Workshops Highlights » Spin Off Stuff

Recap: Celebrating DIY, Craftiness and Beats at Culture Days

Oct 202010

We’re a wee bit late on this posting but it’s still worth noting that it was such a blast! Spins & Needles, with the help of our beloved volunteers, participated in Canada’s first ever Culture Days last month to host a drop-in Printmaking 101 /Stencilling Workshop at Ottawa’s Arts Court, the city’s largest centre for professional arts producers and presenters.

Not knowing what to expect, we were blown away by how many people showed up for the inaugural year. Culture Day goers whipped up some awesome tote bags and t-shirts with some funky background beats on the ghetto blaster.

Thanks to each of you who came out – you were one of the thousands of Canadians in over 700 communities that celebrated and shared their creativity in over 4500 free activities that took place from coast to coast.

Here’s some highlights from the day.

There were definitely some happy customers! Until next year!

Pop-Up Workshop Recap: DIY Batik Chic Picnic

Aug 312010

Pop-Up Workshop: DIY Batik Chic Picnic

Last Sunday’s Pop-Up Workshop was a blast – I am totally itching to get out there again and craft more in public and outdoors. We revealed our secret location late last week : Minto Park, a little bit of greenspace in downtown Ottawa which turned out to be an ideal setting (except for the gusts of the wind that kept blowing our candle out to burn the batik wax.) I guess crafting in public does have some challenges.

Here`s some photos from the workshop. We spread out our blankets, laid out our materials, nibbled on some munchies (including animal crackers and gummy berries) and whipped up some batik scarves for late summer/early fall cool nights.

Thanks to everyone who came out to the workshop! Watch out for tomorow’s post featuring a tutorial on how to batik on the cheap and make your own scarf using materials from around the house.

Pop-Up Workshop: DIY Batik Chic Picnic

Posted by spins & needles on August 31, 2010 Fashion, Making Stuff, spins & needles, Workshops Highlights 4 Responses »

Pop-Up Workshop Recap: Summer 2010 Fashion Accessories Workshop

Jul 172010

Here’s some photos from last Thursday’s secret special pop-up fashion accessories workshop at Young Jane‘s on Dalhousie St. in the Market. We whipped up some Miu Miu-inspired brooches using shrinky dinks and Pucci-inpsired pattern wrap bracelets. Tutorial on the brooches in next post!

Thanks to Mika at YJ for being such a fabulous host!

Posted by spins & needles on July 17, 2010 Fashion, Making Stuff, Workshops Highlights No Responses »

Recap: Go Flying a Kite

Aug 252009

After this past Saturday’s Random Act of Craftiness, I’m definitely a kite convert.

We headed over to Britannia Park in Ottawa’s west end (a really lovely park, right beside a beach) to host an afternoon RAC kite-making workshop using recycled materials at the 2009 Ottawa Folk Festival. The park/beach was the perfect place to fly their finished creations right after making them.

Making these flying machines with materials from around the house was even more fun that I anticipated. And to see them work (i.e. actually fly) was even better!

I’ll be posting instructions on how to make your own kites in an upcoming post this week. With the the winds picking up in September with the colder weather, it’s a great DIY project to take from summer to fall.

For more pictures of this Random Act of Craftiness, check out the Flickr photo set.

Posted by spins & needles on August 25, 2009 Making Stuff, Workshops Highlights No Responses »

Lumiere Festival Lantern Making Workshops in Ottawa

Jul 272009

Ottawa Lumeire Festival (via Robbie PhotoArt’s Flickr stream)

Ottawa’s Lumiere Festival is happening Saturday August 8th from 5-11 p.m. and festival organizers are looking for volunteers and offering classes on lantern making.

Classes are superaffordable and it’s a great way to spend an afternoon with friends or family. Plus your lantern will be featured at the festival! The great thing about the classes or volunteering is that afterwards you’ll have the skills to make lanterns for any event, like a birthday party, wedding, shower, BBQ or picnic.

Some of our past summer S&N installments have featured lantern-making and everyone came out with beautiful creations to take home or have featured at the festival.

If you’ve never gone to the festival, it is an amazing night of handmade lanterns shining after sunset in New Edinburgh’s Stanley Park (which may sound out of the way, but is actually a short 20 minute walk east of Byward Market along St. Patrick St. and the #1,5,7,9 buses stop in front of the park entrance).

For more info visit the Ottawa Lumiere Festival site.

Posted by spins & needles on July 27, 2009 Local Ottawa Happenings, Making Stuff, Workshops Highlights 1 Response »

Random Act of Craftiness Session 2: Mini-Tie-Dye Workshop Recap

Jun 052009

The how to tie-dye session hosted by Spins & Needles last Sunday was great fun! It inspired lots of ideas – perhaps someone will be tie-dyeing their wedding dress in the near future?

If you missed it, not to fear – some tutorials are posted on a previous blog post.

Thanks to everyone who participated! Stay tuned for another Random Act of Craftiness (RAC) in the upcoming months. If you want to know more about future RACs, sign up for our mailing list.

Posted by spins & needles on June 5, 2009 Making Stuff, spins & needles, Workshops Highlights 2 Responses »

Tie-Dye Workshop Pics

Apr 082009

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Here are the pics from the tie-dye workshop for the Community Cup Soccer Tournament in Ottawa – it was a blast and the t-shirts turned out great! Lots of fun by everyone and lots of inspiration for some upcoming projects I will be working on. Thanks to Dan at the CIC for facilitating everything and the folks at the Ottawa Folk Festival for the workshop info!

If you’re interested in learning how to tie-dye yourself, check out my post featuring several tie-dye how-tos and tutorials.

Watch for an upcoming spins & needles special workshop in May in Ottawa on how to tie-dye your own items!!

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Posted by spins & needles on April 8, 2009 Making Stuff, Workshops Highlights 1 Response »

Silkscreening 101 February 2009 Workshop

Feb 222009

Here’s some photos from this month’s workshop for inspiration!

Posted by spins & needles on February 22, 2009 Making Stuff, silkscreening, Workshops Highlights No Responses »

Silkscreening 101 January 2009 Workshop

Feb 032009

This past weekend was a busy weekend for workshops, including a Silkscreening 101 Workshop.

There were some great designs, including one that involved Darth Vader and a banana. I forgot my camera, so here’s some photos of the December 2008 Silkscreening 101 workshop taken by one of the participants, Paul (thanks Paul!) One of the most endearing designs was by the young daughter of one of the participants, who drew an image of her father’s favourite pizza. Both her and her mother attended the silkscreening 101 workshop and together they went through the process of constructing the screen, burning the image, and printing it onto a t-shirt to give to Aaron for a holiday gift (hence “Aaron’s pizza”). It turned out great!

One of the great things about teaching the workshop is how in the span of four hours, complete strangers get to know one another by learning a creative skill.

Our next workshops are scheduled for Sunday February 22, 2009 and Saturday, March 21, 2009 at the Montgomery Legion Hall. For more info check out www.spinsandneedles.com/upcomingevent.htm.

Posted by spins & needles on February 3, 2009 Making Stuff, silkscreening, spins & needles, Workshops Highlights No Responses »