Welcome to the Fools Prints website.
As well as making arts and crafts, I am also a Playworker on a busy London adventure playground. My art and craft making comes in waves depending on how busy I am at work. I am currently very busy so not able take take on any projects at the moment. I would still love to hear what you think about what I have made.
Thanks for stopping by.
Sarah The Fool
Last week I was commissioned to make a purple notebook for someone’s birthday. The only brief was that they liked purple. This is what I made:
Here is a special book I made for my Nan and Grandad’s 60th wedding anniversary. It is a memory book and photo album where they can reminisce about all the good times.
When the Playbus gets busy, full of children under 8 and their parents, there are A LOT of painting created; sometimes the first paintings they’ve ever painted.
Some of the paintings are taken home and cherished but many are left behind. We never know what to do with them and most end up being recycled.
A colleague from the Playbus was off on a trip so I collected the paintings up, got some black card and made a notebook out of them, just for him.
I’ve been reading Richard Louv’s ‘Last Child in the Woods: Saving our children from Nature-Deficit Disorder.’ I’ve heard of the concept of Nature-Deficit Disorder and felt sceptical of the term for all sorts of reasons. I thought it was time I gave the book a read to try to get my head round it further and see how it related to working with children and young people in an inner city setting. I’m only 60 pages in so I haven’t gathered my thoughts yet but I wanted to share a couple of snippets that got me thinking.
There was a child went forth every day,
And the first object he look’d upon, that object he became,
And that object became part of him for the day or a certain part of the day,
Or for many years or stretching cycles of years.
Walt Whitman
…
In the medical journal the Lancet, researchers from the University of Glasgow reported a study of toddler activity where the researchers clipped small electronic accelerometers to the waistbands of seventy-eight three year olds for a week. They found that the toddlers were physically active for only twenty minutes a day.
…
Gordon Orians, Professor Emeritus of Zoology at the University of Washington, says research suggests that our visual environments profoundly affect our physical and mental well-being, and that modern humans need to understand the importance of what he calls ‘ghosts’ the evolutionary remnants of past experiences hard-wired into a species’ nervous system.
…
As a species we crave the very shapes we now allow to be scraped away.
There are some fantastic links already between Richard Louv’s book and core ideas in evolutionary perspectives of Play theory. I’m looking forward to exploring these issues more.
Now that the Spring is finally here (fingers crossed that it stays) things in the Play world are hotting up!
Hackney Playbus in Millfields Park, Hackney
Hackney Playbus, where I work, is expecting it’s busiest summer for years, with free play sessions around East London planned on 6 or 7 days of the week all through the summer holidays! Children under 5 are welcome during term time and under 8 in school holidays. If you have children and live in East London have a look at the timetable and come along. You can also stay up to date with new sessions as they are announced by following the Playbus on Twitter and liking the Facebook Page. Can’t wait to come to play? The Playbus will the at the Well Street Common Festival, (near north side of Victoria Park) on Sunday 9th June from 12noon.
Shoreditch Adventure Playground, Hackney.
I’m also working at an Adventure Playground in Hackney which is suddenly looking very beautiful and wild with wild flowers blooming and finches chattering in the trees. Adventure Playgrounds are fantastic urban play spaces. They are designed to compensate urban children for their lack of access to adult-free wild play spaces. You will find trained and experiences Play staff who are there to support play and assess risk vs benefits in these adventurous spaces. If you live in East London you probably aren’t far from your local Adventure Playground. There are more than 80 across London. If you have children and you’ve never been in, you should go and explore. Click here to see what Adventure Playgrounds are near you. They are usually open after school, on Saturdays and during school holidays. They are free and open access, meaning children are welcome to come and go as they please. 6 -16 year olds are welcome, along with under 5s with a carer. Get out there and explore!
Along side all this playing, the book making and creative work is taking a back seat for now, but I will be making whenever I can.
I’ll also be moving…to my 10th house in 9 years.
I hope you all get out and enjoy the beautiful weather!
I have just finished sewing this hard back book, commissioned by a friend. The outside and inside cover papers are from a replica women’s suffrage newspaper. The spine is shown off by the coptic stitching, with added hints of green and purple.
Look out for more hard back books and more women’s suffrage themed covers coming soon!
I was very fortunate to be able to assist fantastic artist Zulema Lily to prepare and display her art work at Candid Arts’ recent exhibition.
The exhibits were a real mixed bag with a wide range of media. There was a real buzz about the private viewing which was probably the busiest I have ever seen a gallery.
Zulema’s sculptures took prime position; her thoughtful and evocative towers created out of found objects attracted lots of curiosity and interest.
And it was lots of fun loading the items carefully into a taxi in the ice and snow to get them home!
Well done Zulema for such a fantastic show! May there be many more.
Check out all of Zulema’s beautiful work here.
I made this folding book as an experiment and was intrigued by all of the different ways that it could be used and worked on. I was very happy when someone bought it from my online Etsy Shop. The book has now reached them safe and sound.
“It was an anniversary gift for my husband and he loved it. Thank you so much :)”
Love it.
This week I battled my way through the London blizzard to help a friend with a book project.
We met to talk through binding poems my friend has written into a very special book. We practiced some coptic binding techniques on scrap paper and we talked through what we need to prepare to get the poetry ready for binding.
Whilst there, my friend mentioned that she has written a novel. She had it printed out in hard copy so we thought why not put the new skills to work. We made this first draft look every bit like the finished work it will grow to be.
I had a fantastic time and I’m looking forward to helping get to work on the book of poems soon too.
If you’ve got a project you want to bind and you’d like some help or advice just get in touch.
Just £2! Click on the picture to buy yours online. NEW: FREE POSTAGE just enter coupon code: iamabiggafoolthanyou
Hand bound lined notebooks now available. Click on the pic to see the full selection and buy yours online. NEW: FREE POSTAGE just enter coupon code: iamabiggafoolthanyou
Fool's Prints 