gilhoolie 2021 round up!

January 20, 2022March 10, 2025 Julie Gardner2 Comments

I thought it was a good time to do a round up of last year, we are over half way through January after all! I always find it helpful to look through and realise how much I’ve achieved.

gilhoolie 2021 highlights went a bit like this (see images below from left to right):

My workshop was built in our garden in the spring of 2021. Oh my goodness, it’s amazing! So nice to have a dedicated space to be creative, as well as somewhere to greet lampshade customers (and store all those ring sets!)
I attended a brilliant lino cutting workshop near Oxford which reignited my passion for the craft. It’s on my list to do more of this year. Read about my day here.
I made lots more bespoke machine embroidered lampshades – this is one of my favourites, I love the yellow French knots. I have just finished a commission but will be starting some more of my own designs very soon, watch this space! See more in my shop.
As 3 above – this is the finished lampshade – colourful flowers embroidered onto a natural linen fabric, with a navy braid on the top and bottom rings.
Gold lined lampshades were very popular with clients – this one was made using a striking wallpaper, with mirrored gold lining and a dusky pink trim.
I reached 1000 followers on Instagram – quite an achievement for me, and I enjoyed embroidering this foxglove to commemorate it!
I made lots of little candle clip lampshades and particularly liked this fabric from Charlotte Gaisford, they worked out beautifully.
gilhoolie house illustrations – these are still going on in the background and I’m always over the moon when I’m commissioned to draw one. Drawn in black ink, with a printed gilhoolie patterned sky, a message at the bottom and the option to add a pet (I’ll do my best to capture a likeness!) This was of a family holiday home, a bit different from the usual requests but great fun to draw.
Last but not least, we had to say goodbye to our much loved miniature schnauzer Arthur just before Christmas. I’m still heartbroken but feeling a lot better (most of the time…)

I think I’ll write a separate blog post on my plans for 2022, I’m still going through ideas in my head, in amongst working on lots of lampshade orders!

Creative Courses

Linocut Workshop

September 9, 2021March 23, 2025 Julie Gardner3 Comments

Whenever I look at art I’m always drawn to prints – mostly screen prints and lino prints, it’s something about the clean lines I think. So I still dream of one day being a proper artist who spends all day printing beautiful prints to sell. I kind of think I will one day, when life is a bit quieter and I have more time. Right now (and it’s partly my own fault) I seem to always be rushing from one thing to another. From lampshades to drawing to sewing and back again, plus I also do some admin and social media work for small companies on the side. It’s all good though as I’m someone who really struggles when I don’t have enough to do. I’m already a little nervous about the winter coming up as without the work in the garden to fill my time I’ll need to fill it with something else. I’m seriously thinking about making a quilt, never done it before and it might be a rewarding thing to do and will keep my hands busy.

Anyway, I was dreaming about being a lino print artist a while ago and decided to find myself a course to go on. I’ve done it before but sometimes a course is just what you need to feel inspired and to build your confidence. I soon came across a course in Oxford, run by Claire Florey-Hitchcox. Have a look here.

I found a few courses but immediately loved Claire’s own work and it was only 30 minutes from home so it kind of felt just right. The course I attended was for printing onto fabric so that one day I might be able to print my own designs to make into lampshades. Another dream of mine! I also thought I might be able to add some machine embroidery but that’s just me running before I can walk as usual…

The day was amazing, I loved it. Claire started by showing us all the different tools and linos available and we had a go at cutting different lines and patterns. I’d never thought of getting tools from the shed and hitting them with a hammer to make marks in the lino!

Then we started our own designs, tracing them onto the lino and cutting out, all under Claire’s guidance and with little extra tips shared along the way. Lunch was spent in the gorgeous garden, surrounded by wildlife and the odd chicken walking past. It was so nice to be away from home and chatting with other creative people in the countryside, I must do something like this again very soon.

Here is my lino cut design of a protea flower:

Great tip – using the side of a spoon to make the tracing lines go through!

This was five weeks ago and I have to admit I haven’t done any lino printing since. But I will! I just need to order some more equipment and fabric. It’ll be something else to do in the winter to keep busy. Watch this space, there may be printed gilhoolie lampshades coming soon!

gilhoolie loves… printmakers

January 22, 2014February 16, 2025 Julie GardnerLeave a comment

Okay, so I don’t have any new year’s resolutions as such but I do know that I want to be more creative again this year. I’m reading a positivity book for my ‘other job’ and one of the things that I liked the sound of was doing more activities that give you ‘flow’. They can be anything you enjoy doing that help you escape and lose yourself. So it could be walking, drawing, swimming, writing, knitting, reading, or even work if you’re really lucky! For me I really escape when I’m drawing, or making a lampshade, or teaching a workshop or doing some machine embroidery, or writing this blog. So that’s why I intend to do more of these things in 2014.

Sometimes it’s just hard finding the time to be creative, but I thought I’d start with a look at my favourite printmakers to get some inspiration. I already have a piece of lino and some tools so I’ll be having a go really soon, it’s just deciding what image to print – always my stumbling block (that and aiming too high to start off with – I want to be as good as these straight away, wow, I love them!!)

I think there’s a common theme in terms of subject and colours I seem to be drawn to which is good, now my turn… (You can get to all the links for these via my Pinterest page).