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!

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.

Inspiration

Hello 2013!…

January 1, 2013February 16, 2025 Julie GardnerLeave a comment

It’s time to look back at the last twelve months at gilhoolie and make some real plans for 2013. Sometimes I can’t believe some of the events below only happened a matter of months ago and I have to say, I’m really looking forward to more fun and learning in the next twelve months.

So, goodbye 2012, when gilhoolie (kind of in order)…

1. …drew lots of retro kitchen drawings that I later machine embroidered onto tea-towels; I still have my favourite ones on display in my kitchen and you can buy them on etsy…

2. …learnt how to make hand-stitched lampshades at Homemade London. I was taught by the very lovely and incredibly talented Angela Constantinou from Cocoon Home. I think this was a real turning point for me in terms of where I wanted gilhoolie to go…

3. …taught my first lampshade workshop which was featured in From Britain With Love coursenotes. I now teach regularly at Make & Do in Caversham and will be teaching at Hands on Art Adventures in Old Windsor this year too. I taught a lot of 1-2-1 lampshade lessons at my house in Maidenhead in 2012. I love it; it’s so nice to be with other people and see their faces light up when a lampshade comes together looking beautiful!

4. …felt ready to change my logo to represent what I wanted to do with gilhoolie. I still like it a lot, luckily, it’s very me!

5. …dabbled with machine embroidery a bit more, to give my drawings another dimension – I really want to do more of this soon…

6. …made my first big hand-stitched lampshade commission for an Interior Designer in Maidenhead. This was very exciting, if a little nerve-wracking but it turned out amazingly after an awful lot of hard work and dedication…

7. …made lampshades from wallpaper and comic books including Tintin and Spiderman…

8. … drew lots and lots of house pictures for various people – more on those soon…

And hello 2013 when gilhoolie plans to…

…make a collection of big hand-stitched lampshades to sell on my website

…improve my website to make it more professional but carry on blogging too

…continue working with Interior Designers to make beautiful lampshades that match a room design

… do more of the following – drawing, teaching, sewing, machine embroidery, decorating my house

… learn a new skill – can’t wait for my crochet workshop at Make & Do later this month!

So you see, still lots to do and lots to learn in 2013, Happy New Year everyone!

Creative Courses

gilhoolie in Craft Focus…

June 15, 2012February 8, 2025 Julie GardnerLeave a comment

gilhoolie has been featured in the June/July edition of Craft Focus, the leading trade magazine for the arts, crafts and hobby industry! Have a look at the Craft Focus feature to see my instructions on making a drum lampshade and a comment from me on the benefits of running workshops.

If you’d prefer to come and learn how to make a lampshade you could book a place at Make & Do in Caversham, Reading – bring a friend, it’s great fun and you’ll take home a lovely lampshade (you can even add a bobble trim if you like!)

I also offer 1-2-1 lessons, just get in touch for details.

Creative Courses

1-2-1 chez gilhoolie…

May 24, 2012February 8, 2025 Julie GardnerLeave a comment

I have to admit I was quite nervous about my first 1-2-1 lampshade lesson today – there seemed to be so much to get ready to make sure it was perfect, especially as I was running it from my house. I had a big checklist to work through – garden tidy, check, house clean, check, cakes baked and decorated, check, not to mention making sure I had all the lampshade bits and instructions ready, check!

But after all that it went really well and I met a lovely lady called Lynne Sharpe who had driven all the way from Chelmsford to come and make a beautiful drum lampshade in my dining room. Lynne specialises in felt making and runs workshops in this as well as sewing, knitting and crochet. She is one of a team of resident artists at Hylands House in Chelmsford where she has a studio. She also runs workshops from her house under the name of The Make it Room. Maybe that will be me in a few years time?… (We can all dream, can’t we?!…)

Well, we had a lovely chat about work, life, craft and everything in between, while she made a lampshade from a gorgeous Amy Butler fabric under my guidance. I really hope it’s the first of many 1-2-1s and workshops chez gilhoolie – check out my workshop page for more dates or contact me to book…

Lampshades

The journey of a gilhoolie hand-made lampshade…

April 26, 2012February 8, 2025 Julie GardnerLeave a comment

I made a lampshade this morning from some of my screen-printed fabric and I thought it would be nice to write about what goes on behind the scenes. Not every detail, don’t worry, just a little insight into the journey of a gilhoolie hand-made lampshade.

As I’m not organised enough to have lots of fabric already printed, I started off by screen-printing my fabric using my butterfly design. Well, at first I had to mix up some more ink as I had run out of purple, nothing’s ever straight forward you know!

Printing fabric for butterfly lampshade — gilhoolie butterfly fabric in dusky purple

Five perfect screen-prints later (phew!) and I have a strip of crisp cotton/linen blend fabric printed with my butterfly design in dusky purple. I love screen-printing when it goes right but it’s not always as easy as you’d think. It’s unbelievably satisfying though when I make a lampshade from my own print and that’s why I do it.

Once the fabric has dried, I iron it to set the design and then get ready to transform it into a drum lampshade. I won’t go into details but you can see the course notes from my first lampshade workshop on FromBritainWithLove. Or come on a lampshade making workshop with me!

