When I moved to Dundee over 6 years ago, I found Skillshare Dundee who specialized in recycling and teaching crafts. I attended a couple of their free workshops and was then asked if I would be interested in volunteering with them. This was the start of my volunteer work in Dundee where I was sharing my craft skills with others. I really enjoyed being part of the Skillshare Community and I made friends with other members.

I taught machine knitting, weaving, sewing, cardmaking, tie-dye, candle making, macramé, thread art, tatting as well as other crafts. The most popular workshop were the Tie-dye and Rag rug ones. When Skillshare Dundee moved to the Technology park I had the opportunity to have my very first studio.

It was great to have a place to go where I could be creative but to also have a studio too was a dream come true for me. I mostly kettle-dyed and hand-painted yarn in my studio. Through volunteering for Skillshare other organizations asked me to go to them to facilitate classes with them too. I did a few workshops for a ladies group at the Deaf Hub. I also found it so rewarding to do the few workshops I did in local care homes. It was then that I realized that this was what I wanted to do with my life. To teach crafts; as it makes my heart burst with joy to see others smile and have that sense of achievement when they have made something they thought they couldn’t have.

While waiting between contracts for temporary work at a local Call Center I handed in my craftwork C.V to Hearing Voices Network (HaVeN) on the Hilltown and little while later I was contacted and asked if I was still interested in volunteering teaching crafts there. I said yes so started a training course they were holding called Recovery From Psychosis. During my volunteering with HaVeN running the craft groups I also did Mental Health First Aid and Befriending. The courses have really helped me understand how mental health can affect us and have helped during my volunteering.

I started off volunteering once a week and then there was a request for a knitting group so myself and the other volunteers hosted 2 craft groups for quite a while. I have taught many crafts in HaVeN but the most popular has been the introduction of a 5D Diamond Painting group project we started last year. It has became a hobby for a few members and it can also help with mental health too as Diamond painting is very therapeutic. Diamond painting is repetitive and absorbing plus the finished results are amazing! The plan is in the future that HaVeN is going to have an Art Exhibition of everyone’s Diamond Painting and I can’t want to see it! At the moment due to current world events it may be a little while before this happens but it is definitely something to look forward.

This is a photograph of the kit I chose to make as part of the Diamond Painting HaVeN project.

Due to Covid19 and social distancing etc. I am not able to volunteer at the moment so I am doing what I can instead and that is to make up small free craft kits for those who used to attend the craft classes I facilitated at HaVeN. One day I will return but meanwhile I am doing video tutorials so this website is to help me connect, share, teach and inspire others to be creative. It’s good for our mental health but also for our soul!