Craft your own creature

AN upcoming workshop is aiming to help people unlock their creativity with a small stuffed companion to bring home at the end of it.

The BOP Arts Co-Op cofounder and multidisciplinary artist Samantha Thompson is set to run her Crazy Critters workshop next month at the Bannockburn Cultural Centre.

Thompson said the session will show attendees how to make their own handmade creature from the conceptual stages to a completed project.

“It’s a great opportunity for people who don’t have much experience in creating a formed textile object,” she said.

“We’re starting with an idea, a sketch on a piece of paper, and then we’ll make it into a 3D soft sculpture. It’s like making a teddy bear or doll but much more free flowing and imaginative.

“Whatever you can think up, you can make. I’ll be using a lot recycled fabric which we’ll cut up to make the patterns and then we’ll hand sew and machine sew then stuff them.”

A practicing creative for more than two decades, Thompson has been creating her crazy critters for about four years, and the upcoming session will be her first time teaching others the art of crafting them.

She said an integral part of the workshop is about helping attendees reconnect with their playful and creative side.

“We’re losing a lot of our ability to do things with our hands because we’re so computer-based now,” she said.

“It’s a really fun opportunity to get some of that ability back while learning. It’s not about making something perfect but about inspiring them to learn more about textile art.

“At the very least, they’ve got a fun little critter to remember the experience by.”

The workshop will run from 10am to 3pm on 10 August, with tickets $75 for BOP Arts Co-Op members and $95 for non-members, and available via the group’s website.

Each ticket is valid for one creation, meaning a child and their parent can work on an individual project at a cost of one ticket.