Less, But Better

That is the motto of designer Dieter Rams, who celebrates his 90th birthday today. Less, but better -design which concentrates on the essential aspects, and the products are not burdened with non-essentials. Back to purity, back to simplicity.

Having trained in architecture, and carpentry, aged 23 he began work for the Braun Company in Germany - and 6 years later was their chief designer.

Dieter has 10 principles for design

1. Good design is innovative
2. Good design makes a product useful
3. Good design is aesthetic
4. Good design makes a product understandable
5. Good design is unobtrusive
6. Good design is honest
7. Good design is long-lasting
8. Good design is thorough down to the last detail
9. Good design is environmentally friendly
10. Good design is as little design as possible

You may not have heard of him, but I can guarantee that you will recognise, or own some of the products which have been inspired by his work and design philosophy.
 Top row, a Braun radio [1956] and calculator [1987] both designed by Rams. Below, an iPod and iPhone designed by Jonathan Ive for Apple [Ive acknowledges the massive influence Rams has had in his work]

In the 1950s, serious music lovers had record players came in wooden cases, often huge dark pieces of furniture. Rams made the first with a Perspex lid - the turning disc, the technology were visible, . It was nicknamed "Snow White's Coffin" - but soon, everybody wanted something similar. 

Rams was way ahead of the game in terms of being eco-friendly. He abhors Fast Fashion, and the idea of changing a design every couple of years. He believes products should be repairable, and not discarded when a minor fault occurs. He believes that materials should be, if possible, environmentally friendly. He insisted that Braun's advertising should focus on technology and design, not on one-up-manship, having a better than the guy next door. Whilst he is not a minimalist, he believes that everything we bring into our home should be carefully considered and curated.

Bob and I have had a number of Braun products over the years - for food preparation, hairstyling, shaving, and more. And all worked well, and were beautifully designed. Thank you Dieter- Happy Birthday! 

Bags, One For Me!

 

I kept reading about Stasher Bags - these eco friendly, easy-use silicone food savers. The website tells you how they are good for you, and for the planet - how every time you buy one, a some of the money goes to clean up the oceans...The blurb is pretty compelling. Very green credentials...

"Stasher bags are multi-purpose, easy to use, easy to seal and reusable. You can cook dinner in them, use them for kitchen storage and even fill them with cosmetics for your travels.

Key features:

• Made from plastic-free platinum silicone
• Easy clasp pinch-and-press airtight seal
• Reusable and dishwasher safe, but hand washing is recommended
• Freezer and microwave safe, and oven safe to 220°C
• Ideal for sous vide cooking
• Complies with FDA and European food-grade standards
• Made from platinum silicone, they’re plastic-free and cause no harmful off-gassing when exposed to the sun, making food storage and cooking healthier.

Fold them over to expel air before sealing them with a pinch and a press to make them airtight. Poach fish in them, with added herbs for flavouring. They’re ideal for marinating meat in the fridge and then simply transfer for cooking without fuss. Add a little water to steam vegetables, retaining nutrients and flavour. You can put them in a saucepan of boiling water or use them in a sous vide machine to tenderise meat for tastier meals.

Stasher bags also keep food fresher for longer. Expel the air and place half an avocado with its seed in the fridge to keep until you’re ready to eat it the next day. Take a stasher bag on your travels, filling it with cosmetics and toiletries or pens and pencils to keep kids occupied. You can even write on the bags with dry-erase markers to label your food by date for the fridge or freezer."

Then I looked into the price - Lakeland sell the smallest 'snack size' one for £9.99. No way! I asked around among my 'green living' friends and couldn't find anyone who had tried them. Then in August, I found one reduced to £3.50 in John Lewis, Norwich. So I decided to treat myself, and see how I got on.

My conclusions

This is probably the wrong size bag for me. 

