Easter is almost here - and the studio is full of double daffodils. We made them last week at Paper Flower Evening Class, inspired by a project in Tiffanie Turner's wonderful book The Fine Art of Paper Flowers. Tiffanie is the undisputed queen of paper flowers, and I had the pleasure of learning directly from her back in 2019. She opened my eyes to the possibilities that lay within a fold of crepe paper, and making her daffodils with my group felt like a proper act of homage.
πΏ Nature Notes
It's dandelion season β and I donβt want to hear a word said against them. I know they get bad press, but dandelions are one of our most generous spring flowers: rich in nectar, wind-pollinated rather than insect-pollinated, and reliably open just in time for the first dozy bumblebees to emerge and feed. They ask nothing and give everything. If you've got them in your garden, please leave them be - and maybe look at them a little more closely than you have before. A member of the aster family, they have an incredibly dense inflorescence β not a single flower head but a composite containing hundreds of individual florets β each with a supply of nector and pollen. No wonder the bees like them!
βοΈ From the Studio
I've just come back from a wildflower weekend at Zantium Studio in Derbyshire. We made foxgloves, cornflowers and poppies, it went really well, and I'm hoping to be back there in the summer and perhaps again next spring, so watch this space. For now, I'm taking a breath: April is a quieter month for classes, intentionally β the only class Iβm running is Fritillary - see below. Iβm off to Scotland over Easter and then Iβll have a couple of weeks with more time at my work bench, making for the love of it - I can't wait!
π
Come Find Me
On Saturday 16th May I'll be spending the day in Hebden Bridge. I am unashamedly a HUGE fan of Hannah Nunn, who, like me, is inspired by hedgerows, woodland and all the tiny treasures we find there. Hannah opens her studio one Saturday a month - and sometimes she invites a maker friend to come and show their work too. I'm really excited to be joining her in May. If you're anywhere near Hebden Bridge, this is a visit worth making. Come find us, and take some of natures tiny treasures home with you β Plan your visitβ
Form & Freedom: A Wildflower Workshop Tuesday 20th May Β· Studio 3, 3 Wood Street, Hoylake Β· Β£95 A whole day to slow down, look closely, and make something that's genuinely yours β exploring a range of wildflowers through observation and experiment rather than strict step-by-step instruction. If you've been wanting a proper day of making, this is the one. β Book hereβ
Dates for your diary
πΏ Fritillary Evening Class β Wednesday 9th April, Studio 3, Hoylake (a couple of spaces left β drop me a line!)
πΏ Wirral Open Studio Tour β 13, 14 May, across the Wirral
πΏ Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair β 19β21 June, Sport Central, Newcastle
Easter gifting sorted? My spring flower kits are made for this β TΓͺte-Γ -TΓͺte daffodils, bluebells, wood anemones, snowdrops and yes, dandelions too. A beautiful thing to make, or a beautiful thing to give. β Shop spring kitsβ
Until next time,
May is when the hedgerows begin to fill and the summer season gathers energy. Iβd love you to come and look at the flowers with me.
β
β