July

Itchy Feet and picnics

Hello there!

How is it already the end of July? I’ve been thinking I must write a Substack post, but I have been finding words difficult to find. Not just writing, but speaking to friends too. I’ve been quiet.

Last month I wrote about the folklore talking of us resting at Midsummer and I really feel the need to rest still. I find my head won’t settle and my body feels like it hasn’t slept even though I have. I want to dream and not work, go slow, sit in the garden and tend my plants.

Usually I have plenty of words and thoughts flowing round my head but at the moment I can’t seem to find them and as I get older I am learning to lean into where I am and go with it rather than try and fight and push through.

I used to be a teacher and the worst lesson I ever taught was the one I’d prepared so well that I was determined to teach it even though I knew the moment the class came in that they were not in the right mood for it. I ploughed on with stubbornness and it was a disaster. I learned to pause and listen a bit more. I’m still learning but I am getting better at saying I need to take it slower today.

External influences always make it harder when you try to fit in with others’ paces and a case in point is needing to edit the new book just when I don’t have words to find, trying as best I can and learning to take my time and not push. Trying to force work just doesn’t work and sometimes a rest and doing something else really helps the creativity come back quicker than ploughing on.

I will have to dig into my summery slumber and pull some extra energy out of the bag for the book edits as I need to get that sorted before I go away on holiday, so it isn’t worrying me and I can relax.

In between my summer sleepiness, I am pottering along making animals for the International Visitors collection that will be 23rd August. I am enjoying looking up strange and wonderful creatures that are new to me and having a go at making them. I always have to have a backstory to go with them and why they have certain accessories etc. I can’t just randomly put someone for sale, I know it doesn’t matter to a lot of people, but it always matters to me! It has been a joy seeing the new creatures appear in the shed. I’ll start sharing pics of them all soon, but I want to just give the last of the Summer Collection a fair chance at finding homes first. (Here is who is left if you fancy giving one of them a home)

The International Visitors collection on the 23rd August will have some sloths, raccoons, pygmy possums and lemurs, quokkas, bears, skunks and armadillos with their copper shells, and some ship’s rats and maybe a few more too. All with their suitcases, ice creams, compasses and something new Kathy made that made me squeal with joy and made me then design something new too which I am massively excited about. But that’s for next month to show you (sorry that’s mean of me I know, but if you are eagle eyed, you might have seen a glimpse of one of the things in pics on social media) . I will show you next month I promise.

Summer is a time for finding small joys and one small joy I have been doing this summer is a weekly picnic with my son and toddler grandkid. I’ve been discovering the joys of picnics! I’m really loving making up a lunch in a cool bag and packing a blanket and then going out with them and Lupin dog. They are making friends. A huge joy and it makes me slow down a little too which is a good thing. We scoff and chat and they run around a lot. Just joyful.

I will be going to Sweden to spend a week with my family by the sea next month. I will be having a break from work, so no social media or such while I’m away so I can focus on family and having a rest too that my body is craving. There will be swimming in the sea, walks and possibly more picnics and a lot of food and hugs. For those who have followed a while, you’ll know what these trips mean to me. I am counting down the days till I open the green gate to my happy safe haven that is home.

Looking at the travelling international creatures and thinking of Sweden, is giving me itchy feet. I’ve always moved around a lot and this is the longest I’ve ever been in one place and my goodness my feet are itching for something new just now! Maybe a trip to Sweden will sort me out, though I’m still dreaming and plotting of other lives and other places. Perhaps it is time for a change of scene. But I don’t ever grow tired of making little creatures which I am very pleased about!

Lupin and I have been walking the woods as usual. It has been so hot here with several heatwaves and it has meant short walks and hiding in shady woods a lot. The river is too polluted to swim in this year which adds to the itchy feet! I am longing for long cool walks high up in the hills with a cool breeze.

Last week I was invited to give a presentation to Applied Arts Scotland about my business and world and how I connect with my tribe and customers as part of their connecting makers series. It was so lovely to meet new creatives and I think I inspired a few to join Substack too. I find it soothing to read other creatives and their inspiration so I’m looking forward to seeing some new names pop by. If you are in Scotland and a creative, they are doing fab things, give them a look up.

It is Lammas on Friday. A day to celebrate the beginning of the harvest and to bake bread. I’ll be celebrating with, you guessed it, a picnic!

The Lammas bear features in my books and he makes another appearance in the next one I’m working on that will be published in March 2026. I am at the stage of annoying edits now and want to poke it with a stick and run away, but I will give myself a stern talking to and get it done so it isn’t hanging over me when away. Hopefully there will be a proof soon.

I love making these bigger folklore type pieces like the Lammas Bear, they aren’t my bread and butter ones and sometimes sit in the shed a long time or never sell, but I do love to make them. In that vein, I made someone new for the next collection. A friend mentioned an animal called a Binturong. A bit of a chat and a giggle with my whatsapp group friends when we decided that one of them was in fact a binturong. Slightly scruffy, shambolic and smells of popcorn!

My itchy feet moved to itchy fingers to make one of those more folklorey type pieces. I wanted to make one animal that wandered the lands, with a woven pack on their back and a walking stick, like the badgers I make, though those are local so needed someone new. One with a basket with lots of things hanging off it.

So the Binturong appeared and the backstory to go with it because it has to be. They wander the lands collecting plants to dye cloth. They trade the beautiful cloth for popcorn as they travel. (hence them smelling of popcorn)

The basket is woven from willow bark and dandelions. There are roots and copper casts hanging from it. A copper pot for cooking up dyes and a mug for tea of course. The basket is full of plant dyed cloth and their walking stick has dried flowers on it. I’ll get a better pic soon, but I want to get this sent now before August appears cos it is called July and I have a date with a kid and a picnic blanket.

They’ll be in the next collection alongside all the other travellers finding their way here.

I will sing a song to my motherland for you next month I am sure, but otherwise I will be a bit quieter as I rest a little and get my selkie skin salty wet enough to last me the winter and work on the book a bit so it is ready for March and Spring.

I hope you find some time to rest and dream those summer dreams and find small joys in your days and maybe just maybe my itchy feet will get the better of me and I will turn into a Binturong and take off wandering the lands trading small creatures for popcorn.

With love from the Shed

Karin