1. Size: It is OK for snacks- but not of much use for anything else. Without the rigidity of a lock'n'lock, I thought fruit etc might get damaged if the bag was slung in a backpack.
2. Versatility: I tried all the suggested uses....
3. Storage: Slightly too small for a my chunk of cheese - so I trimmed the Cheddar. 
4. Sous-vide: I cooked some frozen peas - dropping the bag in the saucepan in which I was boiling potatoes. They cooked fine- but it was hard to get them out!
5. Oven: I baked a piece of salmon. Lovely and clean, fish kept moist - but the skin stuck to the side, and again, removal was difficult.
6. Freezer: I put stored blueberries in it in the freezer - that worked well.
7. Seal: I found the whole 'burping' and open/close procedure rather fiddly, so did Bob
8. Cleaning: It washed OK in the dishwasher, but I had to leave it open to dry thoroughly.
9. Family: I'm not sure a child [eg Rosie] would manage it very well in a lunchbox.
10. Eco - yes, they are 'green', and ZeroWaste not single-use, and ethically sound

Maybe if I had bought a larger size I would feel differently - and I am glad to have tried them out. I have an adequate supply of good quality plastic foodstore boxes, and I think this is not something my kitchen needs. I don't do 'sous vide' cooking, but I can see that if you do, they'd be useful. And my 'rose quartz' bag [the only colour in the sale] looks strangely...surgical. The mint colour is more 'food friendly' imho.

Overall I would rate this product *** which is a shame, I hoped it would score more. 

Please do let me know if you are using these- and what your opinion is. 

Bobbin' Along...

Had you heard of National Sewing Machine Day? Each year on June 13th, National Sewing Machine Day honours this brilliant invention that’s kept us in stitches in Europe for over 200 years. Before that, professional tailors and amateur needleworkers created clothing by hand, stitch by single stitch. The invention of the sewing machine brought about revolutionary change. Not only did it boost an entire industry, but it changed the way we viewed the garments we wore. But the development of the sewing machine took time. 

Skilled cabinet-maker and English inventor, Thomas Saint, received the first patent for a design of a sewing machine in 1790. His design was intended for leather and canvas. However, he never advertised it and no evidence of the design, other than his drawings, could be found. In 1874, William Newton Wilson found Saint’s drawings in the London Patent Office. With some minor adjustments, Wilson built a working model. The London Science Museum currently owns Wilson’s model. 

In 1804, Thomas Stone and James Henderson built a working machine, and in 1814, with help from the Austrian Government, Josef Madersperger put a machine into production. In 1830 Barthelemy Thimonnier, a Frenchman, patented a chainstitch machine. Walter Hunt did not invent  the first American lockstitch sewing machine until 1832. John Greenough patented the first machine in the United States in 1842. Elias Howe developed a machine in the 1840s which contained the three features common to most modern machines: a needle with the eye at the point, a shuttle thread underneath, and an automatic fabric feed. He couldn’t get this funded in the States, so sent his brother Amasa to London. He sold the idea to a corset maker called William Thomas. In 1851, another inventor, Isaac Singer, developed a sewing machine model that would endure. Singer is the man whose name is now recognised the world over…

For the next 100 years, it was the dream of many housewives to own their own machine, and make clothing for their families. My gran, taught me to sew and use a machine at home – then I had 2 years of dressmaking lessons at Grammar School.  I borrowed Mum’s machine until Bob bought me my own Frister Rossman when we returned from honeymoon. I've been sewing for more than five decades. But I realised in the 80s that fewer of my friends used sewing machines than before. Clothes were cheap – why spend money on fabric, and hours at the worktable – when you could easily pick up a new outfit on the way home from work? I am glad home sewing has had a revival – the great British Sewing Bee has picked up on that, and more and more people [both women and men] are stitching again. So let’s celebrate this useful product, in all its forms [regular, embroidery, quilters, overlockers…] It's National Sewing Machine Day

As Jean Luc Picard often says in Star Trek…make it sew!

