Make! Craft! Live! is a season of nationwide exhibitions, learning events, fairs, and digital activities that celebrates the value of craft to empower, enrich and connect our society. Running from October 2021 to October 2022, this marks 50 years of the Crafts Council and will be delivered through craft activities taking place at venues across the UK such as craft studios, museums, galleries, schools and community centres.
Aunty Social is pleased to be selected as one of the Crafts Council’s partners. Working together we will prioritise the social and environmental value of making, and platform new voices and narratives that have been historically overlooked. Championing ideas of diversity, sustainability, and resilience, our activity on is a call to action to rethink the role of making as a vehicle for social change.
So what are we doing?
The Halloween Crafternoon Tea Party
Saturday 30 October 2021
Join us for a magical and relaxed Halloween gathering hosted by Harry Clayton-Wright.
A highlight of the afternoon is an inclusive ceramics workshop with artist Morgan Dowdall. Morgan will guide you as we create striking ceramic collages inspired by the theme of magic.
We’ll have plenty of tea, snacks, conversation and great tunes – all in a friendly, sober environment. Over the course of the afternoon, there will be two workshop sessions and you are very welcome to come and relax with us when you’re not taking part in the ceramics activity.
This October we’re catching up on a very eventful past couple of months. We’ll talk about the We’re Sew Done exhibition, how it’s done and what next?
Come along for some friendly stitching: We’ll have all the equipment and supplies for knitting, crochet and embroidery. We’ll also have our resident textile pros on hand to help guide you and offer feedback.
All equipment and materials provided
Beginners warmly welcomed
Come and check out our new host venue and help us to plan projects for 2021.
Got some ideas? Well bring them along!
**Important bits**
£3.50 (£2 for kids) – includes food, equipment, tuition & mint tunes 🙂
All food will be vegan, and you can buy hot and cold drinks.
Join an expert model maker from Aardman Animations for a fun, hands-on clay modelling workshop.
About this event
Join an expert model maker from Aardman Animations for a fun, hands-on clay modelling workshop.
At this session, you’ll discover how to make your very own model of inventor and Wallace’s best friend, Gromit which you can take home and keep.
Budding animators also get a rare chance to ask questions about the tricks of the trade from the Aardman studio, and learn about the animation process involved in the making of their award winning films.
We have a limited number of free places available for people on low incomes living in FY postcode areas. If you would like to request one of these tickets, please complete this short form. You will be asked to upload a photo/scan of evidence of your low income such as a mean-tested benefit or free school meals.
Q: Can I take the model home that I create during a workshop?
A: Yes, please do!
Q: Is there an age restriction for this activity?
A: This event is suitable for ages 7 years+.
Q: Where is the Old Electric?
A:The Old Electric is on Springfield Road in Blackpool. The postcode is FY1 1QW. Their telephone number is 01253 834175. For more information, please visit the website.
Q: Do parents need to stay for the duration of the workshop?
A:
– All children must be accompanied by an adult for the duration of the workshop.
– Accompanying adults are not required to purchase a ticket, unless they wish to make a model too.
– Please ensure that any siblings that are too young to participate in the workshop are supervised at all times.
Covid 19 safety
Please sign in/us the QR code to check in when entering the Old Electric.
There are hand sanitiser points around the building, please make use of them.
If you are over 11years old, please wear a mask.
Social distancing of 1m+ applies.
You will receive your own set of materials/resources – you do not have to share.
Please make sure that you are not experiencing symptoms related to Covid-19 such as high temperature, lack of smell and taste and a new persistent dry cough. If you show any symptoms you should not attend the event.
Similarly, if you have been in contact with people exhibiting Covid-19 symptoms you should not attend the event. Please stay home and keep yourselves and others safe.
Overview: We’re making small textile/craft works of art that will be strategically placed in public spaces to highlight the harassment and threats of violence that women face everyday.
Why? This means a lot to us. These are our experiences and we want to do something that helps people to understand the impact of everyday street harassment.
Embroidery & crochet, Kelly Gorrie
Our aim for this project is to draw attention and make an impact. Drawing attention is not something that us Knittaz ever need help with, so focusing on the ‘impact’ aspect, we think a collection of pieces will be far more dramatic than one piece, and more likely to inspire questions and conversation.
The Blackpool Reclaim These Streets event is currently planned for August/September 2021 so we’re aiming for then. This gives us a good bit of time to crack on and build a stash ready to be ‘displayed’ alongside the event. After this, pieces will be photographed at pinpointed locations on the Blackpool RTS map detailing locations of acts of street harassment around Blackpool. At the moment there’s 50+ locations so the more we can get the better!
The pieces will then be displayed in an exhibition at Blackpool Central Library over September 2021.
About your piece
We think it’s really important that the pieces are yours. We don’t want to tell you what you should say.
