Friday 30 April 2010

Craft Time-Travel

Here we are, the end of another week. And almost the beginning of May!! I can't quite believe it.

I have a very busy few days ahead with a protest march to attend, sewing and baking to do for our kindergarten open day, perhaps a carboot sale if I can squeeze it in (I'll try, I'll try!), four birthdays to prepare for, and a birthday party to go to on Monday. Gulp.

So, naturally, instead of working methodically through my to-do list, I am distracting myself by doing this and photographing my brooch collection in homage to this...*

Speaking of time, do you think they had more of it in the 1970s?
Well, of course, there was no distraction via the internet. *stunned silence* Instead it seems, people (women?) put their minds to learning such things as how to make a buttoned headboard, or how to decorate with nails, or how to sew suede**.

All this according to one of my latest acquisitions, several parts of the Golden Hands Encyclopedia of Crafts, which was published in 1975, in *98* handy weekly installments.



Wow. Can I become one of these women, who uses 'her oven to cure plastic enamel'? It seems unlikely. And for that I am sad.





I will show you some more of the projects covered another day, it's funny, most of them are quite of the moment - paper cuts! patchwork! crochet! decorating with nails! (okay, not that last one).. It's like Design Sponge in magazine format!




I will be making Iris a feather head-dress (perfect for camping!) although probably not this weekend - watch this space!



* Can't show you this yet, the photographs were terrible, so here is another gratuitous blossom shot.



**If you wish to become an expert in any of the aforementioned areas then leave me a comment and I'll see what I can do.

7 comments:

Becky said...

Totally intrigued by decorating with nails now (not in any serious way mind, as I'm assuming it means hammering them into wood into patterns, and hammering and I don't go so well together...)!

Zoƫ said...

I'm sure they did! No bloody internet to distract them :P

Francesca said...

oh my goodness, iris is going to love that headband. has she had one before? i have a vague memory. i think you should make it your business to collect all 98.

ringmaster said...

oh i think i need to make a couple of those feathered headbands! i enlarged the image and i think i can see the directions!!! fun fun fun
heather

Jane O Sullivan said...

hello nath ****
I see you like **** at the mo , love this post (classic nath) ....absolute brillness ...I can see why you like that girls broaches ........ her shoes (sigh)

jane said...

Oh brilliant,I love old craft books. I got some really fun ones via Freecycle a few months ago, from wartime. I love them and all the insight they give into the lifestyle at the time.
Imagine a time without the internet..... yikes.

at swim-two-birds said...

wow, i love seventies magazines, what a treasure you got here!!