Te Awamutu’s Wendy Bellhouse with one of the journals made at the workshop she recently ran.
A creative journaling workshop, thought to be Te Awamutu’s first, has ended with organiser Wendy Bellhouse ‘blown away’ by the imagination shown by participants.
Four of the workshop participants with their finished journals, from left, Vienna Seabright, Addi Brears, Sienna Derbyshire and Tayla McCown.
Bellhouse secured a $1300 Creative Communities Grant to hold the workshop for the town’s young people. It ran from July 14 to August 25 at the Rosebank Art Centre.
“Being a home-schooling parent, I understand how it is sometimes difficult to find things to do that don’t need a big financial input, and there are limited opportunities for young people in Te Awamutu,” she said. “I wanted to provide an affordable opportunity for them to come together and make a journal or a book… to compile pages, create signatures, make books and built artistic networks.”
Some of the journal’s pages are painted with food colouring and given pockets to hold precious tickets or tags. Photo: Viv Posselt
New skills taught included painting, collage, stitching and stamping, mixed media, mark making and sketching.
She charged $5 for each session attended. Six came along, aged between 11 and 16; four are students at regular schools while two are home-schooled.
A creative person herself, Bellhouse steered the group through the process of crafting a scrapbook, or journal, from scratch. She used cracker boxes, showed them how books were stitched, pages attached and gave them free rein to paint pages or add pockets, flaps and ribbons. They used materials sourced from op-shops, including handmade paper and vintage stationery.
The all-important components of journal-making, including stitching on this one made from a cracker box, was part of the learning process. Photo: Viv Posselt
“A lot of the messaging is also about sustainability,” she added.
The workshop isn’t Bellhouse’s first crack at doing something different. About a year ago, she started what are called ‘Craft Night at the Regent’ events where groups of enthusiasts bring their craftwork along to a movie night and beaver away under lights that are just dimmed slightly.
“We do it on a weeknight during the school term – never during the holidays – and have a great time watching a movie and crafting together,” she said. “It good for us and gets people into the cinema.”
A bookmark made with components including stitching and crochet. Photo: Viv Posselt
Te Awamutu’s Wendy Bellhouse with one of the journals made at the workshop she recently ran. Photo: Viv Posselt
