A few weekends ago I sacrificed my beloved Saturday lie-in for an early train to Bristol for the first Outlaw Artisan Craft Show in the city.  Based in the Passenger Shed, it was a weekend of  craft sellers, demonstrations and workshops. I booked myself a couple of workshops, making sure I also had plenty of time for my favourite activity – shopping! The entry fee was £6 and the first couple of 100 people who arrived were given a copy of a recent Mollie Makes or Homemaker magazine.

My first workshop of the day was bookbinding with Tim from Camel Winter Books. All the workshops were paid and this one was £15 which included making two notebooks to take away with you. We were told a bit about the basics of bookbinding, for example, how to tell the grain of the paper (crucial for folding purposes), the best tools for the job, and some simple techniques. It was lovely to hear from someone who was so obviously passionate about their craft and to hear that it doesn’t necessarily have to be an expensive activity. My results were mixed, the pages are not exactly neat but they’re bot definitely passable!

The Demo Theatre had a line-up of makers who demonstrated their crafts with little how-tos for any one who was thinking about giving it a try, or was just interested in the process. Demonstrations included ink rolling, making a terrarium and making a non-sew tutu for the little ones.

The Make and Take Theatre was halfway between the workshops and the demo theatre and free to attend. Your table had all the supplies you needed to make along with the crafter on stage. I went to the wool pom-pom with Thimbleson. Apparently all you need to do to make a delightful little pom-pom is wrap wool round a fork, tie it off, and cut. Easy! Well, my first one was a total fail, it fell apart immediately! Luckily, I was sat next to a very nice lady who helped me to get the hang of it. Thank you nice lady!

There was a few options for food including Vietnamese street food, but I couldn’t resist the call of the epic looking pastries and cakes at The Cornish Hen stand. I had the best sausage roll, a chorizo scotch egg and an enormous slab of chocolate while I had a flick through my Mollie Makes magazine and listened to the musical entertainment.

My last activity of the day was the Screen Printing workshop with The Art Troupe. This was £10 and although I have done screen printing before, it’s been over 10 years, and I was interested to see how it could do done on a small scale at home. The answer – an embroidery hoop for your screen – duh! I thought this was so clever and will be giving it a go at home for sure (once we get a bigger place). I didn’t have a plan for my images so I ended up making a fairly basic stegosaurus and an orca design. I have to say I really like the orca though!

Of course, I had to buy myself a few goodies. From Ladybird Likes, I bought a dino bracelet and a set of motivational cards, stickers and badge – I need a helluva lotta motivation at the moment! I bought a cute/creepy cat x-ray necklace from Buku Forest Studios and a dinosaur brooch and a lucky dip set of cards from Hannah Stevens.

And my favourite item/splurge of the day was this cheetah necklace from Sstutter. The detail is just incredible – it has geometric etching on it, it’s just so beautiful and unique. Deffo found a new favourite shop!

All in all, I had a fantastic day at Outlaw. I really enjoyed the workshops and the friendly atmosphere. The next one is in August in Falmouth, so if you’re in that area, definitely check it out. I have my fingers and toes crossed that they’ll be back in Bristol before too long.