Keep learning (me too)

It has been some time since I have written an update, so first I am going to give you some dates for 2025 and then there’s a quick whistle tour as to why I have been so busy.

January – Seasons Art Classes – Tiptree Community Centre
14 week classes Mondays 10 -1 pm or 2 – 5pm
OR Wednesdays 10 – 1pm.
14 weeks starting 6th or 8th January 2025.
Contact for more details: 01621 818593
Or look at the Facebook page

The Seasons Art Classes – Tiptree and Witham classes have now progressed to 2 days of teaching which is lovely. Our new course starts on 6th January and will take you through a journey from drawing, to oil pastels, to watercolour to acrylics. It is a lovely learning community with beginners and those who just want to set aside time to do art.

CG Crafts

As it has been such a busy year I haven’t done so many classes at home but I have now added the following dates for Spring and as always am happy to tailor classes and look at dates to suit.

15th March – Enamelled Jewellery for Beginners. 10 – 3pm

22nd March – Silver Clay Jewellery for Beginners. 10 – 3pm

26th April – Silver Clay Leaf Jewellery. 10 – 4pm

10th May – Silver Bypass ring using Sterling silver clay – 10 – 4pm

24th May – Enamelled Jewellery for Beginners and beyond. 10 – 3pm

7th June – Make Stud earrings – use a combination of silver clay and traditional silversmithing to make stud earrings.

21st June – Enamelled jewellery – expand your skills. 10 – 3pm

Book here (or buy craft vouchers and organise a date to suit). Or Email me to organise a tailored class

Watershed Studio

I am continuing to teach at Watershed Studios in St Osyth – Book here

8th March – Silver Clay for Beginners

19th July – Feltmaking – creating felt with a ball to make 3D bowls.

18th October – Creating Silver clay keepsake jewellery

ACL

One of the reasons I have been so busy is that the ACL courses have now progressed to Colchester as well as Basildon – unfortunately, as these are accredited courses, they do suck up quite a bit of admin time so it has left little time for me to do other things. This has been a steep learning curve for me in terms of writing a 14 week class, meeting unit criteria and collating evidence for the examining board. I’m working on ways to rectify this. 🙂

At The Bench Academy
I’m learning too. I have started a Silversmithing diploma with At The Bench, which is a really great course, I’m learning how to do things such as piercing and soldering properly, which I hope to help me inform you with your design choices in the Silver clay classes – for example adding soldering to make stud earrings,

So all this adds up to little time to do admin. Ahh well. What have you been learning this year? What do you hope to learn in 2025.

Busy, busy, busy

Sometimes it seems like I fall off the edge of the cliff in terms of updating the website, so I thought I would just pop on now and say I am still here, busily working on various projects and hoping to soon get a little time to add some new dates to the website.
Over the last few months, I have successfully run 2 accredited classes, which I wrote myself. My students were extraordinary – they had so many skills to bring to the class and so many ideas, that I found teaching them an amazing experience. I will share some of the pictures of their work in this post. I have also recently won an art competition that was close to my heart as it was about the climate crisis – I used a piece I made in my level 2 art award (higher GCSE level). Speaking of art, our 14-week art class at The Seasons (Tiptree and Witham) has just started up again and we have a record number of new students, we’ve just finished sketching and I cannot wait to get them started on oil pastels.
We are now at the serious end of school for my eldest daughter – as I write she is halfway through her Graphics exam (and enjoying it) many more exams to go though. Mimi is just about to do her D of E expedition.
So it is a time of stress, decision-making (which jobs are actually worth it) and hoping the weather gets better, so I can tackle the enchanted forest that is my back garden…especially as I have a few classes coming up in my garden workshop. Oh, and I need to get back to my writing work – this reformation piece isn’t going to write itself.
When you read all that back, no wonder I am tired. 🙂
That’s all for now, hope all is good with you. If you are interested in classes, do get in touch.
Toni x

Essex Classes

I am really excited to update you that the next lot of Seasons Art classes which will start at the end of July are being planned. The gallery shows a selection of what the students have learnt over the 14 week classes. Starting with drawing techniques we build up the basic building blocks and then move on to oil pastels, watercolour and finally acrylics before completing our time with a session to mount our pieces and then the exhibition – which is an opportunity to enjoy the work created over the 14 weeks. If you’d like to know more message me and I can pass on booking details or you can take a look at our website which will be available for bookings soon.

Classes coming up

Other Classes coming up
As usual get in touch if you’d like to book a class in my garden workshop or click on the links below to book directly with venues
CG Crafts, Colchester – dates and times to suit
Pink Parrot Pottery – Silver clay with embedded gemstones on Saturday 3rd June
Pink Parrot Pottery – Encaustic art on Saturday 15th July
EJ Art Creative, Woodbridge – Silver clay layered pendant on Saturday 24th June
FSC Flatford Mill, East Bergholt – Silver Clay day on Saturday 1st July
Watershed Studio, St Osyth – Feltmaking: creating landscapes using felting techniques on Tuesday 18th July

This month’s update

The Peers Family are back from a lovely holiday on the Isle of Wight and back to normality!
Before we went away I restocked my shelf at the fabulous Dedham Art and Craft Centre. If you are in the market for unique gifts, look no further. I am situated on the second floor near the clothing section but there are three whole floors of exciting handcrafted and also hand-selected items for sale.

With summer on its way, I’m pleased to say that for the moment at least it feels ok to book a few things and almost look forward to them, having had a recent bout of covid in our house you can never be entirely sure but optimism is daring to creep back. With that in mind I just wanted to tell you about a couple of classes I have coming up.

Sat 18th June – Silver Clay beginners here at CG Crafts. This is a very small class, so you will have plenty of attention and access to lots of tools and resources at the beginning of your silver jewelry journey. If you’ve been before I am happy to extend the techniques you have tried.


Fri 15th to Sun 17th July – Jewellery weekend residential class at the amazing FSC flatford Mill – although you don’t have to stay if you are local. I will be covering both Enamelling and Silver clay and you’ll have plenty of time to work on your own designs and try out new techniques. Food is supplied whether you stay or not. It’s such a beautiful location who can fail to be inspired? Plus you’ll go home with lots of amazing jewellery.

These pictures were taken at my beginner’s class held at Ejart Creative, Woodbridge

Black Friday weekend Offer

Oh go on then I will do an offer plus something new!
I’m offering £10 off the price of full day class vouchers from Friday 27th November to Saturday 5th December 2020. Book now to avoid missing out.
New for 2021! I’m now offering Zoom classes for 2021 – 2 hour gift vouchers available now.