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Crafternoon: Embellished Origami

With Christmas fast approaching, guests were welcomed into Debbie Bryan’s brand new creative space for this festive class.

Headed by one of Debbie Bryan’s in-house talents, on Saturday the 29th of November 2014, the class begun by following the simple (once practiced!) steps of an origami box. The carefully selected pattern meant for a sweetly sized, all in one gift box.

As the afternoon Crafters begun to grasp the origami technique, they were welcomed to begin getting crafty with selecting and decorating papers for their final pieces. Having fun with an abundance of design ideas from stamps to sewing, they were also shown a few embellishment techniques for a textual look to their gift boxes.

As the class continued, Crafters were welcomed to an exclusive taster of delicious cakes for Debbie Bryan's upcoming Afternoon Tea offer. As more tea was topped up, they went on to adding the last touches to their three final festive origami gift boxes.

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Crafternoon: Vintage Photograph Book

Not only does Debbie Bryan own a wonderful archive of antique and locally made Laces, but they also house a shelf library of treasured vintage books too.

On the 22nd of November, Saturday's Crafters joined Debbie as she taught the craft of creating a one of a kind Vintage Photograph book.

As the Crafters searched through and selected their perfect pairing of lace and vintage book, Debbie went on to show them the first step of the Crafternoon; imprinting onto their chosen book.

With two methods of hand-printing to choose from and an abundance of design choices too, Crafters enjoyed the stunning imagery crafted with the Nottingham lace.

Practicing techniques onto coloured card, later used for bookmarks and page backgrounds, Crafters went onto choosing their final method to print onto their book.

As their front covers dried, beautiful embellishments were made to the inside pages. Figuring out the new meaning to each book, Debbie's Crafters dedicated pages to varying messages, scrapbook pages, places to hold dear photos and much more.

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Designer in Residence: Salt & Co.

Salt & Co. founder and slow fashion designer, Eloise Salter was welcomed at Debbie Bryan on Saturday the 8th of November 2014 to showcase her tailoring skills.

Trained in Savile Row bespoke tailoring, Eloise gave a stunning practical demonstration of how to make a double-jetted pocket.

Surrounded by ready to learn guests, Eloise sat at the head of table and first spoke of her Savile Row training.

With quintessential stories of the dos and donts in the trade, listening guests enjoyed the tales Eloise told of her years in the business.

As Eloise spoke, guest enjoyed gazing through her tailoring sketch books and past notes. She also pasted round samples of her work, including a pre-finished double jetted pocket she'd be later demonstrating. She explained the guests the varying types and traditions to pockets and elements of her stunning final coats.

At 2pm, Eloise wrapped up a final story as more tea and cake was topped up, guests were then treated to an exclusive taster of a new up and coming Debbie Bryan addition. A sweet Sloeberry Spirit tipple.

The Salt & Co. founder then went onto demonstrating how to tailor a double-jetted pocket.

Guests watched the mesmerizing ease of Eloise's hand-sewing and looked in detail as she passed round the group each step she took.

As Eloise spoke and sewed, guests were awe-inspired as the pocket begun to form together.

As Eloise finalized her crafted pocket, guests were amazed at the talent and quality of her finished piece. Answering final questions and finishing final tales of the tailoring world, Eloise invited all to try on the coats Debbie Bryan has on sale.

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#FirstFriday: Real Ale Taster

With the new expansion comes new ideas and Debbie Bryan’s own brand real ales are one of the many new offers the Lace Market shop will have available.

To celebrate a collaboration with Nottingham micro-brewery, Magpie Brewery, Debbie Bryan held a Real Ale Taster during November’s #FirstFriday.

From 6pm on the 7th of November a horde of eager guests arrived for the first-time event. Situated in the new creative space, guests were invited to later taste each of the varying ales.

Joined by head brewer Gavin and Magpie’s Katrina and Nick, guests were told of the different brews and the methods behind crafting them.

To add a sweetness to the evening's event, Magpie's Katrina handed out specialty chocolate brownies that we made using on of the many ales created in the local brewery.

Questions and answers flew around the room as guest enjoyed the evening's tipple, commenting on their favourite tastes and the excellence of them. 

As the evening drew to an end, guests continued to admire the new additional creative space of Debbie Bryan's Lace Market shop and placed purchases of their new fond favourite ales.

From the 20th of December Debbie Bryan will officially be selling all four variations of their own brand real ales, named after the lace industry heritage, from just £4.

They're also happy to announce they'll be introducing a variety of Sloeberry Spirits and Vodka Teas.

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Notts Festival of Words (continued): After-Hours with Poet & Print-maker

From the successes of last year’s collaborations, both Nottinghamshire poet, Deborah Tyler-Bennett and Printmaker Peter Clayton were back for Debbie Bryan’s 2014 FoW events.

Celebrating literature in one of its purest forms, Deborah and her captivating presence arrived as the Friday Crafternoon drew to an end.

Situated at the head of the table, all eyes were on Deborah as she begun succession of delectable poems. With a luminous air about her recitals, Deborah even graced guests with song to really put power into her poetry.

A round of applause embraced Deborah as she told one last poem for the evening as more tea and wine was poured.

Gathering around the his display in the shop, the ever-engaging Peter told stories about his work.

In a moment of complete coincidence and awe, Peter explained to guests about his inspiration from ‘The Humument', an original, somewhat similar form of the Craftenoon’s black-out poetry.

Pete then went on to discuss his latest works based on a project he recently completed with the Leicester Print Workshop. A few pieces he then went on to create from there now sit in the shop for sale.

