Workshops | The Creative Dimension Trust

Spring 2024: Watercolours

Online, This workshop ran on Saturdays for three weeks from Saturday 27^th January 2024 until Saturday 10^th February 2024.
This three day course covered an introduction to materials, including colour mixing and brushes, an exploration of traditional techniques (including working wet-in-wet), as well as how to use watercolour to paint fine detail on hot pressed paper.

Autumn 2023: Etching

City & Guilds of London Art School, This workshop ran on Saturdays for five weeks from Saturday 4^th November 2023 until Saturday 2^nd December 2023.
Etching is a 500 year old process and still very much used in the world today. During this workshop, students learned various techniques including, soft ground etching, sugar lift aquatint and developed prints that they were able to home and add to their portfolios.

Autumn 2023: Enamelling

The Goldsmiths’ Centre, London, This workshop ran on Saturdays for five weeks from Saturday 4^th November 2023 until Saturday 2^nd December 2023.
In this workshop, students were taught techniques including shaping, bending, hammering, sawing, soldering, texturing and enamelling using silver, copper and brass.

Autumn 2023: Miniature Painting in Watercolour

The Leathersellers Hall, London, EC3A, This workshop ran for five days from Monday 23^rd October 2023 until Friday 27^th October 2023.
Using the surroundings of Leathersellers’ hall for inspiration, as well as some of the wonderful objects in the Leathersellers’ Company Archive, students learned to use watercolours and miniature paint brushes to paint a selection of small motifs that relate to the Leathersellers’ Company.

Autumn 2023: Leatherwork

Cockpit, Deptford, This workshop ran for five days from Monday 23^rd October 2023 until Friday 27^th October 2023.
Students began the first half of the week making small leather goods, including cardholders, keychain lanyards or A5 pouches. They learned basic leather-working techniques such as cutting from a pattern, saddle stitching, cutting, glueing, attaching hardware and various kinds of edge finishings. All the while practising and perfecting the techniques before moving onto a larger item such as a bag by midweek.

Autumn 2023: Hand & Lock – 3D Beading

Hand & Lock, London, W1W 8TE, This workshop ran for one day on Friday 27^th October 2023.
Combining traditional and cutting edge couture hand embroidery techniques, this Artistic Embellishment course was designed to give students a truly unique experience of a number of stitching processes. The techniques taught in this class are used regularly in London, Paris and New York couture houses and are often seen on the catwalk.

Autumn 2023: V&A Stone Carving

Bow Road Studios, London E3, This workshop ran for three days from Tuesday 24^th October 2023 until Thursday 26^thOctober 2023.
V&A East project in collaboration with the Art of Islamic Pattern and The Creative Dimension Trust, supported by the Nunnery Cafe & Bow Arts. Open to students living, working or studying in the boroughs of Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest, Redbridge or Barking & Dagenham, this three-day workshop gave students the opportunity to learn to draw, carve, and inlay precious stones into arches inspired by the Agra Colonnade. The work of students will form part of a semi-permanent display at V&A Storehouse in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in east London.

Summer 2023: Plaster Carving

Bow Road Studios, London E3, This workshop ran for five days from Monday 21^st August 2023 until Friday 25^th August 2023.

This was a unique opportunity for students to experience plaster carving with a practicing sculptor in his studio. Students practiced relief and piercing carving techniques and received an introduction to plaster casting and mould making. The patterns used for the intro exercises focused on the geometric and biomorphic patterns and techniques of the Islamic lands, but students were able to draw on a multitude of traditional designs for their final projects.

Summer 2023: Embroidery

Online, This workshop ran for five days from Monday 21^st August 2023 until Friday 25^th August 2023.
During this online workshop, students used a variety of embroidery threads and techniques to create beautiful embroidered pieces.

Summer 2023: Woodcarving

Artists Studio Co., Brixton, London, This workshop ran for five days from Monday 21^st August 2023 until Friday 25^th August 2023.
In this intensive five day course, students learned the basics of woodcarving using traditional hand tools in a professional woodcarver’s workshop. They learned how to use a set of chisels and a mallet to carve wood using various different techniques that have been used by woodcarvers for centuries.

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