Smisby Village

At our December craft morning, we were shown how to make table lanterns, which were used to decorate the tables for the Christmas party that  evening.

Twelve members made three sided lanterns, using a willow frame and tissue paper. Kay, the tutor for the morning, showed us how to put together the triangle of willow sticks with masking tape. Tissue paper was added to the three sides  and then covered with various pictures cut out from serviettes. A battery-operated tea lite was stuck to the bottom of the triangle and when switched on it gave an amazing effect, and the Lanterns were used as table decorations for  the evening Christmas party.

The craft section has been busy making poppies from the bottom of plastic bottles. After painting them a beautiful poppy red, members hung 140 poppies  onto the railings outside the village hall.

The members who were not available on that day came along a few days later and were shown how to make crepe paper poppies to display at home and in church. 

Lorraine provided all materials as well as an instruction sheet. She took us step by step through the project. Lorraine was running this workshop as a favour to Julie, who had met her at a crafts exhibition and greatly admired her macrame projects, particularly those made from recycled t shirts.  

Suzanne said that “it wasn’t easy as it took me quite a time, with help from Alex to sort the knots out. But once I’d "cottoned on" it was easy!".  Some of the finshed pot holders are shown in the images below.

Felt Bird Brooches Thursday 2nd September 2021

Jane Mack provided a range of materials and showed us how to make felt brooches with a bird theme . A lovely relaxing morning enjoyed by all who attended.

Stone Carving Craft with Graeme Mitcheson

Members visited local artist and  sculptor Graeme Mitcheson for two stone carving workshops. The first workshop was held in June and due to its popularity a further one in August 2021.

After a demonstration from Graeme about safety and how to use the tools, we all selected a piece of stone and quickly sketched in an outline of our designs in pencil onto the stones. Then  we started chiseling , gradually improving over the morning session, with help and advice from Graeme. The morning flew past and we all finished delighted with our new garden ornaments!

Smisby Craft Morning Thursday 5th August

A fun packed morning was had by twenty WI ladies enjoying a “wet felting” workshop with Christine Kalkum as our tutor.

With Merino wool Christine showed us how to pull small strands of wool and put them on to a raffia board, after we had put on three layers of the wool we could add an assortment of colours randomly to it add colour and texture.
Now came the hard part the wool was covered with a cloth liberally sprinkled with hot soapy water and rubbed with our hands until it had shrunk, and the wool was matted together.
We had excellent pieces of work all vastly different, the hall was buzzing with chatter, and everyone completed their felting ready to take home.

As you can see from the photographs some really stunning and imaginative pieces of felt were made.

Some finished items are shown here

Craft workshop 27th July 2021 at Greenwood Days.

Greenwood Days is in the heart of the National Forest on the Leicestershire Derbyshire border. The course centre is set in a beautiful 90-acre wood where the woodland workshop took place under the guidance of Peter who has been running courses for 25 years.

Eight members followed a woodland path to a covered area accompanied by the wonderful smell of burning wood which was boiling the water for our cup of tea whilst Peter ran through the health and safety rules. As the tools we were about to use are very sharp we had to learn the correct way of handling them, but Peter assured us he had passed his first aid exam.

After showing us how to use the tools and even how to get on and sit on the stools we were given a short demonstration, Peter made it look so easy, but then he has had years of experience.
Two hours later we did manage to whittle down three pieces of wood that resembled legs they were then attached to a pre-prepared top and there it was a three-legged stool.

As the pictures tell, pure concentration on our work, which everyone thoroughly enjoyed, and we had something to show for it.

The WI purchase of Zoom has enabled members to continue to enjoy the craft sessions. Here is some recent work - click on images to enlarge.

March 2020 -  WILLOW WEAVING A DRAGON FLY

Anna who lives locally and grows the willow was our tutor today to sixteen members who had come to learn the art of Willow Weaving.

After selecting seven pieces of willow of varying sizes we were shown how to make the wings for our Dragon Fly. Its not as easy as it looks and after several attempts the wings were ready to add to the body which was three pieces of willow bent to form the head and body.

After attaching the wings to the body, it did start to resemble one that Anna had made earlier. There was lots of laughter and chatter and Anna was on hand to help and give advice, we all went home feeling very happy and proud of  our Dragon Fly which I am sure will have pride of place in our gardens.

February 2020 Small World

Many thanks to Julie and Jane for once again making us try a new craft.

January 2020 Block Printed Bags and Origami Boxes

November 2019 Corn Dollies

Dorothy’s last morning was to invite Rosemary Salt to show us how to make corn dollies. Twenty two ladies thoroughly enjoyed learning the art of making various Corn Dollies, they enjoyed it so much we will be asking Rosemary back again so that we can learn more intricate designs

5th September 2019 Fabric Pictures

Members used scraps of material  and felt pieces embellished by a variety threads, beads and lace to make fabric pictures, with advice from Suzanne and Marie. These were then placed in frames by Suzanne. ( Click on photos below)

Further Glass Fusion days at Smartsy July and August 2019

The photos show members making glass pictures, bowls, coasters and ornaments at Smartsy and appreciating the air conditioning with 30^oC temperatures outside. A further visit was made by mebers with their families.