Satisfied Screwfix Super-Scrounger

Last Friday morning I went with Bob, and our friends Alan and Dave, to the Screwfix Live 2019 exhibition at the Farnborough Exhibition and Conference Centre.

This is an annual outing. Bob and his friends go because they can look at tools, and try out equipment, and even occasionally, purchase something [at a better price than usual] It's great fun.

I wandered around, and stopped to look at the JigTech- a tool which enables you to fit a door handle easily. "Oh go on. Have a try!" said the chap on the stand. 
"We haven't had a woman make an attempt yet" So he talked me through the process [fix the jig, drill the big hole, change the chuck, drill the small hole, fit the hardware, tap it in with a hammer]
"OK, here I go" I said - and picked up the cordless Makita and did the job. I realised two things as I finished- [1] there was quite a crowd watching and [2] he hadn't even bothered to use the stopwatch.
Felt slightly aggrieved by this - was it that he thought I would take half an hour? or was it that he was afraid I might complete it faster than the blokes ad damage their male pride?
But my main activity was to explain to the stallholders that I was collecting freebies for Christmas shoeboxes, which would go to teenage lads in Romania. I said that I was just there to scrounge their freebies on behalf of young people who have very little. 
Thank you to all those generous exhibitors who gave me stuff- I came away with over eighty items. Pens, pencils, screwdriver sets, beanie hats, water bottles, keyrings and more...

Do you remember Neil Buchanan on Art Attack? He used to lay everyday items out to make a big picture.
When we got home, I decided to do that with my Screwfix Haul. Here's hoping these things put smiles on the faces of the Romanian Recipients.

HH & HB

That sounds like it should be two pencils - but it isn't. It stands for Helen Howes and AitchBee, two gifted textile artists I met whilst we were on holiday. But like pencils, these ladies are also sharp, straight to the point, and create the most beautiful images. 

Prior to the holiday, Bob had read about a Sculpture Trail, so we set off early to find it - and in the adjoining courtyard there were some shops, including this amazing quilter's paradise.
Here you can buy fabrics, have your machine serviced, buy readymade quilts and smaller items - or just revel in the colour, the patterns...
We delayed the trail until I'd had my fill of browsing and Bob had checked out the other little shops.

As well as quilts, there were also fantastic kites in rainbow hues of rip-stop nylon. And look at those lovely interlocking block quilts, reminiscent of the art of M C Escher.

At every turn there was so much to take in - and very reasonable prices too - especially when you consider the hours of work it takes to make these pieces.

After a while, I dragged myself away and went to the coffee shop - where Helen and AitchBee currently have a display of large and small quilts and other pieces - all for sale too...

I love their bright, modern style. They really bring the age-old techniques into the 21st century with clever use of pattern and colourwork.

This 'forest' quilt hanging over the cafe counter was Bob's favourite. He said he could just see that hanging by the new sofa at Cornerstones!

I liked the rainbow forest best - but I know he is right - that would be just too colourful for our lounge!
You can find Helen's website here. AitchBee gave me her details too, but I seem to have left them behind in Norfolk. 
The cafe display runs till the end of September. Much of the stuff in the shop is reduced at the moment. 
It is glorious - a real riot of colour and design. If you are anywhere near the Raveningham Centre NR14 6NU, do drop in and have a look.
Did we buy anything? 
Unfortunately the budget wouldn't run to the forest quilt, but I got some bias binding [which proved useful a few days later when I was called upon to hem Gary's trousers] and Bob bought two sewing machine foot pedals from the 'bargain bin' [something to do with guitar effects, he isn't taking up sewing]
Thank you HH & HB for brightening the world with your superb stitchery.
Update - please see Helen's comment below - and visit SOON!

Dancing A Holy Jig

It is eight years since we made snakes at the Holiday Club in Kirby Muxloe. 



