Metal Stamping Workshop in Wakefield

On the 30th of October I went to a metal stamping workshop in Leeds with my friend Chloe. Doing a workshop with her, taught by her friend Kim who I know online and have done other workshops with, was on my list of 'forty things before forty' to do. We chose and booked this one absolutely ages ago, and Chloe very nicely paid for me as a present for my birthday, which was lovely of her! We arranged to meet for tea beforehand too. 

I had been to craft club in the morning and had done a workshop in that too. A few of us made these gingerbread men and Christmas tree decorations. I finished the gingerbread man in craft club and then finished the other one later on in the week. They're cute aren't they! 

I left the house about 4pm and drove to Ossett where Chloe and I met at Silkwood Farm. It's a Greene King pub I think, I've been before and the food isn't wildly exciting for vegetarians but it's fine. I actually went for a vegan burger which tasted really nice actually - it had cheese on and was nice and melty. Chloe had a burger too. We chatted for a bit and then went in my car together to A Touch of Craft which is a bit further down in Ossett. We got there about 6pm, just as Kim was arriving, so we sat in the car for a bit so we didn't disturb her setting up. However, we did go in a bit earlier than the start time of 6.30, which was nice because we got to chat to Kim and had a cup of coffee.

My friend Michelle was also there! I had only seen her the day before! She had messaged me a few weeks previously and asked if I was interested in the workshop and I was like, I'm already going! So it was nice to see her too. 

Metal stamping is a lot of fun! There were nine of us all together and you have to bash the stamps quite heavily so there was quite a bit of noise. I was a bit hesitant at first so was glad there was a lot of time to practice on scrap metal before going for the real thing. There were a few different fonts to choose from so I tried a few too. Then we moved on to the real thing! It was mildly terrifying! However, I made quite a few things as you can see. I'll explain them as I go down! 

I was wearing my final pair of bat tights, still because it was near Halloween. They're a sort of blue purple colour with black bats. They go really well with the purplish Scarlett & Jo skirt which I wore with my Alanis Morrisette t shirt that my aunt bought me for last Christmas. I wore the same outfit for work the next day, too. 

Blurple tights as I was on my way out

Here's Chloe and I in A Touch of Craft just before the workshop started

And here's Michelle and I ready to whack things with hammers

The top ones are stuff I practiced. You hit with a hammer and a stamp and then you use an enamel pen to colour in the words, and then wipe it off. You can see where I hadn't totally wiped it off where it says 'Poppy'

This is everything I made! I love them all, I'll have to make some into bracelets and stuff. Kim did have stuff to do this with her but because I have jewellery making stuff at home I decided to just concentrate on the metal stamping itself

Here's my outfit when I got home, I like these two together

Three keyrings I made. The one on the left is for Lee; "This Is Not A Drill" is the name of his band. The next one will be a Christmas present for my friend Lucinda, it says 'gin in teacups' which is a Libertines lyric. The final one is for me, it says 'Libertines'. I really liked this font!

The top one is a bangle which I will wear, it says "Live it's all you can do" which is a Flogging Molly lyric that I really like and which reminds me to stay alive 

The next one says 'read every day' on a bangle, but I put a hole in the end and I'm going to make it into a bookmark with a charm on it instead of making it into a bangle. I made a mistake on this one - the A in day I accidentally stamped as a V, but I stamped over it with the A and I don't think you can tell!

The third one says 'Poppy & Jasmine' and I will make this into a bracelet

Finally I made these tags for bootlaces that say 'Absolute Gobshite'. I think I might make that the name of my next zine!