What do book artists do all day?: Learning new Skills

Over the last week I have been on a couple of workshops and have had a whale of a time.
First off the chickens. Chris Moss showed us how to make wire chickens. Had a great time making the mine although wasn't anything like as good as the things Chris makes. http://www.chrismossart.co.uk
The workshop took place at Horticap in Harrogate. This is a place well worth a visit in its own right, it's a place for people with learning difficulties to develop skills in gardening. The gardens are great to wander around with some interesting pieces of sculpture dotted around in among the the plants. A very tranquil spot. They have a small cafe and gift shop as well, here we were given a lovely lunch of sandwiches and broccoli soup. We were in a potting shed to work so had plenty of room to work and we all manage to produce a chicken or a duck.

This was mine it has got more tail feathers than it appears to have.

When I got home I was then preparing myself for my next trip away. But first needed to make a few more books as stock for the craft fairs I doing in November.

Managed to make three.

Then went to Artison in Masham https://artison.co.uk/ and did a 2 day workshop, learning have to make Stained glass. Had a great time, was totally engrossed and the time flew by. I didn't want to push my self by making things too complicated. Firstly I decided on straight lines which I thought might be easier but found they brought their own challenges. It was supposed to be an abstract landscape. I was pleased with the result. Have learnt a lot from it. I had a couple of hours left after finishing my first one so had chance to make a second again a very simple pattern and was chuffed to get it done in the time, showing I had learnt something and still had all my fingers. So it was win win.