We're doing it again here in Ferndown this summer. If you want a tutorial, it is here. The folk at UCF have been equally brilliant at providing bottle tops and corks from wine and champagne bottles. One member went to a wedding, and asked the waiters for all the champagne corks.
I have to say a huge thankyou to all those who have donated these, and the shoelaces. One lady even gave a large bag of odd laces she had kept in a drawer for years "just in case". Such donations keep the costs down [we run this club as a free event for our community]
But the prize to the Holiest Man in the Church has to go to Chris. He set up a jig in his shed, and has drilled around 4000 holes!

The little wood piece holds the bottle tops so a perfectly central hole can be drilled. He constructed other jigs to hold the different sized corks.
What a star!

It was great to see his system on Saturday, and also watch to Tom The Tortoise eating lettuce and flowers and walking in the garden.

Chris and Carolyn inherited Tom about 5 years ago. She is around 60 years old. When they acquired Tom they took him to the vet, who said "HE is actually a SHE" - but it seemed a bit late in life for a name change. I learned some interesting tortoise facts - Hibernation - the vet says you can put the pet in the fridge for the winter, it means she is kept at a constant temperature [this one has a box] Personally I wouldn't feel happy about refrigerating my pet!
Water - I asked if they had to put a saucer of water down, especially in this hot weather.  No, I was told, she gets all the liquid she needs from her food. At which point Tom demonstrated by produced a very copious amount of wee, all over the patio! 

I'm truly grateful to Chris for his holey efforts with the tops. This time I am using little pearl eyes for the snakes. These are from Hobbycraft, cheaper than goggle eyes, and self adhesive. They peel very easily from the backing sheet. I spent a few minutes drawing on the pupils with a Sharpie. Only three weeks till Kids' Club., and craft preparations are almost done!

Punch Drunk

According to the Oxford Dictionary, this means "to be dazed or stupefied, as if by heavy blows to the head"
In recent weeks, I have on occasion felt punch-drunk. I have also become quite fascinated by a range of craft punches which I had never heard of until last summer.
I purchased two secondhand We Are Memory Keepers Punchboards from a Ferndown lady who was at a Craft Fayre, and then at the Fete. 

The first was the giftbox board. This makes cube shaped boxes from a square of paper.

Then a week later I bought her Candybox punchboard. This makes boxes shaped like Christmas Crackers- or you can make them into flat bottomed boxes. I produced a batch for Steph and Gary's Wedding Party last July, to hold sweets.

Then I was given a gift token just before Easter. I bought yet another WRMK punchboard - this time full price [but of course, I used my token] This was the mini-alphabet board

Unlike the first two boards- which have a double sided punch, and scoring channels, this incorporates two punches and a cutting blade and guide.
You prepare cards 1.5" x 2.5" then following the little guide book, you punch and slice to make letters.

This one board produces the whole alphabet and numbers 0 -9.
I used it the other week with the children to make "Joy Spinners" using old CDs, and letters cut from recycled greetings cards.

On the other side of the disc was a picture which the children coloured in, and the words "Shout to God for joy, everybody!"
I also made a birthday card on Wednesday, and was able to punch out the person's name.
I am getting quite obsessed with this WRMK range.
They are so well designed, and incredibly versatile - once I started poking around on the internet/Pinterest I found loads of different ways to use these punchboards.
The two 'box' punchboards have little charts printed on them to show which size of card you need for the final box - but enthusiasts have produced extra charts showing a huge range of different sized boxes and alternative ways of using them.
And then last Monday, there was a craft table in Blandford Church where  people were selling 2nd hand craft kit for church funds. And I picked up yet another WRMK board, for just £1.

I made a lovely envelope to go with the birthday card - using a sheet of double sided scrapbook paper. It looked Very Professional with the contrast lining.
Again there is a double sided punch [which makes the notches, and the rounded corners] and an integral 'bone folder' for neat scoring and creasing.
You can also use the envelope punchboard to make gift bows, but I have not had time to practise that skill yet.
It does seem as if these gadgets will be getting a lot of use - I certainly think you could say that they punch above their weight. To buy them new would be a bit of an investment, but I've spent well under £10, plus a token and feel they have already sparked JOY for me.
More information on WRMK here - and plenty of other stuff on YouTube and Pinterest,
I imagine I shall be showing other punchboard projects here in the future.

