Lark is made up of a fab bunch of tutors who specialise in different crafts, you can read more about them all here…
Lowri from the Cardiffian news came by to write an article about how Lark started BSL sessions: read her article here…
As I’m sure many of you are aware, Shaws closed down earlier this year, leaving a skein shaped hole in the hearts of many 🧶. This gave us an idea! We thought that we would share our top local and online Yarn shops for you to fulfill all of your yarn needs...
It's been two months since I moved to Barry. Here's a list of my favourite crafty, foody and fun places to visit in Barry so far!
We've loved our first year in Cathays, and love exploring the local area. Okay, parking is a bit tricky sometimes, but once you’ve found your spot let's help you make the most of your visit! Whether you’ve arrived early or want to explore the area after your workshop, here are some top tips to make the most of your day with Lark!
After a recent trip to CHSI at Birmingham NEC, we’re feeling inspired to up our sustainability game. Here’s some of what we learnt:
Lots of people ask about my interest in Leather Crafting and it's quite the random story so here it is... My love of leather crafting began when I lived in Shanghai.
Since opening our new studio we often gets lots of questions about the design solutions we have around the space. We would show you exactly how you can create your own Lark inspired studio space!
Is it just the ‘Great British Sewing Bee’ effect or are we in post lockdown mode and wanting to be more creative, either way sewing has never been so popular! In fact, we are in the process of making our small second studio a specific sewing studio ;-)
We get asked a lot of questions about buying resources as a beginner so we thought we’d share our top tips here for you -
We thought we’d take some time to discuss our craft of the moment - Crochet! Crochet seems to be getting more and more popular...we're almost expecting to see a Great British Crochet Bee soon! ;-)
Read on to find about all the crochet supplies you can get your hands on at Lark, as well as the brilliant workshops we have on offer from September onwards.
Our shop was one of Gemma's wonderful DIY creations. She used the classic IKEA wooden crates and stacked them with a work surface attached on top, wheels on the bottom and voila our new shop was born!
Exciting news / update alert!! The Lark studio is moving! We have officially moved into a new huge studio space on Dogfield Street, Cathays. We can hardly contain our excitement but more on that to follow...
Hey! We’re Lark Design Make, a small Cardiff-based business offering craft workshops (online at the moment!) and usually from our Roath studio, along with a craft shop! The faces behind the business are Gemma, Owner and Workshop Leader at Lark, and Sophie, Creative Assistant.
As much as we love shopping in person, the current lockdown has meant we’ve turned to online shopping in order to get our hands on new fabric and sewing supplies. We’ve compiled a list of trusty websites that you might want to check out!
If it wasn't already very obvious our girls are our true loves here at Lark! We wanted to treat them with something tasty this Valentine's Day so we've added a few of our fave recipe ideas below if you also want to spoil your pampered pooch. We would love to see your bakes if you do decide to make them, so please share with us on our socials!
Happy New Year! We hope you're all feeling well rested after Christmas and are looking forward to a (hopefully!) slightly more normal 2021. We have adapted our workshops back online and have added some exciting new crafts! This month we're focusing on keeping you entertained during lockdown for the third time - so read on if you want some inspo...
The highlight of 2020 at Lark without a doubt was the addition of our two pawfect pups to our lives and to the studio. Gwen joined us earlier in the year as a shy rescue dog, she is now chief cwtch-er at the studio and features regularly on the socials. Tofu joined us as a playful pup a few months ago and is loving her new buddy Gwen!
Being in the midst of a lockdown in Wales and with the impending month long one announced in England, we thought what better time than to ask our Lark followers to give us their fave tv and podcast recommendations. So whilst you’re crafting - whether crocheting a festive Christmas blanket or working on a new project, these picks are great for keeping you entertained!
As you can imagine we do a fair bit of craft shopping, so this blog is going to be our top tips on online shopping for all your crafting needs. We have compiled some great independent online sellers as recommended by our Larksters! So get off Amazon and try our online suggestions, #supportsmall
Whenever possible we try to shop in person and we’ve enjoy getting to know the suppliers in the following shops, we hope you enjoy visiting them too…
1st September is 'soft re-launch' date. I'll offer 5 or 6 workshops a week so I will have time to clean in between each workshop, I will keep numbers to 4 attendees so we can distance and I will find a way to safely serve teas and coffees as that's a craft time essential ;-) I will also change my T&C's so anyone who is showing any symptoms can easily reschedule to a later date. Read more about why these are the plans for re-opening…
Hey, I'm Kaylee-Beth, in charge of writing the blog for today! I'm 15 and I've been doing work experience with Gemma over 5 days and I've enjoyed every minute. I've been to a few of Gemma's workshops in the past, so was very excited to start. I absolutely adore craft so being around all the colour and excitement of the studio has been great. Gemma has taught me a bunch of stuff and has definitely kept me busy.
Kath from Repair Cafe Wales invited me for a chat about how things are going with lock down and it was great to hear that they are also keeping people repairing rather than buying at this time with online fix tutorials, do follow them to keep up to date (Facebook & Instagram) and don’t rush to throw things away when we you are spring cleaning as their volunteers are ace and once the events resume you may be able to get it fixed for free.
During lockdown I have made the most of not being able to go shopping by creating beauty products at home, they have been using mostly kitchen ingredients. I have really enjoyed the experience as you can’t really go wrong and the effect of the natural ingredients has often made products that I prefer to the expensive shop bought alternatives. Here I will go through some recipes for face & hair masks, body & lip scrubs and lip balms…
It’s been 11 weeks since we closed the studio, in that time we would have had some amazing workshops happening but feel hopeful that our team efforts to stay indoors will mean that it won’t be long until we can reschedule our workshops and invite you back for more crafty action.
We have been catching up with the tutors and thought we’d share a little bit more about them and what they’ve been up to…
If you’ve been keeping an eye on other peoples’ lockdown bakes, you may have noticed that a common trend seems to be banana bread. It’s not difficult to see why; they’re a winner with everyone and you can often mix them up with ingredients that you’ll easily find in your cupboards. My own recipe is a slightly healthier twist on the traditional, combining bananas with chocolate, oat flour and ground almonds to create a rich, fudgy and satisfying treat.
Here at Lark we like to take full advantage of the great eateries Cardiff has to offer, so after having discussed our favourite places at length with each other, we thought we better start sharing our recommendations with everyone else! Each of use wrote a little something on our favourite spots for lunching and caffeinating around the city, so enjoy the read…
On a rainy Saturday afternoon, I left a desk full of scattered papers and books, pulled on my coat, and stepped out into the cold air. It was early November and I had just been accepted for a position at Lark Design Make. I met with Gemma the previous week and she had invited me to a macrame plant hanger class. It was the middle of a busy assessment period at Cardiff university, but I was eager to see what my new work environment was like. Little did I know that those two hours at the class would help fuel me with an energy, ambition, and optimism that I would take with me throughout my hectic week.
As you may well know by now, I’ve had the really exciting opportunity to be a contestant on this year’s Kirstie’s Handmade Christmas! ! It was an amazing experience being there as ‘Gemma, Lady of Leather’ and as I’ve had lots of questions about it, I thought I’d share how everything played out - It’s not every day you get to be on TV.
This weeks 'Ready, Steady, Craft’ challenge is to create natural beauty products, the idea came from recently trying some myself and liking them so much that I hope to continue to take them forward to the new normal way of life. The best recipes will be shared with Lark’s followers as they are a great way to spend lock down time & they make great gifts.