I’m still here!

February 14, 2024March 8, 2025 Julie Gardner

I realised I hadn’t written a blog post on here for a long long time, sorry! It’s usually a sign that things are busy but no excuse really as it may look as though I’m not here any more. And I definitely am!

Lampshade orders are still busy and I have also run a few workshops already this year so all good. I’m also getting more and more into my art and on my second booking of a printmaking course at South Hill Park every Monday which I absolutely love. I’ve found my thing (aside from lampshades of course!) I’m working on a website for that at the moment so I’ll share it once it’s up and running.

I also work part time in Toast in Marlow which has been amazing for the social side and also for inspiration for my art. It means my lead time for lampshades is 3 weeks (but often quicker). I’m just trying to keep time in my diary for art every week rather than rushing through orders and running out of time for it. It’s all about balance isn’t it?!

So here you go, a few of the lampshades I have made recently. You can find lots more on my instagram feed here.

Get in touch if you’d like a lampshade made or recovered, I’d love to hear from you.

And if you’d like to follow my printmaking journey too, you’ll find me at Julie Gardner Art here. Thank you!

Artwork

Arthur puppy is one!

March 5, 2019February 12, 2025 Julie Gardner1 Comment

It’s Arthur puppy’s first birthday this week, I can’t believe how fast the last year has flown! Life has definitely changed and to anyone thinking about getting a dog, (well a miniature schnauzer at least as I don’t have experience of any others) I would definitely say go for it. I can’t think of any negatives so far. Not particularly liking the mud at the moment but hopefully it won’t last too long…

Actually, I have just looked back at my blog posts and I haven’t written on here since we collected him last May so apologies for that! Here are some pics of the cheeky chap. Along with a little drawing of Arthur by me (one of my husband’s Christmas presents).

Now, the next blog post will be about lampshades, I promise! Things have been pretty busy at gilhoolie lately so lots to write about. And I’m trying hard to get back into drawing so I think posting on here will help motivate me 🙂

Lampshades

1960s vintage lampshade restoration…

April 27, 2018April 25, 2025 Julie Gardner

Restoring a treasured lampshade for a client has to be one of the best things I get to do at gilhoolie.

Jules from Flackwell Heath had two 1960s, very unusual shaped lampshades that her mum had bought many years ago. They were looking very sorry for themselves but still in use by Jules.

The lampshades were originally made from silk fabric stitched to cardboard and then stitched again to a metal frame. I’ve never seen anything like them and totally understood why Jules wanted to revive them if at all possible. You certainly wouldn’t be able to find replacements in a high street shop!

The whole process started with Jules sending me photos and measurements of the two lampshades. As she isn’t far from Maidenhead we met up and talked about options for fabrics and I checked that the frames weren’t misshapen so that I could reuse them. All part of the service 🙂 Jules sourced a beautiful orange silk fabric that would look amazing when the lampshades were lit. Most fabrics are fine; you just don’t want to choose anything too thick or fabric that frays really easily.

Here is one of the original lampshades – a bit torn and battered as you can see, but the frames were fine.

Original 1960s lampshade ready for gilhoolie restoration

The lampshades were taken apart so that I could use the cardboard as a template for cutting new PVC for the new silk fabric. What a lot of dust and quite a tricky operation to make sure it all came off in one piece – it was over 50 years old after all! You can see the panel goes round in a spiral but the two ends don’t meet so this had to be taken into account.

Quite a lot of patient, careful work (and breath holding!) later and the lampshades came back to life. What a transformation! (Scroll down to see). Always exciting when I stand back and look, especially when I know how treasured they are.

Jules was really pleased with the result and said her mum would’ve been happy too. I love a happy customer! To top it all off she gave me an original 1960s lampshade book that was in her family as a thank you gift – what a lovely surprise. It’s the little things and gestures that can make your day!

You can see the lampshades below in my workshop, and then in Jules’ garden when she got home, on the original 1960s vintage glass bases.

If you have a lampshade you would like restoring just get in touch with photos and measurements and I’ll get back to you.

Looking even more happy on their original bases

Artwork

Pub crawl anyone?…

June 2, 2017February 16, 2025 Julie GardnerLeave a comment

When I was younger people used to go on pub crawls quite a lot. Now the number of pubs in our towns is decreasing and being taken over by coffee shops and restaurants. I really like coffee shops but there’s nothing like a British pub; for a cosy night out in the winter and a great pub garden and a glass of Pimms in the summer.

