Indrani Perera

poet, publisher & mentor

Category: Woodwork & Carving

Craft Lessons

I had the best time in Tassie. The highlight of course was all the craft I got to do with my friend's 14 year old son. He's into all the crafts I love – leathercraft and woodwork – with the added bonus of being into blacksmithing, something I'd love to learn but haven't yet had the chance to explore. He has lessons with a local, self-taught blacksmith and has made his own forge. Unfortunately on this trip we didn't have time to fire up the forge but I definitely plan on going back next year for a blacksmithing lesson.

I am incredibly envious of his outdoor campfire with homemade bench and tripod where he often cooks his lunch. Then there's the shed complete with workbench, vice and wood stove in one corner. And of course the forge under the eaves of the shed. Watching over everything is the surrounding bush and the scree on the mountain.

He's making the most amazing leather bags and pouches as well as carving spoons of all kinds from wood on their property, forging pendants and tongs and making Viking chess sets. I could happily spend a long time looking at all the incredible things he's made.

Of course I wanted to make one of everything when I saw all his incredible handmade items but I settled on a leather pouch, a mini book and a needle holder made out of huon pine. It was a tad ambitious trying to cram it all into two and a half days and I made many mistakes along the way!

I managed to sew the straps on to the pouch backwards and the front went all wonky. I discovered both mistakes late at night when I thought I had finally finished the pouch. The next morning I got up super early to make the mini book while everyone was asleep. All was going well until it came time to cut the slits on the cover for the strap and I did them the wrong way. It was the ingenious strap design that I fell in love with in the first place (I love elegant and functional design) and I really wanted to make it work but I couldn't see how. I was super bummed at this point. Both the things I had attempted came up duds.

It was when I was having a shower that I realised what I needed to do. (I find showers are so good for inspiration and clarity. I get my best ideas and poems when I'm in the shower.) I figured out I could turn the front of the mini book into the back and sew a little piece of leather over the cuts to hide them. It was a really good reminder to turn my mistakes into opportunities to be creative.

And it was at this point I let go of getting everything made before I left. I realised I'd have to finish / fix my projects when I got home. Especially if I wanted to have time to make a needle holder.

I guess you won't be surprised to learn that didn't turn out quite right either. Somehow the hole I drilled went wonky so we couldn't make it super long. I can get four of the leather craft needles I bought at Simon Martin Whips & Leathercraft into the case so it's not a complete bust at least. And I discovered that I love using a draw knife and it's now on my list of tools to get. I can see many more needle holders in my future!

It was awesome doing so much craft in such a short space of time with such a great craft companion. And I am so grateful for all the lessons a super charged crafting retreat provided. I was reminded of the beauty of letting go, of seizing the opportunity to be creative and of loving the imperfections of my handmade items.

December 20, 2020
And Here It Is…In Brown

I couldn't help myself. I just had to make a version of the blue leather journal in brown. The blue leather clashed terribly with my brown scarf and mittens.

Excitingly, I found the banksia button you can see on the front of the journal in my sewing cupboard when I was looking for something else. I love finding little gifts from past me. She rocks!

The journal is the perfect size to fit one of my eco-dyed notebooks and a sketch folio.

June 30, 2020
Craft Morning

I was in craft heaven on Saturday. Surrounded by felt, fabric, wool, paper, paint, wood and tools. In a hall with lots of families including my own. And we all were there to craft beautiful things for our homes and our loved ones out of natural materials. I ask you, does it get any better than that? The morning was the perfect antidote to the Christmas consumerism that was beginning to infect my soul.

The craft morning was run by Carol, Ed and Nikki and their angel helpers. It began with a circle, a song and story. You could then hop from craft station to craft station as the mood took you, sampling the many different crafts available. The crafts included origami, paper marbling, wood work outdoors with hand tools and fallen branches; the sewing table with zippers, needles, threads and pieces of hand dyed wool blankets; and the felting area where you could make a candle holder or an angel for your Christmas tree.

My first stop was the wood working station. I had been wanting to make a wooden holder for my beeswax candles for a while. Last week I pulled out sheets of beeswax to make some more candles and discovered a stash of dipped candles we made a couple of years ago. They had been waiting for a holder all this time. Ed had brought along some beautiful pieces of wood from a fallen branch. I was so excited to turn it into a candle holder using a hand drill for the first time. I muddled along, not really knowing what I was dong. I wasn't sure which way to turn it or how to make it work. I started getting impatient and frustrated. It was when I decided to let go of my impatience and embrace the process that the drill bit into the wood.

I was keen to whittle a crochet hook but the other crafts were calling so I headed back into the hall where I met up with Miss 13 and her bestie. They were trying to turn pieces of felt into a woven heart. We didn't know what we were doing but had a lot of fun trying to work it out. Eventually my girl went and asked for help and came back and taught me. It was perfect timing – it's one of our family traditions to gift the girls with an ornament each year and when they were little I used to make them felt decorations. The other day I pulled out the box of decorations and realised it had been some years since anything handmade was added to the collection.

