Button Making Online Course

You might have noticed that I like making thread wrapped buttons. There are just a few of my attempts displayed on Passementerie Buttons tab at the top of the page. Well, exciting news! Gina-B Silkworks now has an online course in making thread buttons. I learned my button making skills through Gina's DVDs but now it is available to anyone regardless of where they live in the world. The DVDs actually led to Gina asking me to join her design team and my projects are on UK national television regularly. So you never know where those skills will take you.

Although the buttons look complicated - believe me, I thought it would be impossible to learn how to make them - but it is actually a straight forward process that can be taken to all kinds of heights once you learn the basics.

I don't want to do the hard sell. I'm not a sales person. I want people to be inspired by what I make rather then talking them into buying new stuff. However I am VERY excited about this. I love making buttons. It was one of those totally unexpected hobbies that I never thought I would take to with such enthusiasm. And the cost is very reasonable - just £17.99 (roughly $23.84 US according to the currency converter on 22nd June 2018). Take a look at Gina's web site to find out more information - and prepare to become obsessed!

Disintegrating

Seth at The Altered Page has created a new collaboration of artists taking part in a project of disintegration. Basically you wrap up a bundle of papers any way you like then place it in a nature and watch what happens. Those taking part have posted before photos of their paper bundles and will post after pictures on the first of May in a grand unveiling. As a nature observer I have seen many things disintegrate through natural actions and it is fascinating. This is the first time I have seen art created out of it. I chose to make my bundle in the form of ancient scrolls. Anyone who has watched documentaries about ancient history will be familiar with the image of piles of scrolls in museums. Discoveries of ancient scrolls are often of decrepit sheets, rolled tightly and crushed by time. Now I get the chance to see my very own snapshot of the ravages of time.

A little treasure

One of my daily blog checks is Past Horizons, an archaeology blog that keeps me up to date with research, finds, courses and all kinds of exiting things. Today it reports that De Beers, the diamond mining company, has discovered an 'ancient' ship wreck complete with treasure. Eat your heart out Indiana Jones. Actually, as an ancient historian I have to take issue over the term 'ancient'. In reality it is the Middle Ages or European Rennaissance. Not ancient enough for my tastes. Still exciting though. More can be read here.

Historic Linton

Just a few pictures from this week. Some interactive inchies, hand carved rubber stamps, a couple of cards and a painting of the local church. The photo does not do the painting justice I'm afraid. It was too big to scan so I had to photograph it instead.

I have lost count of the number of times I have painted this church. It is very picturesque and had an interesting back story. It dates back to at least 1127 and is said to be Scotland's second oldest church. The sandy hill it stands on is rumoured to have been built up by two sister nuns. In atonement for their brother's sins they were ordered by the Pope to riddle the sand into the mound. However, the more logical (and less romantic) story revolves around the fact that the hollow where the church is built used to be a loch (or lake) and the sand migrated there due to the action of the water. I prefer the story about the nuns.

The whole area has a great deal of history surrounding it including a myth about a Medieval worm (as in dragon type worm, not an earthworm) that laid waste to the local countryside. Just like the story of George and the Dragon, a laird, William de Somerville, dispatched said worm and freed the region from terror. The worm's lair is said to be in the hill just behind my house but no one has ever excavated the depression the ground said to be the entrance. Evidence of prehistory, the Roman occupation, the arrival of Christianity and the influence of the Normans can all be seen here. There are even rumours of a secret tunnel under the church. It is certainly not lacking in interest and I can even see the 15th century Cessford Castle from my window. Unfortunately there is a lack of local archaeological digs, historical study or protection of the historical sites in this area and it is only a matter of time until there is very little but myths and legends left. 

 

Update: 26/2/21 - updated link to Cessford Castle information.