Encaustic Art at Swallow Studios

We were recently pleased to host a one day “Introduction to Encaustic Wax” workshop here at Swallow Studios.

On Saturday 4th Feb last, a little car pulled up outside with a lot of boxes of strange and colourful equipment, driving was Niamh I. O’Connor an encaustic artist and tutor living nearby in Co. Monaghan, all ready to set up for a day of fun, craft and giggles with a group of enthusiastic learners!

Encaustic Art is an ancient art form and now consists of using low heat irons and stylus’s with specially hardened and pigmented beeswax to produce a varied range of imaginative and figurative works with a few simple movements of the wrist!

Originally heated over charcoal fires to keep the wax molten it would have been a very laborious task! Now thanks to the wonders of electricity Encaustic Art is a wonderful pastime and creative outlet that works on many of the senses and can, and often does, bring out a creativity in people that they never knew they possessed!

On the day itself, Niamh started (as all good days should)with a cuppa and a chat about the history of the art and a little bit about the processes to be explored, including of course health and safety and the importance of enjoying the process and letting the end results develop itself… So pressure off, we delved into an introduction of the tools and equipment used, application of colour, how to identify when you are working at the right temp and the basic movements and effects that can be created easily when you know how!

Before we knew it two hours had passed, time for another cuppa, this time with a bun (Yum!).

We all agreed it was a fun and relaxing way to spend a Saturday morning but Niamh pointed out that our fun exploring and playing with this medium was in fact teaching us all more than we realised!

Colour, movement, composition, development and understanding – without realising we had all produced amazing images, abstract, fantasy, imaginative and geometric pieces with the simple flick of the wrist and the use of the iron we had developed so much! Now for the next step – to tame and control those lessons learned to produce a landscape image to be proud of!

After Tea Niamh demonstrated how to create a one colour landscape with 4 simple moves and it was terrific, we all had a go and what do you know – Landscape! That Easy!!!

We delved further using full colour to develop images with a background Middleground and Forground, adding details and effects to make the image more realistic. Niamh discussed how to use and protect our works and make them suitable for card making, framing, over painting, collage or fabric printing and really opened our eyes to the possibilities of using wax as a modern and entirely adaptable medium.

So after 4 hours laughing and working together over cups of tea and coffee it was all over, several of the participents enrolled for classes with Niamh and even more bought little pieces of wax and card to further develop their new interest at home! What a day! We all agreed we should do it again…and do you know Im sure we will…..Keep ya posted!

Annayalla National School Visit to Swallow Studios

A few days ago we welcomed a group of 3rd and 4th class children from Annayalla National School to Swallow Studios. There were 27 children under the guidance of Mrs Madden & Barbara, the classroom assistant.  It brought back fond memories of my own schooldays as I saw the line of little heads, as the walked up the road with the spring sun shining on them.

There was great excitement as they filed into our wee  craftshop where I welcomed them all. Mrs Madden had taught the about Claude Monet so that they would have some knowledge of the artist whose paintings inspire my handweavings.  They quickly put up their hands to answer my questions, they were full of enthusiam and it was a joy to see.

We proceeded onto the studio floor and it was great to hear all the oohs and aahs when they saw the looms and the colours in the place. I showed them how my designs are worked up and they could see the relationship to Monet’s paintings on the walls (alas not the originals but calendar pictures) and in my art books. They saw how I design and prepare the warp, transfer it to the loom, and of course, how the weaving is done on the flying shuttle loom. They were impressed with the working of the flying shuttle and again there were plenty of oohs and aahs! They had a  multitude of questions for me  which I was delighted to answer.  It is such a great opportunity to be able to let young children see the value of protecting and using skills. I had a small table loom set up for them and they all got to ‘have a go’. So they had a little piece of weaving that they got to bring back to their class. 

They seemed to really enjoy their visit to Swallow Studios and I hope it is the first of many  

Designer Crafts at The Market House

Designer Crafts are back at The Market House

in Monaghan Town in the run up to Christmas.

For quite a few years now Designer Crafts have been a feature in The Market House in the weeks before Christmas. On a not for profit basis, we endeavour to bring together some of the best in Local & Irish  craftsmanship under one roof.  Members of the public who appreciate authentic hand-crafted goods  have the opportunity to purchase here Christmas gifts of meaning and quality. 

We are open Monday to Saturday 11am to 6pm & Christmas Eve 11am to 3pm.

We Wish A Happy Christmas and a Prosperous New Year

To All Our Customers & Supporters.

