Our Thursday Making Sessions take place from 11am-1pm in the Community Making Space at SSW and are followed by a cooked lunch.
Sessions are free but please book by emailing communities@ssw.org.uk letting us know all of the events you plan to attend.
Winter Wreath Making (A Materials Garden)
With Annabella MacDougall
Thursday 5th December
11am – 1pm followed by a shared lunch
Kickstart your Winter and welcome in the holiday spirit by joining us for a Winter Wreath Making Workshop. Led by Annabella MacDougall, we’ll learn how to design and craft our own beautiful wreaths using foraged materials from Lumsden. You’ll leave with your very own wreath to brighten up your door this winter.
Introduction to Block Printing and Linocutting (Textile and Print )
With Claire Rayner
Thursday 12th December
11am – 1pm followed by a shared lunch
Join SSW and Claire Rayner to explore two printing techniques – Block Printing and Linocutting. We’re going Christmas themed for this one, and using our blocks and lino to create christmas cards, gift tags, wrapping paper and more! Claire will start by showing you how to create your own printing blocks and carve lino safely with a variety of carving techniques. It’s then time to ink up your rollers and print!
Exploring Massage (Self Care as Community Care)
With Cait from Cults Croft
Thursday 9th January 2025
11am – 1pm followed by a shared lunch
We’re so excited to be celebrating the start of the new year with a morning of learning about self care as community care through massage. Led by Cait from Cults Croft, we’ll learn a number of massage techniques to use on our hands, heads and shoulders.
Quilting How To and the Lumsden Picnic Blanket (Textile and Print)
With Jenny Burgess
Thursday 16th January 2025
11am – 1pm followed by a shared lunch
We’re delighted to have local designer and maker Jenny Burgess, who works in constructed textiles, lead a session on quilting and textile surface design. Jenny will talk us through how she plans, designs and constructs a quilt and will support us as we look at how we can create quilts for our ongoing Community Blanket project. We’ll have a go at hand quilting squares XXX
She’ll also introduce us to techniques for adding illustrations and text to our community blanket including applique and hand stitching for felt. We’ll go on to use these techniques in next month’s Textile and Print session.
Introduction to the SSW Materials Garden (A Materials Garden )
With Aimee Morris and special guests
Thursday 23rd January 2025
11am – 1pm followed by a shared lunch
During this session we’ll be joined by artists who are working to grow materials for use in their own artwork. Building on this we will start to discuss and plan the possibilities for a Materials Garden at SSW. Might we cultivate ingredients for glazes? dyes for fabric? or plants that can form structures for sculptural work? Lets be inspired and explore together.
Candlemaking (Self Care is Community Care)
With Aimee Morris
Thursday 30th January 2025
11am – 1pm followed by a shared lunch
Together we’ll be exploring the art of candle making using local beeswax. You’ll learn how to prepare wicks, melt wax and create both dipped taper candles and handpoured beeswax candle jars. Whilst making, we’ll delve into the fascinating history and folklore surrounding bees, learn how bees make wax and discover the many benefits to using beeswax.
A perfect winter morning session for both learning and relaxing!
Lumsden Birds & Wildlife (Textile & Print )
With Jackie Morris
Thursday 6th February 2025
11am – 1pm followed by a shared lunch
Join us to explore the fascinating life of birds with Artist and Writer Jackie Morris. Discover the Fauna living alongside us and hear about her book – Lost Words, a collaboration with writer Robert McFarlane. Described as a ‘book of spells’, Lost Words seeks to bring back the near lost words of nature that surrounds us and celebrates the creatures and plants which we share our lives with.
Using Jackie’s words and work as inspiration, we’ll go on to choose our own bird to create in textile. We’ll work with hand stitching, felt and applique to create a images for the Lumsden Picnic Blanket.
Introduction to Willow and Willow Planting (A Materials Garden )
With Jimmy from Cults Croft
Thursday 13th February 2025
11am – 1pm followed by a shared lunch
Join Jimmy from Cults Croft for a hand-ons introduction to all things willow! We’ll learn about different types of willow, including which species are best for different purposes, how willow grows and plant our very first willow cuttings.
Open Session
Thursday 20th February 2025
11am – 1pm followed by a shared lunch
Our final Thursday Making Session is a chance to gather together to continue working on your projects. Materials are available and the space will be warm and cosy ready for you to work within.
