Project Updates

November – Festive Night Lights & Snowflakes and Stars

In November we delivered two festive workshops for participants to take part in. On the 10^th of November artist Laura Baxter returned and led a session making Festive Night Lights, decorated with winter-themed motifs cut from thin sheets of brass.

Snowflakes and Stars was the title of the second workshop, on the 25^th of November. Pam Robertson and Lynne Ingram shared their skills and supported the group in making some delicate snowflake inspired decorations made from crystal beads and intricate paper stars. Both required a high level of concentration but the results were well worth it!

October 2023 – Rag Rugging & Brass Flower Stems

Rag Rugging dates from the early 19^th century and was developed by Yorkshire mill workers who used the factory by- products to make rugs for their homes.

Our workshop was delivered by artist Angela Howell who showed us how to make a rug using recycled fabric. Participants created some beautiful designs and continued working on their rugs at home, sharing photos of their finished pieces. These rugs will surely bring pleasure for many years to come. “I enjoyed the session, it brings back memories. Thank you”. Jenny

Laura Baxter is an artist working with metal to make delicate jewellery inspired by nature. She showed us how to craft wildflowers using thin sheets of brass, cutting and adding texture with various tools, resulting in really stunning pieces.

“Thank you, such a brilliant session. I’d love to do more!” Sheila M

September 2023 – Acetate Drawing

Our Creswell Gets More Creative group enjoyed a workshop with the brilliant Lucie Maycock this month.

They used various images, including local landmarks, as a starting point for their artwork. They then chose coloured or clear acetate and POSCA pens to create beautiful images.

The result was a stunning array of colours and transparency detail.

August 2023 – Rolled Paper Art & Zentangle

During August two workshops were delivered for our Creswell Gets More Creative project, Rolled Paper Art and Zentangle. Sheila Robinson delivered the Rolled Paper session, demonstrating how to create images from finely rolled paper, such a simple concept that achieves really imaginative artwork.

On the 25^th of August, Gail Stafford returned to take our Zentangle skills to the next level and participants proudly took home some beautifully intricate pictures.

June 2023 – Terrarium & Soap Making!

We’ve had a busy month in Creswell, learning new creative skills in the company of good friends and neighbours. At the end of May we were taught how to make a terrarium, an aquarium for plants. Florist Sheila Robinson showed the group how to make a miniature garden using a glass container and provided us with a variety of plants, stones and other natural materials. We were invited to bring some of our own materials too, from places that were special to us, for example shells from a favourite beach. Each and every terrarium was a thing of beauty and will be cherished forever.

In June we organised a trip to Sheffield to the Soap Loaf Company for a soap making workshop followed by afternoon tea. Everyone made a bar of soap to their own unique recipe and then another product of choice. Popular choices were lip balm, moisturiser and body scrubs and as you can imagine, the journey home was a very fragrant one!

May 2023 – Lino Printing & Pergamano

Artist Dave Elsom shared his creative skills by delivering a lino printing workshop for the group in May. This can be quite a challenging art form to master but Dave’s, patience, charm and sense of fun inspired and supported everyone to create a lovely framed picture to take home.

We’ve had a pergamano workshop before and the group enjoyed it so much we invited Linda Gresty to join us again. For those of you who don’t know what pergamano is, it’s a centuries old European art form decorating parchment by embellishing and decorating paper by embossing, perforating, stippling, cutting and colouring.

In this session the group learned how to using colour and made a book mark and coaster. This craft is particularly mindful and absorbing and the two hours just flew by! Thank you Linda.

April 2023 – Pompoms and Clay Portraits

April was another busy month for our Creswell Gets More Creative project with two workshops on offer for the group.  The first was a talk about the craft work and customs of Peru followed by a workshop to make traditional Peruvian pompoms.

Everyone who attended enjoyed it and here are a couple of comments from those who took part.

‘Brilliant session.’ Annette

‘I loved seeing the different customs and crafts’ – Helen

‘A really enjoyable session, I can’t wait to have another go at home.’ – Lynne

Later in the month we invited the very talented ceramicist Lynne Staniland to visit the Creswell Events Centre to deliver a clay portrait workshop.

Though this was a bit daunting initially, with Lynne’s expert tuition everyone relaxed once they realised their portrait didn’t have to be realistic. They soon started to have fun with the clay and created some wonderfully expressive heads. The photograph shows them pre firing and we’re all looking forward to seeing how they turn out.

March 2023 – Sharing creative skills with the community 

We’re very excited that this project has moved into a new phase with participants sharing their creative skills with their local community.

In March members of the group ran a workshop with residents of Victoria House in Creswell and pupils from Hodthorpe Primary School who attend the after-school club. Both sessions were Easter themed and members volunteered to both plan and take the lead delivering the workshops. They were a great success for everyone involved, especially the volunteers who felt a real sense of achievement.

Andrea Priest, manager of Victoria House would love to welcome us back and said:

‘It was a fantastic morning, we all loved it. You were all lovely helpful people and enjoyable to be around. Lots of beautiful flower arrangements were made, cards and bunting. We are really looking forward to seeing you all again, if you can fit us in.’

February’s update

During February, members of Creswell Gets More Creative worked with basket maker Maggie Cooper to make willow plant supports and bird feeders for the garden, now all installed in readiness for the Spring.

The following session was led by Jane Wells making leather necklaces from kits created by artist Sara Longmate. For those who had time, we also made colourful indoor garlands.

Pewter Embossing

On the 20^th January we welcomed artist Caroline Buchwald to deliver a pewter embossing workshop. We worked with Caroline back in 2020 and made a picture frame and it was such a different activity the group were keen to invite her back This time round we embossed a panel to decorate a journal and over the course of two hours, under Caroline’s expert instruction some beautiful work was created, all unique.

Christmas Wreath Making

The final workshop of 2022 took place on the 9^th December and was delivered by florist Sheila Robinson who ran a Christmas wreath making activity. Using greenery foraged locally members made some really beautiful wreaths to adorn their doors. This workshop brought to a close another truly inspiring programme that was enjoyed by members who come together every fortnight to be creative in the company of friends.

Coming up in 2023 is yet another exciting programme, and we’ll be working with more talented artists and crafts people from across Derbyshire and further afield.