Come & Try 

A series of six evening twilight sessions delivered by the Crafts Council, the national charity for craft.

Booking for Come & Try 2026/27 sessions open Wed 9 Sep!

Each twilight offers a stand-alone evening of creativity, peer conversations and refreshments. They are designed to support playful exploration, reimagining craft for the classroom as well as for personal enjoyment and enrichment.

No prior experience is needed for any of these sessions, which will be suitable for complete beginners as well as for those interested in rekindling past interests. We aim for these sessions to be fun, supportive and enjoyable, as well as beneficial to your creative classroom practice.

At each session, you will:

  • work with craft educators,
  • gain confidence in the use of craft,
  • enjoy conversations with peers over drinks and snacks,
  • take away resources to use in the classroom and craft materials to practice with.

Access & Inclusion

These twilights will take an inclusive approach and are suitable for teachers, Teaching Assistants and any support, admin or estates staff working in primary mainstream and SEND settings. An access budget is available to support participant engagement, for example for transport, BSL interpretation or other costs.

Eligibility

Primary Arts Come & Try twilights are aimed at staff working in any role in state primary mainstream and special schools in London.

This may include teachers, Teaching Assistants, SENDCos, support staff, admin and estates staff. Come & Try is designed to support your own personal enjoyment and enrichment through the arts, as well as supporting learning.

Your school must be in a London borough to be eligible for the programme.

If your school or another member of staff is participating in another area of the Primary Arts programme, you are still eligible to take part in this strand. Places will be limited to two participants per school for any given session.

What's on offer?

  • Come & Try: Create with EGSHEL with Mobina Rajabimoghadam - Tuesday 8 December 2026

    Suitable for: All school staff

    Date and Time: Tuesday 8 December 2026, 5pm - 7pm.

    Venue: Crafts Council Gallery, 44a Pentonville Road, London N1 9BY (map).

    Venue accessibility: Step free access, accessible toilets

    Description of session

    Come and join us for a fun and relaxed evening with designer and innovator Mobina Rajabimoghadam, the creator of EGSHEL, an innovative biodegradable material made from waste eggshells.

    Transforming local food waste into a sustainable resource, EGSHEL is durable, versatile, and fully compostable. The material can be molded, laser cut, CNC machined, printed on, embroidered, and produced in a range of textures and thicknesses, including translucent forms. Combining industrial performance with environmental responsibility, Mobina’s work demonstrates how waste-derived biomaterials can support regenerative and sustainable design practices.

    Detail of activity
    In this workshop, you will learn about the design and making process behind EGSHEL before using the material to create your own unique Christmas decorative objects. This workshop offers a rare opportunity to work directly with an award-winning sustainable material while reflecting on the role of design in addressing environmental challenges.

    Booking opens Wed 9 Sep

  • Come & Try: Introduction to Coiled Basket Weaving with Tabara N'Diaye - Tuesday 19 January 2027

    Suitable for: All school staff.

    Date and Time: Tuesday 19 January 2027, 5-7pm

    Venue: Crafts Council Gallery, 44a Pentonville Road, London N1 9BY (map).

    Venue accessibility: Step free access, accessible toilets

    Description of session

    Come and join us for a fun and relaxed evening with Tabara N’Diaye, designer, author and founder of La Basketry, for a vibrant, hands-on introduction to coiled basket-weaving. Inspired by her Senegalese roots and love of modern craft, Tabara brings a fresh, accessible approach to this age-old technique.

    At this session, you will wrap and stitch using rolls of colourful twine and a variety of playful materials to create own unique basket. Along the way, you’ll learn about the cultural significance of basketry and discover its meditative, creative joys. Whether you’re a complete beginner or simply curious, this session promises inspiration, community, and something beautiful to take home.

