COVID-19 Update
Due to the Government’s new COVID-19 guidelines we have had to suspend the Cody Makers workshops for the foreseeable future. We will update this page as soon as they can resume.
Hello Makers
Welcome to October – the traditional beginning of the Autumn season, with Harvest Festival celebrations, the sharing of locally grown produce and thoughts about the cooler days to come. I’ve had the sweetest tomatoes with my lunches here at Cody Dock and hazelnuts have been in abundance – I just need to invest in a good nutcracker!
We will be playing with pumpkins and squashes towards the end of the month – and capturing the beautiful colours of autumn and darker evenings.
Do book up for the Sunday workshops in October – Retro String Art, Go Pumpkins and a Mystery Make!
TotallyThames Open Day
As part of the Totally Thames Festival, Cody Makers encouraged visitors to dive in and get creative. The repurposed wooden A-frame became a loom and I weaved the RIver Lea using scraps of fabric. People strolling by the actual river here on the Open Day would have thoughts about what they could see, smell and hear. I invited visitors to weave their thoughts into my textile piece by crafting a small wooden tag with an image and a word or two. The response was so good: some people lost in painting and reflection, others rifling through the materials I’d provided to find an image that captured their mood. I still have a bit more weaving to do, then I’ll unhook the river from the loom and display it in the Gallery with an array of treasure rescued from the river by litter pickers.
The ever popular tiny houses were in demand – maybe we should create a tiny village next time!
Clay Away Day
Look at these amazing leaves created by North East London Healthcare Providers who were at the Dock for an Away Day:
I was so excited to work with modelling clay, a craft I hadn’t tried since school. I wasn’t certain our ideas would work: impressing a real leaf into a slab to get an image, cutting it out and then inscribing an affirmation. The results were all different and the next step is to get the pieces fired so they can be displayed here at the Dock…
Watch this space!
Great Big Green Week
18 – 26 September was Great Big Green Week: a national week of events celebrating action on climate change.
Cody Makers opened up the Gallery mid week to talk all things Mend and Make Do! How do we keep our clothes out of landfill? How do we mend and up-cycle what we have, how is the Fashion Industry thinking differently about waste and sustainability.
Elvis the upcycled jumper monkey was guest of honour and made quite a few friends!
What’s Coming Up...
Wednesday Maker Days
10am – 1pm
Wednesdays offer a volunteering opportunity to join Cody Makers and work on current projects. There is a lot of change afoot, Cody Dock is transforming over the next few months with big building works. Cody Makers can cast a creative eye over the landscape and help with signage, revamping the volunteer areas or help mount exhibitions by partner projects as we work and grow together.
Sunday Workshops
11am – 3pm
Sundays are crafty meetups with tea and chat! Come and learn a new skill like knitting and weaving or make wooden birds from offcuts and rusty nails. Maybe you’ve always wanted to junk journal or try painting?
These stand alone Sunday workshops are a chance to develop the artist in you and meet like minded crafters. See what’s on offer on the Cody Maker’s calendar.
Workshop fee: £6 to cover costs.
Meet Abi
I am your Maker-In-Residence alchemist guiding you through our crafting journey. I ran with scissors from an early age, playing with timber, nails and discarded shoe boxes, painting and fixing the world around me.
As an adult I made stuff for Theatre, wrote plays and stories for TV and continued to craft. I have landed here at Cody Dock in order to re-wild my brain and explore how to blend found materials and sustainability with crafty techniques. Come and join me!
Instagram: @jitterbug65
Website: www.abibown.com
This month’s Cody Makers is brought to you by…
The Goldcrest
With the firecrest, the goldcrest is the UK’s smallest bird. They’re dull greyish-green with a pale belly and a black and yellow stripe on their heads, which has an orange centre in males. Their thin beak is ideally suited for picking insects out from between pine needles.
Hawthorn Berries
The bark of the Hawthorn tree is brown-grey, knotted and fissured its twigs are slender and covered in thorns.The flowers are highly scented, white or occasionally pink and once pollinated by insects, they develop into deep-red fruits known as ‘haws’.