We decided to go on a pub crawl a few weeks ago with friends; instead of our usual trip to a local restaurant. It was so much fun! Everyone chatted to everyone else while we were in the pubs… and while we were stumbling from one to the next. Whereas we’re usually all sat at a long table; only able to talk to the handful of people near you. Luckily there were only six pubs so we didn’t have to drink too much (I’m a bit of a light weight!) – there were thirteen in the same stretch of road in Cookham years ago!

These 2 pubs aren’t my locals but they are in Maidenhead and they’re in lovely old buildings. The good thing about being an artist is it makes you more mindful of what’s around you and what would make a good subject to draw. I look up a lot too, for some odd reason I love old chimney pots and roof details…

I’ll be printing these out and bringing them along to Art on the Street on Saturday, 17th June – come and see me!

The Hand & Flowers, Maidenhead. With gilhoolie patterned sky.

Artwork · Events

Art on the Street…

May 19, 2017February 16, 2025 Julie GardnerLeave a comment

Very quick blog post today I’m afraid. I’m not sure where the week has gone, feel like I’m on a bit of a roller-coaster really. But I didn’t want to miss writing on here. It’s so easy to get out of the habit so I must make sure I find time.

I know I mentioned in passing a couple of blog posts ago that I’m taking part in this local art event but I thought it was worth it’s own post really so here we go.

The Maidenhead Art on the Street website says:

Art on the Street CIC is an award-winning social enterprise committed to providing opportunities for artists. Twice a year we showcase over 100 stands of fine art, prints and photography being sold direct from the artist, to a backdrop of fantastic entertainment – music, performances, free workshops, activities and street food.

I’ve been before and often found several artists whose work I really like; there’s a lot of talented people out there. I always think they have a lot of guts to stand up and show off their work in front of everyone.

And now I’m doing it too!

No big deal though; I’m sharing a stand and going to treat it as a day out, hopefully the rain we’ve been having lately passes by then! It’s on Saturday, 17th June, put the date in your diary and come and visit me… please!

Okay, so I’m treating it as a day out… but I still want to produce some really good work that’s worth showing. The idea is to concentrate on my house commission drawings this time. I’ve done an awful lot of them so I’m going to pick my favourites and try to draw some more in the next month. Then people can order commissions on the day.

I’ve also been working on some of my drawings of local buildings this week. Below is the Cliveden drawing I completed quite a while ago. I decided to add my patterned sky to see how it looked and I’m playing with other patterns too so I’ll post those another time. I absolutely love going to Cliveden; never get bored of it. My kids do though – they refuse to come now, must be all the times I took them when they were little, ah well, more scones with cream and jam for me! 😉

I’m sure I’ll write more about what I’m working on for Art on the Street so watch this space, or do come and see me on the day.

Artwork

On a mission…

May 12, 2017February 16, 2025 Julie GardnerLeave a comment

What a busy week. My mind has been buzzing with ideas for next month’s Art on the Street so I spent the day yesterday working on that. Mostly looking at old house pictures I’ve drawn and playing around with Photoshop, great fun. I’ve realised I need to be structured with my time, so Thursdays are my day for art stuff and nothing else. It really works. I also feel like I achieved a lot this week – I managed to book a summer holiday (what a relief!), squeezed in lots of exercise and even did a bit of gardening.

This week I thought I’d share with you some drawing commissions from last month. They were in the same order but very different – one of an old land rover and one of a very nice big house in the countryside in Herefordshire.

The land rover was drawn in ink, then coloured in Photoshop and giclee printed on lovely textured paper. I found a lady in Maidenhead who does art prints from her house very near me which is great and saves lots on postage. So I hope to do more of this in the future. That’s the plan. Drawing the car was a bit of a challenge as the real one is in pieces at the moment, thank goodness for Google!!

I drew an old Volkswagen car a while ago with the same kind of effect – see it below.

The house was just drawn in ink, then cut out and stuck to a patterned sky background. Not such a clean finish but I think people like them for that reason.

Here they are together, in their mounts, ready to be wrapped in tissue paper.

Get in touch if you’d like to order a house (or car!) drawing commission, or come and see me on Saturday 17th June at Art on the Street in Maidenhead, not long now…

Lampshades

Lampshade challenge…

February 4, 2016February 16, 2025 Julie GardnerLeave a comment

Lampshade making is not always easy. Mostly because they come in all shapes and sizes; not just the simple, straightforward drum shape. Sometimes a client has an existing lampshade they want recovering and sometimes they just have a frame that they want to see transformed into a beautiful light source.

