Getting Creative – Flux Family Workshop fun
We ran 2 family workshops this Autumn; as ever, the kids really showed their grown-ups how to get creative, and we saw some amazing and characterful results.
Our popular Cuttlefish Casting course is a great hands on, experiential introduction to the properties of metal, and we offer places for kids as young as 5. Working with pewter, children get to witness the hypnotic delights of smelting – the magical thrill of solid bar transforming into a pool of delicious, shimmering silver liquid!
Carving a mould into cuttlefish can be tricky for the most clear thinking of adults, as you have to get your mind set into thinking spatially. Every mark you make will come out in reverse; digging in to the cuttlefish will produce protrusions when cast. We always encourage students to work quickly to begin, to let go of the preciousness of an idea, because until you’ve made a bunch of mistakes you won’t truly understand how to make the process work better for you.
In three and a half fleeting hours our families produced an array of delightful objects, some wearable, some intended as small sculptures. It’s interesting to track the particular focus for each of the makers – for some it was about repetition, for others it was about perfecting a form; some liked quantity where others sacrificed numbers for quality of outcome. Others took sheer pleasure in the wonder of the process, with less concern for the end result…
Particular favourites this time around include Petra’s leaping bunny, Saul’s eye and Amber’s serendipitous, abstract miniature ‘goddess’ series.
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The Textures on Metal family workshop tends to be an equally productive, if somewhat noisy affair.
On this workshop we introduce harder metals like brass and copper, their working properties and associated techniques. Introducing hammers and punches, files and saws, students also experience the effects of work hardening on metal, and the consequential need to anneal it – all of which require more focus and dexterity. For this reason we set an age restriction of 8.
The December event tends to have a very Christmassy theme, for obvious reasons! This year was no exception…
Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas,
The Flux team.