Sally Boehme has been making jewellery for nearly 30 years using many materials - glass beads, lead crystals, pearls, semi-precious stones, polymer clay, fabric and wire.  Often, a unique piece be it a cabochon or bead, will set Sally off on an extraordinarily creative journey.
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Sally has published work in Bead, Beadwork, Vogue and WI Life magazines over the years. One of her intricate beaded collars was featured in Vogue magazine, after she was contacted by them for an article, and Beadwork Magazine, which is an American publication, featured her waterfall necklace project. This project was a particular favourite for Sally. She had seen a necklace which had been based on a spiral pattern, and this was the basis of her inspiration. Beadwork is much like knitting and crochet in that it uses lots of stitches, so Sally decided to use a Spiral Herringbone stitch, which created the waterfall effect and was interwoven with leaves and flower shaped details. One string of the main spiral is shorter than the other, causing it to twist on itself into the tight spiral shape. The same principles as when a climbing vine winds its way up a cane because one side of the stem (in the sunlight) grows faster than the  other.
 
Today however, at Ardington School of Crafts, Sally is working with her students to create a kaleidoscope of polymer clay jewellery.

What is Polymer clay?
It's a type of malleable hardening clay in a rainbow of colours and effects such as glitter and mica flakes. It can be moulded and cured (that means baked!) in a domestic oven at just 130 degrees centigrade, so it makes for the perfect home craft. The ‘Polymer’ part of the name refers to its chemical base in polyvinyl chloride, so it is a plastic, but despite the bad press some other plastics are currently getting, it’s interesting to note that Polymer clay models can now be found in many major museums in America.
 
Why do you like to work in it?
Sally says ‘it’s an addiction! It’s sucked me in and won’t let me go. It’s so versatile, and I have used it for miniatures and for jewellery but it can also be used like fabric or for making handbags’. A Google search reveals some fascinating bags sculpted from this material. Sally goes on ‘it can be moulded over wire armatures for sculpture – the possibilities are endless. Perhaps your only constraint is the size of your oven!’

We are delighted to present the results of our latest Wellbeing Study. 
Arts & Crafts are as good for your wellbeing as ever!

Following the success of, and interest in, last year’s Wellbeing Study, we are delighted to share the results of the 2019 survey with you. Once again, the evidence supporting Arts & Crafts activities as a means to improve mental and physical health and wellbeing is overwhelming. Not only that, participants told us again that they feel a strong sense of purpose, have higher concentration levels and improved social connectedness through being engaged in Arts & Crafts activities. This year’s results reinforce the strong messages on all of the points that came through in 2018. You can compare the full results of both surveys below.

​Interestingly, around 40% of participants also told us that they are enjoying a continued source of income through these activities, similar to the result last year of 42%. This is a particularly important aspect, and supports broader results across the UK which confirm that more and more people are making an extra income from a ‘side-line’. How nice to have an enjoyable way to earn extra money too!

Traditional or Contemporary Crafts
This year, we added a new question to the study to explore whether you preferred traditional or contemporary Arts & Crafts. Almost 77% of you believe there is a place for both, and are engaged in a whole range of new techniques and methods, such as modern quilting, mono-print, mixed media, polymer clay, precious metal clays, computer aided design, up-cycling, iPad art, and microwave dyeing to name but a few contemporary approaches. 

Hanny Newton is a new tutor to Ardington. We are lucky to have her teach here as she is already very busy working on her second project for The British Museum. More on that, later. We met Hanny in the Newcomers Tent in Art in Action in 2015, Waterperry Gardens, when she had voted for Simon Sonsino’s (Director, Ardington School of Crafts) ‘Iceberg’ piece in the Artist’s Choice vote.  Interestingly, Simon and Hanny also attended the same school in Shrewsbury, although not at the same time. 

Goldwork traditional and contemporary
Hanny loves the rich traditions of goldwork and embroidery, but is quite clear on the way in which she wants to be a part of this heritage.  Hanny questions what it is now and how it is used.  She asks what are the rules placed around this skill and what are the rules that she wants to abide by.  Hanny says ‘there is a place for traditional methods and there is a definitely a place for those techniques, but as a teacher I want to question what I am teaching. My favourite question for people is what happens if….?  For example, the couching technique. Instead of learning lots of do’s and don'ts, I like to take all of that away and just teach the absolute basics.  The whole point of the class is that people leave feeling they have a sense of ownership and they have an understanding of what interests them. Then they become designers in their own right. You can enter the room having never stitched and leave the room with your own inventory of stitch inventions’.  

We were joined at Ardington School of Crafts in September by the delightful Richard Box for another exposé of his artistic talents.  He is so popular with our students, whether for his Drawing for the Terrified, Painting for the Petrified or Machine Embroidery (also known as free-stitching) courses, and it’s easy to see why.  Richard has a very easy going and fun style of teaching that it is difficult not to love!
 
Here’s how he describes today’s Daisies workshop:
“I show the students how to start by whizzing about on my sewing machine.  Go slowly I say, breathe and smile radiantly while you are at it!  The smiling means they don't jerk – you need a nice, smooth action for this work”. Richard is hardly going slowly at this point as he demonstrates, but then he has been practicing for a few years now, and he makes it look so simple. With the correct foot for your sewing machine (a darning or free-motion foot), you really can whizz up an exciting piece of stitchery.

