For the last interview with Stay See Share series I chat with Kirsty, Lillian + Aimie from Clay Coven based in Leith, Edinburgh. When lockdown hit and they couldn’t get access to the open access workshop they had been using. So the coven jumped into action creating a makeshift workshop with one wheel in a family members shed! I love a shedio (shed/studio),

Lorna is a brilliant textile designer and tutor who is just about to open a new community print space called INK on MESH.

This week for The Making Hour I’ve been paper folding, this week and last to be exact. Last Sunday I joined in on Kate Colin’s workshop, beforehand a kit was posted out with all the amazing papers and tools needed.

That’s the one good thing about the last year I’ve been able to go to some events I wouldn’t have been able to before. Including workshops!

Last month I bought some air-drying clay to make some little tags for presents. There were lots left so this week we decided to make wonderful wonky things.

I decided to have a play about with some stitching. Revisiting some I used to use a lot in my degree work and some ones I hadn’t tried before. All of the stitches had one thing in common, they were very decorative.

Stationery is my happy place! I grabbed my notebook, line guide and a selection of lovely pens, pencils and washi tapes to get organised in a creative way.

I seem to be saying this each week but I needed The Making Hour this week, a little bit of creative exercise. This week I decided to make a simple book from a collage I had been experimenting with.

This problem-solving element of making is something I absolutely love but you need to have the time to make mistakes and experiment. Often I get these making hours at night-time and its the way I relax. After making these little cases I got my embroidery out, a cup of tea and some good rubbish on tv. Bliss!

From scrap paper to ace decorations! Plus there’s something calming about just sitting with a cuppa folding some paper.

Drawing just for the sake of it is very relaxing, not knowing what will come of it and just collecting images and marks that make you happy is refreshing. Mark making is my favourite drawing technique, it’s about texture, line and pattern. It’s almost like feeling for what you are seeing as much as it is seeing it.

I went on a wander up to a viewpoint with my little family where I popped out my notebook and started jotting down all the things that I had done this year. Sometimes we only remember the difficult times it’s good to make sure there’s space to focus on positives.