Tuesday, January 29, 2008

ASK CRAFTY: letterpress and pysanky classes, bag supplies in scarborough, natural wood paints & adult craft camp ideas

Pysanky & photo by Luba Petrusha

Some great questions in this round of ask crafty. Please share your advice by commenting on this post.


Also, the question of letterpress classes has come up a few times lately and I'm wondering if we could come up with a few local options.


x I want to make a crochet bag. Where can I find the bag handles,zips etc. Can somebody suggest the names of the stores in Scarborough? - Bindu

x I'm looking for pysanky classes--decorating eggs Ukrainian style--and I'm wondering if anyone can recommend any or even simply point me to some. - eunice

x Does anyone know where to buy, in Toronto, non-toxic or preferably all natural or vegetable based paints which conform to ASTM-D4236 (that is; they are child-safe or "food-grade") for use on wood.Or does anyone know how to make these paints or dyes? - kelly

x I am a frustrated crafter stuck in a very 'non-crafty corporate job' I was hoping to use a week of vacation this year to treat myself to a week of craft or art projects. Does anyone know of any intensive week-long workshops either in Toronto or willing to make a trip of it and go up north/ out to eastcoast etc. (Hopefully more on the funky-side than delicate watercolours) Am flexible on medium (bit of an ADHD crafter) and also on timing although summer would be best. Open to any ideas! - Carolyn

5 Comments:

Blogger Michelle said...

Ooh... I like a challenge!

Eunice - a link to a course coming up in March:
http://www.stvladimir.ca/index.php?id=226
Also you may want to check out the Ukrainian Festival in September in Bloor West Village. They usually have demos.

Bindu - I've never had much luck finding crafty notions in Scabs (born and raised, represent!) My suggestions would be 1) improvise by using non-usual stuff found at Dollarama or Hell-Mart - I'm thinking bamboo hoops, wire hoops, macrame hangers in the plants department, for example. Or 2) Scavenge at your local thrift store for old purses that you can use the bits to make new purses with.

Kelly - I think there's a woman who teaches a course on natural dyes at Natalie-Roze? I would also ask the folks at Lee Valley http://www.leevalley.com/home.aspx?c=1
I know they carry wood colourings, but I don't see a MSDS listing for what they sell.

Carolyn - While I'm not a huge fan of Facebook, it seems to me that it would be a great place to find someone (or more than one) to have a crafty week with. There are a fair number of crafty groups in the Toronto network. Find four other people, each person brings up enough stuff to do a different craft everyday?

11:12 p.m.  
Blogger Unknown said...

Kelly: there's a great book called "The Natural Paint Book" by Lynn Edwards and Julia Lawless, which is very thorough and beautiful to look at as well. Also, the Old Fashioned Milk Paint Company (www.milkpaint.com) has a store in Toronto, as well as an online store. Hope that helps!

11:44 p.m.  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Carolyn - The Haliburton School of the Arts has lots of different courses running in the spring, summer, and fall. Many are week long. It's run by Fleming College in cottage country. It's very well respected. Here's the website I found: http://www.flemingc.on.ca/HSTA/
It's probably best to contact them and ask for a course calendar (it gives more info).

9:33 a.m.  
Blogger Leilabugtoys said...

Thank you Miche and Marnie!
I've now got some books on hold at the library and I'll be checking out the stores and Natalie Roze asap.
Thats some wonderful crafty advice!
Kelly

3:34 p.m.  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Carolyn - check out the PEI school of the Arts. I went two years ago and it was awesome!!!
http://www.peischoolofthearts.com/index.cfm

6:47 p.m.  

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