Latest news….

rhcrafts — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 14:02:54 +0000

At the end of June I was up doing a speech at the Grays School of
Art Degree show - it had to be one of the scariest things I have
ever done! I was so overwhelmed by the amount of people who attended,
I had an audience of around 80 alumnus
who all came to hear about my adventures since graduating.
It felt great to be back at Grays, I met Paul Harris, the new
head of the School who is such a lovely guy and I also managed
to find some time to have a little nosey around the show which
was really impressive! 

I have also been busy doing a lot of designing
and have recently had two of my customised creations
published in the lovely Sew Hip magazine. As well as this I
have been working for Swatch Loft in London, producing designs
for ladies fashions - I have been working with some fantastic trend
boards and have created 6 sparkly textile designs which I am hoping
will sell to some big retailers!

Busy busy….

rhcrafts — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 22:09:20 +0000

Its been a busy few weeks in Rach's world of crafting! I was up in
Aberdeen on the 28th running a Cupcake making event with the RGU
Alumni society. We made badges, pin cushions and key rings which
went down a treat! We also started on my RGU You Tube videos which
was a brilliant laugh, I totally cant wait to see it all edited! 

Been working away at some designs for Sew Hip
magazine recently, there is a feature in this months issue on
our Fashion Stitch Challenge show and they will be
publishing some of my customised projects in the next
few issues which is very exciting!

I have also just launched my new business 'The Paper Caravan'
- www.thepapercaravan.co.uk, a creative events company in Fife
where I am based now. Oh yes, I have moved...no longer
an edinburger! I have a lovely wee article in the local
Press about it so lets hope I am out and about running my
craft parties soon!

Sadly in May I finished up at Adam Smith College. I am
already really missing the job/students/staff so I have
my fingers and toes tightly crossed that I will be asked back
after the summer! Here's hoping!

Royal crafts

rhcrafts — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 11:07:26 +0000

On Wednesday I was back visiting the lovely STV studios 
demonstrating how to make projects for Royal Wedding parties! 
This time I was accompanied by two of my HNC art and design 
students Keren and Gemma, who helped me to create some of the 
projects I brought along with me! It was a shame there were 
no hot boy band guests for them to meet but think they 
both still enjoyed 
themselves!

Sewing For Pleasure Birmingham

rhcrafts — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 21:31:14 +0000

Shortly after Myself and Charlotte's stint at the SECC
we headed down to Birmingham to take part in a Fashion
Stitch Challenge. Sponsered by Coats Crafts we battled it
out each day to re-invent and customise plain and second
hand clothing into new fashions. Visiters watched as we 
crocheted, stitched, knitted, appliqued and felted under
pressure and created a range of stylish outfits with our
final designs being revealed at the end of each day on
the Sewing For Pleasure catwalk.

The show was a great success and we look forward to some
more fashion stitch challenges later on in the year!!

Creative Stitches Glasgow

rhcrafts — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 10:19:46 +0000

Last week I was through at the SECC in Glasgow running
a Customisation Station as part of the ICHF Creative
Stitches textile show.  Myself and textile designer
Charlotte Liddle ran live demos on how to recycle and
customise clothing as well as little Make and Take
sessions where members of the public could book on
to create small fabric brooches to customise their
clothing with!

The event was a huge success and our stand was
constantly busy with visiters to the show keen to
learn new skills and get creative with their wardrobe!

Staff Exhibition

rhcrafts — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 19:25:21 +0000

I have recently created some new products for a staff
exhibition held at Adam Smith College which is running
until the end of this month. My friend Jenny and her love
for tea was the inspiration behind my work. I have
never known anyone to drink as many cups as she does -
her Edinburgh flat is full or tea paraphernalia from knitted 
cosies and coasters to colourful tea pots and vintage china
cups!

I thoroughly enjoyed creating work for the exhibition and I
have had a great response from the students! Once the show comes
down I think I will need to find a lovely little tea shop in
Edinburgh to donate my work to!

New Textile Prints

rhcrafts — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 13:12:29 +0000

Happy new year everyone!

