My new challenge - try 12 crafts in 2022
At the end of 2018 I set myself the challenge to make a ring a month in 2019. And I did it! I also continued into 2020 and the Ring a Month challenge is now in its fourth year. If you’d like to join in you can find out more here >
This year I have decided to try something that is not to do with work! I am committing to trying 12 new crafts in 2022.
I wanted to set a few parameters while making it fun and achievable so:
I will attend a class
I would like to support local artists and crafters by attending a craft class where possible.
Although I live in Edinburgh this isn’t always as easy as it might sound. I’ve done some research and there are a couple of courses I’d like to do but you really need a car to get to them. So I hope to be able to find things each month that I can get to easily.
I aim to try one craft per month
This is where possible. If a class I’m booked onto gets cancelled or postponed I will do my best to do the next available option. That may mess with my streak but that’s fine. While I hope to do one per month, my overall aim is to do 12 in a year.
I want to try crafts that I haven’t done before
I’m not planning on doing any jewellery making courses! But if I find something I haven’t done before that I’d like to do then I am not going to set too many rules!
I also want to try them for fun and curiosity. It may be something I continue to do at home. Or it may be a great workshop experience but not something I plan to do at home.
January 2022 - soapmaking
I got off to a great start with a Soapmaking workshop at the Arienas Collective in Edinburgh.
Jenny from the Scottish Soapworks has been a friend for a few years but I hadn’t taken the opportunity to attend one of her workshops before. It was divine. It’s a shame that in a blog post you can’t smell all the gorgeous scents that we blended!
On this one day workshop, we first did a blind scent test to see what we liked. This is harder than you might think! I’m not that great with identifying scents so although I knew I recognised some of them I didn’t guess them all right. During the workshop, we blended three different scents for three different soaps.
We started our making with cold process soap. This soap takes time to harden and neutralise so I look forward to receiving mine in the post in a few weeks.
After lunch, we worked on two glycerine soaps. You can see the pink soap (above) that was grapefruit. It has some poppy seeds in for exfoliation. This soap is quicker to make and pour. I snagged the bee mould (or course!) and I also made some mini lemongrass and tea tree soaps that I put together on a string (see the above photo, right).
The glycerine soaps set quickly so we got to work wrapping them with lots of different papers, ribbons and extras. We also learnt how to add heather and rose petals to our soap as a finishing touch.
You can see some of the innovative wrapping ideas that others on the course had below.
I definitely recommend this course to anyone who is interested in making their own soap - whether for themselves, as gifts or for starting a business. It was a great mix of learning and making.
Fancy joining me on my quest? My February craft workshop is:
Wednesday 2nd February - Slow Stitched Fashion: create a unique hand-embroidered scarf at the Arienas Collective
Just a note that while I know Jenny this is an honest review of the workshop. We bartered so she did one of my jewellery workshops and I attended this workshop.