Have you ever felt that you actually have it in you to design a pretty badass tattoo? Have you had a morbid fascination with what goes on behind the scenes with taxidermy? Or felt the urge to add some colour to your neighbourhood with the art of yarn bombing?
With Sydney Craft Week around the corner (it kicks off from October 9) Waverley Council is sharing the crafty love with Crafts You Haven't Tried, a program of affordable online workshops you can check out from home.
Kids can learn the ropes of finger knitting and crochet with a Yarn Bombing Bootcamp on Thursday, October 8 (10-11.30am) from local artist Kirsten Fredericks. While Fredericks has built a reputation for herself with woollen works that depict anatomical extremities and tampons (check out her Instagram on @kirstfred), in this Zoom workshop for 9-13 year-olds ($10) will teach them to “yarn bomb” everyday objects like a household plant, bag or t-shirt.
Acclaimed tattoo artist and portrait painter Jimi May (Little Tokyo, Bondi Ink) will guide you through an evening of Tattoo Design on Tuesday, October 13 (6-8pm, $5). Anyone keen to improve their drawing skills or who just has an interest in tattoo design will leave this workshop with a personalised design and simple transferring tricks to turn your sketch into a piece of inked art.
Ever been curious about taxidermy? Gain some perspective on this macabre yet strangely beautiful craft with Talkin’ Taxidermy, a virtual open studio visit with the team from Rest in Pieces, who specialise in the “dying arts”. This Zoom event on Wednesday, October 14 (6-8pm, $5), is “not for the squeamish”. The team will demonstrate multiple processes of preparing and mounting specimens as well as discuss the age-old practice and history of taxidermy.
If you’d prefer to piece something together that requires less handling of animal remains, leading local collage artist Stephen Tierney (China Heights Gallery, Sydney Collage Society) will host a talk and demonstration on Contemporary Collage on Thursday, October 15 (6-7.30pm, $5). Tierney is known for his striking, minimalist collages assembled using images cut from vintage magazines of the ’40s and ’50s.
If you didn’t get around to picking up a quirky new hobby while the city was locked down, you haven’t missed the boat. With the adult classes at just $5 a pop, the stakes are low, but the potential to gain tit-bits for dinner table discussions (if not a new skill) are high. Check out the full program here.
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