LEX BLAKEWAY AT SJB SCHOOL: DESIGN SKILLS, CRAFT SKILLS AND THEIR APPLICATION

Just back from a visit to SJB and Lex Blakeway's latest textile session with Year Six. There was a real sense of concentration and thoughtfulness in the room, with the children  caught up in the rhythms of the job in hand.  Every now and then you heard someone singing to themselves, sometimes a hand would go up and Lex,
Ms Davison and their supporters would move around the room offering advice and help on cutting patterns and fixing the children's designs to their bags.

The work looks lovely; we have the personalised needle books with their combinations of stitchcraft, beadwork, colour and surface and now the bags are on their way, with motifs ranging from initials, hearts, a pair of octopus and a few World Cup inspired combinations of red and white.

This isn't an easy process, and as we've said elsewhere during these sessions, if the process isn't followed then the work won't hold up. These children understand that, and are combining important crafting skills with decisions on colour and texture and applying them to a practical end.

No wanting to disturb, I took my photos from  a distance, but when anyone got up in search of beads, buttons or pins I asked how they
were finding the project and if they were having fun..some had found it easier than others,but were pleased with their progress, some  beamed with delight
in what they were doing and at what they had produced.
All were engaged, sure of getting help when they needed it, all getting the time to work through the process and find pleasure in it.