Workshop Day Tag: Saturday

NEEDLE FELT BUSY MR MOLE with Steffi Stern, The Makerss – 11.45

Learn how to needle felt this cute and Busy Mr Mole ready to do his Spring Clean by just using super-fast felting wool and felting needles.

Steffi will teach you techniques and tricks to needle felt basic shapes, build bulk and sculpt with wool whilst adding colours and features. Steffi’s style is supportive, encouraging and fun filled.

Take your cute Busy Mr Mole with his cleaning accessories home together with an Eco wool felting mat, felting needles and full colour step-by-step instructions. The finished size is about 10cm tall. 

Advisory Note:

Not suitable for children under 16 years.

Meet the Tutor

Steffi Stern

German born Steffi Stern is a craft enthusiast and has been crafting for as long as she can remember. In 2010 Steffi turned her passion into her profession when she opened her first craft shop in Gloucestershire.

Fast forward to today and she now runs the successful craft business The Makerss. She has written four books on needle felting and doll making. Steffi loves combining her business experience with her passion of crafting and helping others to realise their creativity. Steffi’s teaching style is supportive, encouraging and fun filled.

MODERN RAG RUGGING TECHNIQUES with Kim Searle, Darn It! Workshops – 09.45

Rag Rugging is a technique traditionally used to turn rags into textural rags. In this open ended session you’ll learn two versatile rag rug techniques that can be used to make a piece of wall art, homewares, a brooch or more. As rag rugging takes a long time to complete you may not finish your piece in the session, but will go away with tools and skills to complete it at home. 

Advisory Note:

Suitable for beginners and all ages over 12+; children under 16, must have adult supervision.

Meet the Tutor

Kim Searle

Kim graduated from the University of Huddersfield BA Textile Crafts in 2012 after specialising in Printmaking with an emphasis on creative work within communities. Since leaving university she’s worked on various projects with a common vein of passing on creative skills and using creativity as a way to build up community, support positive mental health and bring people a lot of joy. She works under the name of Darn It! Workshops, primarily delivering creative workshops across the country, creative sessions in galleries, community groups, festivals, events, creative spaces and more. Kim recognises that everyone learns differently and adapts teaching styles to the individual, tries to only work with venues that are accessible, offers low-income options and strongly believes in the benefits of creativity for mental health. She also co-runs Thread Republic, a Textile Scrap Store and Sustainable Textile CIC based in Huddersfield.

SAPPHIRE MOON SILVER PENDANT with Tracey Spurgin – 13.45

Join Tracey Spurgin, International Metal Clay Artist, as she takes you step-by-step through the process of creating an adorable and stunning pendant using Art Clay Silver. You will have a choice of designs as illustrated. You will get to grips with all the essential foundation skills and proudly walk away with your finished creation. The workshop fee includes silver clay and the sapphire-coloured gemstone but does not include the jump ring and chain.

Advisory Note:

Aimed at the complete beginner, but this class is not suitable for children under the age of 16 due to the nature of the tools used to make the pendant.

Meet the Tutor

Tracey Spurgin

Tracey Spurgin is a qualified Senior Art Clay instructor having completed courses with Artclay World UK. She has trained to the highest level with some of the world’s leading metal clay artists & tutors. With more than 20 years’ experience, Tracey teaches in her own studio in East Yorkshire as well as travelling extensively in the UK and internationally to deliver courses, workshops and master classes in colleges, museums, galleries and shops. She has also been a guest designer on Jewellery Maker TV.

Tracey loves to challenge herself and work on projects that she considers to be almost engineering in clay. Hinges and lockets and threaded vessels are something that fascinate her. So she will spend days, weeks and months on troubleshooting problems and ideas until she finds a solution. She is passionate about sharing her discoveries and the joy of metal clay.

WILLOW BIRDHOUSE with Rachel Harwood – 09.45

Join weaver Rachel to create this willow birdhouse for your feathered friends. Using traditional weaving techniques you will learn to set uprights into a wooden base, weave up the sides and finish with a built in handle to enable you to hang up your house.

Advisory Note:

Suitable for all abilities; Adults over 16 years only.

Meet the Tutor

Rachel Harwood

Drawing on her experiences of wildlife and nature, Rachel uses British grown willow from Somerset to create sculptures for the home and garden. Connecting with the natural environment is her passion and she tries to capture the movement of nature in her sculptures. Rachel loves to teach, passing on her practices and inspiring people on the use and beauty of natural materials to reconnect with the natural world.

MAKE A CUTE HIGHLAND COW with Ros Ingram – 14.45

Join ceramic artist Ros Ingram and learn how to sculpt your own cute Highland Cow from clay in this step-by-step workshop.

All materials and off-site firing included. Return P&P is an extra cost, payable on the day.

Advisory Note:

Suitable for all ages and beginners; no children under 16 years.

Meet the Tutor

Ros Ingram

Born in Stratford upon Avon, Ros Ingram trained in ceramics and print at Wolverhampton University. Ros runs ceramic workshops on a regular basis in Warwickshire. She has exhibited worldwide, currently showing at a number of galleries in the Cotswolds, Cornwall, and Germany. As well as undertaking commissions, Ros also works as a visiting artist in residence creating permanent ceramic installations and recycled art projects. One of her projects working with young children was on display at the National Gallery, London. Recently The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust commissioned Ros to create five unique ceramic murals of each iconic property for permanent display in her hometown.

