Handmade Movement Singapore . . .

(Hi there! I haven't gone away . . . I'm just preparing for my big trip to the States for the next 3 weeks. So I've been busy wrapping up the semester at school and finishing up some handmade gifts. Please excuse my absence and know that I will return to my normal frequency of posts very soon! Happy holidays!)

To get my Christmas craft on, I headed down to The Foothills of Fort Canning at Clarke Quay.   

The workshops I attended were run by the lovely ladies of Handmade Movement. Handmade Movement is a local organization helping artisans reach out to the community and encourage appreciation for unique items that are handmade with love and attention. They are putting on a craft fair in January and I have been chosen to help them decorate the giant space that is Fort Canning. Some of my proposed installations can be seen below, on either side of the flyer advertising the event.

To help fundraise for this major event, they have been holding $35 craft workshops. I attended the past two workshops and had a wonderful time!

HANDMADE MOVEMENT WORKSHOP #1

The first workshop I attended was called Merry Revelry and featured craft projects selected by Ann Thomas of Beautiful Revelry. She led us in making pompoms, sparkly clothespins, handmade postcards, and paper ornaments.  

While I had made most of the items before, never had I made the now-popular award ornament. I was excited to see how simple it was to create.  

Each workshop included a station where you could screen print your own handbag from pre-made Handmade Movement screens and for a minimal fee.

It was exciting to see so many people crowded into such a small space, crafting away. Crafting itself is not new to Singapore, but making things for sale and just to get creative is new. In the United States--with Martha Stewart and Etsy and Poppytalk and Craft Mafia and Renegade--it feels like crafting for innovation and to make a living has been around forever. But it's relatively new here and I'm happy to take part!

The workshop went strong for 3 hours, and at the end of it we received a goody bag and a cupcake. Perfect! Not-to-mention, I am now obsessed with glitter paper. (What a surprise!)

HANDMADE MOVEMENT WORKSHOP #2

The next workshop I attended was called Carve, Print, and Wrap. At this workshop, we carved small eraser-like blocks into whatever we wanted and then printed them onto small paper bags and sheets of wrapping paper.

They had very cute templates out for us to use, but I decided to go with the word cheery. (Originally I had the word cheer sketched out but felt it was a little too cheerleader-y.)

I ended up being one of the first ones done carving and set about printing a large piece of wrapping paper. I took the end of my pencil and added polka dots for fun.

Once my sheet of wrapping paper was complete, I moved over to the bags. I made two bags for my nephews and one bag for my sister. I really liked how the pink cheer stood out on the brown paper bag.

At this workshop, not only did Handmade Movement feature a do-it-yourself screen printing station, but they also had several postcards, prints, stickers and other fun things that you could buy.

I was amazed at how quickly I got in-and-out of there. I was running late due to rain, but was able to create my design, carve it, print it, and leave within 2 hours time. See? Just a little bit of time can make a whole lot of crafty goodness! And at the end of this session? We received tiny little cakes. Mine was white chocolate!

I think it's safe to say:  I'll be back for more workshops and goodies in the New Year! Until then, watch for more posts involving the process of putting together the elements to help decorate the space for Handmade Movement's first-ever craft fair!