Brain Fog

When I was first diagnosed with "Post Viral Fatigue Syndrome", my friend Richard sent me a very helpful little booklet. One section that I found particularly reassuring was the section on "Brain Fog". It basically said that when you get over-tired, your brain stops processing trivial stuff- hence you do daft things. Like; forgetting why you went upstairs, hang the towel on the coat rack and the coat in the bathroom, put milk in your husband's coffee when he has always drunk it black, driving to the church car park when you are meant to be going to Lidl, going out with house keys in one hand and letter in the other, almost posting the keys in the letterbox [fortunately I stopped just in time with that one]

What was so reassuring was that the book said this 'brain fog' is not unusual - and furthermore, it is not permanent, not degenerative and not a sign of imminent dementia. I confess that in January/February I was concerned that I was losing the ability to think properly.
But things are looking up, I am taking my Vitamin D sunshine pills, I am having a Proper Rest most afternoons after lunch - and having told the Agency I am not available for work, I sleep well, and wake naturally [instead of the alarm disturbing my slumbers] The family gave me a Fitbit for my birthday- so I can monitor the exercise and rest I am getting, as well as my weight. [thanks family, I love it]
All very useful - and it is encouraging to see data that proves my sleep patterns are improving considerably - and things are looking brighter by the day.
The GP [and Richard] stressed this is not something that goes away quickly. I have no idea when - if ever - I'll be back in a classroom again. But I am taking each day as it comes. 
I am incredibly grateful to friends and family for their support. People are amazingly kind - including blogfriends I have never met, who've sent messages of support.
Yes I do get it wrong sometimes - Monday and Tuesday I had loads of energy. Then on Wednesday I pushed myself quite hard - and Thursday I was totally exhausted. I am learning to plan my weeks better. If Friday is going to be busy, I keep Thursday and Saturday clear. I say NO more often than ever before, and I am learning not to beat myself up when I forget, or cannot achieve everything.

There's a passage in Mark's Gospel which talks about the disciples being so busy that they didn't even have time to sit down and eat properly. Jesus gently reminds them of the need for rest. Being an old grandma, I originally learned these verses in the King James' Version...
And Jesus said unto them "Come ye  apart into a desert place, and rest a while" for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.
I have always been amused by these verses - the idea that Jesus said 'come apart' - but of course he didn't mean 'disintegrate' - he meant 'come away from the busy-ness'.
We all need to learn the truth that if we don't take time to 'come apart and rest', then we probably will just come apart.
Take a regular Sabbath Rest my friends, and the brain fog will start to clear!

I Agree...

Get your own poster, and find out more about iFixit by clicking here

Damply Decluttering

On Tuesday afternoon Bob had a meeting [on his Day Off too!] But fortunately it did not take long, and he came back bright and early, and suggested we did some Garage Decluttering, as the sun was shining and we could work in the garden. Superficially, the garage usually looks pretty tidy - on one side we have some metal shelving units on which are arranged a load of storage boxes. These are the "Marconi Boxes". When I met Bob he was working for Marconi Instruments in St Albans. 

Just before he left to train for ministry, the company decided to upgrade their Components Storage System. The heavy duty card boxes were to be thrown out, and fancy metal/plastic ones installed instead. There were hundreds being scrapped - and employees were invited to take any home if they could make use of them. So Bob got a couple of dozen and we bought two shelving units from Exchange and Mart [note to younger readers; this was a magazine we used before The Internet - Amazon came along, for cheap mail order products]

For nearly 40 years we have kept garden chemicals/ DIY stuff/bicycle bits/ cables/ car accessories/general garage stuff etc in these. It has been a good system. But we really needed to sort things out.  We took all the boxes out and put them on the tables and bench in the garden. I made a pot of tea. 