MYSTICAL DWELLING with Alex Hellawell – 12.15

Bring a little fairy magic into your home, with a beautiful woodland dwelling. In this 2-hour workshop you will be using Quick Cure Clay (QCC) to sculpt your own unique piece of magic and release your inner artist.

In this workshop you will sculpt your own dwelling with Alex’s guidance:

  • Wrap your jar base in QCC
  • Due to time constraints, you will be provided with a pre-decorated and pre-cured metal lid with shaped roof and QCC leaves
  • Once cured, paint your dwelling with acrylics
  • Finish off your dwelling with multi Led lights for that extra magical touch.

Advisory Note:

Intermediates recommended. Not suitable for children under 16 years of age (this is due to fumes the clay gives off). Open to ALL abilities.

Meet the Tutor

Alex Hellawell

Alex is a mixed media clay artist who creates whimsical, colourful, dark imaginative sculptures. She uses clay, paint, paper and found objects to craft sculptures and wall pieces, these can be playful, quirky and charming or dark and brooding.

SEASONAL TREE LANDSCAPE with Katharine Wright, Leicestershire Craft Centre – 09.45

Create a beautiful glass landscape in seasonal colours working with our huge range of glass, cabochons and frit. Don’t worry, you don’t have to be artistic to get a fantastic result – there are templates for you to follow if you wish.

Please note: Your glass fusion will be taken away at the end of the class to be fired in a glass kiln and returned to you by post. Price incudes firing and UK P&P.

While every precaution will be taken to ensure your piece comes back to you safely, firing is a process that can have unexpected outcomes and we cannot be held responsible should your piece crack during the process, or gets lost or broken in the mail.

Advisory Note:

Not suitable for children under 16 years.

Meet the Tutor

Katharine Wright

Owner and founder of the Leicestershire Craft Centre, Katharine has been crafting since she was seven and her mum taught her to knit – her first handmade gift was a knitted egg cosy for her Grandpa.

Patchwork and dressmaking are particular favourites, but Katharine also knits and crochets, makes jewellery and enjoys all kinds of other crafts including embroidery, felting, silversmithing, glass fusion and painting.

Katharine has taught workshops at a variety of national Craft Events including The Festival of Quilts, The Handmade Festival and Malvern Quilt Festival. She has also appeared as a Guest Demonstrator on Sewing Street TV.

MOSAIC BLUE BIRD with Anne Tyson – 12.45

Join Anne Tyson from Flowerpot Mosaics for a fun introduction to the world of mosaics and create a pretty mosaic bird. You will be using a mixture of glass and ceramic tiles which have all been pre-cut for you.

This workshop is a chance to relax and create something lovely to take home whilst learning about the wonderful art of mosaics.  

Advisory Note:

This workshop is suitable for children over the age of 10 when accompanied by an adult. 

Meet the Tutor

Anne Tyson

Anne Tyson based in the West Midlands, Anne has been creating and teaching mosaics for 14 years. She is passionate about the mosaic art form and specialises in creating outdoor mosaics to brighten up our outdoor spaces. Anne’s aim is to spread her passion for mosaics and shatter the misconception that it is a difficult craft

SPRING HANGING HEART DECORATION with Hannah Harrison, Leicestershire Craft Centre – 11.15

This workshop is a lovely introduction to pyrography, also known as wood burning. Learn how to use a wood-burning tool to create a beautiful decoration on natural wooden hearts. There will be lots of stencils, templates and ideas, so don’t worry; you don’t need to be ‘arty’ to get a great result from this relaxing and addictive craft.

Advisory Note:

Not suitable for children under the age of 16 due to the nature of the tools used in this class.

Meet the Tutor

Hannah Harrison

A qualified primary school teacher, Hannah, joined the Leicestershire Craft Centre in 2015 after attending lots of workshops there! 

Hannah is now the Craft Centre Manager, ensuring everything runs smoothly, and she also teaches a number of fabulous workshops in pyrography, patchwork, bag making, dressmaking, arm knitting and lots more!

INTRODUCTION TO BEAUTIFUL BATIK  with Shree Desai – 14.15

Ready to step into our time machine – which takes you back over 2000 years? This journey takes you through the incredible artisan technique of Batik, commonly used in the Far East. You will explore various tools and methods for building up multiple layers of hot wax and dyes on to cotton fabric.

The applied wax resists dyes and therefore allows the artisan to colour selectively by soaking the cloth in one colour, removing the wax with boiling water, and repeating if multiple colours are desired.

In this workshop you will:

• Stretch the cotton fabric on a wooden frame.

• Prepare the design on paper.

• Transfer the design on the fabric

• Choose two colours for the design and start applying wax for first colour.

• Dip the fabric in first dye.

• Dry the fabric and apply wax for second colour and dip it in dye-bath (if time allows).

• At home, you will remove the wax by washing it in boiling water or ironing between layers of paper.

Advisory Note:

Not suitable for children under 16 years, due to use of hot wax in this class.

Meet the Tutor

Shree (Shraddha) Desai

Shree is a Textile Designer and Textile Art Workshop leader who is dedicated and passionate about teaching and connecting to the creative world. Shree’s background includes a Master’s degree in Textile Design from the National Institute of Design in India. Most recently, she has been conducting Textile art workshops around the UK and is inspired by teaching both children and adults and delivering excellent customer-focused workshops.