The paper marbling table was busy so I decided to make a felted candle holder even though I'm not a huge fan of the process of wet felting. By the time I got to the wet and squishing stage, time was beginning to run out. I panicked and abandoned my felting and headed to the marbling station. Luckily for me, while I was gone, Nikki finished it of for me.

Marbling was amazing. Swirling the paint on the surface of the water then laying down the fabric or paper to reveal incredible patterns. The whole family was obsessed with marbling and we've come home with quite a stash of fabric and paper. I'm sure it will come in useful for a future project.

I haven't been in such a beautiful setting with my family since the girls were little. It was so wonderful to be back in that beautiful, heart-warming space surrounded by other families all intent on creating with love.

December 18, 2019
Cross-Crafting

I am so pleased with this pouch I created to hold my eco dyed cards. Over the last couple of years I've been slowly eco-dyeing and accumulating a pile of eco dyed paper from my experiments. I've torn them down to size and intend to make them into oracle cards. If I can bear to write on the paper – I love beautifully embellished and layered objects but find myself creating very minimal pieces. I think it stems from a fear of ruining the beauty of the material I am working with.

I dyed the wool felt pouch with gum leaves and wrapped it around a rusty aluminium can. I hand sewed the felt with embroidery floss from my stash. I carved the button from an avocado stone. The fastening is made from a piece of vegetable tanned kangaroo leather. I wove the cord from lomandra grass growing on the median strip out the front of my block of flats.

Using all my different skills (foraging, dyeing, sewing, carving, leather work and cordage) to make this special pouch was a wonderful experience. There are definite advantages to being a jack of all trades – you can make beautiful pieces like this one!

May 14, 2018
Cross-Crafting

I am so pleased with this pouch I created to hold my eco dyed cards. Over the last couple of years I've been slowly eco-dyeing and accumulating a pile of eco dyed paper from my experiments. I've torn them down to size and intend to make them into oracle cards. If I can bear to write on the paper – I love beautifully embellished and layered objects but find myself creating very minimal pieces. I think it stems from a fear of ruining the beauty of the material I am working with.

I dyed the wool felt pouch with gum leaves and wrapped it around a rusty aluminium can. I hand sewed the felt with embroidery floss from my stash. I carved the button from an avocado stone. The fastening is made from a piece of vegetable tanned kangaroo leather. I wove the cord from lomandra grass growing on the median strip out the front of my block of flats.

Using all my different skills (foraging, dyeing, sewing, carving, leather work and cordage) to make this special pouch was a wonderful experience. There are definite advantages to being a jack of all trades – you can make beautiful pieces like this one!

May 14, 2018
Create With Waste

I'm so excited about creating things I need from items I would usually throw in the bin. Yes, I guess it makes me a little odd but it's how I'm made. Thrifty, resourceful and creative!

Carving or whittling has long been on my list of skills to master. Probably since I was young and read about someone in a book whittling a stick. I even own some carving tools but somehow they never made it out of the packet. It all changed however, when I saw Lotte carving a pair of earrings out of an avocado stone. It's become somewhat of an obsession around here since then with the girls joining in and me buying avocados even though they are ridiculously expensive at the moment.

The avocado stone is so soft, it's easy to work with and great for a beginning carver like me. We've made buttons, pendants and I've had a go at carving a little fellow. The buttons look great once they've been sanded and polished.

So far we've used Haas and Shepherd avocado stones for carving, The Haas stones are lovely but the Shepherds go a funny white colour once they are cut. I'm not letting those stones go to waste – I've chucked them in the freezer so I can have a go at avocado dyeing.

April 26, 2018
Create With Waste

I'm so excited about creating things I need from items I would usually throw in the bin. Yes, I guess it makes me a little odd but it's how I'm made. Thrifty, resourceful and creative!

Carving or whittling has long been on my list of skills to master. Probably since I was young and read about someone in a book whittling a stick. I even own some carving tools but somehow they never made it out of the packet. It all changed however, when I saw Lotte carving a pair of earrings out of an avocado stone. It's become somewhat of an obsession around here since then with the girls joining in and me buying avocados even though they are ridiculously expensive at the moment.

The avocado stone is so soft, it's easy to work with and great for a beginning carver like me. We've made buttons, pendants and I've had a go at carving a little fellow. The buttons look great once they've been sanded and polished.

So far we've used Haas and Shepherd avocado stones for carving, The Haas stones are lovely but the Shepherds go a funny white colour once they are cut. I'm not letting those stones go to waste – I've chucked them in the freezer so I can have a go at avocado dyeing.

