ONE DAY WORKSHOPS

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ONE DAY WORKSHOPS series from my home in Topsham in South Devon. So exciting to be able to share my techniques with small groups of people and it's lovely way to be creative and to make new friends. 

The workshop days are on about 3 times a week. 10am to 4pm but you are very welcome to arrive earlier and stay on after 4pm if you wish. I have tried to work around the one day limitation by preparing as much as possible ahead of time. In the past I only gave weekend workshops but this I find is no longer viable for most people as time is in short supply. Also many people like to come and get a taste of the craft and have an enjoyable day out with friends or alone and in both cases I hope, making new friends.

I have a booking form which you can access here.

Victoria House
8 Victoria Road
Topsham
Exeter. Devon
EX3 0EU

booking is essential via this link

message/phone - 07598 870152
e-mail hilarybravo2013@gmail.com

Saturday 30th April

papier-mache beads 
beads that resemble Egyptian faience

Also on 

Monday May 2nd
papier-mache beads 
beads that resemble Egyptian faience

Wednesday May 4th
papier-mache beads 
beads that resemble Egyptian faience

A papier-mâché bead making workshop at my home in Topsham in South Devon for 4 people. 

We will be making original and unusual beads using papier-mâché.  The beads will resemble Ancient Egyptian Faience beads.

To get a flavour of the day take a look at my Facebook Page - Hilary Bravo Papier-Mâché Jewellery and/or my website - 
http://hilarybravo.wix.com/jewellery  for photographs of what we will be making and where we will be making it.

You will learn how to make flexible silicone moulds by making impressions from natural forms - magnolia seed pods, fire cones, wild flowers etc. I have plenty to share but please do bring your own if you would like to. We will form them into beads, learn how to harden them, add texture, paint, age and finish them and then make them into necklaces.

I will provide all materials including a pack of Siligum (£10) a pack of air dried papier-mache (£6) and a detailed print out explaining all the processes for each person. 

The workshop is £75. You are very welcome to arrive earlier and to stay on until 5pm if you would like to to carry on with your work.

Please bring an apron and a packed lunch, although Topsham has plenty of places to buy the ingredients for a picnic and cafes and pubs to find a good lunch. I will provide bottled sparkling and still spring water, fruit juices, fruit, biscuits, cake, a variety of teas and coffee, all of which you are free to help yourself to. 

You will also have access to the ONE DAY WORKSHOP GROUP Pinterest Board where you will be able to post your work and see what we are doing in the future.

Topsham is a lovely place, fascinating old Dutch style and Georgian houses, a wonderful museum, antiques emporium, outdoor heated swimming pool, the only pub in the country that is run entirely by women and supposedly the only one where the Queen stopped for a drink. There is a nature reserve, lovely walks including the Goat Walk

I live in an beautiful old and contentedly faded Georgian townhouse - it is not grand and imposing or even elegant - it is homely and very welcoming. The room we will be working in has a very relaxed atmosphere with wooden floors and a big red Aga to dry our work on/in - it also bakes very good biscuits and cakes and makes the whole place very cosy.

I will provide you with an endless supply of refreshments - various teas, coffee, bottled water - sparkling and still, fruit and fruit juices that you can help yourself to as you feel the need. I suggest that you either bring your own packed lunch or if you prefer you can buy lots of delicious things in town or eat at one of the many cafes or pubs. I am literally a stones throw from the High Street. Incidentally, our lovely and beautifully ageing black Labrador - Bella will not be present on workshop days - she is too friendly and far to focused on food - and other people's dogs are not necessarily everyone's cup of tea. She would make it all about her.

This is the old pine kitchen table that we will be working on. I only take 4 people at a time as a general rule as then we have more time for each other and more space. If you wish to come as a larger group I can accommodate you - up to 6 people as there is another table by the kitchen window or I have large board than I sometimes put on top to increase the working area.

 The view to the narrow road that takes you to the shops. 

detail - dresser with assorted paraphernalia - little memories.

Topsham is a very beautiful old estuary town near to Exeter and has a railway station, good parking and a nearby airport plus really good places to eat and accommodation to suit all tastes from The Salutation Inn to a 17th century house  that has 4 bedrooms or to the Old Vicarage that is at the end of my road or to Churchview a lovely Georgian townhouse that is a minutes walk from my place.  We are all in the conservation area that means it is pretty much as it was and is protected from future development. 

I also have an active YouTube Channel with many short tutorials and I will shortly be uploading video workshops that will give some of the experience as the One Day Workshops. They will cover all of my many different types of papier-mâché jewellery techniques.

I have been making and selling my jewellery for over twenty five years, during which time it has been found, sought and collected, much to my delight, by people from around the world. It has been for sale in Craft Selected Galleries, Independent Galleries small and large, Museums and Art Galleries, at Liberty and at my Spitalfields Market stall in London, in Europe and Japan and at the Guggenheim Museum shop in New York.

My working methods are to travel and draw, paint, make notes, take lots of photographs and bring back paintings and ideas to work on in my studio, some of which I later develop into paintings, often abstract, from images that hold the key colours and associated ideas of the different places. Then I research, paint, write and make a unique kind of papier-mâché jewellery from fragments of my paintings. They are coated in a clear, hard epoxy resin, gloss or matte varnish.

I also experiment by using a combination of things in some pieces - papier-mâché, mixed media, resin, wax and found objects, acrylic ink, gouache, watercolour, pencil, oil pastel, gold, silver and copper leaf, metal foil and powders, pigments, tissue and tracing paper plus interesting commercially produced paper and found paper, Italian sweet wrappers, metro tickets, unusual packaging etc.

I make necklaces, rings, brooches, pendants and earrings rings that may incorporate papier-mâché beads that resemble baroque pearls, opals, ancient clay, bone, metal or semi-precious stones. I am fascinated by fragments of all kinds and often include pieces of discarded clay pipes stems that I find on the foreshore of the River Thames at low tide. They sometimes taken on the blue/grey colours of the clay and river silt that has washed over them for hundreds of years and through countless ebbing and flowing of many tides. Also I may add fragments of pottery, glass, plastic and numerous little sea-worn treasures that are cast up along the shoreline. I look in antique and flea markets to find beautiful old necklaces that can be broken down and incorporated with my own work. I make impressions from found and natural objects - magnolia seed heads for example - then I cast impressions in papier-mâché clay and or epoxy resin, that are twisted and folded, dried or hardened with wood glue or resin, gilded with gold or silver, distressed or painted. Necklaces, bangles, earrings and brooches, bowls and platters - embellished or incised, painted and gilded, the list goes on.