We got our craft on at the Brighton Etsy team's fabulous Craft Party.
Brighton is a city chock full of creatives, so no wonder the Brighton Etsy Team is one of the biggest local groups, with over 700 active members. The team works hard to arrange monthly meet ups, regular BTN ETSY Talks, and more, like a Brighton Etsy Christmas market and pop-up shop.
The magazine.co.uk team are absolutely crafty, so on 5 June we headed to the Etsy Craft Party at the Brighthelm Centre in Brighton to craft the night away (with cake and wine as our fuel!).
The 2015 theme for this global event was ‘Kaleidoscope: Paper Taking Shape’, so it was interesting to see what kinds of crafts were in store for us to try out.
We weren’t disappointed — there was a wide range of activities for attendees to enjoy, including:
3D papercutting
Amandine, who runs Fleur de Carrotte, ran a 3D papercutting workshop. It was great to see everyone’s creations — it’s amazing what you can do with just two sheets of paper, some paint, and a craft knife!
Gocco printing demonstration
Ali from Hello DODO demonstrated how to use the Gocco screenprinting machine. The Gocco is such a fun printing machine — it’s a self-contained screen printer which was developed in Japan by Noboru Hayama. It has gained a cult following in the past decade after production on the Print Gocco ceased. It was great to see Ali making really cute ‘Crafty Seagull’ screen prints with this machine.
Badge making
There was a badge making station where Vicky who runs Woah There Pickle helped crafters create their own badges. There were lots of fun designs, ranging from simple gold glitter badges, to those which were more intricately designed.
Collage postcards
We were invited to create a collage postcard which would fit into one of three themes: self-portrait, monster, or Brighton. There was a bit of a battle of creatives here, as there were prizes to be awarded to the best postcards in each theme.
Ransom note poetry
We’re not sure how the idea for this craft came about, but it was a lot of fun! Ransom note poetry featured creations ranging from the meek, mild, and pleasant, to the more subversive. Let’s just say that crafters aren’t all cupcakes and village fetes!
Paper animal puppets
Zoe from Ladybird Likes brought with her a basic yet fun paper animal puppets workshop, which she had also held at Pick Me Up at Somerset House. Seems like woodland animals are still incredibly popular in the crafting world.
Flower collage
The super talented Georgie St Clair ran a flower collage workshop, where we combined templates, petals and leaves, resulting in a pretty collage which Georgie then photographed to turn into a print.
We’re already looking forward to next year’s event, but to bide the time until then, we’ll be taking advantage of the great selection of craft magazine subscriptions available at magazine.co.uk.
Did you know that the latest issue of Mollie Makes magazine is an Etsy special? It features 18 craft projects, all designed by Etsy sellers, for you to get your craft on. This issue also contains tips for selling your own crafts and running an Etsy shop of your own, as well as a free gift craft kit to make a cute Scandi-style crochet dreamcatcher. Why not take advantage of the great Mollie Makes subscription deals at magazine.co.uk so you can craft and be inspired all year round?