April 26, 2018
Spoons

These spoons got put away in the cupboard a long time ago when I decided to have a break from spoon carving. I had no idea the little break I was intending would stretch out to eighteen months! In hindsight I think I was being too tough on myself. Drooling over all the amazing carved spoons on Instagram and feeling inadequate. My spoons weren't living up to my high standards or the picture perfection on Insty.

When I took them out after a long break I was pleasantly surprise by my efforts and very much looking forward to finishing them and using them at long last. Going to camp again and wanting to use a homemade spoon was my motivation.

After a quick file and sand, I polished them with a few coats of flax seed oil, letting them dry in between coats.

It feels so good to complete projects that have been lurking around the house. It clears space and energy for new ideas and crafts to flourish. I feel lighter and happier knowing there is one less project waiting in the to be finished pile.

April 21, 2018
Wood Polish

Once I had finished carving the letter opener I stared way back in January (can you believe it's April already?) I need to protect the wood with a nice polish.

I bet you know what's coming. That's right, I made the polish myself! And in a real breakthrough for me, it didn't even occur to me to go out and buy polish. In the past if I needed something i would go through a process of trying to buy it first before deciding to make it myself with the materials I already have.

Traditional wood polishes use gum turpentine because it penetrates into the wood taking the beeseax right into the grain. The beeswax then forms a waterproof and protective layer. I didn't have gum turps so I used what I had in the cupboard.

This polish is super simple and only uses natural beeswax and jojoba oils. The jojoba isn't brilliant as over time it can go bad but of all the oils you can use, it has a very long shelf life.

Wood Polish

Beeswax

Jojoba oil

Empty jar or tin

Fill the bottom pan of a double boiler with water.

In the top pan place a glass jug or jug.

Add the beeswax to a glass jug and melt over high heat.

Keep an eye on the water level in the bottom pan so it doesn't go dry.

Once the wax is melted add the jojoba.

Pour into your jar or tin.

To use

Apply with a soft cloth (I use an old cotton sock).

After 30 minutes polish with a clean cloth.

April 2, 2018
Village Life

Last weekend I attended my third Village Continuum Festival. It’s an amazing three days of community, craft and collaboration held on an organic farm just north of Melbourne in the foothills of the Macedon Ranges. Coming back for my third year felt like coming home – there were so many familiar and delightful faces to see and new friends to meet.

I loved camping under the stars for three nights and walking barefoot on the earth. It was so lovely to spend the whole time outdoors, breathing in the fresh air and reconnecting with nature. The girls ran wild and I barely saw them. They touched in briefly at the shared mealtimes around the campfire and then were off again, exploring, making new friends and having fun.

As usual the incredible lineup was packed with abundance and choosing which workshops to do was very hard. In the end I went with the flow and did what felt right on the day. I ended up spending most of my time hanging out at the campfire catching up with friends and chatting. Rest? Relax? I know, crazy! But it felt so good to just sit and be instead of rushing here and there trying to make everything and fit it all in. It helps that I’ve already dabbled in some of the wonderful workshops that were on offer – it took the pressure off doing it all while I was there.

One of the workshops I did make it to was the pencil making workshop run by Cherie from the Earth Alchemy Forest School in the kids area with my seven year old daughter. We had so much fun sawing and drilling our timber before melting the beeswax and cacao mixture over the open fire.

Some of the workshops on offer this year were fish skin tanning, blacksmithing, trap making, tracking, natural building, tiny houses, spoon carving, friction fire making, nature games, permaculture, herbalism, labyrinth building, moon rise mothers, kombucha kitchen, basket weaving, rope making, knot tying, primal pottery and more. A seriously good line-up as usual. Of course, being on crew last year and facilitating a leather craft workshop again this year means I’m slightly biased when I say it’s the best festival ever. But it’s true! (would I lie to you?)

By now you’re probably wishing you’d been there if you didn’t make it this year (and you really should have come). But wait – there’s more! This year there was lots of live music around the campfire at the hearth. On Friday and Saturday nights the Tasty Morsels and Josh Riggs serenaded us after dinner with covers and original tunes. If that wasn’t enough, we also had dancing on Saturday and Sunday nights with awesome, feet tapping, body shaking play lists. Dancing under the light of the full moon, barefoot on the grass with an incredible bunch of joyful people was an amazing experience. And while we were packing up the site late on Monday afternoon the guys in the photo rocked with their unique blend of celtic gypsy pirate punk. So keen to catch them playing some gigs when they come up with a line-up and a name!

I feel so blessed to be part of such a wonderful community of like minded people who value the old crafts while keeping one foot in the modern world. Thanks to everyone who helped to make it happen – all the crew, farm folks, facilitators, volunteers, support folk and everyone who came to spend a weekend in the village. We’ll definitely be back next year!

November 9, 2017