They can be as big or small as you like, use as many or as little colours as you like, use whatever techniques you like, there can be words or not, or maybe an image.
We’d like the pieces to be cohesive, but only in a way that is recognisably us…. So bright colours where possible please.
Cross stitch (work in progress) Stephanie Cottle.
Skills & Techniques If you have an idea but you don’t know how to execute it, or if it’s a technique you don’t have knowledge of (or the equipment), let us know. We have lots of fabrics, yarns, tools etc. that we can lend out, and between us we have the skills to share, or collaborate with each other.
Join an expert model maker from Aardman Animations for a fun, hands-on clay modelling workshop.
About this Event
At this online session, you’ll discover how to make your very own model of Shaun the Sheep – The unusually bright and clever sheep who lives at Mossy Bottom farm.
Budding animators will also get a rare chance to ask questions about the tricks of the trade straight from the Aardman studio and learn about the animation process involved in the making of their award winning films.
This online model making workshop will take place on Zoom. One of Aardman’s expert model makers will guide you through the workshop as you create your very own Shaun the Sheep character out of modelling clay.
Types of ticket
You can choose from the following:
Workshop (stream) only: You only need 1 of these per household/screen – £10
If you live in a FY postcode area, you can orderclay kits that contain everything you need for the workshop. These will be hand delivered (contactless) and are only available to households in FY postcode areas:
Online Workshop with clay kit for 1 person – £12.50
Online Workshop with clay kit for 2 people – £15
Online Workshop with clay kit for 3 people – £17.50
Online Workshop with clay kit for 4 people – £20
If you are ordering a kit, you will need to place your order by Friday 12 February so that we can prepare and deliver your kit in time for the workshop. You can book the workshop only ticket up until 1 hour before the event.
We have a limited number of free spaces for those with low incomes. For more information on these, please see the FAQ section below.
FAQs
Q: Is there an age restriction for this activity?
A: This event is most suitable for ages 7 years+.
Q: Can anyone order a kit?
A: The clay kits are only available to households in FY postcode areas. We’re Blackpool based and our volunteer delivery drivers will not be able to deliver further afield.
Q: I don’t live in an FY postcode, where can I order the materials?
A: You will need to purchase materials for your household in advance of the workshop. Please buy these as soon as possible, bearing in mind delivery times for online orders. The materials you will need per person are:
White clay: 130g
Black clay: 70g
Toothpicks x 5
Worksheet (we will send this to you upon registration)
Baby wipes or a flannel / towel (to clean hands with when switching from black to white clay)
For the clay, we recommend using Newplast, but other types of modelling clay will be fine too (e.g. Fimo, Play-Doh, Plasticine). You can buy Newplast from Cowling & Wilcox, Hobbycraft or Fred Aldous. Our local supplier ArtDiscount currently has a 30% off discount offer on Fimo at the moment too.
There are also recipes online where you can make your own clay out of household ingredients, if you are feeling particularly creative!
Q: What do I get in the kit?
A: You will receive everything that you need to take part in the workshop, this includes specialist modelling clay.
About the online workshop
Q: Will anyone be able to see me during the workshop?
A: No, we will run the workshop using the Zoom webinar format. This will automatically switch off your camera and microphone. While you will be able to see the model maker giving the demonstration, the model maker won’t be able to see you. You also won’t be able to see any of the other participants.
Q: Can I Ask Questions?
A: You will be able to ask questions via the Chat tool. Please feel free to ask questions / make comments throughout the workshop. Likewise, if you need anything to be repeated please do let us know!
Bursaries
Model Making Workshop with Aardman Animations: Shaun the SheepWe have a limited number of free places available for people on low incomes living in FY postcode areas. If you would like to request one of these ticket, please complete this short form. You will be asked to upload a photo/scan of evidence of your low income such as mean-tested benefit or free school meals.
Attention #KnittazWithAttitude! We need you to help us with som lockdown knitting and crocheting. We’re after squares and strips for a wonderfully weird and woolly project that we’ve got on the go with Blackpool Food Bank.
It’s all a bit ‘secret treehouse’ at the moment so we can’t tell you too many details here, but if you fancy helping, drop us a message either by email or via Facebook message.
This week we will be ⭐️printing on fabric using rollers and sponge dabbers⭐️. You’ll get a nice big canvas tote bag and a pencil case in your pack, so your tiny folk can keep all of their art kit nice and tidy.
Notes
If you do get paint on clothes or furnishings use soapy water to remove as soon as you can.
Fabric paint can take a while to dry. Once it’s touch dry (in about an hour) you’ll need to iron on the reverse of the fabric to fix it. If you don’t want to iron it, you just need to leave it to fix for 2 to 3 days.
You have enough clay and moulding tools in your pack for you to experiment and do all kinds of different things, not just this clay pot tutorial. Enjoy! 😄