Beaded Garden Ornaments July 2019

Easter Wreath and Basket with Julie Cooper : April 2019 

We are so lucky to have such talented crafters in Smisby W I, so it was one of our members who showed us how to make an Easter Wreath and Basket.

After choosing whether to make a basket or wreath we decided the colours. Then we were shown how to wire the feathers into place and decorate the wreath with eggs and flowers. The basket seemed a little easer with just glue to put everything in place. Once again, a lovely and interesting morning with something to take home.Click on photo to enlarge

Glass Fusion At Smartsy: 28 March 2019

A number of members went to a Glass Fusion workshop at Smartsy in Ratby. Ali Groschi’s daughter, May, made us very welcome and then showed us what we could achieve in the two hours that we were there. We were all like children in a sweet shop so many items we could make, but what! some made birds that could be hung up or put in the garden, others flower designs on a piece of glass which would be made into a wave to allow it to stand on a shelf. Everyone made something different all individual unique pieces. We received our finished items which had been fired in the oven, a week later. It seems like we will be making further visits to Ratby, as everyone was delighted with what they had made and want to learn more.

Glass Fusion coaster or a flower planter; March 2019

Vanessa Thompson-Lowe from Ginger Cat Glass a glass designer and artist was our tutor for this mornings craft session. We could either make a coaster or a flower planter. We were shown some of Vanessa’s samples to give us some ideas of how to precede, then it was up to our imagination. Flowers and abstract designs in assorted colours were glued on to pieces of glass. When we were happy with the finished article, Vanessa took the pieces away to fire in her special glass oven. When we received the items back, everyone was thrilled with what they had achieved  and will want to certainly do this craft again.

Please click on glass pictures below to enlarge

Spinning August 2018

Thirteen members enjoyed a talk given by Margaret James on the history and art of spinning.

We were all given a piece of sheep's wool and shown how to pull a few threads that would be 

the start of the process towards using a bobbin or spinning wheel.

Margret showed us many examples of what can be spun, plastic, dog hair, flax, lots of beautiful

different types of lambs wool, even silk from silk worm cocoon. 

Now it was our turn to have a go, it was great fun and a very informative morning

A fantastic morning was had by nine members who learnt Stained Glass Work.  Melanie Pope was our tutor for the morning from Leicester, see www.glassdesignworkshop.co.uk .

Mel began by encouraging us to draw a design on a piece of paper. She showed us some examples and explained that she had some designs we could copy or if we had our own idea we could use that. Each area of glass was outlined with a maker pen and then we chose suitable colours of glass to fill them. After selecting the glass, the tricky bit was cutting it to shape to match our designs. Many cuts later (one or two on our fingers!) our designs were taking shape with each piece of glass laid out ready to flux and solder together with a hot iron. Mel was fantastic, even though she needed to be in two places at once to deal with everyone’s requests for help! Her patience with us was superb and as you can see we all achieved our own work of art in stained glass.

Origami Flowers April  2018

Eighteen members enjoyed this month’s craft morning making KUSUDAMA paper flowers

Angela, our instructor, showed us many examples of what could be achieved once we had learnt how to make the flowers. These flowers can be made out of any paper or card even an old road map book can be used. After a  brief demonstration on the technique of folding a 3 or 4 inch square we were ready to have a go.  Our fingers are not so nimble but with a lot of help from Angela we were able to a least finish a flower and if we can remember the technique, we can always make more at home.

Our first craft session of 2018 saw us making a memory picture, eight of our members were each given a box picture frame, and scrabble letters corresponding to the names that were going to be put in the picture. The ladies were given a choice of coloured paper for the  base and the rest was left to their artistic imagination.

Every picture  was different, and told a story,  all enjoyed the session, with most being 

given away to grandchildren or parents. 

A very big thank you to Lynn and Ron who scoured the country for scrabble games,

to Hazel who came with her machine that made butterflies, and all the other bits and pieces she provided. Also thanks to Suzanne for leading the group, and Dorothy for making the tea/coffee and keeping us in order.

December's craft meeting was very different to previous years as it was decided to 

have a dabble day. This was a first for the craft section as we were unsure how it would 

be received by our members. We need not of worried as over twenty member's attended.

They were able to make three types of christmas tree decorations, made of material,

beads, or crystals. Several ladies made crystal earrings to give as presents.

The room was buzzing with laughter and chatter, and of course we had a break for mince pies,

a slice of yule log and many other treats all washed down with a glass of Pat's mulled wine. 

 A huge success which I Am sure will be repeated in the future.

The August craft morning was taken by Lynne Balnves one of our member the theme was "simple embroidery". A great morning was had by the fifteen ladies who attended not forgetting the very tasty cakes and biscuits that were also provided. 

To make the embroidery pictures we were given a sewing hoop, a piece of fabric, a  choice of buttons and some thread. The photo of some of the hoops, shows that that we have some very talented ladies, although the hoops were unfinished, and they have been taken home to complete.