[Recovering, by the way, isn’t as simple as it sounds – it involves stripping down the lampshade carefully and then using the old PVC panel to cut new PVC and recovering that in new fabric, then remaking the lampshade. It’s a great idea though if you have a lampshade you like the shape of and can’t find a replacement in the shops.]

One of my clients had seen these lampshades in India and managed to find someone to make the frames for her, which then sat in her garage for a while… until she found me 🙂 and asked me to make them into lampshades for the corner walls of her extension. She also had a pair of curtains in a sheer fabric that she wanted to use as they would let through lots of light.

It was a bit of a challenge to make them as I wasn’t sure if they were all identical so had to make each one bespoke. I’m so happy with how they turned out though – sometimes the challenging jobs are the most satisfying when you can sit back and look at what a good job you did!

There were 5 lampshades in total, all measuring 63cm tall – here is a shot of them halfway through making (the one in the middle is finished). I covered the PVC in the client’s curtain fabric first and then attached it to the frame on the curved side only, folding slightly around both edges to give a neat finish.

Below is a photo of 3 of the 5 lampshades all ready for collection by a very happy customer. Hooray!

Artwork

Chuffed…

January 22, 2016February 16, 2025 Julie GardnerLeave a comment

That’s how I felt when I met up with a friend of mine last week – Samantha Johnson – who is a very talented Interior Designer with nearly 20 years experience of designing amazing homes. Sam recently moved house to a lovely cottage in Buckinghamshire and asked me to draw it for her so that she could use it for her business materials. Well, I wouldn’t class myself as an ‘artist’ so whenever anyone asks me personally to draw something for them I am over the moon. Big smile inside… I love drawing but really struggle with what to draw so this takes that worry away!

As I drew Sam’s cottage last year sometime I had totally forgotten and assumed it wasn’t good enough to use – so was incredibly chuffed when Sam showed me her new business cards and postcards with my design on the front – cool or what?!

Here they are – in a gorgeous grey with a thin stripe of yellow around the edge of the cards. Since then I have decided that drawing buildings is the way to go for me – I’m always obsessed with every little detail, from brickwork around windows to pretty chimney pots. So I’m starting to put together a collection of drawings of my favourite buildings in Maidenhead and the local area. More on that coming soon…

Creative Courses · Lampshades

Lampshade workshops – such fun!

November 26, 2015February 8, 2025 Julie GardnerLeave a comment

Where does the time go?! Being a busy mum of two, working part time and running a small business means sometimes I tend to neglect my blog and end up writing for others instead of myself – which is all very good but surely I can do both? I know it’s my own fault but there always seems to be something else I need to do, (including the gardening, keeping the house running, shopping, oh and of course coffee and a chat with friends, very important for my sanity!)

I was thinking the other day, “what’s missing from my life right now?” Well, I was actually sitting down with the Headspace meditation app which I have been doing for 18 months or so. (I’d really recommend it – whenever I feel like my head is too busy, which it often is, I get back to Headspace on my phone). The app is great; you just download the ‘pack’ you want to follow and away you go – ten minutes of calm a day, bliss.

The new pack I have just started is called ‘Acceptance’. Basically, I had to think about what, and who I am resisting right now. To be honest, I’m pretty happy with my lot, in fact very happy. So I found it hard to answer this question straight away (well, the whole point is that you don’t answer it straight away, but anyway). The only thing I could think of is that I’m a little frustrated that I’m:

a) not writing enough for my own blog and

b) not drawing or sewing at the moment.

Both are things I really enjoy but have to be in the right frame of mind to do. Since I started working part time a couple of years ago (after 2 years off work, just being creative and doing ‘gilhoolie’ stuff) I do find it hard to fit it all in and these things always seem to come last. I absolutely love my job though so I wouldn’t have it any other way. And here I am, finding time to write (at last), and I have some ideas on what to draw too so I plan to get on with that ASAP. So it is possible! Hoorah! I’m even finishing this off at 8 o’clock at night rather than watching TV 🙂

For this blog post, I thought I’d tell you a bit about the lampshade workshops I run from my house in Maidenhead, Berkshire; in particular the one I ran this time last week, the day before my birthday.

It was with two ladies who had traveled from Milton Keynes and been in touch by email a lot over a period of six months or so. I teach private lessons too but it’s always nice for someone to bring a friend to keep them company and learn a new skill together. It’s fantastic when we come to the end of the 2 hours and they can sit back and compare lampshades over a cuppa.

