It's reached that time again where blue nail varnish is an absolute necessity in the workplace to avoid questions on how professional it is to have stained blue nails.

It's reached that time again where blue nail varnish is an absolute necessity in the workplace to avoid questions on how professional it is to have stained blue nails.

I've been turning more of the ivy leaves into a pigment, a fascinating (but slow) process that will then allow me to turn them into paints, crayons, and pastels.

The results from the candle dipping the other day. It's still not perfect but getting better. It turns out reducing a dye bath for ink (very humid), and making candles where you don't want humidity aren't the best combination!

I have a new post up on Substack, with a longer meander through the crafts I experimented with this weekend. Please do go and read, and consider subscribing. It's completely free, and it's nice to see a friendly face or two around. elizaabenson.substack.com/p/the-joy-of...

I took the dye bath left from dyeing the wool with ivy leaves & turned it into ink, getting a range of colours using various mordants & modifiers My personal favourites are the orange from the ivy leaf & titanium & the bottle green/grey from the ivy leaf, iron, & washing soda

Dyeing wool with ivy leaves - using mordants and modifiers to get a range of colours. Doing small batches like this let's me try out new combinations before I commit to a larger batches.

Sunday morning vibes I'm using the time honoured tradition of drying things on bushes because we need a new clothes line. #welshmaker #naturaldyersofinstagram #naturaldyer

Big Bertha, the bain-marie marie, was taken out for a spin yesterday. There is a bit of a learning curve to using her! For a fuller account of trying her out, see my free substack post here open.substack.com/pub/elizaabe...

I have a new post up on substack elizaabenson.substack.com/p/the-one-wh... Please do subscribe, it's free, and it's nice to see friendly readers ❤️

The one where I get excited about a pan

An introduction to Big Bertha

elizaabenson.substack.com

The sun is shining, the cat is happy

I was going to concentrate on brushes this year, & a natural dyeing project I have in the works, & combining brushes & natural dyeing Instead, I made some candles, made some more, made even more, & now Big Bertha, the mighty double boiler, has arrived, & apparently I'm also making candles this year

I've started a new substack to talk about my natural dyeing, brush making and candle making adventures in a longer format than bluesky allows for: elizaabenson.substack.com?r=1qatyt&utm... Please do subscribe, it's free and it would be lovely to see some friendly faces

Elizabeth’s Substack | Elizabeth Benson | Substack

A substack about brush making, candle dipping and natural dyeing. It's about sustainable making for creative souls, taking moments to pause, and cats, it's inevitable there will be cats. Click to re...

elizaabenson.substack.com

Brushmaking 10 little oak, wax, linen, and arenga brushes. Perfect for sweeping work benches, dusting off keyboards and getting into small tricky areas to reach.

It was a craft post sort of day today with various plant and animal fibres for brush making, some green woodworking tools from Nick Westermann and Spinning, Weaving and Dyeing magazines

I had a go at making some dipped candles. These turned out only slightly wonky! It was good fun though, and I didn't cover the entire kitchen in wax, so I'm taking it as a success.

We are rubbish at hanging art up on the walls. Luckily in this house most of the rooms have picture rails so its easy to put new pictures up, but if it involves working out where to put a nail in I procrastinate But we finally got around to sorting out the dining room this weekend, and I love it!

This weekend was very productive for brushmaking. I've been focused on driftwood recently, rather than the more polished brushes, probably prompted by the storms and the abundance of driftwood available There is something very tactile about the driftwood brushes, a texture impossible to replicate

Lots of people who post gardening and growing goodness to follow!

Spaceship Earth (Ecoregion 65n)@spaceship-earth.bsky.social · 2y ago

Hi Folks, I made a starter pack for people who like to grow food in tune with nature. Please share, and let me know if you would like to be added or removed 🌱 #regenerativeagriculture #permaculture #foodforest #agroforestry #nativeplants #fruittree #homestead #berries #soil go.bsky.app/QJ7Vpu2

Another weekend, another driftwood brush. This one has a leather loop for hanging, and it uses arenga fibre bristles. The driftwood was verging on slightly too soft at the one end, so the holes for the bristles are a little smaller on this. Possibly better as art than as a brush to be used.

My last 2024 knitting projects that I haven't gotten around to posting before The red jumper was with the leftovers. Apparently, I overbought by quite a bit The purple is cotton, and then the stripey cardigan is bits of handspun with some natural dyed wool in there and is the best comfort cardigan

I made another brush, it's a little bit addictive! This one has a little cotton inkle loom band to hand it up with that I wove a few years ago and never got around to using. I think I need to start selling these before I have more brushes than I have surfaces to brush!

I'm sure most brush makers are probably doing it in proper workshops with clamps and work benches, etc. But my favourite place is cross-legged on the living room floor 🤣

More brushes, these ones the opposite of the very organic, wavy shape of the driftwood one I did last week. I love the punky bit of wood on the rectangular one and had to work carefully to preserve that. I made this at our North East Wales green woodworking meet today.

Work in progress

I might have made another brush... (we don't need any more...) Driftwood with gold coloured wire. I love the organic shape of this one with the path of the bristles following the shape of the piece of wood

We get the most amazing sunrises here at this time of year

I went on a brush making course with Stu last year and since then we have been a little bit obsessed. How many brushes does one household need?

The cat has, over the years, stolen all of our tinsel and likes to nest in it, along with some shredded paper and a ball of yarn, which is essentially felted together. The box lives in my office, and the rustling as she settles into her tinsel nest can be a little bit distracting!

Another finished cardigan, this one I started in the winter of '23 and finished at the start of '24. It's very warm, so I wore it a lot, and then we had air source heating put in, and now I don't need it as much! It's an aran weight yarn, and I love how the stitch texture changes through the knit.