Folksy Party – The Follow Up

Last month we told you all about this exciting Folksy Party being held by Jo from Glass Primitif – Today Jo tells us how it all went!

Party Animals!

Saturday was a beautiful day to have a Folksy party – the sun was shining, the birds were singing and England were set to win the world cup. It was a day of optimism…

The Arts Factory opened its doors to the Folksy guests at 9.30am and by 10am most people had dressed their tables for the party. There was much meeting and greeting as fourteen Folksy folk arrived at the gallery – the furthest away was Mauri (Dichroic Dazzle) who had travelled with her family from Birmingham. A special mention goes to Sa’adiah (SaduBeaR) who made an epic journey from Hudderfield via public transport. After the Meet and Greet came the important bit, eating cake and drinking tea, before we adjourned to the Studio for our first workshop – wax batik. Fortunately my colleague Rifat came in to mind the gallery and look after the tables so that we could all enjoy an hour of playing with wax, tjaps (Javanese brass printing tools) and dyes.

I have to say, Folksy folk are wonderfully creative people – just give them the tools, some basic instructions and the space to work and they will produce lovely art. We were so engrossed in the workshop that we almost missed lunch (and more cake too – thanks to Mich of My Furoshiki and Pam from Buriboo). After lunch there was a second free workshop on Letterpress printing led by Jacqui of Print For Love of Wood. I didn’t attend this workshop as it was my turn to look after the gallery but, as you can see from the images, everyone was having a good time. During the day we had a slow trickle of visitors who had come to see our current exhibition, Shorn Keighley, and find out more about Folksy.

Unfortunately 3pm came around too soon and the gallery closed its doors at 4pm. I had a great day and bought two lovely prints from Alison of ADEEGAN. So, what had been the reason behind the Folksy Party? Well, it was primarily an excuse for fellow Folksters to get together and meet each other although we had marketed it to the general public as a “Find out about Folksy” day. There are lots of Folksy makers who live locally but might not get the chance to meet. By setting up table displays of their handmade items we could share ideas about display, materials, skills and techniques. (There was certainly a lot of talking going on – probably most of it coming from me)!

Who was there?

Tracy of Ruby Spirit Designs :: Kevin of Dig The Earth :: Alison of A Deegan :: Kat of Mrs Sew and Sew :: Kirsten of Quernus Crafts :: Lynsey of Swirly Arts :: Pam of Buri Boo :: Jacqui of Print for Love of Wood :: Debbie of Angels and Butterflies :: Mich of My Furoshiki :: Sa’adiah of SaduBeaR :: Mauri (and family) of Dichroic Dazzle :: Laura of Lauras Little Lovelies :: Kath of Kath Heywood Designs :: And if I have missed anyone – I sincerely apologise.

One last thing… I would like to thank EVERYONE for making this such a fab event and for their support, people are so kind. We want to do it again, perhaps a Christmas party with more cake!

Jo (Glassprimitif)

See more Images from the day on Jo’s Flickr Stream