Spring Craft Ideas

The mornings are getting lighter and the days are getting longer…must be time to be thinking about some Spring Craft ideas. There are so many crafts that you can do at home to get your creative juices flowing and they do not have to be expensive and can involve the children ( some activities may need supervision).

Some of the easy DIYs for example would be to use old magazines to cut out Easter shapes and string together for bunting. Or if you would like to make something more generic may for the garden you could upcycle an old quilt cover to make bunting and sew by machine or hand.

What about some Salt Dough ( lots of recipes on the internet) or Air Dry Clay Eggs, a perfect excuse to get out those cookie cutters that you have gathered over the years but you could also go free style with your shapes or use some containers to cut your shapes, I find yogurt pots are the perfect size ( just remember to eat the yoghurt and rinse the pot first or it will get messy!). Once the egg has dried you can use some pens to write your Easter message.

Felt From Fair Trade

Although I make a lot of felt items to sell I also buy felt from Fair Trade suppliers. Over the last few years I have visited many trade shows to talk to suppliers to ensure there is traceability of the gifts I was purchasing and they are part of a Fair Trade scheme which you can read about here https://www.fairtrade.org.uk/ . The supplier I now buy from has been a Fair Trade organisation for over 20 years in Nepal so they have been able to build and sustain relationships with the surrounding families and towns.

The wool used by the wonderful artistic Nepalese crafters is New Zealand wool , brought in a raw state which is then washed, carded and dyed with a fantastic rainbow of colours. Then comes the hard work with the wet felting. with some wool, warm water, soap and a lot of elbow grease you can make some fantastic items from small keyrings an inch wide to vast blankets and clothing. If you have never tried wet felting it is very therapeutic – you can book onto one of our workshops and try it your yourself when we get beyond Covid.

Wet Felt – what’s that?

Most of the time I needle felt but last year in a moment of bravery I signed up for a City & Guilds in felting. The course is focused on techniques and predominately Wet Felting.

Last week during a regular work meeting the conversation drifted to what people did for a hobby. I mentioned that I liked to needle felt and also wet felt. A quizzical expression appeared on the others persons face and then asked ‘what’s wet felting’, to which I replied felting with water to shape and design a picture or object, the expression turned to one of ‘ I think I will leave this conversation now’.

I assumed it to be a perfectly adequate answer, when we have a hobby we expect other people to know the terminology or have difficulty in explaining how something is done and still hold their attention.

So the next time somebody asks you about your hobby take some time to give a full explanation and spread the word.