Crafty As L

I recently attended a workshop locally to try out something completely new to me.   We received tuition to create a wire and bead heart and was run by Helene at Craft Works @ The Yard . Helene had already made the heart bases for us from 2mm aluminium wire so the first step was to select some beads in our preferred colour scheme. We were issued with 0.4mm wire for the first stage, which was securing the beads onto the frame.   The aim was to avoid being too symmetrical!   The beads didn’t feel that secure at this stage but we were assured that they would be after the next step. The next stage was the decorative wire work, which was done using 1mm wire.   It was attached to the frame by wrapping and then it was just a case of winding and creating collars around the beads, which held them in place. This process was repeated until the entire heart was decorated and all the beads were collared. The tail on the heart was for making the heart into a plant stake but I...

This week, Mr L and I tried out a glass fusion taster workshop with local artist, Sue Watson at  Wat’s On Glass . I spotted the workshop advert on a post in a local Facebook group and we were on a day off, so I booked it. Neither of us had done anything glassy before so we complete novices and had no idea what to expect.  To begin, Sue explained about the tools and demonstrated how to cut some greenhouse glass. This is cheap (a lot of it donated from local allotments) and just for practice. We started by learning how to do straight cuts and then moved on to wavy cuts.  After this, we stopped for a cuppa, a slice of cake and a moment to decide what we wanted to make. The advert was to make a sun catcher or similar. Mr L and I each opted for a decorative panel that would stand in a wooden plinth. Mr L chose to make a circular design featuring beach huts and an aeroplane. I was inspired by one of Sue’s works of art on display that featured a wave.   We started by...