On Sunday 4 December at the Calton Centre in Edinburgh, 1pm – 5pm, we are holding a free workshop for Beltane Fire Society members on using willow for festival props and decorations. Places on ‘Working with willow: lanterns and puppets and puppety lanterns!’ are very limited, so if you want to join, please book your place now.

PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS A WORKSHOP FOR CURRENT BFS MEMBERS ONLY (i.e those who have taken part as a Beltane Fire Society volunteer in one or more of our recent festivals).

As thoughts of our Edinburgh Beltane’s 30th anniversary are beginning to seep into our creative consciousness, it’s about time to start sharing some of our long-forgotten skills and crafts. In years gone by willow crafts in the forms of lanterns and puppets and puppety-lanterns were a BFS staple; having let this art fall by the wayside in recent years, it’s now time to dust it off and see what we can do with it for Beltane 2017!

BFS invites you to book a free place to join members Helen Bradburn and Ross Flemington for a workshop from 1pm-5pm on Sunday 4th December, in the downstairs studio at the Calton Centre. In the session our volunteer workshop leaders will show you how to play and create with willow (get started by helping make lanterns for the Hill!); to learn and experiment; give you chance to ask questions, and to throw around ideas about the illuminated world of willow lanterns and puppets.

In this workshop we will cover:

• Suppliers and materials – sourcing
• Getting to grips with your materials
• Finding out what BFS has to loan for big projects
• Scope of ideas – how small, how big?
• Puppet building – backpacks and the basics (presented by Ross Flemington)
• Illuminating spaces
• Making a lantern: finish it on the day or take it away with you and bring it back to the Open Meeting to inspire others… we would like you to contribute your efforts, by making a lantern which will be on the hill for the 30th celebrations… yep, the prep starts here!

Please bring water and lunch/nibbles for yourself and to share, to keep us all going across this bumper workshop!

How to book your place

Please only book a place if you are certain you will attend: places are strictly limited to make sure those who do come along will get as much support and chance to learn as possible. But if you are sure, book your place now via Eventbrite.

Only those who have booked on will be able to take part in this particular workshop, but we’re hoping to run many more as part of the build up to our 30th anniversary, on a whole host of skills, so don’t worry if you can’t make this one!

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Photo by Neil Barton for Beltane Fire Society