Shakespeare's Birthday. Letterpress. Poems While U Wait.

I thought I would celebrate Shakespeare's birthday with some letterpress and knitting. Of course - how else would I do it?! Here are some of my new cards, awaiting posh photos before being offered to a discerning public.

It seemed a shame to make a Richard III, when I could do a horse instead. The horse represents the absolute limit of my ability to knit. The font I used for the word 'horse' has a Wild West saloon poster look to it that I really like. 

The most famous stage direction of all, from Winter's Tale. I don't usually stitch noses on finger puppets, but thought the bear needed one.

I have a soft spot for Mark Antony, one of the sexiest of all flawed heroes. I hope I have done him justice, in his Senatorial toga.

 The Shakespeare puppets will be coming with me to the Big Skill Crafts Festival at Racquety Farm in Hay on Wye on 24th to 26th May. Here's a link to their Facebook Page, https://www.facebook.com/thebigskill
I will also be doing Poems While U Wait at the event. Very much looking forward to that. I hope William would have approved.

Walking on the Skirrid Mountain.

On Easter Sunday I took my troubles to the Skirrid Mountain, and the wind carried them away.

 The Skirrid is one of my favourite mountains. Not difficult to climb, as there is a well used path maintained by the National Trust, and you climb up to the ridge, and then along to the summit.

The ascent is through a woodland, and yesterday it was full of birdsong, and so many wild flowers.
Primroses were blooming beneath the stalks of last years bracken, which will soon grow and cover them up. The brambles were beginning to sprout as well.

Lots of violets too. I was reminded of Oberon's speech in Midsummer Night's Dream;
I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine.

There aren't any roses on the Skirrid, but plenty of woodbine beginning to grow, and little wood anenomes. Wild strawberry leaves,  and of course the first bluebells. There used to be wild thyme, but I couldn't see any yesterday.

There are some magical dead trees, covered in moss.

And near the top of the ascent before stepping onto the ridge, hawthorn. I imagine immortal spirits sitting in these hawthorn trees watching humankind as it trudges up the mountain and back down again.

The Skirrid accepts the scars that countless feet have made on its back, and it accepts all who walk along it, however fast or slow.

It was very cloudy and grey yesterday. There was little of the usually wonderful view on display. Just some silhouettes and faint shapes beyond the gorse.

It was so windy that I didn't stop at the summit. Feeling that the wind might knock me over, I turned round immediately and walked carefully back along the ridge. Some trees seemed to be doing the same thing.

Walking back through the greening woodland, I felt the mountain working its magic, and my spirits were lifted.

When the rain came the tiny sound of the raindrops filled the air, which smelled sweet and fresh. I felt absolutely blessed.

An outbreak of poetry!

Last day of Term, children in fancy dress, an outdoor specially constructed storytelling area - how much better can it get?! On Friday I told stories and poems to many groups of marvellously dressed children and teachers at Thornhill School in Cardiff.

I was the first person to perform in the circle. It really was an honour. Here I am with the first ever class to come and hear stories and poems in the area. Their teacher is resplendent in the centre of the photo, in his Cat in the Hat outfit.

The sun was shining, and I had several of those I can't believe this is my job moments!

Then today, Sunday, an event in Cardiff for the Children's Literature Festival, making seed packets, and filling them with poems, and with favourite and precious things - photos, pictures, mementoes. I encouraged the adults to make a packet each as well.

Everyone was quiet, and focussed on their own creations. It was a lovely afternoon.

Two very different events, but both celebrating words, ideas, poems and stories. I am SO LUCKY!

A shed full of print & Shakespeare

At last, I have surrendered and made my shed solely into a print studio.

Very proud of my shelves - strangely enough, Ikea didn't have shelves specifically for trays of type, but these are fine.

The proofing press is on the floor. It's so heavy I figured it would probably end up there anyway.  I quite like leaning down to print.

I have been in a Shakespeare frenzy, finding quotes and bits of quotes. It's amazing how much Shakespeare we know and say without realising. I am planning some less literary printing, but it's been just William so far.

