I had a great time at HANDMADE 2012– thank you to those hardworking organisers and fellow teachers, and of course to all the people who came and joined in with the classes and talks.
I did bring my camera, but silly me- these are all the photos I got of the entire weekend (I got distracted by everything going on) but there are some here– taken by this lovely lady.
The last photo above shows a sample I made for the embroidered locket class I took- the participants were fab and embroidered tiny monograms, landscapes, ferns and flowers. Something I noticed was that lots of people started the class by saying 'I don't have any artistic talent, so…'
I think everyone has creative talent, it's just a matter of confidence and getting it out there. I always approach the teaching part with an attempt to get the participants to think freely and creatively, even though I'm invariably asked for embroidery transfers, kits or patterns to get people started. But they didn't need them really, of course. That was my favourite bit- seeing people go away with a piece of work they liked, and had truly come from their own mind and heart.
The other photos above show the first stamp-making workshop. I loved watching the class participants get into the work with gusto- and the end results were as varied as Japanese-character writing paper, bicycle-printed linen for cushions, fish-on-a-plate linen napkins, red poppy wrapping paper and mushroom gift tags. Very inspiring!
tiny happy 
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