I dyed and went to stamp heaven.

I have gone on some writing workshops before but yesterday was my first time to join a crafting workshop: Stamptabulous organized by Craft MNL and held at The Collective. For only P1,500, we were taught how to dye scarves and make our own stamps we can decorate our scarves with. The fee also included all the materials already plus three scarves and five rubber blocks we carved into stamps. I was a bit nervous as I am not that good at working with my hands and I didn't know any of the other participants, but I decided to just ignore my apprehensions and just enjoy it.

Marielle guided our small class of four throughout the whole process.
She was an excellent craft teacher, always accommodating and approachable.

What you will need:
Hot water, basins and jars, dyes, salt, rubber bands and clothespins, something to dye

Since we were given three scarves to work with, I decided to make a different design for each one. It's not my first time to dye as we did it for Chemistry class when I was in high school, so I was quite familiar with the process. With Marielle's help, I was able to make:

spirals using yellow and orange dye;

ombre using purple (by mixing red and blue dyes) and pink;

and a full red dye bath.

Notice the knots there? That's to lend a different "textured" effect to the fabric and at the same time prevent the red dye from going all the way up.

Busy bees

Notice how putting the blue dye on hot water looks like an evil spell spreading through  Storybrooke in Once Upon a Time?

And there's me at my favorite part: making the stamps!
Here I was transferring my patterns from the tracing paper to the rubber erasers.

Different tips used to carve rubber sheets or rubber erasers. The bigger tips are used for carving out bigger portions while the smaller tips are for finer details.

I found carving very therapeutic; there's something about slicing through rubber as soft as butter that makes me zone out and be completely unaffected by outside noise. Amazing. Just remember: always carve away from (not towards) yourself. I need to get my own carving tools soon! Too bad I was so engrossed with working that I forgot to take photos of the carving process.

DIY stamp pads using fabric paint and felt

My DIY stamps
I made a heart, a crescent moon, a fish, and (although it's not too obvious LOL) rain drops.

Photos from Craft MNL's Instagram hee.
There's me and my favorite among the three I made.
Belated Happy Valentine's Day, I guess?

My classmates Hannah and Claudine

My classmate Ira, who reminded me so much of my friend Mimai!

With Marielle

Class picture!

Thank you so much, Craft MNL! I really had a great time and I learned a lot. Now I know I can make my own stamps so I won't feel compelled to buy all the time ha ha.

My Craft MNL passport that entitles me to a special discount on other Craft MNL workshops and my three finished scarves. I am so proud of myself, you guys ^_^

I hope I can join more workshops in the future. I would really love to go to the Amigurumi workshop but there's that teeny tiny hurdle of me not knowing anything about crocheting, which you would need a basic knowledge of before trying more advanced techniques like the aforementioned Amigurumi.

After my workshop, I rushed to Fort to meet with Ana for late lunch at Aria Cucina Italiana. The last time I saw her was back in November(?) so we had  a lot of catching up to do. We also exchanged presents!

Look at our charming handmade wrapping papers. I gave her a copy of The Night Circus while she gave me some wire art accessories she made. I love them! Thank you so much, Ana! I can't wait to show them off. ❤

I want to continuously develop myself, and I once read somewhere that you can do that by travelling, going to classes and reading a lot of books. I can't afford another trip out of the country just yet and I don't know if I can still go back to school given how busy I am with other commitments but I am a wide reader. Still I'm glad there are workshops like this that not only let me learn a new skill or hobby, but also let me interact with other people I share interests with.

"Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow."

- Anthony J. D'Angelo