts!

Photos courtesy of Hollie

Our Roots, Part III: Natural Dyeing

2011-03-13T06:26:00.000-07:00

In addition to pickling and knitting, a number of us Beehive members are also interested in natural dyeing. It is a joy to see the beautiful range of colours you can produce using only natural materials.

One of my first experiments with natural dyeing was done using golden rod up at my cottage this past summer. Let's just say that having access to a lake is a huge plus! When you get hot and sweaty from letting your plant matter and fabric boil on the stove, you can do the washing out part of the process in the lake while you go for a dip!

The goldenrod produced a beautiful yellow.

Sumac was my next solo experiment. It produced a lovely brown, but be warned: I think some sort of insect has a tendency to lay it's eggs in sumac. So you might find a whole ton of tiny larvae in your pot when boiling the plant. Kind of gross.

Our first group dyeing session occurred at Thea's house this past fall. I brought some walnuts I'd collected, and Thea supplied cochineal. She got the cochineal from Maiwa, a company located in BC that has a great selection of natural dyes and everything else you need for natural dyeing. And in case you didn't know, cochineal is an insect that lives on the prickly pear cactus that is native to Mexico and some other Central and South American countries. It's ground into a really fine powder for use in dyeing. While it may not be local, it is highly coveted because it produces absolutely gorgeous shades of pink.

We had a lovely time, and our results were great! The pinks and browns that we produced ranged in tone quite a bit, depending on the material that was dyed (protein fibres such as wool pick up dye better than cellulose fibres such as cotton), and whether they were dyed in the first or second use of the dye bath. Using a mordant (like alum, iron, or tannic acid) can also alter and help set the colour.

Anna, a knit night regular, also decided to try her hand at dyeing. She used onion skins to dye some wool yarn, and got lovely results!

We are certainly looking forward to planning some more natural dye days as the weather gets warmer. There's an endless number of materials out in nature that can be used for dyeing, so there's no limit to our experimenting with them.

Photos courtesy of Kate, Hollie, and Anna

Our Roots, Part II: Knit Nights at The Brain

2011-03-08T10:29:00.000-08:00

I'm quite certain that Wednesday evenings have become my most favourite night of the week. Why, you ask? Because Wednesdays are Knit Nights at The Brain, of course! And it just so happens that I end up meeting only the best kind of folk during Knit Night -- like the majority of the ever-so-crafty Beehive Collective.

Knit Nights began last June, when my friend Melissa and I thought it would be great to facilitate a craft circle in one of the cozy spaces along James St North -- the growing arts district in our fair hometown. We approached one of my favourite hangouts, The Brain, to see if they'd be interested in playing host. Happily, they obliged! We then agreed to meet each Wednesday from 7pm to 9pm, and to put forth an open invitation to all those crafty and willing to join in the fun. Knit Nights have been going fantastically strong ever since.

While attendance varies each week, there are usually a couple of us bees present to keep the circle warm, as well as other talented regulars.

Also, despite it's name, Knit Nights at The Brain welcomes all forms of handicraft, including crocheting, hand quilting, embroidery, tatting, whatever floats your boat. Even our pretty golden poufs were assembled during a Knit Night session!

At last weeks session, both Jenna and Kate learned how to crochet.

With the mother of all craft how-to books at hand, Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Needlework.

and Courtney's expertise...

They proved successful! Voila, granny square!

Meet Tim! Yes, he's knitting a Sackboy. Don't bother asking for the pattern though -- this talented fellow designed it himself, on the spot! Tim is a knitter extraordinaire, and in the months that he's been frequenting Knit Nights, he's made a variety of vegetables, a raccoon, an elephant, miniature hats and scarves for wine bottles... the list goes on and on! The kicker: Tim knits simply because he enjoys the challenge. I haven't once witnessed him working on a project he intended to keep for himself. Amazing!

Our dear friend and co-owner of The Brain, Ms. Heather South (who we happen to love, a lot!), is a total gem and always makes sure to keep us waist deep in delicious treats. This week, tiramisu! Past treats include poppy squares, a plate of assorted cookies and brownies, apple strudel, and custard tarts from Ola's Bakery! Between Heather and the always charming barkeeper, Ken, we're well looked after at The Brain.

As the evening comes to an end, we can always count on a visit from our dear friend, Kieran. A regular since the very beginning, he never disappoints with his highly enthusiastic praise for Knit Night. Now if we can only get him knitting!

