Latest reviews

Richard Pride reviewed: Spoon carving with Bobby Spooner at Cambridge Art Makers

"Fantastic day! Olly was very knowledgeable, and very patient with everyone. Would thoroughly recommend."

Kevin McHale reviewed: Wood turning courses in the Midlands

"A wonderful day given to me, as a birthday present, by my wife. Mark’s skilful instruction and infinite patience enabled us to come away with a beautiful hand-turned bowl. This was not the only product of the day, however. We both felt we had given our brains a good ‘work out’, learned new skills and enjoyed much fun. Fully recommend this course. It really was a great birthday gift."

Jon Townsin reviewed: French Polishing & Woodcare - Beginners Course - 1 Day

"A really enjoyable day's course which has given me the impetus to restore an old table. Ollie, is a friendly and knowledgeable teacher who explains the process well and helps out when needed. The links to materials and course notes make the next steps easy. An excellent introduction to french polishing and furniture restoration. Thanks Ollie."

Tim Guile reviewed: ** SPECIAL OFFER ** 10% off - Bladesmithing Experience Day - Wiltshire

"Very informative and enjoyable day, easy paced with time to discuss things"

Tim Guile reviewed: Bladesmithing Experience Day

"Very informative and enjoyable day, easy paced with time to discuss things"

Jamie Mould reviewed: Wood turning courses

"After mentioning to my wife I’d like to try woodturning, she very kindly gave me a birthday present of a day’s experience with George. She couldn’t have chosen better. My day with George started with a cup of tea (made by the delightful Sue), a nice chat and then straight into the workshop. George is a very patient, informative and knowledgeable teacher. He takes you through step by step of what is required to turn your first bowl and by the end of the day (after more tea and a delicious lunch) you walk away with a bowl that looks very professionally turned. As a consequence of this day’s experience I am now a proud owner of my own lathe and spend rather a lot of time in my shed now!!!"

Fiona reviewed: Oil painting for the scared - 8 week course

"Inspiring tuition, great friendly encouraging environment. I highly recommend."

Christine Fairfull reviewed: Bespoke candle making workshop - Edinburgh

"Excellent course, made very welcome and very interesting to hear all about various types of candles"

David Hartley reviewed: Wood turning courses in the Midlands

"I was interested in taking up woodturning as a hobby but thought it would be a good idea to try a course first. I was very nervous but Mark quickly put me at ease. I would recommend the course without reservation except to say be prepared to work hard. You certainly get your money's worth and I came away with a finished bowl and masses of information to get me started with my own lathe. Excellent course."

Oliver Marshall reviewed: Wood turning courses in the Midlands

"Mark was a fantastic teacher. I spent a whole day in his wonderful workshop learning basic wood turning skills. Highly recommended."

Elizabeth Thomas reviewed: Make a set of stacking rings silversmithing workshop

"My daughter wanted to do a jewellery making course with her friends for her 14th birthday, and after looking around we chose this one. We had an excellent time, each making 2 stacking rings. Andrew was a great tutor and took us through the process step by step. There were plenty of tools to go around and he guided us calmly through the process. We all ended up with beautiful, professional looking rings."

Tony Mellerick reviewed: Wood turning courses in the Midlands

"Woodturning was something I had thought about trying for sometime, but never actually did anything about, until my wife finally got fed up with hearing it and bought me a day course for my birthday! As the day of the course approached, my doubts started to increase, with it being a one to one session there would be no hiding my complete lack of woodworking skills and what if I just made a complete mess of it? As it turned out I needn't have worried at all. From the moment I arrived and Mark made the tea, I felt that I was in safe hands. The course was very comprehensive, without causing information overload and got down to the practical work very quickly. Mark's style of teaching was very laid back and I felt that it was ok to make mistakes as part of the learning process. He was very patient and I felt comfortable that no question was too stupid, apart from maybe "Do you want another cup of tea yet?". Over all, a very interesting and fun day, with the added bonus of taking home a bowl, which now has pride of place on the sideboard. The course certainly sparked my interest in the craft and I am now looking at buying my own lathe to see what I can do myself."

Meriel Antoniou reviewed: From fleece to fibre 2-day spinning workshop

"This was an excellent course for anyone wanting to try their hand at spinning for the first time. Elaine is a wonderful teacher with a huge amount of patience. She shared her knowledge with enthusiasm and welcomed us into her home. We were able to experiment on several different types of wheel and were taught various different methods for each stage of the process. I have certainly got the bug as a result of this course and am already searching for the spinning wheel that will transform my own flock of Ryeland sheeps fleeces into yarn!"

Claire reviewed: Make you own fan bird

"I did the fanbird course in May and made two fanbirds which I am going to give as gifts. Everything was really well organised and it's a very fun activity. Steve also helped me organise my tools and gave lots of advice so I can carry on at home."

Carolyn reviewed: From fleece to fibre 2-day spinning workshop

"This course is brilliant, can’t believe how much I learnt in 2 days. Elaine has a very encouraging and relaxed teaching method, thoroughly recommend this course."

