Dare to Dabble

[smallhobbit]

Over on get_knitted pensnest has asked the question: 'Are you (in Normal Times) part of any groups that craft together? eg knit & natter, pottery class etc. What do you get out of it? Will you go back to it once the pandemic is no longer a threat? Have you been able to keep it up on Zoom?'

Since my answer would take up quite a lot of space, and I'd want to wait until I was able to check in on my crafting progress today, I decided to do a blog post.  And therefore any regular readers of this blog with recognise some of the photos from the autumn.

A few miles from us is a small museum called Nature in Art.  All the exhibits are of nature, paintings, ceramics, sculptures etc.  Although small in size it has a good reputation, and every year displays entries from both the British Wildlife Photographer of the Year and the main Wildlife Photographer of the Year, run by the National History Museum in London.

It also runs weekend art courses for adults, and schools courses and children's holiday activities.

Or it did, and hopefully will continue to do so in the future.  In addition it ran Dare to Dabble, a monthly two-hourly course to try out (dabble) in a new craft, drink tea/coffee, eat cake and have a chat.  I had attended a few classes, and last year had planned to do more, however, that wasn't to be.

Last autumn they managed to run one class on decoupage, which was great fun.  I had planned to do more at home, but have yet to do so (one of the advantages of going out to a class is that I sit down for the two hours and do something):



And when classes were closed again, we were sent a pack to make our own Christmas cards:



And at the end of this month there's a zoom class on wet felting.  It requires bowls of water and a towel.  Again we will be sent a kit beforehand.  I am very much looking forward to it and will report how I get on (and how wet!)

And yes, I will go back as soon as classes start again.  They're generally once a month, which suits me perfectly.

Comments

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

I am very envious of your craft group! You make lovely things.

[smallhobbit]

We do - the leader is very gifted in her ability to encourage and direct the group, so we can produce some good craft items.

[moth2fic]

That sounds really good! Especially getting the kits sent.

I'm currently trying to design a birthday card for a 13-year-old boy that only needs materials I already have. I want some kind of 3-dimensional effect but so far haven't come up with anything. Oh well, I have over two weeks to go. And no, I don't think he'd appreciate flowers... I haven't got the right glue for quilling and I can't spare a lot of buttons. I can do 3-D decoupage but haven't yet decided on a theme!

[smallhobbit]

Yes - just like our Brownies, I get excited when a craft package arrives!

You've probably seen these projects but they may give you some ideas.

[moth2fic]

I sometimes get Papercraft - I find their instructions quite hard to follow if you don't want to reproduce their design exactly... Anyway, I hadn't seen the waterfall card and it looks interesting. Thank you!

[corvidology]

I really like that the museum runs classes and I hope you can get back to them soon! ♥

[smallhobbit]

There is a strong emphasis on the educational nature - and also fun side - which is great. Thank you - hopefully at some point this summer it will happen.

[rusty_armour]

It's great that you live so close to the Nature in Art museum and can take courses there during Normal Times. I hope it won't be long before you can return to Dare to Dabble. It's nice that you've received craft kits in the meantime. Have fun at that wet felting Zoom class. :-)

[smallhobbit]

Thank you - I will be posting a report of the wet felting :)

Yes, I'm really looking forward to going back to Nature in Art again once it's open.

[luthienberen]

A superb craft group and I love that you had a card design set, I hope your classes when they recommence bring in even more creativity x

[smallhobbit]

Thank you very much.

[pensnest]

I love the idea of short courses for learning new crafts. Sometimes you see something and think, well, I like the look of that but... can I teach myself? I learned about glass painting at a course in Hobbycraft, which I loved very much, and still do (although not very often with the techniques I learned there). It looks as though you've done decoupage on glass there - is that right? It looks lovely.

[smallhobbit]

Yes, and it's a great way to decide if I want to do more. It was decoupage on glass and there are lights inside the bottle. I was very pleased with how it turned out.