Craft Courses
We offer 5 and 10 week short courses and a 1 to 2 year long 'Introduction to Paper Crafting and Mixed Media: From Beginner to Advanced Crafter' course, fun events for team awaydays and courses to support individuals returning from absence/sick leave. At the end of each event or session, each participant has a quality item to take away. We can adapt all of our courses to meet the needs of any group or organization.
Our craft groups offer the opportunity for the development of sustained and supportive relationships between participants and between participants and the tutor. Participants also have the opportunity to volunteer to train to become assistant and then employed as craft tutors.
Our courses can be delivered face-to-face or online in real time via Zoom. For our online courses, all the materials and tools needed are posted in advance of the sessions. These become the property of the participant.
Participants in our courses are encouraged to display the things they have made in our Gallery.
We work with community and mental health organizations that, from time-to-time, fund courses for the communities they serve. We work together to secure funding and to allocate these places. If you are an organization and would like us to work with us to bid for funding email: fiona@craft4smiles-cic.org.uk
We aim to provide sponsored/free courses* and post information on our Facebook page and this website when places are available.
Email fiona@craft4smiles-cic.org.uk for more information or to discuss your own, you community's or organization's needs.
Courses
Full information about our courses and how to book can be accessed via the links to our course leaflets One and Two.
Our Pop-up/taster Courses/Events 1A introduce 1 or 2 crafting activities such as quilling, box and card making. They are fun, social activities that offer the opportunity to taste and/or develop skills in specific crafts. These events can be adapted to meet the requirements of organizations or informal groups e.g. as part of team away days or social events. Contact us to discuss numbers and event length and we will work with you to design a bespoke event.
Our Short Courses: 2A allow the exploration of a specific crafting activity such as quilling, the ancient art of rolling narrow strips of coloured paper to make stunning 2D and 3D designs, memory book making - in which you can make a personalised record of special people or events. They allow the development of some key crafting skills and knowledge such as the range of adhesives and paper/card types and weights, decorative materials and techniques such as inking, stamping and dusting, glitter and gilding wax.
Our Introduction to Paper Crafting and Mixed Media: From Beginner to Advanced Crafter Course: 3A allows participants to explore more than 40 crafting techniques and to develop their skills to become advanced crafters. Lessons quickly move on to creative ways of applying the techniques learned to produce a vast range of mixed media effects e.g. our little books for which everything from string, tissue paper and air dried clay have been used to create unique designs and cards which have been individually and beautifully decorated, with every product a 'one-off'. Participants also have the opportunity to volunteer to train to become assistant and then craft tutors for Craft4Smiles C.I.C. This course can be commissioned term by term. We very much hope, that following completion, participants will join us to go on to complete terms 2 - 8 of the long course!!
To to book or find out more, contact fiona@craft4smiles-cic.org.uk
Craft4Smiles C.I.C. Crafters' Collections
Gray loves to produce unique, one-off crafted items and has worked under the trade name 'One-Off-Originals' since he started crafting. He has shared this passion with participants in the Craft4Smiles C.I.C. groups.
Fiona crafts with Gray under the same name. She loves experimenting with the vast range of materials and techniques she has learned to use since she met Gray. Inking and dusting to produce subtle backgrounds and the use of gliding wax and 'Elegant Bits' off-cuts) to create unique designs are features of her work.