Talks and Workshops

I pleased to be able to offer 1 to 1 classes for most art and craft activities, or to help you in realizing a specific project. Workshops can be tailor made for you, your friends or groups. They can be as full on or as relaxed as you'd like.

Walks and talks can easily be combined with workshop or practical elements.

 Workshops from £100, plus materials.

To discuss your requirements or to book please see  HERE for contact details to get in touch.

Workshop Menu

Hedgerow Dyeing - natural plant dyes – Learn about plants and the colours they give. Dye yarn and fabric or give old things a new lease of life. Can be themed such as 'Orchard Dyes' or 'Shades of Yellow'. Suitable for quick activities or as long as 2 day sessions.

Spoon Carving -  Using simple hand tools to carve spoons, spatulas and butterknives, typically 1 - 2 1/2 hours for up to 5 people or as a more indepth full day for 1 or 2 people 5hrs,  seasonally dependant.

Wooden Haberdashery - Make your own tools and finishing touches including wooden buttons, toggles, beads, pendant, crochet hooks, lucettes, braiding wheels.

Wild Haberdashery - Making willow artists charcoal, birch tar /glue

Fibrecraft - Making natural cordage from plants, hand spinning local sheep fleece, braid making.

Free Flow Creating - Have at your disposal the whole of The Woodland Haberdasher's knowledge, tools and materials to help you experiment and explore your creative side. From carving small sculptures in wood or chalk to dyeing your own yarn and weaving it to make a masterpiece, the only limit is your imagination.

Talks

The Wonderful World of Stinging Nettles - Nettles are often underappreciated and much maligned but their many uses and merits will surprise you - from their wide variety of associated invertebrate life and why dock leaves are useless, to their first recorded use in prehistory and into the modern-day kitchen. And what exactly does happen to nettle tea when you put lemon juice in it? I bring a display of interesting nettle related bits and pieces for everyone to look at afterwards.

Dyes on your Doorstep - Find out about the wide range of colours that can be achieved from leaves and bark of common plants and trees and how colours can be altered with a range of natural and chemical mordants. As well as explaining easy techniques to try at home the talk also includes a quick run through of fibres and silly experiments. A practical demonstration can be given and I will bring a display table of examples and projects.

The Joy of Spoon Carving (and other woodland crafts) - Part demonstration/part slide show. See how green wood is fashioned into a spoon using hand tools. Learn which woods are used for and where they come from. I bring a display of tools and green woodwork items.

Cool Conifers - Learning all about the fascinating world of conifers. Get your pines sorted from your spruces and your cedars from your firs. Helping you work through a basic taxonomy of conifers and their key identifying features and notable species. A relaxed talk, ideal for beignners, taking a fun look at this wonderful group of plants. I bring a display of cones and other interesting coniferous pieces for everyone to look at afterwards.

All talks are £70 plus travel and last approximately 45-55 minutes. I provide my own laptop and projector (and also have a small screen and long extension cable if needed).