Blacksmith Shop Crafts
Inspirational workshops with lunch
in Foggathorpe, East Yorkshire
A well-crafted history…
In July 2022, it will be ten years since Anna left her job as a teacher of Design and Technology at Selby High School in North Yorkshire. When she embarked on the journey of self-employment, she was not sure where it was going to take her. But she did have a plan and that plan was to be creative and inquisitive about things that can be made with hands.
Since 2012, Anna has enabled hundreds of people to try their hands at a variety of crafts. We have been jewellery making, trying ours pens at calligraphy, glass fusing, leather crafting, willow/ bark/ birch twig weaving, making mosaics, wire sculpting, knotting macrame, wet felting, needle felting, lino printing, enamelling, screen printing, rag rugging, dyeing batik cloth, making natural cosmetics, silk painting, himmeli making…
Crafts as a hobby may have a practical purpose or a purely decorative one. Crafts offer a way to relax after work or a way to keep mind and body active. Crafts can also connect us to our past and to other people. There are so many different crafts to choose from, everybody should find one to suit.
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Weekly sewing and knitting clubs
The weekly clubs that started in 2014 have been steady and given dozens of people a regular creative activity and good company with a decent cup of coffee/ tea and a slice of homemade cake. Different cake every time, as Anna is not great at following recipes. During the knitting club, we have knitted jumpers and socks, hats and socks, scarves and socks, mittens, gloves and socks. You get the drift? We also crochet and rag rug and some do macrame. In fact, any portable craft is welcome for the knitting club.
The sewing club offers people a chance to make clothing, furnishings or quilting. Attendees bring their own machines and learn to use them with confidence. We have an industrial sewing machine and an overlocker that are here for people to use if they wish. Anna’s background in making wedding dresses for Droopy and Brown all those 30-plus years ago, as well as her experience in making most of her and (increasingly) husband’s clothes, has given her the confidence and skills to guide others.