Since teaching textile design at Adam Smith College in Fife 
(which I have been thoroughly enjoying!!) I have become really
inspired again, so over my xmas hols I decided to come up
with some new design ideas!

I have been wanting to design my own range of digital textile
prints for some time now, using my hand drawing and Photoshop
skills and which reflect my love for big bold colour and quirky 
patterns. I absolutely love the work of Maremekko designer Maija
Louekari and textile designer Brie Harrison. Their collections are
so much fun to look at, I love their use of colour and pattern,
their style is so distinctive.  

Here is a peek at a few of the designs I have come up with
so far. My inspiration is my studio - pom poms, pin cushions,
buttons, ribbons and stitches.

I would love to sell my designs to somewhere like Habitat and
get them printed onto mugs and cushions...that would be really
cool!!

Saltire Prize Green Energy Award Medal

rhcrafts — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 13:30:06 +0000

I have been asked by Scottish Renewables to be part of a
juding panel for a massive design competition - to design
the 'Saltire Prize Medal for Green Energy'.  

Prof Reid said: “A competition to design the medal for 
the Saltire  Prize is a wonderful opportunity for 
Scotland’s visual arts and design students to leave their 
stamp on an award that does much to highlight the increasing 
importance of renewable energy. And with such a 
wealth of natural resources on our doorstep in Scotland, 
the students will have plenty to draw inspiration from.”

The Medal design competition is open to undergraduate
students in further education colleges and universities
across Scotland studying in the areas of silversmithing
and jewellery, three dimensional design and other
craft-based design and fine art programmes.

I am so delighted to have been asked to take part and
I am really looking forward to meeting other judges on
February 8th, judging day, some of who include - Caroline
Parkinson, Director of Creative Scotland,  Barclay Price,
Director of Arts and Business Scotland and Seona Reid,
Director of Glasgow School of Art.

September…

rhcrafts — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 15:37:10 +0000

Last June I was commissioned by a design agency
to produce a collection of prop designs for
Mothercare's xmas advertising campaign which
kept my fingers very busy over the summer months!!
I designed and produced (with the help of friends!)
lots of fun xmas projects including snowflakes, the
alphabet, baubles and presents! Some of the props
feature in their new xmas catalogue available on their
website - http://www.mothercare.com/b/54138031 
with the rest of them (with hope) being used for their
instore advertising and the flagship stores xmas window
display which will be cool!!


Last week I ran my second workshop for the NHS's 'Family
Nurse Partnership' service. I got to meet Health Secretary
Nicola Sturgeon (as well as lots of other important NHS ladies!)
and show her how to stitch up a square for the textile banner
we had been creating. I couldn't believe all the press that
showed up, they seemed to just come out from nowhere!! What
a great project to be part of, the young
mums (and dads!) and all of the nurses who took part seemed to
thoroughly enjoy it, as did i...and I made it on the news which
is always good! http://news.scotsman.com/news/Sturgeon-to-visit-

toddler-caring.6541991.jp

Another busy week…

rhcrafts — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 16:54:21 +0000

On Tuesday I was back on The Hour and I have to say I
was a little nervous about this one as I had comedian
Jack Whitehall to teach crafts to this time!  It ended
up being lots of fun though and think he was happy to
receive the decoupaged picture frame I had made for him! 
Although I do think he should have given me some free
tickets for his fringe show for threatening to vandalise
my pretty lampshade..ha ha!

Wednesday was another fun workshop day along at WHALE arts. 
I thought I was going to have my work cut out for me in the
afternoon running an art session for a toddler group but
they were great, very imaginative and their finished felt
monsters were brilliant! I also got a chance to chat to Rod
Jones, guitarist and backing singer from the band Idlewild
as he is currently doing a Musician in
Residence at WHALE and Stevenson College, I got to
listen to a few of his songs too at the Arts Cafe
which were lovely.

On Thursday I was out on the streets of the Westerhails area
in Edinburgh where the young people hang out running visual
art sessions as part of WHALE's Street Arts programme. The
evening was a great sucess, I got the young people to make
comedy shades which they customised with foam shapes,
feathers and designs using marker pens. They all wondered 
home proudly wearing their colourful designs!