If you're interested in a session of friendly crafting, please feel free to drop in and join us! After all, we do keep a stash of spare needles with us at all times for that very reason.

Photos courtesy of Elizabeth

Our Roots, Part I: Summer Pickle Bees

2011-02-28T05:59:00.000-08:00

To help you become better acquainted with the Beehive Craft Collective, over the next few weeks we will be telling you our story - starting with some of the common interests and activities that first drew us together. Many of us Bees share an interest in food - eating, cooking, baking, and waxing poetic over it. This includes finding enjoyment in growing the food ourselves. Some of us, like me, were born in the vegetable patch, and grew up close to our food. For others, local food has become an important part of our lives, and who can imagine a source nearer than the bean you pick with your own hands? For the last couple of years, through the generosity our friend Gary Buttrum and his family, some of us have been lucky enough to have the chance to grown our own. You will no doubt hear more about the farm as you get to know us, but to read more about it, please see Hollie and Jane's reports of farming adventures. This last summer, we found ourselves with an over-abundance of beans, cucumbers and zucchini. There is something quite satisfying in rising from picking row upon row of beans with a full bushel basket of waxy yellow beauties. Yet, after the end of the picking session finds you with more beans than can be eaten fresh and taken to market, what to do?

Why, have a pickling party, of course! Many hands make light work. Many of us pickle and preserve on our own, but we had so many vegetables, and also wanted to share the pickling bounty with our non-pickling farm friends. So Hollie and I gathered together a group of like-minded ladies, and last year we had two pickling parties, which we have come to call Pickle Bees. A working 'Bee' is a gathering of peers to accomplish a task, making social and enjoyable what otherwise might be a tedious chore. I think this is the perfect description of our bees.

The Pickle Bees were also an easy way to try an untested recipe. We'd never tried making dilled beans or relish, and ending up with one or two jars of a new pickle is much better than been stuck with six jars of an unloved preserve. In the end, all the recipes turned out great, and were delicious. Together we ended up with dozens of jars of dill pickles, dill beans and zucchini relish. We shared the jars amongst the the Pickle Bee attendees, and gave the remaining jars to our farming friends.

This year I look forward to a spring and summer of planting, weeding (that's a lie, as I detest weeding), harvesting, and marketing, but what I most relish is the cooking, pickling, preserving, jamming and baking, and the eating, of course. It will be an even more delicious season in the company of wonderful friends.

Photos courtesy of Jesse Senko, Hollie and Kate

Ta Da!

2011-02-24T08:48:00.000-08:00

Why, hello there! We are finally here! "We" are the Beehive Craft Collective, and boy, are we ever glad to be able to share our endeavour with everyone. We've been bursting at the seams trying to keep somewhat quiet about this for the past couple of weeks. Get it? Seams? Textile joke...

We formed at the beginning of 2011, and hit the ground running immediately. An exciting and fulfilling and fresh project for a new year. Not just one of us, but multiple ladies have expressed their desire to be a part of something like this for their entire lives. And now we are. So we wasted no time and began to hold meetings and start organizing and planning all the logistics of our very first summer craft fair, to be held in conjuncture with the James Street North Art Crawl this coming August. Lots to do, lots to do.

Note-taking and books on needlepoint and coffee filter poufs and floorplans, oh my!

The process for holding a craft fair at times holds tedious tasks like finding a location, and figuring out how many vendors will fit, and inquiring about insurance and accessibility and determining costs. But we're an enthusiastic and capable bunch of ladies pursuing our combined dream, so it's not really work. It's like we're all floating along on cloud 9 the entire time.

We're totally more excited for creating the decor, and coming up with ideas for gift bags and planning the party that will coincide with the Friday night portion of the show though, to be perfectly honest.

We also get pretty excited about delicious treats and beautiful backdrops. Our next order of business was to move our weekly meetings from an ordinary boardroom to the stunning Mulberry Street Coffeehouse, now a fixture in beautiful Hamilton, Ontario, where we are all currently based out of. An inspiring location for an inspiring project. And we hope to somehow work with Mulberry Street for the fair.

We've still got months of planning ahead of us, to take us from winter to spring to wonderful summer, and we could not be more excited. We'd be so thrilled if you joined us for the ride. We're just so very pleased to make your acquaintance.