Latest News From Our Crafts Blog

Who is Decorating your Christmas Cake this year? 00

Who is Decorating your Christmas Cake this year?

Who is Decorating your Christmas Cake this year?

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The nights are drawing in so it is time to start planning your Christmas Cake.  If you want your cake to look as good as this book onto our Christmas Cake Decorating Class on Sunday 16 December and learn the tricks of the trade from Pam our cake decorating tutor.     If Cupcakes are more your thing Pam will be decorating Christmas Cupcake on Saturday 15 December. For details of these and our other Cake Decorating courses click here.   ...

A New Addition at Crafts Bee. 00

A New Addition at Crafts Bee.

A New Addition at Crafts Bee.

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Born yesterday in our knitting class and now happily living in the studio. See details of our knitting courses....

Stained Glass Classes Start at Crafts Bee. 00

Stained Glass Classes Start at Crafts Bee.

Stained Glass Classes Start at Crafts Bee.

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We ran our first stained glass class at Crafts Bee yesterday!  Have a look at the pictures of the ladies hard at work and at the lovely panels they made. If you would like to try a stained glass class we will now be running them every month. Click here for details of our stained glass courses.                      ...

Copper Foil Stained Glass Class – What to expect on your class. 00

Copper Foil Stained Glass Class – What to expect on your class.

Copper Foil Stained Glass Class – What to expect on your class.

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Are you interested in a Copper Foil Stained Glass Class but are not sure what this involves or what to expect? We have put together this brief tutorial to help you.   Having choosen your glass cut the pieces to fit your pattern. For cooper foil cut the pieces to the lines of your pattern.                 Wrap the edges of each piece in copper foil.                 Solder the pieces of glass together along the lines of copper foil.                 Add chain so that you can hang the suncatcher up.               Clean the glass then add black patina which will turn the solder lines black. Then, after another clean, the piece is finished. If you want to know about our leaded class have a look at our lead tutorial. For more details of the stained glass classes at Crafts Bee click here. The Finished Piece...

New Date for Quilting Class added to Website 00

New Date for Quilting Class added to Website

New Date for Quilting Class added to Website

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Our quilting class on Saturday 10 November is full up. So we have added a new date on Saturday 9 February 2013. Put it in your diary! If your not sure what to expect have a look at our blog post describing making the sample quilt shown below. For details of this quilting course click here....

Leaded Stained Glass Class – What to expect on your course. 00

Leaded Stained Glass Class – What to expect on your course.

Leaded Stained Glass Class – What to expect on your course.

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Our Leaded Stained Glass class is a great taster session to show you the basics of how to cut glass, assemble your panel and add the lead to make a leaded stained glass panel. But what happens on the day? We have put together this tutorial so you know what to expect.     First step is to choose your glass to fit your pattern               Cut the glass to just within the lines on the pattern. This will allow room for the centre of the lead cane.                     Start adding the lead to keep the panel together.                       Solder the lead joints together                   Add cement between the glass and the lead.             Leave to dry and then clean your panel and you have your finished panel. We also offer a stained glass course for copper foil. See our tutorial on the Copper Foil Stained Glass Class. For more details on Stained Glass Classes at Crafts Bee click here. THE FINISHED PANEL...

Using Up Your Scrap Polymer Clay. 00

Using Up Your Scrap Polymer Clay.

Using Up Your Scrap Polymer Clay.

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Polymer Clay always goes further than you think it wil. Whatever you make you always have some left over. What do you do with yours? Try this as a great way of using some of it up and making a pendant.     Collect the scraps together and form into a rectangle.           Twist the rectangle a few times to help mix the colours together.           Slice through the rectangle.               The Pattern inside is revealed.                 Then cut out your pendant with a cutter or form a shape from the clay with your hands.               Bake your clay and your pendant is ready!                   The Finished Piece For more information on Polymer Clay Classes at Crafts Bee click...

Learn to Make a Beaded Wire Cuff – Fun to make and great for Christmas Presents. 00

Learn to Make a Beaded Wire Cuff – Fun to make and great for Christmas Presents.

Learn to Make a Beaded Wire Cuff – Fun to make and great for Christmas Presents.

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We are making these lovely beaded wire cuffs on Thursday 18 October. A great class for everyone whether you are new to jewellery making or have some previous experience. Once you have learnt the basics start experimenting with different colours and thickness of wires and beads. Vary the pattern to make different widths of cuff or extend it to make a collar or necklace. I know it still seems too early to think about Christmas but these Beaded Wire Cuffs also make great, original and inexpensive Christmas presents. The class is from 9.30am to 12.30pm and you will make and take away a cuff, and the instructions to make more.  All wire and beads are included in the price. For further details and booking click here  ...

What is  Polymer Clay and how do you make jewellery from it? 00

What is Polymer Clay and how do you make jewellery from it?

What is Polymer Clay and how do you make jewellery from it?

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Have you heard the term Polymer Clay but are unsure what it is, why some people use terms like Fimo and Premo and what can you actually make from it? Polymer Clay is a generic term for clay you bake to make it hard. Within this there are various different brands of clay like Fimo, Premo and Kato. All are slightly different and bake for slightly different times or at different temperatures but all essentially do the same thing and are great for making really unique jewellery. The first thing to do, and one of the most difficult for me, is to make a decision as to what colour clay to use.  I seem to be naturally drawn to purple at the moment but wanted to make myself try something different colour wise.  Eventually I choose and used half a block of white and a third of a block of red and a third of pink.  You will see later on this quantity allowed me to make several pendants and still have quite a lot left over. Having chosen the clay the next step is to condition it. Initially the clay is too crumbly to use and conditioning makes it soft and pliable. Condition it using a roller or a pasta machine until you can fold it without it crumbling. Once it is conditioned you are ready to start being creative. There are so many options here but I have followed the steps we take on our Polymer Clay course to make Pendants. To make our pendants we use a base of clay and then cover this with slices from a Polymer Clay Cane. Canes are like sticks of rock. They are long and thin and have a pattern that goes all the way through them.  To make my pendants I started by making a basic Bulls Eye Cane and a Jelly Roll Cane. The Bulls Eye Cane is a sausage of clay with a thinner sheet of clay wrapping it. You can vary the cane by adding additional wrappings and varying the thickness of them. The Jellyroll is two sheets of clay, one on top of the other, that are rolled together. I then cut this in various ways to make a Tile Cane. For the next cane I used a Skinner Blend.  The skinner Blend blends two or three colours together to get a thin piece of clay...

1 Place left on Learn to Sew Day on Saturday 6 October. 00

1 Place left on Learn to Sew Day on Saturday 6 October.

1 Place left on Learn to Sew Day on Saturday 6 October.

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We have had a cancellation for the Learn to Sew Day on Saturday 6 October so we have one place left. Book now to get your place on this Learn to Sew Class

New Dressmaking Class 00

New Dressmaking Class

New Dressmaking Class

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New Dressmaking Class Saturday 24 November 2012 We are delighted to add our new dressmaking class to our list of sewing courses.  Use a pattern to make the dress shown in the picture. Vary the length of sleeve and hem to suit yorself. This six hour class will show you how to How to lay your pattern pieces out on your material How to cut the material How to mark notches How to assemble the dress How to insert the zip How to insert pleats How to sew and finish seams How to hem and finish the dress You will leave with your dress and the confidence to start using patterns to make on your own. The class will run on Saturday 24 November. For more details and booking click...

Crochet Class 00

Crochet Class

Crochet Class

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Don’t forget we have a Crochet Course coming up on Tuesday 2 October. A one day course to teach you the...

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