I love it when the lampshade comes together and I must admit I still have a little jump for joy when it’s done and perfect!

Next I wrap it in cellophane, add a gilhoolie tag and wrap it in bubble wrap before placing it in a box and sending it on it’s way to a lovely Etsy customer. This all takes time but I love the fact that it’s all hand-made by me, here at gilhoolie…

Textile Design

Where has the week gone?…

March 8, 2012February 8, 2025 Julie GardnerLeave a comment

I was thinking in the shower this morning (as you do) and asked myself, “what have I made this week?” It’s Thursday already and, unlike most weeks I haven’t made anything at all. But I have been busy in other ways, honest.

I started the week by posting my details on the lovely on-line magazinefrombritainwithlove’s directory, oh yes and the course notes from my first lampshade workshop were published, very excited about all that.

What else? Well, after the success of the first one, we have booked a date for the next workshop with Arts and Laughs (12th May, in Maidenhead, Berkshire), looking forward to it already.

I’ve been busy listing my machine-embroidered tea-towels on etsy and sold two of them to a friend and my ‘nice cup of tea’ cards seem to be popular too so I’m thinking about getting some printed.

So you see, not much making going on this week. But, I have just finished screen-printing my windmill pattern in turquoise for a lampshade order and I now I’m going to make a ‘nice cup of tea’ card and possibly start on my first wedding picture commission, phew! I’m pretty good at multi-tasking and it’s a good job I like being busy!

So it’s Thursday and have I met my objectives yet this week? Well, I’ve certainly met some of them but I really wanted to start making another hand-stitched empire lampshade, ah well, there’s always tomorrow, (where has the week gone to?!…)

Screen-printing gilhoolie windmill — See, I have done something!

Events

My first experience as a teacher…

February 29, 2012February 8, 2025 Julie Gardner2 Comments

It’s true to say that, until last weekend, I had never taught anyone anything, unless you count teaching my children how to use a knife and fork (still trying with that one!), how to fasten buttons, to have good manners etc etc. So, naturally, the thought of teaching a class how to make a lampshade was a little bit daunting.

But, you know what? I kept on telling myself that I am doing this because I love it, otherwise there’s really no point is there? Would I really want to go back to my old day job, sitting at a desk all day? No way!

So in the end I decided to take a deep breath and have fun which is exactly what I did, I really did!

The workshop was run at Sophie from Arts & Laughs house in Maidenhead so the atmosphere was very relaxed and I was right when I said we would eat lots of cake and drink lots of cups of tea! We even managed to sit out in the garden for a well-deserved break half way through as the weather was so nice (it’s very taxing making lampshades you know!)

Magic Roundabout lampshade — It's amazing what you can make from some old curtains! Picture by Clare Kelly (http://passthepattern.tumblr.com/)

Five lovely ladies, including Clare, a freelance journalist for frombritainwithlove, came from as far away as Gloucester to learn how to make a simple drum lampshade. Everyone’s fabric was very different in style: from vertical stripes to floral print to Matisse and a vintage Magic Roundabout curtain.

I won’t go through all the details of the course but it went in a flash, with very few hiccups, and everyone got along brilliantly. By the end of the workshop everyone was smiling and pretty proud of their achievements.

That evening I had a celebratory glass of wine and the next day I was on a real high. Feedback from the workshop couldn’t have been better, with everyone giving every aspect of the day top marks. I know one of the ladies has already been inspired to order supplies to make more lampshades for her home. So, what did I take away from the experience? I think the main thing is that it’s good to put yourself out of your comfort zone sometimes – the rewards can be enormous and teaching others a new skill is great fun. Watch out for more dates coming soon and photos of the workshop too…

Artwork · Creative Courses

Working through my ‘To Do’ list…

February 22, 2012February 8, 2025 Julie GardnerLeave a comment

Yesterday was a bit of an admin day for me as it was the first day back at school and a chance to get my head round things again. Now I can start to work through my gilhoolie to do list (there’s lots on it after a week off!) Today I have been busy getting ready for my first lampshade workshop on Saturday – instructions – check, equipment – check, lampshade kits – check. Looking forward to it, I might even make some cakes to take along; it was so nice when our tutor brought homemade cookies to the lampshade workshop at Homemade London, nothing like the personal touch!

I have also been finishing off some drawings for an art gallery in Romford, Essex. These are all now on my Folksy and Etsy shops and I’m going to stock some for future events. Sorry about the light reflecting on the cellophane but I just neatly packaged them all and didn’t want to get them out again to take the photos.

Oh yes, and while I’m here I thought I’d put this personalised house portrait on my blog. It was commissioned by a lady called Gemma in Birmingham, as a present to her fiancee for their ten year anniversary – ahhh, this was really special to do. It’s the first one I’ve drawn from someone else’ photos and came out really well.

If the weather cheers up this week I’m going to take some photos of wedding venues near here and do some drawings, oh and there’s a building down my road I MUST draw… So lots to do, I really should get ready for the events I’ve got coming up though. I think tomorrow I will be mostly machine embroidering a pile of tea-towels!