We have a new MAKERS blog and online shop!

Hello friends and followers of MAKERS!

This blog is no longer the most current MAKERS shop & gallery blog...

Please click here to be taken to our brand new blogging platform and online shop makersbristol.myshopify.com

Many thanks to our followers here and we look forward to seeing you there!

or check out our website at http://www.makersbristol.co.uk

A Year of Workshop Making!

Here at MAKERS we represent a great number of makers and artists and designers. Some of these wonderfully inspiring people have run workshops for us on the mezzanine above the shop & gallery. 

So the buzz of creativity has been emanating outwards from this spot and these bright sparks.

Here is a small selection of images to celebrate!

Book making with Eightfivepress

Fabric Printing Skills with Flora Arbuthnott

Fabric Bird Making with sallydove

Lino Printing & Wrapping with Ruth Broadway (photos care of Ruth Broadway)

Lampshade Making with Ruth McCallister

Lino Cutting for Cushions and Christmas with Melanie Wickham
(top and bottom photos care of Melanie Wickham)

Mini Message Bunting with Hannah Barrett
(photos care of Hannah Barrett)

Felt Animals with Lauren Smallcalder
(photos care of Lauren Smallcalder)

Lorry Pincushions with sallydove

Stencil Mono Printing with Sophie Rae
(bottom three photos care of Sophie Rae)

Vintage Giftwrapping with Amanda White
(photo care of Amanda White)

With huge thanks to our all workshop leaders and not forgetting the willing participants, without whom we are nothing!

We are having a summer break from workshops from the end of June, however if you are interested in workshops for a group or hen party we can arrange workshops to your requirements (with optional buffet) with our makers at a local cafe!

Email info@makersbristol.co.uk if you have a group request.

See our website www.makersbristol.co.uk for details about MAKERS shop & gallery if you haven't seen us before and keep regularly updated via facebook here https://www.facebook.com/makersbristol

And most of all KEEP CREATING!

Mono Printing Children's Workshop at MAKERS!

We had our very first workshop aimed at children (with their adult!), where some fun was had with stencils and the technique of mono printing.

 Bristol based illustrator and printmaker Sophie Rae, ran the workshop for us with her unique blend of hand drawn / stencil combination mono-printing.

This made it really accessible and fun for the children, plus a really lovely technique to explore together.

Cutting out of stencils and overlaying of colours created some sophisticated card designs from our participants (age 6 upwards).

Beautiful original artworks to take home!

Sophie Rae's next Experimental Stencil Mono Printing Workshop (for adults) at MAKERS is on Saturday 19th April, 1-5pm and is very reasonably priced at £35 per person. You can book online here http://www.makersbristol.co.uk/makers-events.php

Bring your inner child! (or just let rip on something creative..)

Hen Party Buffet Workshop!

We had some creative customers looking for an unusual way to spend the day on a hen party.
So with some careful consideration and many an email, we worked out a wonderful day for them at the local Beatroot Cafe, with two concurrent workshops and a mega delicious buffet.

One half of the group opted to make fabric birds with artist Sallydove, using hand stitching and machine sewing.

The other half of the group chose to work with illustrator Melanie Wickham to make lino printed paper bunting and stationary. They spent a good deal of time quietly creating designs and then carefully cutting away at their lino with specialist tools. 

Then a mad printing frenzy broke out and they really got into some full on production!

We had a well earned break for lunch with a sumptuous buffet, catering for vegetarians and meat eaters which certainly equalled the workshops in creativity! My personal favourite was the falafel and roasted mediterranean vegetable sandwiches (not forgetting the cheese and chilli toasted bread-yum!).

Home made cake and hot drinks followed soon after, with hot chocolate brownie being a top taste!

The birds were completed with beady eyes and decorative stitching, with some choosing to add wire legs and others opting for the hanging bird variety.

One happy hen!

Best wishes for the wedding from MAKERS.

(Huge thanks to all who came on the Hen Party and the guys at Beatroot cafe and Kate Uzzell for sewing machine assistance and Melanie Wickham for being a lino-powerhouse!)

Fabric printing at MAKERS!

We have had a wonderful workshop here at MAKERS, run by Flora Arbuthnott.

Flora decorated the space with many examples of different types of fabric printing, and provided resource books for ideas and inspiration.

An Introduction to Simple Printing Skills for Fabric Workshop was a compendium of different methods of printing fabric, many of which could easily be replicated at home with basic tools (such as a window squeegee!).

Participants also learned how to carve their own lino blocks for creating repeating patterns. 

Amongst other techniques they also cut paper stencils for simple printing via silkscreens. 

Creative experimentation produced a wide ranging collection of prints on fabric and paper, with each participant taking home enough fabric to make a cushion.

Flora comes from a creative family, and her mum is renowned textile designer Vanessa Arbuthnott. You can see her work here http://www.vanessaarbuthnott.co.uk/

Flora is running another workshop for us on Sunday 30th March 2014 and you can book online via our website. 

Here is the link http://www.makersbristol.co.uk/makers-events.php

Come and join us!

From an ancient valley in Mid-Wales..

We have an interview with Sophie Jauncey, creator of Sophie Jauncey Jewellery on our featured maker page on our website- http://www.makersbristol.co.uk/guest-makers.php

She works from a Welsh village, forging beautiful pieces with an anthropological eye to their origins and intrinsic tales. This jewellery is living poetry for the body! She explores the marrying of ancient and contemporary pieces, weaving new stories in physical form.


Read who inspired her journey and how she starts her day, making these delicate works.

We have a range of her one-off pieces in our shop & gallery, in a beautifully re-purposed wine casket. We look forward to seeing you there..

Lino Cutting Taster Workshop at MAKERS

In addition to selling beautiful things we like to help create beautiful things, and experiences. This is why we run workshops above MAKERS shop & gallery for those of you who want to learn new skills or simply spend an enjoyable few hours absorbed in making.

Melanie Wickham came in and taught a Lino Cutting Taster Session which was a laughter filled afternoon with some dynamic lino cutting produced in a short space of time. I was working in the shop and could hear all the squeals of discovery and whoops of delight as new techniques were passed on and ideas shared. It's great to allow yourself the luxury of play and experimentation with some excellent materials and knowledgeable guidance.

Here are some snaps of the afternoon..

warming up with the usual tea and biscuits!

Miraculously, initial ideas and sketches were tweaked into shape and committed to the lino. Working with the tools took a little practise but with Melanie's gentle guidance the techniques were soon mastered and taking on a life of their own.

A completed lino ready to be inked up..

The tools of the trade!

The working area was well organised to keep the process smooth running and so that all the lino was inked up evenly, ready for the next step: printing.

Each part of the process has it's own magic!

The moment of truth!

The wonderful thing about lino cutting and printing is it's versatility once you have carved your image or design. You can go on to reproduce it many times and on different papers for all sorts of applications.

Whether you are making it as a greetings card, artwork in itself or the beginning of an unprescribed creative journey, lino has a tactile immediacy that transforms simple mark making into the realm of the extraordinary. 

Thanks to our eager participants for coming along and to Melanie for sharing her skills and making it so  much fun!

If you are interested in having a go, keep an eye on our website on this page where you can book on our courses and workshops http://www.makersbristol.co.uk/makers-events.php .