Art Journaling Revival

You may recall, if you've been a follower of the blog for a while, that I used to post a lot about my art journaling and then all went quiet on the journaling front?  I discovered art journaling a few years ago on a trip to America where I met a lovely lady who had the most amazing art journals. I was mesmerised by them, and the process, and before I returned home I bought a copy of Art Journaling magazine and some supplies ready to start journaling when I returned home.  I was addicted and journaled religiously for quite some time and then, all of a sudden, I stopped.

Why did I stop I hear you cry?  Honestly, I'm not really sure.  I never forced myself to art journal as that isn't really the point of doing it.  It is meant to be fun and relaxing and, if you have to force yourself to do it, it is neither.  I also think that I stopped around the same time I began my City and Guilds course, which takes up a lot of my time. So art journaling was swapped for felt and a textiles course.  I was OK with the break, it happened and I accepted it.

However, recently I've been picking up my journals and my art journaling supplies and thinking that I wanted to journal again.  I've been pinning images of art journals on Pinterest and thinking how lovely they are. 

Then, late one evening when I was lying in bed pinning (a frequent occurence when I'm meant to be sleeping - why did they have to invent a Pinterest App?) I came across Journal 52 - a free art journaling workshop for 2014.  Every week, there is a new journaling prompt with ideas of what to do.  You can sign up for email updates when each new prompt is posted, find ideas on the website for starting your own art journal if you're a newbie and there is a Facebook group to share your pages in.  

It has really got me back into art journaling and I love the prompts each week.  I spent hours the other day catching up on weeks 1 - 4 and really enjoyed myself.  

So, here are my pages for the prompts so far:

Week 1 - Up,Up and Away

Week 2 - Somewhere, a Simple Place

Week 3 - You Make Me Smile

Week 4 - Building Character

It's not too late to join in - you can work at your own pace and it's a brilliant way to begin, or resume, your art journaling journey.

Teaching Crochet - Be Prepared!

In the words of the Scouts, 'Be Prepared'. 

This week saw my third session teaching my beginners crochet class and it really made me realise how important it is to be prepared for just about anything that might happen in your class.

As a very teacher, with over 8 years experience teaching children and adults, I know only too well the need to be prepared for just about any eventuality that may occur. Obviously, you can't be prepared for everything - you'd spend hours planning if you did - but it helps if you can think on your feet and improvise as required. For example, this week I left my new set of stitch markers, bought especially for the session, on the coffee table at home so we had to improvise with bits of coloured yarn!

There are, however, a few things you can be prepared for:

1) The High Fliers
In any group of students, there will be a wide range of abilities. There will be those who need a bit more support and those who whizz through the planned task in half an hour with over an hour of the class.left! To keep this group engaged, you need to plan extension tasks. This task will vary depending on your lesson; if you are teaching granny squares then have a few patterns for different motifs available for students to try, if it's changing colour then set students the challenge of changing colour.using the stitches they know. 

2) The Inquisitive
I love students who ask questions - it is a sign that they want to learn more! If your subject knowledge is good, then you should be able t.answer most questions that you're.asked.
But what if you can't?
Do not panic! Be honest! Do not try to make up an answer! Nobody knows everything about everything and it is perfectly acceptable to say I don't know. You can offer to find out the answer by the next session or set your students the challenge of finding out for themselves. Point them in the direction of books or.websites that might be able to help or, if it's  a practical question, ask them to try something out and see what happens. 

3) The Forgetful
There will always be times when students attend and forget their.hooks, scissors and yarn. It's always good to have spare few of everything that you and your students might need just in case they forget or, if you are providing materials for your workshops, in case something breaks or doesn't work. When I'm teaching crochet, I always have a range of hooks in different sizes and yarn of different weights to help with getting the right tension and being able to see the stitches.

It is never possible to be prepared for everything, but thinking ahead can save you a lot of stress and help to ensure that you and your.students have a great workshop.

Teaching Crochet - Class Size

Monday night saw the second session of my beginners crochet course. 

The course lasts for 10 weeks with each session lasting 2 hours.  It is run and funded  through the community learning programme in Wigan and is amazing value for money.  However, I have only a minimum of control over the size of my class and, as such, it is much larger than when I teach my private workshops.  I currently have 15 students on my beginners course which presents a number of challenges, least of all supporting 15 students all at the same time.  It takes a lot of careful planning and I have developed a few ways of managing such a large group:


1)  Make use of the skills your students come with.
Luckily, some of my students could already crochet a chain prior to the course and so didn't need as much support as other students who had never picked up a hook before.  For those with experience, they were able to get on independently and move on to other stitches whilst I could support those who needed it.  

2)  Make use of the facilities
Teaching within a school, I also have access to a projector which is really useful for sharing images and information to the whole class.  I always prepare a PowerPoint presentation with stitch instructions, diagrams and images prior to the lesson and use this to guide my lesson.  When I teach private workshops, I don't have access to a projector so I make use of the local library's photocopy to reproduce my slides in A3.

3)  Provide Handouts
Handouts are really important and extremley useful.  They allow students to work at their own pace and practise outside of class.  They can also make notes and helpful hints on them.


When I teach private workshops, I have a maximum number of 8, preferring to only take 6 students at a time, as this means that everyone can have plenty of support and get the most out of the class. It is really important to consider the size of the group to ensure it is manageable for you and allows all students to receive the support they require and to get them hooked on crochet!

Teaching Crochet

Last year I achieved one of my.big goals - I started to teach crochet. I began with 1 day workshops which I teach in The Coven in Wigan - a great little vegetarian/vegan/gluten free cafe and restaurant with the most amazing food ever!

Then, later on in the year, I was offered the opportunity to teach st night school as part of the councils community learning programme. These take the form of 10 weeks of 2 hour sessions and are heavily subsidised at just £40 for the whole course which I think is just amazing. I taught my first beginners course at the end of last year and it was so much fun. I had a fabulous group of students who worked hard and leant so much. By the end of the course they had made mini amigurumi owls, flowers, wreaths and shawls. I learnt lots to (you never stop learning as a teacher) and discovered that I really enjoy teaching adults as well.as children.

I didn't blog about it as I was so busy getting to grips with my new job and the paperwork side of things. I've decided that, as I start a new beginners and improvers course next week, I will share my experiences with you all. I hope you enjoy it.