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Crafternoon: Nottingham Festival of Words

Nottingham Festival of Words is an annual celebration of literature and art and this year Debbie Bryan hosted not only a special After-Hours event with two excellent guests to read and discuss their works, but a craftily created a Festival of Words inspired Crafternoon.

The Nottingham Festival of Words 2014 ran from the 13th – 19th October and this year Debbie Bryan’s collection of events ran on Friday the 17th.

From 3pm, the creative tools were out with vintage book pages and a stream of pencils and threads to really get crafty with the Crafternoon’s Black-out poetry idea.

With in-house experts nearby and tea topped-up, the array of martials surrounded guests with the inspiration and creativity to let themselves run away with their imaginations. Black-out in essence is letting your mind see something new on an already written out page. How they went about completely their new Black-out was entirely up to them.

When finished, each piece was strung to the mirror to be admired in all their glory.

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Crafternoon: Exploring Artcodes

On Friday the 18th of July 2014, Debbie Bryan sent out a call to action. From 12pm until 4pm, Debbie Bryan embarked on brand new FREE Creative Class.

The purpose of the Friday Crafternoon was to explore Aestheticodes, now stylishly labeled Artcodes, and how they can be used in different ways. Debbie Bryan and team were involved to experience the first-hand potential of Artcodes as a Creative Class. 

Realising how perfect Artcodes and their uses are for classes, parties and even Debbie Bryan's well-known, yearly SPEEDCRAFT event, the Lace Market shop just had to get involved. 

Not one to leave out an opportunity of inspiration Debbie Bryan recruited archivist Judith Wright, offering visual inspiration in the form of Archive marketing material from The Alliance Boots Archive Collection.

From 12 noon, guests enjoyed lunch and sweet treats as they listened to the inspirational story of Florence Boot from Judith as she shared stunning archive materials.

Guest then went on to learn the step by step rules to create their own Artcodes from the lovely Boriana Koleva, Associate Professor in the School of Computer Science at The University of Nottingham.

Creative tutors Debbie Bryan and Papercut artist Jodie Paterson had previously completed their very own mater-class in Artcodes, and passed with flying colours!

With design examples at the ready and once the basic principles of Artcodes and how they work had been established, guests moved on to the creative part, with a creative cross-over of paper cutting and hand embroidery.

Throughout the afternoon, Stefan Rennick Egglestone, computer whiz from the Mixed Reality Lab, The School of Computer Science at University of Nottingham, documented the creative class with photography, video and recorded snippets of chitchat.

Stefan then intends to create a mini-website containing all the evidence from the Artcodes day.

At the end of the afternoon, when all the beautiful cards were done and the Artcodes created worked, more tea was poured and Debbie Bryan and team asked for opinions on how they day and it’s process was.

And the results were wonderful! All guests could agree that it's a lovely personal touch if you combine the idea with gift-giving and special occasions. Not only would it showcase the effort and thought put into it but it's never ending. Being able to scan a code and be sent to an online webpage means it's always available.

Boriana kindly explained the future that Artcodes hold and it's personal uses of that extended experience. And all guests were keen to keep the idea in mind for future use, as was Debbie Bryan. Already thinking of ways to use Artcodes to extend their own experience, Debbie Bryan says, "watch this space!"

To find out more about who was involved visit:

http://aestheticodes.com     http://jodiepaterson.co.uk

http://www.boots-k.com/About_Boots/Boots_Heritage/Boots_History.aspx

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Heritage Open Days @ Debbie Bryan

Our involvement during Heritage Open Days 2014 was a glowing success.

With a fantastic offer all year round and for this special Heritage Open Day weekend, we invited all to LoveLocal at Debbie Bryan. 

LoveLocal is the very best of Nottingham’s heritage and handmade. Debbie Bryan is home to original, intricate draftsman’s drawing, Nottingham Lace produced just 8 miles from the shop and specially commissioned heritage-inspired gifts created by leading designers, makers and artists – including work from Debbie Bryan herself. 

On Friday the 12th of September, Debbie Bryan held a heritage-inspired Crafternoon.

Inspired By… The Alliance Boots Archive

In beautiful surroundings, guests heard the inspiring story of Nottingham's industry icon. The Alliance Boots Archive's company archivist Judith Wright shared stunning archive materials.

With tea and cake ever flowing, the talk was rounded up with enlightenment of Nottingham and some of it's histories.

Debbie Bryan's HOD's Crafternoon then continued with an origami taster using the beautiful archive materials provided. The guest were split into groups and after choosing their favourite image, set about begin taught how to make a paper crane.

A knowledgeable and creative team were on hand all weekend talking guests through the wonderful stories behind the collections. Debbie Bryan also showcased a St. Mary's Gate inspired film. Projecting onto a ceiling covered in historic draughtsman's drawings, customers were in awe at the beauty of it. 

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Crafternoon: Lampshade Making

On Saturday the 9th of August 2014, Debbie Bryan was back in the creative hotseat with the latest Creative Class in our Textile Season.

Surrounded by a multitude of materials and the ever delicious tea and cake on offer, our guests were welcomed in as the morning Lampshade Making class begun.

Debbie Bryan taught a horde of happy customers over the next few hours, teaching specialists techniques to create a one of a kind lampshade.

There was a mass of inspiration surrounding all, with a variety of ready-made lamps to show the ideas possible.

With inspiration flowing happy customers began to show their varied styles and beautiful shades begun to come about.

From fabric folding and distressing to appliqué and slow embroidery, there was heaps to learn.

As with all Creative Classes, our guests enjoyed a sweet treat as their creative juices flowed.