Create small wire animal sculptures
A creative wire sculpture workshop where you’ll design and make small animal forms such as birds, dogs and sheep using flexible wire and simple hand tools.
During the day, you’ll explore shaping, joining and building characterful 3D forms. Suitable for beginners, it’s a playful introduction to expressive sculptural making.
ABOUT THE WORKSHOP Your initial ideas will be sketched before you explore fine, flexible, heat-treated wire. This expressive material is surprisingly easy to handle, cut and manipulate with basic hand tools — it is like drawing in the air.
You will create several wire sculptures, both on bases and free-standing, with a particular focus on birds, dogs and sheep with strong, angular profiles. Breeds with more rounded features can be more challenging, so the emphasis will be on simpler, graphic forms.
Your skills will develop throughout the day, enabling you to create more refined and ambitious pieces as the workshop progresses. You may wish to bring a selection of A6 reference images of birds, dogs and sheep in profile, although suitable images will also be provided.
YOUR TUTOR The workshop will be delivered by Liz Wellby, a versatile artist, teacher and maker with a particular interest in sculpture and printmaking. Following completion of a Fine Arts degree at Loughborough University and postgraduate studies, she has spent over 30 years working from her home studio, The Slipper Studio, in a village on the edge of the Peak District.
THE VENUE The workshop will take place in our thatched Long Barn in the heart of the Meon Valley, an inspiring setting surrounded by the South Downs National Park.
WHO IS IT FOR? This workshop is suitable for beginners and is designed for a maximum of 12 participants, ensuring a supportive and hands-on learning experience.
WHAT TO BRING Please bring along:
A packed lunch Optional: A6 printed images of birds, dogs or sheep in profile
All equipment and materials will be provided.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION You may wish to extend your stay in the area by booking one of our Shepherd’s Huts beside the fishing lakes, or staying in our glamping site with traditional Mongolian yurts, each with wood-burning stoves.