And this card has sold to several parents with children doing course work and dissertations. The big O is fabulous.

I decided to sew the prints onto cards rather than stick them. I don't know how adhesive is done commercially, but I never manage to get a card completely flat, despite my book press (that's still in the sitting room, doubling as a sculpture). And I like the look of the stitching!

The machine complained a bit, but it's been with me a long time and used to make pantomime costumes, so it's used to some extreme sewing.

Some of the cards have finger puppets on, of course. Here's Hamlet.

The cards, with and without puppets, have already been out to a couple of craft fairs, and will go onto my Etsy shop, as soon as I have photographed them successfully. And then away from Shakespeare and into Bride & Groom, Congratulations, Happy Brithday, and You Know Nothing Jon Snow territory. The last phrase is a Game of Thrones thing!

Poetry in Action at Pendoylan

A poetry workshop is an active event, especially with Year One! Here I am with the young poets at Pendoylan CIW Primary School, searching for inspiration,

starting small,

reaching for the heights,

and being proper authors.

I told them the story of Sion Cwilt, and then we wrote short poems about our own houses. Here are two of my favourites,

I don't know which I am more envious of, the pirate wallpaper and quilt, or the 4 cats and a rainbow unicorn!
To finish with we performed a story about Little Bo Peep. Here she is, talking to a cow about her lost sheep.

The children were fantastic. It was a great day.

Willy Wonka's Poetry Factory

Oh my goodness, an absolute gem of a day at St Nicholas Primary School in the Vale of Glamorgan, celebrating World Book Day with the whole school dressed up as book characters, and me telling stories and writing poems with everyone. I was dressed as a poet.

The staff at St Nicholas are enthusiastic about everything, even dressing up as Roald Dahl characters. Here they at the beginning of the day, and they all stayed in character until it was time to go home.

It was great going into classrooms filled with superheroes, princesses, Harry Potters, and other assorted literary characters.

I was asked to judge the World Book Day competitions, one for each class. I did this over lunchtime, helped by Willy Wonka and a golden ticket.

And pictured here after the giving of certificates and prizes,

Amazingly, considering all the excitement, the children produced really good poetry and imaginative work.

There are some lovely displays of work on the walls of St Nicholas School, and I was inspired by this picture. I am going to do a version of it using my wooden letterpress letters making exploding words.

This was another great day. I am so lucky.

Poetry with very young writers - the best fun.

Two schools today, to work with year 1 and 2 children, as part of the outreach for the Cardiff Children's Literature Festival. We were writing poetry, and using the great animal cartoons of Huw Aaron as a starting point.

 First, in Roath Park Primary, where we wrote about a pelican balancing a book on its beak, and other things too. A lot of alliteration followed.

I liked the above example because the pelican has a bendy boomerang, a slithering snake and a kicking kangaroo on its beak, and when the pelican sneezes, they slide off into the stars. I also like it because somewhere in the creative process the young poet obviously needed an energy boost and so took a big bite out of the top of the page!

Here are the children all holding their poems triumphantly aloft,

 This afternoon, to Herbert Thompson Infants, to write about a monkey eating lots of fruit and vegetables to help him with his reading,

This poem is great as it includes two languages! The monkey has a big green lettuce to help him read, and a juicy coch strawberry to help him be strong.

I asked the children to think what book the monkey might be reading, and they made up some titles, and put some illustrations on the pages of the book. The poem above had the monkey reading The Banana Book. In the picture below, the young writer had put some text, which I really liked.

 It is wonderful to see the very young writing poetry, putting their own imaginations and ideas into the frame I provide to produce very individual work. There really is nothing better! A selection of the poems produced today are going to be in an exhibition in Cardiff Central Library in April, and I am going to enjoy seeing the children's work again.

Many thanks to Louise Richards of Literature Wales who arranged the day and came to help with the poetry writing, and to the staff at both schools, who joined in with such enthusiasm and helped the young writers to produce great work.

The festival website is here http://www.cardiff.gov.uk/content.asp?nav=2,2869,6584
and Huw Aaron's website is here www.huwaaron.com