I was well into my stride, flinging away split packets of lawn food, empty cardboard boxes, and items which could not be identified. And the big yellow garden tablecloth [with the central hole for the parasol] which was spotty torn and stained. Then it started to drizzle. "It's raining" said Bob. "Not much" I retorted, and grabbed the cloth back from the bin and made an impromptu poncho, and kept on sorting. But the rain got heavier "Stop raining!" I yelled to the clouds. And they did. They began sending down hailstones!

At which point we had to admit defeat, and pull tarpaulins and plastic sacks over the boxes, and retreat inside. We stared glumly through the window at the rather wet patio. There was nothing to do except wait for the storm to pass returning to finish the task later. 

But I've been able to tick off another box on my Lent Challenge List, and put more items in the Charity Shop box [how many fancy ice-scrapers do we need? Why have we kept a brand new one, still wrapped, for at least 5 years?] 

Straplines

The strap on my wristwatch kept breaking - and was repeatedly repaired. Then a couple of weeks ago it went again- and this time, the crucial part of the plastic buckle flew off into the ether. So I relented, and shelled out £3 for a new strap. I was eleven days without a watch. I missed my watch quite a lot, frequently looking at a bare wrist and wondering what the time was. Friends tell me they no longer need a wristwatch, because they use their phone. 

This does not work for me!

For starters, I find it a very indiscreet way of telling the time. When I am in a conversation with someone, but know I need to be somewhere else later, I can glance down at my wrist and check the hour without them noticing. 

If I have to get out my phone, open it up and look at at, they know what I am doing- and may feel offended that I appear to be eager to get away. It feels impolite.

In some situations, I cannot have my phone out anyway [admittedly I am not doing any teaching right now, but most schools these days ban phones in the classroom] 

Then there is the other issue of distraction - I get out my phone to check the time, and see a message, and get distracted into a rabbit warren of checking, and replying and doing things I would normally have left till I was ready to deal with them.

I like the craftsmanship involved in a watch- if you saw Steve Fletcher in BBC2s Repair Shop, you'll understand what I mean. [brilliant website, and lovely video of Steve here]

My watch is purely functional - small face, second hand, waterproof silicone strap - but a watch can be an item of jewellery [like Steph's gorgeous rose gold one]

Did you know that wristwatches were initially just worn by women? It was only in WW1 that men started realising how useful they were, when the officers didn't have to keep digging down into their trench coats for their pocket watches.

Someone asked me recently if I had to move my sundial  in the garden when we changed the hour. I said no, I could manage to "add one" without too much difficulty- and anyway I don't tend to use the sundial as my main method of time-telling. 

"What do you think the Saxons did, then?" I replied that it wouldn't have mattered to the Saxons, as we didn't start Daylight Saving till 1916.

And I realised that many young people are so used to 21st Century technology that they genuinely cannot understand how, in previous generations, we worked with much simpler methods. 

Do you wear a wristwatch? 

or do you rely on your phone?

Picture Perfect

It is sometimes hard to find the right gifts for people. I knew my aunt and my cousin liked seeing photos of the family, especially as we are unable to visit them very often. I found a 'snow globe' and a 'photocube' and used them to display some favourite photos from 2018.

You remove the central section of the globe and slip in two pictures back to back, then replace it, and shake the snowstorm.
I put Steph and Bob at her wedding in April on one side, and Liz with me at the Trump Protest in the summer. 



In the cube went three recent Rosie pictures. This is a very clever mirrored device, which holds three photos in place with a magnetic catch - and you get different images depending on which face you look at. It is heavy acrylic, with a solid feel to it [not like those lightweight 6-picture ones] It proved almost impossible to photograph the cube. I did try!

It was good to find small, personalised, easy-to-post gifts which have brought a smile to the faces of the recipients.