Cartmel Handspun Spinning School responded:

"Thank you. It was a pleasure to work with you."

Pauline Johnston reviewed: From fleece to fibre 2-day spinning workshop

"I've had a great time learning the process of spinning and this course has given me the confidence to start producing my own hand spun yarn in the future. Elaine is a fabulous tutor, her passion for what she does shines through and is inspiring. I also met two lovely, interesting ladies also on the course with me. Elaine brings you into her home, treats you to a tasty lunch and lots of tea,"it's thirsty work!" At the end of day two you leave with your very own yarn and lots of good advice to carry forward."

Ian wheeler reviewed: Willow piglet/ small pig workshop Eastleigh Hampshire

"First class tuition First class food Made very welcome A very good day."

Willow and Crafts responded:

"Hi Ian and Sheila thank you for your lovely review. it is much appreciated Best wishes Jacquie"

Valerie reviewed: Learn to Felt - An Introduction to Felt Making in Birmingham

"A wonderful workshop with the opportunity to create two pieces of felt. Emma gave a really useful introduction to felting and then demonstrated the processes really clearly. Not only did we have a lovely choice of wool tops to create the felt base but also lots of threads and bits to embellish the pieces. Great studio, brilliant tutor and a lovely creative way to spend a few hours."

Liz Pearl reviewed: Introducing Macrame Knots and Intricate Designs

"Mary is a wonderfully kind, experienced and patient teacher. She explained each of the key knots and guided us through each stage of the sample with marvellously clear instructions, and with tea and biscuits too! It was a lovely afternoon. As a complete beginner, it was a delight to see my sampler take shape so fast, and felt I had learned a new skill by the end of the afternoon. I'm now excited to experiment with Macramé designs and planning my next Macramé project!"

Jennifer Denning reviewed: Lampworking Workshop: Half Day Beginners Workshop

"I brought my daughter for her 14th birthday and we both had a really inspiring, enjoyable time. It was nice to find someone who was prepared to have someone of my daughter's age as many places stipulate 16. I've always had a fascination with glass work and my daughter had been keen to try some for a while too. She was particularly keen to work with hot glass so Suzanne's workshop was perfect for her. It's also nice that beads can be easily used afterwards to create a memento of the occasion. It was a nice environment to work in, Suzanne was very friendly and helpful and the biscuits were also very nice ?"

Suzanne Jewellery responded:

"So please you both enjoyed your workshop, I look forward to seeing what you made with your beads. Thank you for taking the time to write a review."

Leonie Buntin reviewed: Business candle making workshop - one to one

"Great to meet Kerry. We really enjoyed our workshop - just what we needed to answer a million questions about candle making! We left feeling more confident and knowledgeable about the whole process and Kerry provided us with ample notes to assist. We look forward to more courses with Kerry."

Jan walker reviewed: Watercolour painting day - Floral & botanical - with artist Laura Andrew

"Laura was totally inspiring and gave so much information and knowledge on the day. As she only has a very small group of four this enabled us all to have as much of her time with each of us as necessary. She also provided the most excellent afternoon tea to enhance the wonderful day of watercolour painting. Thank you so much Laura."

Lesley Doyle reviewed: Mount cutting and effective presentation for painters and photographers

"As a photographer, there is the creative flow of taking, processing, cropping and printing a photograph, but attending Lynne's excellent course reinforced emphatically for me that mounting is another essential part of that creative flow, and one not to be neglected or handed over to a framing shop! Lynne is an excellent teacher, attentive and responsive to the needs of her students, and I was very pleased indeed to take home my mounted work at the end of the day to show off. The day was well structured, with good notes and demonstrations moving quickly on to preparing and cutting mounts ourselves, we were so engrossed and caught up in it we lost track of time! An excellent day, and very pleased indeed that I attended."

Marianne Browning reviewed: Weekend upholstery courses - Oxfordshire & Berkshire Borders

"I loved every minute of this 2 day weekend course. Philip is an excellent teacher with endless patience and enthusiasm and he helped me every step of the way. I managed to complete my project in the two days, and am so pleased with the result. I was looking for a course where I could work on my own project rather than everyone working on the same footstool or drop in chair seat, and this definitely fitted the bill. I thoroughly recommend this course - so much so that I have booked another one. I met some lovely new like-minded people working on completely different projects, with different levels of experience and I found that this added an extra dimension to the weekend. Tip: choose something very simple for a first project. I was amazed at how many steps were involved even for my simple chair seat."

Kathryn Rawlinson reviewed: Asymmetrical basket making courses - two days with Joe Gregory at Creative with Nature Todmorden Yorkshire

"Jo is such a great instructor with an obvious super passion for the craft which comes across in her teaching. This was my second course and again I loved it. The atmosphere in the studio is just lovely, I always feel very welcome. I have learnt so much and look forward to my next course. I would recommend without hesitation to anyone looking to book a course with Jo. Kathryn"

Creative with Nature Ltd responded:

"thank you Katheryn! a lovely review: ) and a gorgeous basket you wove too!! Joe. xxx"