VIP: Papercut Tulips With Abie Arnold, Hive Of Craftivity- Thursday 13:00, 14.00, 15.00

Abie from Hive of Craftivity will teach you how to make beautiful flower themed papercut decorations. You will explore papercutting in a total new and exciting way using the revolutionary Gyro-Cut® Pro tool.

Abie says, “Really great results and beautiful designs can be achieved with the Gyro-Cut®, and I’ll share all my hints and tips with you too!”

Advisory note:

This workshop is suitable for adults and sensible children over 16 years, but they must be accompanied by an adult who takes responsibility at all times.

NOTE: Workshop places are on a first-come-first served basis.

Meet the Tutor

Abie Arnold

Abie is the owner of Hive of Craftivity. After 20 years successfully teaching in Primary Schools, Abie’s business now allows her to follow her lifelong passion of crafting. Abie simply adores crafting and wants to help others discover this love too. Crafting is good for you, on so many levels!

Abie teaches a range of sociable craft workshops, Masterclasses, family craft sessions, events and parties across the West Midlands. Her promise is that once you try one of her workshops, you’ll be equipped with all the skills to practice and experiment at home.

MOSAIC BLUE BIRD with Anne Tyson – 15.15

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

BOXY ZIPPED POUCH with Adam Burch, aka Adam Sews – 11.45

In this fun workshop, Adam will show you how to create a fabulous boxy pouch using 10-inch squares of fabric; this is a great way of using up left over layer cake squares from other projects to create versatile pouches for storing all your crafty tools.

Advisory Note:

Suitable for over 16’s only. Experience using a sewing machine would be useful.

Meet the Tutor

Adam Burch, aka Adam Sews

Adam is a Bagmaker and Quilter, his main focus is bags made from quilted foam, giving structure to the final makes. He designs and writes his own Patterns. He also has a love for quilting and incorporates quilting into most of his designs. Adam will be demonstrating his quilted bag making skills in his workshops.

DORSET BUTTON BLOSSOM TREE BROOCH with Gini’s Dorset Buttons – 15.45

Join Gini, winner of Kirsty’s Handmade Christmas, and learn how to work the traditional craft of Dorset buttons with a twist. Create a beautiful blossom tree and hear all about the history of this 400-year old craft.

Advisory Note:

Suitable for ages 16+.

Meet the Tutor

Louise Armitage, aka ‘Gini’

‘Gini’ has been teaching and keeping the 400-year old traditional craft of Dorset Buttons alive for 33 years.

Originally taught by an old lady from Dorset, who’s family skill had been passed down through generations, and now had no one left to pass it on to. Gini made her a promise that she would teach other people and continue to pass on the skills. Gini has kept this promise and taught individuals and workshops all over the UK and around the world.

Bringing the skill up to date with modern ideas and techniques she won Kirstie’s Handmade Christmas with her unique designs in 2020.

NEEDLE FELT A BLUE TIT with Steffi Stern, The Makerss – 13.45

Learn how to needle felt this realistic life-size Blue Tit using super-fast felting wool and felting needles. Steffi will teach you techniques and tricks how make basic shapes and sculpt with wool, add surface features and colours just by using a felting needle.

Steffi’s style is supportive, encouraging and fun filled. Take your little feathered friend home together with an Eco wool felting mat, felting needles and full colour step-by-step instructions.

Please note you will have to fasten the wire bird legs into the bird later at home as the glue needs to dry thoroughly. The legs are in the kit and Steffi will give extra instructions on how to do this. The finished size is about 7cm 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 – 11.45

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 – 09.45

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 – 14.45

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 – 12.15

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.

FABULOUS WOODLAND SHROOM with Alex Hellawell – Thursday 31st October 12.30

Add a little woodland scene into your home, with a beautiful Shroom dome. 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:

Finish off by placing a glass dome over your piece.

Sculpt your own Shroom with Alex’s guidance

Paint your Shroom using acrylics

Glue organic materials around the base

Advisory Note:

Not suitable for children under 12 years of age due to the heat of the clay and hot glue. Adult supervision is required. 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.