The sun has gone behind a tree so i have dragged myself off my sunny balcony to blog about my workshop yesterday…..I had a lovely day at Haworth Gallery in Accrington making paper houses with some creative locals who had come especially for the workshop. The House on Hollins Hill paper house  was part of a open shop project in Accrington- to find out more you can see my blog about this project at Anne Haworth’s Fan The paper house kit is a limited edition and is available at Haworth Gallery and other selected heritage venues. When i know exactly which heritage venues they will be going to  i`ll let you know, so you can go and pick one up. One of the gallery assistants told me how she had loved building it with her grandchildren and got so involved that she added her own hand painted wallpaper! The paper house was designed with the help of the lovely locals of Accrington young and old…Here are some of the pages for you to look at.

If you have never been to Haworth Gallery it is well worth a visit and the friendly gallery staff might even show you the beautiful photograph album that documents how the gallery used to look when it was a home.

Most people young and old were interested to find out more and wanted to make some prints using these blocks. The people of Accrington seemed to have an affinity to these objects and told me stories as they passed by. In the two days that we were printing we managed to get enough wallpaper to cover a small room! Tiring work hand printing wallpaper! The blocks were originally made to print onto a fabric and are made from wood and copper.

I have been entrusted to use a selection of beautiful wooden printing blocks that are part of an unseen collection at the Haworth Gallery. The lovely people of Accrington have been popping in and admiring these beautiful blocks and having a go…

We used the photographs that were taken just after Anne died, to recreate the gallery as a house. The house used to be known as Hollins Hill. Children, passers by and even professional illustrators came to contribute to creating a paper house of Hollins Hill.Personal touches were added, and an artistic license was used by all!

And look at the Gallery now….

I had the pleasure of being invited to the Mela festival in Oakhill park on saturday. We had so much fun making fans and naming our fans! We had ribbon fans, family fans and polish fans……but everybody was happy to give their ‘fan to Anne.’

I shared the story of Anne Haworth with the interested fan creators throughout the afternoon. The community were interested to hear about Anne as a sister, devoting her life to Accrington community and then finally giving the community the house that we now call Haworth gallery.If you would like to make a ‘fan for Anne’ please come and visit me at Accrington market and your fan will contribute to the commemorative exhibition at the Haworth