The UK Hyperbolic coral reef is back!

Back in March 2008 myself and my sister went along to a workshop in London to teach people about the Hyperbolic coral reef and how to do hyperbolic crochet. Back then it was the first I had heard about the project so I went along not really knowing what to expect.

I discovered that the project had been set up to heighten awareness of the damage being done to coral reefs around the world that were being 'bleached' by the rise in water temperatures due to global warming. People all over the world had been contributing something called 'hyperbolic crochet' which were then made up into reefs which tour their country of origin to help raise awareness of this issue.

Well the UK reef is back and will be available to see at the Salisbury Arts Centre from 6 January - 26 February 2001 or if you too are keen to learn how to make these intriguing hyperbolic crochet pieces then you should try to get along to the centre for the workshop on Tuesday 7 December at 6pm. Send an email to info@salisburyartscentre.co.uk to find out more.

Hyperbolic coral submissions

After almost two months of starting my first hyperbolic crochet coral form at the workshop in the Southbank centre I am slightly ashamed to say that I haven't done nearly as much hyperbolic crochet as I had planned. I did finish off two forms which will hopefully make it in time for the first main submission deadline

The red coral on the right here is my favorite - the lovely soft yarn that I got to use from the workshop is a deeper colour than shown in this photo and really does look very pretty. I also think the combination of large loose curves and small tight curves works well and adds interest to the piece.

The workshop did fire me up to try crocheting with plastic - and the quick demonstration of how to cut the bags to make the yarn was really helpful. I dissected about 10 orange Sainsbury's bags to make the coral on the left, and then I trimmed the whole thing with 3 Wing Yip bags. Crocheting with plastic yarn is hard going though, and all the cutting up bags pretty much used up the enthusiasm that I had. Hopefully now I've had a good break I'll be trying some other forms and get a few more submissions in before the exhibition goes live on 10th June.