Jonathan Hopson, formerly of everyone's favourite Camp Hopson Department Store in Newbury, had never ‘sat’ before so had no idea what to expect. We had never run a two-day portrait painting course before, so we had no idea what to expect either…

Simon Sonsino, Director of Ardington School, met Jonathan through the local table tennis league. Both now play for the Woolton Hill Wolverines, and it was during one of these sessions that Simon popped the question, "Jonathan - how do you feel about a room full of people painting your portrait?"  A few more questions later, and you can see the results.  Here's how it went.

What do I wear?
Having put Jonathan and George Popesco, the tutor for this two day  course, in touch prior to the event, they had decided on a clothing plan of action. On the morning of day one, Jonathan dutifully turned up with an armful of clothes and after a brief chat with George, it was decided that a suit was the order of the day.

Where do you start?
After being introduced to the students over freshly brewed coffee and homemade cookies, Jonathan was seated and then the day could begin. The sessions for both days were five hours long, but Jonathan took a short break every 25 minutes or so. George explained the starting techniques to the class and so it began, brushes on canvases started to sketch in Jonathan's Mona Lisa type smile.

Janina Maher is one of our new tutors at Ardington. An international water skiing champion in her other life, Janina has achieved instant popularity with our students who rave over her patience, detailed knowledge and their ability to create some really beautiful work in her workshops.
 
Janina’s most recent workshop saw students making up two large pieces of ‘vegetarian leather’ to use to cover their hand-made books. This is actually made from curing strong brown paper, building-in texture through crumpling and soaking, colouring it with special inks and then finishing the whole ‘skin’ with an acrylic wax. The effect was a luscious mock leather which was really strong; students made enough to cover several books. To see all the different coloured results hanging up to dry in the Back Workshop was a feast for the eyes.  Muted reds, browns, greens, greys, blues – gorgeous! And no animals were harmed in the making process.  

Christine Green, a tutor at Ardington School of Crafts, began her recent papercutting workshop by introducing her students to some wonderful descriptions of the multiple worldly influences in the art of paper cutting.  From Polish paper cutters who use sheep shears, to laser cutting in schools and then to Haitian steel drum designs – we saw them all.  Christine just happens to be super interested in the different vernacular that people use to make designs.  ‘Cut-out things’ really appeal to her graphic designer mindset.  They are clean, the lines are strong, and the design has to work. She also likes the hand-made artisan quality you get with paper cuts. The O’s aren’t always perfect – and that's just fine!

Simple and Accessible 
The low cost and accessibility of papercutting as a hobby are also a bonus – anyone can do this at home with minimal equipment and mess.  And while sophisticated laser cutters are now freely available in schools, kids won’t necessarily be cutting but they are moving straight into designing. They will have an understanding of the design process from an early age, but it won’t be as authentic as hands on papercutting. Christine argued that papercutting is akin to the William Morris reaction to the Industrial Revolution. People began to realise that there is no authenticity in miles of printed wallpaper and clamoured for the artisan style of production. Papercutting is very William Morris - creative, simple, beautiful. 
 
What are the basic tools?
A surgical Swann Morton blade, exactly the same as used in surgery is a must. You may use three or four blades in a day, using the very tip of the blade to make neat, precise cuts which is what will wear them out. Craft knives are just too chunky to get the finesse of the line on the paper.  Invest in blade type 10a with a number 3 handle. And that’s it for tools – unless you fancy the sheep shears option that is.

In case you are wondering where quaquaversal comes from, it's a Latin word that describes moving in multiple directions and getting pretty excited about it. It fits so perfectly with our visiting international tutor this Summer, who happens to be a calligrapher. For the calligraphers amongst you, it's also a gorgeous play on words, as Versals are a particular type of lettering.

Our intrepid traveller in this case is Gemma Black who has travelled over 17,000km from Tasmania to the UK for the start of her current European tour. And would you believe it – the first thing she found when she arrived at Ardington was the Ordnance Survey Benchmark carved on the outside of our building. Travelling and exploring are in her genes. It’s no accident that twice as many Australians as US citizens hold passports.  Travel goes with the territory so to speak. And we are going to  take a whistle-stop tour of Gemma’s latest six week trip to Europe, which begins at our very own Ardington School of Crafts.

Here Gemma concentrates on a three day workshop entitled ‘Retro Deco’. Using drawn letters and inspiration from the Art Deco period, students created a number of pieces which involved making single large letter designs, or stacking words from appropriate period quotes, into a column and then giving them the Deco design treatment. Mackintosh roses were blooming in abundance, painted in monochrome, multi-colour, ink, watercolour and even pearlescent Finetech paints. As the days flew by, the techniques and design ideas flourished.  I was lucky enough to get a place on this workshop and I now have enough inspiration to last me a lifetime.

Do you know your warp from your weft?
 
There’s an easy way to remember which is which.  Weft goes Left to Right, so that means the Warp is the one that runs vertically through the fabric, and generally needs to be stronger because it gets stretched onto the loom.  Our expert weaver, Angela Pawlyn, talks through how she got started in weaving and what influences her work.
 
Angela got started when she and her mum went to the lake district after her father died. Her mum started to study weaving, spinning and natural dyeing, and Angela has since taken on all of her mum’s equipment and is now a prolific weaver.  She has done some work with Martin Weatherhead, a full-time designer craftsman in Pembrokeshire who teaches weaving.  His methods of threading up the loom are the ways which Angela has adopted. 

​Sharmina’s work is exciting and different. She sells her work as paintings, often inspired from tile-work or Koranic manuscripts and undertakes commissions for people who want to have something specific represented. Using gouache or watercolour (which Sharmina prefers because of the movement and depth) in the final design, Sharmina aims to ‘decode’ original geometric patterns and art.  She recreates them with extreme precision, using compasses and mechanical pencils to achieve the first draft.