As soon as I opened the door I knew we were going to get along and have a really fun time. It’s not like working at all and I’ve come a long way since I ran my first lampshade workshop a few years ago.

The beginning…

The workshop starts with a cup of tea or coffee and a chat while I have a look at the fabric they have brought with them and then iron it to make sure it is nice and flat for making into a lampshade. In this case, they had brought some fabric remnants from John Lewis so made identical lampshades but you can bring whatever takes your fancy as long as it isn’t too thick and doesn’t fray too easily.

The middle…

Ironing and introductions made, we crack on with the fun part – making a lampshade. I’m obviously not going to tell you what goes on exactly (you’ll have to book a workshop!) But everyone ends up with a perfect, 30cm drum lampshade for a table lamp or pendant fitting. All with a little help from yours truly – I show them what to do and then hand over – doing it yourself is the best way to learn. Some techniques are more tricky than others but the most satisfying bit is definitely when they roll the rings along the panel and the lampshade starts to take shape. You can see the relief on their faces that they have done it right!

And the end…

We always end with homemade cake (gluten free brownies today, Victoria sandwich with cream and jam last week) and tea or coffee, plus a bit more of a chat about making lampshades of course. I advise on attaching trims, making lampshades using paper, making lined lampshades and answer any questions they may have. They’re always welcome to contact me afterwards too for advice, all part of the service.

So the two ladies last week really enjoyed themselves and went home clutching beautiful handmade lampshades for their homes. One of them wrote a lovely testimonial for my website (before I asked her to!)

“Many thanks for giving us a thoroughly enjoyable time today: making lampshades, eating your scrumptious cake and generally having fun! it was a great pleasure to meet you and spend time in your lovely home.
I am absolutely thrilled to bits with my new lampshade and now feel confident to embark on making more – you gave an excellent course.”

When I close the front door after a workshop I always feel satisfied and incredibly lucky that I get to do what I do.

Now I need to get on and draw – that’s my aim for the next couple of weeks – I mustn’t put it to the bottom of the list of things to do… (must look back at this blog post to remind myself that).

To find out more about drum lampshade workshops click here or contact me for more information and a booking form. I tend to book them when asked so I’m very flexible on dates. Anyone can learn with the right guidance, even those who say they’re no good at using their hands or not creative can make a lampshade on a workshop with gilhoolie!

Creative Courses

7 vital ingredients of great craft workshops

September 26, 2013February 16, 2025 Julie GardnerLeave a comment

I haven’t been to that many craft workshops but I’ve been lucky that the ones I have attended have been fab. The ones that made me go W O W were at The Make Lounge (now sadly closed) and at Homemade London. I remember leaving with an enormous sense of achievement and satisfaction that I had learnt a new skill and had the opportunity to chat to some lovely people. I traveled home, proudly clutching whatever I had made, thinking “I made that!”

So, what’s the difference between a memorable craft workshop and a not so memorable one?

7 signs you’ve attended a great workshop

When you attend a great workshop, you should:

Receive clear correspondence beforehand on what to bring, where to go and what to expect, so that you arrive feeling relaxed and ready to learn
Be taught by a teacher who is patient, knowledgeable in their skill, and interested in what you do too
Meet like-minded people, even make new friends and contacts to stay in touch with afterwards
Learn a new skill in a relaxed atmosphere and in pleasant surroundings
Get a chance to ask questions about the craft and learn some useful tips
Be invited to give feedback on your experience
And finally… Be offered refreshments, and if at all possible (I personally think it’s really important….)

h o m e m a d e c a k e ! ! !

After all, a craft workshop isn’t complete without it, don’t you think?!

I consider my lampshade 1-2-1s and workshops for small groups to be all of the above, I really do. I think it’s important that people leave feeling happy, with a buzz about their new found skill, and of course full of cake and cups of tea!

Here’s some feedback from a 1-2-1 I held last week with a lovely lady called Helen (including the cake above):

“My only feed back is that you have a lovely teaching style, relaxed , friendly and not rushed. For me, the perfect thing to do on my day off and the finale that gorgeous cake. Just perfect!!!!”

Pictured in the photo below are Tamsin from Curious Upholstery and Libby from Elizabeth Eley Upholstery. We had a lovely time making four lampshades, including lined ones – workshops can be tailored to suit you, just let me know when you book.

You can find out more about my lampshade lessons here, or contact me for more information.