There were 5 craft tables and 5 groups of 8 ladies (I would have loved to have seen some men there, but alas, there were none!). We started at one table, had 45 minutes to craft, then a tea break before moving to the next table. We continued round the room like this, stopping for lunch and for tea breaks.
We were welcomed with Bucks Fizz (I had Elderflower Cordial as I'm allergic to oranges and can't drink alcohol!). We started with ceramics brooches/buttons with Katie Almond, moved on to metal working with Emma Hender. Then there was a break for lunch before we did some concrete work with Bethany Walker, more coffee then a needle felting session with Debbie. The last table was origami notebooks with Katie McKeag who works at the shop. I can't find any web links for Katie. We finished up with Cosmopolitans (more Elderflower for me!) and more cake! I forgot to mention cake was served several times during the day....
I'm starting with our second table as at the time of writing I hadn't received back our ceramics or concrete pieces.
Emma is a silversmith. She'd bought a load of brass rings which she'd oxidised - that gives it the black surface. This meant we could scratch and scrape into it to create patterns or pictures. Great idea Emma as a silversmithing taster can't be an easy thing to plan!
I was enjoying it so much I didn't take any photos of the equipment we used - I really am a bad blogger! I mainly used a scribe - a sharp pointy tool - to score and scrape at the metal to create geometric lines. The W was unintentional!
I used a file to scratch the ends and the top and bottom to reveal the brass.
I have also inscribed a song lyric inside the ring, but that's staying private!
Of course, I enjoyed this, I do love metalwork / silversmithing, and I can safely say I'll be doing more of it - every Wednesday in fact!
