Beginner's Macramé Wall Hanging Workshop at The Blender Gallery

First Macramé workshop for me ever but also in Athens and in this venue. Such a beautiful gallery! I felt so grateful the guys were open to offering their space for this workshop.

I arrived in good time to set up my rails and the girls, Chrysa and Leonie from The Blender Gallery, helped me set up the space along with my friend Maria who kindly brought the wine for the event. A delicious selection of red and chilled white wine from their family's estate vineyard, Vatista Vineyard, in the Peloponnese. 

Slowly, slowly the ladies gathered and we sat around the table. The vibe was friendly and relaxed. We had the whole gallery to ourselves, the music was on, the wine was flowing and you could see everyone was excited and curious as they all admitted they had no idea what macramé is about and some had never done crafts before!

So each of the ladies chose their stick and bundle of rope and headed for the rails and we began. 

We started with the larks head knot. A basic knot to attach the rope to the stick and then moved onto the square knot. You could still hear chatting and giggling and Katerina even said she was still thinking of work. 

Slowly, we began designing and creating. See once you get the knot, it's up to you to compose your wall hang as you are inspired to. And that's what this is all about. I am here to show you how to make the knot and the ways you can combine them but the beauty of arts, crafts, and making is how it brings out each person's creativity. I do not like telling people what to do or how; I believe we all have our own way, our own visions and if anything I like to encourage each person to embrace their own uniqueness.

One of my friend's Maria, when I asked her if she would like to join this workshop the night before, she said, "I don't think I've got what it takes." I asked, "Do you want to try?" "Yes, yes!" she replied. So I said, "Then you've got it. It's making knots. We can all make knots."

Not only did she make knots, she learned really fast and she made a lovely wall hanging at the end. What was most rewarding was her saying as she left "Thank you, I really needed that!" You can see her knotting away below and smiling.

As all these beautiful ladies knotted away, the voices died down. You could feel the concentration in the room and I loved watching them stop, take a step back and look at their work trying to work out where to knot next. This is what making for mindfulness is all about. Katerina went from saying that she could not switch off from work to forgetting all about it. 

Working with these ladies just reaffirmed everything I already know and have experienced first hand about learning a new craft. Learning a new craft strengthens our concentration and memory; focusing on the instructions, concentrating, and then proceeding to carry the instructions out for yourself is such an amazing esteem building exercise. As I mentioned already, you explore your own creativity and as it's a whole new exercise more often than not, you end up surprising yourself with the results as well. Speaking for myself, I had had a tough week and in those three hours the only thoughts that occupied my mind were teaching and helping others bring out their creativity. 
 

Three hours later we were all shattered but in such a satisfying way. We had connected over knots and I always love to see people of all ages and backgrounds coming together to create together. I look forward to many more workshops, at The Blender Gallery and in general. Am loving this new path for myself and teaching these workshops has reignited even further my desire to learn so that I can teach more.

Below you can see us all together and the ladies holding up their work!