Liz Christy WINTER SALE at Swallow Studios

Liz Christy Scarves
   - Winter SALE
for THREE days only
Starts
 
Thursday, 04 November 2010 at 11:00
to
Saturday, 06 November at 6pm
Swallow Studios, Annayalla (on the old N2), 
Castleblayney, Co Monaghan, Ireland
Old Stock Clearance & 
Special Discounts on Website Stock
(as website is down for redevelopment)
 

Swallow Studios is open for visitors from far and near!

I recently took part in Web 2.0 course which was organised by John Toland through Cavan Monaghan Leader. Johnny Beirne was the trainer and showed us how best to use social media to promote and market our busiesses.  Patrick from Sleeping Warrior Productions worked with us on the skills of video recording and editing, and it was this element of the course that I was particularly interested in. So I have now up loaded  ‘the film’ to youtube and am trying to promote it, the aim being to let as many people know as possible that Swallow Studios is open and welcomes visitors from far and near!

Check out film

Socialising and Building Positive Relations Through Art and Craft

 Have you thought about

 socialising and building positive relations through Art &Craft,

in a creative environment?

 Here at Swallow Studios in Annayalla we can offer your group the facility to participate in variety of art and craft workshops in a colourful and artistic setting.

We can organise workshops or training….for two hours, a half day, a full day, or over a period of weeks,tailored to your groups needs. We are keen to explore the shared heritage of our area through textiles based crafts including hand-weaving.

 We are delighted to demonstrate how Liz Christy Scarves are hand-woven here on the looms.

Group activities available include tapestry weaving,

silk painting, felting, watercolour  & oil painting.

There is an opportunity for participants to socialise and chat as they create, and we can arrange tea & coffee. 

If you would like to talk about the possibilities for

creative activity workshops at Swallow Studios,

please ring me at 042 9746614.

You can arrange to come and see the premises and we can see how we might tailor our art & craft activities to your requirements.

new scarves on lizchristy.com

I have just recently updated my website  with some new scarves.  There’s some lovely spring colours and new styles.  I have woven some of these new designs with in lace texture, as a tribute to the lace making heritage of  County Monaghan.

Lace Boucle Scarf- 'Lavacourt', soft peach

 So check out www.lizchristy.com to see some spring colours.

If you’d like a customised scarf or wrap  for a special occassion email info@lizchristy.com

Swallow Studios has broadband at last!

Well at long last we’ve got Net1 broadband here at the studios. I had lost heart over the last year or so, trying to update the website and blog and do all the web work that must be done…..via a brutally slow eircom dial up, so thank you Net1 for giving me heart and enthusiasm again.  Not saying i’ll be posting every day now, ’cause the bottom must stay at the loom if beautiful scarves are to be made!  And of course there’s the LizzyC Sheep , god bless them

But it’s good to be back and I’m looking forward to doing a Web2.0 training course  soon with Cavan Monaghan Rural Development and making the most of the internet to spread the word on Swallow Studios and www.lizchristy.com

Cheerio for now

Liz

Felting at Swallow Studios

Youth Exchange Day at Swallow Studios

On Thursday last we welcomed a group of 25 young people along with their leaders to Swallow Studios for a a day of craft workshops.  The teenagers were part of the youth exchange between the twinned towns of Castleblayney and Nogent sur Vernisson organised by Youth Fereration Ireland Monaghan. The group stayed at Alices Loft and they took part in lots of activities over the week, including making a dvd of their experiences, which they showed to organisers and guests on their final evening.

On the day we had four groups of teenagers, each with a leader and we organised them so that each group had about an hour at each of four crafts: frame tapestry weaving, loom weaving, silk painting & felting. Each group had a mix of French and Irish, and boys and girls, and they all engaged and took part in the crafts. The place was a riot of colour and activity and they seemed to enjoy themselves.  The results at the end of the day were amazing: 8 little tapestries, with a little bit added by each person, 4 loom woven lenghts with parts woven by everyone, 25 felted pieces and 25 painted silk pieces…..Wow!

And the next challenge for us was  make a collage of all the individual artworks and create two big wallhangings.  So on the last evening we were invited to Alices Loft where two young Irish people presented one wallhanging to Julie to bring to Nogent sur Vernisson. Then two young French people presented Mary with the other hanging to stay in Castleblayney and hang  in the Youth Cafe.

Louise & I were exhausted at the end of the one day of workshops, so my admiration goes to the organisers of the exchange Mary & Julie and their teams.   We really enjoyed being involved and opening the studios to the young people so that that could get stuck in and experience out crafts first hand.  I hope they had fun, enjoyed colour and maybe learned something abou craft along the way.