There are lots of ways to try and learn something new. You can start with video tutorials, books, online courses or in person workshops. As a workshop provider I truly believe there are a lot of benefits to attending workshops. Here are my top 5 advantages to learning a new craft in a workshop.
Protected time. - once you have booked a workshop and paid for it, the likelihood is that you will go to it. You will make sure that you can attend. After all, you have invested good money in it. If you chose instead to spend that time learning something new at home, would you actually do it? what’s the betting you would find something more pressing to do instead? It’s so easy at home to get distracted by our never ending to-do lists and household chores. ‘I’ll just do this first’ quickly becomes ‘ I’ve run out of time to try that now today’ By investing in a workshop you are setting aside precious time to work on your own creativity and wellbeing. It is truly ‘You time’; there is nothing else you need to be doing or thinking about. You can get truly absorbed in your activity. When was the last time you invested in yourself wholeheartedly in this way?
2. Learning with other people. - Although you are carving out time for yourself, there is no doubt that one of the very best things about any workshop is the other people on it. After all, they are clearly interested in some of the same things as you, and are probably at around the same skill level. You are all in the same boat, which is a great leveller. And in a small group setting, which most workshops are, people make friends over their new craft. Participants in my courses may start shyly, but they soon start chatting, laughing, swapping stories and life experiences, finding things in common, and they give each other ideas suggestions and encouragement as they learn. Workshop learning is a really supportive environment in which to try something new for the first time or develop your emerging skills. And if you’re still not sure, why not book to go with a friend?
3. Tailored tuition - If you can learn from the other participants, it goes without saying that your tutor will be a mine of information. They are doubtless masters of their craft, in most cases with many years of experience, both in making and teaching. Whatever mistakes you make, they have made them, and certainly will have seen them before. Suppose you keep digging too deep into your new Lino print and getting your gouge stuck? Your tutor will guide you to change the angle of your carving tool until you are taking way exactly the right of material. Perhaps you are learning hand embroidery, but your French knots just keep on coming undone? Your tutor will spend time showing you how to perfect your technique. Tutors will tailor their teaching to exactly what YOU need to learn. And of course, you are spending the day, or at least a chunk of it, with a master craftsperson. Pick their brains, ask questions, and ask for their suggestions and advice on your work. Can you get all of that that from a book or You-tube? Of course not.
4. Try before you buy. - Many craft, printmaking including, require quite a lot of specialist materials and equipment. Special inks, special papers, cutting tools, rollers, a printing press, a drying rack. Are you going to invest in all of these materials just to have a try? You could…but if you want to do some pottery, or glass fusing, or enamelling, for instance, you’re going to need access to a kiln. For screen printing, you’ll need a screen washer. Workshops may sometimes seem expensive, but compared to the equipment and resources you’ll need access to, they are often very affordable indeed. It really makes sense to go where the kit is, at least until you know you’ve definitely caught the bug!
5. A sense of achievement. - Usually, on a workshop, there is an end goal in mind. The intention is that by the end of a session, you will have created something. To completion. It will be finished, ready to take home. Or, perhaps, to collect in a few days, if it need firing. You get to learn something and create an outcome in one day. Knowing that spurs you on to try hard, and gives you an enormous amount of satisfaction once it is completed. Again, you might not allow yourself that luxury, at home, on your own. In my experience people generally work harder and create a better standard of work, when working alongside other people, rather than when working alone and unsupervised. At the end of the workshop you feel rightly proud of your achievements. Here’s some women at the end of a recent printmaking workshop. Those smiles say it all. 😊
I really hope that has inspired you to try out a craft workshop near you. If you’d like to see what’s available in your area, try www.findacraft.co.uk. If you’re local to the West Midlands, and are interested in giving some printmaking a go, my upcoming workshops are listed on my website learning page. I’d love to meet you at one!