Forget Me Knots - 2 Feb 10

Below is Viv’s update for this week. 9 ladies attended this session:

We made bugs and decorated the flowers made last week. The lady who took home the flower loom had made lots of flowers. It was interesting to see the development of the flowers as she became more familiar with the flower loom. She had made flowers using mixed colours & textures and different types of petals, single, double, looped, fringed etc. Six of the ladies joined in today including one who had just watched last week. It was again cold in the room and we were working with our coats on. Again, those who did not make flowers enjoyed watching & joining in the conversations about the work. The lady who made the extra flowers this week took materials to continue making bugs at home.

Forget Me Knots - 26 Jan 2010

Below are reflections from Viv on another workshop with the Forget me Knots. For this workshop she had 9 ladies:

I introduced the flower looms. Five of the nine ladies made flowers.  The others had problems with eyesight & arthritis in their hands. It was again very cold in the room and we were all suffering from cold hands & working with our coats on. We had fun though and even those who did not make flowers enjoyed watching & joining in the conversations around what we were doing. Those who took part picked up the flower making technique easily and enjoyed making single and double flowers (on the new plastic looms). One lady took a loom and wool to continue making flowers at home.

23 Jan 2010 - Dads and kids

Dorothy conducted a workshop with the Dads and kids group at the Fieldway Centre. There were 10 participants (4 fathers and 5 children) plus one of the centre workers. Dorothy asked the group what they most liked about the activity and received the following feedback:

• In various ways, the boys all said that they liked making the bugs best!
  
• David, father of the youngest boy aged 3, enjoyed making some very inventive bugs.                    
  
• Daniel, the centre worker said that it was great not be working with glitter and glue for a change and liked working with the pipe cleaners.                                                  

She also asked the group - What do you think about the final piece?                                                                       

• The boys pointed out that their meadow had better bugs than the Mums meadow!
  
• The two eldest boys spontaneously thanked us for the workshop and Harry really enjoyed taking some group photos on our camera with Terry’s help.
  
• The Dads said that they thought that it had been a good morning. It was different to have a woman around especially at lunch time.
  

Dorothy’s own observations about the workshop included the following:

• The age range of the boys was unexpected!  Daniel aged 3,   Ediz aged 4,  Harry aged 7,  Kyle   Ashley aged 8 .  Kyle aged 9.     There were no girls afterall.   
  
• The two youngest confirmed my last observations about the response of young children to this project: They were curious about touching the dry and then wet fleece tops. With an adult to help, they did get involved in adding the water and soaping the felt and making the daisies.  They were not at all interested in making bugs.  But the 4 year old came back and made a daisies independently on his own after lunch and got involved in felting the whole piece.
  
• Kyle and Ashely, Daniel the centre worker and Dad David got really involved in making some inventive bugs, and wanted to take materials home to make more.  Harry, aged 7, was involved socially with everything on but didn’t have the concentration /interest needed to make  anything of his own.  Three Dad’s stood by but did not participate.  
  

Feedback to Dorothy for the future included the boys asking if we were coming again, and Kyle remembered the Shared Heritage session last summer

 

Forget Me Knots at the Riverside Centre - 19 Jan 2010

Viv conducted her workshop with the Forget-Me-Knots at the Riverside and had 10 ladies participating, all over 60. These are Viv’s reflections on the session:

These ladies worked at their own pace. I was hoping to get the panel felted & get them started on making flowers. Having felted the piece, we had coffee, after which the group thought that it was bit late to start on something new.

I took a small piece of video of the group rolling the felt & singing & got a few photos  (see attached). The room was still cold, so the ladies are all wearing their coats. It makes it look as if they had just arrived!

Ecology Centre - 12 Jan 2010

Viv led a workshop with staff at the Ecology Centre to look at developing a workshop leaders workpack which they could then use with their users. Below is Viv's evaluation of how things went: 

Mary had attended a felt making workshop with me last March so was confident in feltmaking. Bonnie & Louise both had no problem with the activity & at the end of the session felt confident to host a Tana Bana workshop. (Bonnie is a part-time primary teacher & may also use her training at school).

All three found making the flowers easy and were inventive in their use of materials in designing and making bugs – they made butterflies, drangonflies, ladybirds & beetles. Louise used her pompom as a fantastic dandelion clock. The team have a good range of sample pieces as a basis for their workshops.

Workshop dates have not yet been fixed. I reiterated that we need feedback by the end of March. Bonnie hopes that the young mums group will take up the offer. Bonnie thought that they may also use the activity for a staff awayday team building activity in February.

All three were enthusiastic about the project & looking forward to sharing their new skills.

Fieldway Centre - 9 -12 -09

Dorothy held a workshop at the The Family Centre, Field Way, New Addington on 9-12-09 with 10 participants (3 mothers and their children). Below is a summary of their feedback to her of the session:

The mother’s were pleased that the children had been involved in something different but they thought the children were too young for the making activities

The bubble wrap “popped” when the children stood on it to make the felt. This was intended to be fun for 4 – 5 year olds. But the popping frightened the young children and they were very tentative about threading the felt.

The mother’s  said that they enjoyed making the daisies. They found this was soothing and creative.

They were suprised and impressed by the final result and suggested having a felt making session “ just for the mums”

Dorothy's own reflections on the session were as follows:

An event at the school meant that the mothers with the older children – 4 – 5 year olds – did not come to the centre that day. The children who did come were too young for the making activities on their own. But when they did help their mothers they were curious about touching the dry and then wet fleece tops. They did get involved in adding the water and soaping the felt.  But their interest was not sustained for long.  The mothers enjoyed the session.

Dorothy also asked the mum’s about future workshops and received following suggestions:

1.Textile items such as felt covered building blocks or pom-poms s intended  to be touched, sorted, counted could be designed and made to  provide soft textile things to explore.  These would have to be washable and safe to handle.

2. They asked for “just mums session” to make more things with felt.  

Katherine Low Settlement AGM 7 Oct 09

Today Viv, Dorothy and I attended the Katherine Low Settlement AGM. It was great to see the finished pieces from the weaving project hung up in the cafe area. These will take pride of place at the Settlement and as one of the members of staff remarked - it was great to see a variety of groups that use the Settlement all working on the same project. Dorothy and Viv received praise for the work they had done and we are looking forward to keeping in touch with the Settlement in the future. One participant, part of the older people's group, mentioned how the skills she had learnt making a textile flower she was now teaching to her grand daughter - good to know skills are being passed on! I was reminded whilst looking at the excellent display of work that it would be good if we could bring all the various pieces we are planning to make in the four boroughs into one space for an exhibition (and/or do a traveling exhibition?). The exhibition could take place at a public library or other public space and include video and photos of the workshops and a display of the workshop workpacks that we are currently planning. We may even be able to include a few public workshops as part of this.