    Booking opens Wed 9 Sep

  • Come & Try: Explore Twining and Weaving with Esna Su - Tuesday 9 February 2027 

    Suitable for: All school staff

    Date and time: Tuesday 9 February 2027, 5pm - 7pm

    Venue: Crafts Council Gallery, 44a Pentonville Road, London N1 9BY (map)

    Venue Accessibility: Step free access, accessible toilets.

    Description of session

    Come and join us for a fun and relaxed evening with artist Esna Su, whose practice spans sculptural and wearable forms, creating handcrafted pieces that exist both on and beyond the body. Rooted in traditional Turkish techniques such as weaving, twining, and crochet, her work explores the relationship between heritage, material, and memory through contemporary craft practices.

    Detail of activity

    In this experiential workshop, you will be introduced to traditional twining, or ‘hasır’ techniques explored within Esna’s sculptural practice. Using paper rush, discarded textiles, and found or personal materials, you will learn how repetitive weaving processes can be used to build layered, organic forms.

    You will experiment with texture, tension, and structure while creating your own crafted sample pieces. The workshop encourages material exploration, storytelling through making, and an appreciation for slow, process-led craft practices.

    Booking opens Wed 9 Sep

  • Come & Try: Immersive Colour-Making with Polly Bennett - Tuesday 23 March 2027

    Suitable for: All school staff

    Date: Tuesday 23 March 2027

    Time: 5pm - 7pm

    Venue: Crafts Council Gallery, 44a Pentonville Road, London N1 9BY (map)

    Access symbol Venue Accessibility: Step free access, accessible toilets.

    Description of session

    Come and join us for a fun and relaxed evening with environmental artist, alchemist and pigment maker Polly Bennett exploring themes of identity and our relationship with the natural world through tactile, immersive sculptures, installations, and works on paper.

    Rooted in sustainability, Polly’s practice embraces traditional craftsmanship, using locally sourced materials, such as clay, sand, and handmade pigments, that guide her process and shape her narrative.

    Detail of activity

    In this interactive workshop, you will become a modern-day colourman in a pigment making workshop, transforming minerals collected all around the UK into artists’ pigments and paints.

    Booking opens Wed 9 Sep

  • Come & Try: Explore Eco-printing with Jaixia Blu - Tuesday 27 April 2027

    Suitable for: All school staff

    Date and time: Tuesday 27 April 2027, 5pm - 7pm

    Venue: Crafts Council Gallery, 44a Pentonville Road, London N1 9BY (map)

    Venue Accessibility: Step free access, accessible toilets.

    Description of session

    Come and join us for a fun and relaxed evening with textile artist Jaixia Blu whose practice explores themes of heritage, memory, and the natural world through eco-printing and textile processes. Her work draws deeply on connections to land and place, using plant materials and natural impressions to create richly layered textiles.

    Detail of activity

    In this hands-on activity, you will be introduced to the process of eco-printing, exploring the journey from foraging natural materials to creating finished textile pieces. Through experimentation with leaves, flowers, and plant matter, you will discover how natural pigments and textures can be transferred onto fabric, creating unique prints inspired by the surrounding environment.

    Booking opens Wed 9 Sep

How to Book

There are 25 places available at each Come & Try. You are welcome to attend more than one session: each session must be booked separately. Come & Try will open for booking on Wednesday 9 September and will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Booking opens Wed 9 Sep

Please book your place using the booking links given in the session descriptions on the pages that follow. If your chosen Go & See session is fully booked, you will be able to join the waiting list.

While these sessions are free of charge, please let us know at least three working days in advance if you can no longer attend and cancel your booking on the booking platform so that your place can be offered to someone else.

If you have any questions about the Come & Try, please email schools@anewdirection.org.uk and put ‘Primary Arts Come & Try’ in the subject line.

Crafts Council

The Crafts Council is the national charity for craft. We inspire making, empower learning and nurture craft businesses. We believe craft skills and knowledge enrich and uplift us as individuals, and, in doing so, will change our world for the better.

We promote life-long learning in craft, working closely with our networks to secure the future of craft in the classroom and support learning nationwide.

Book your space for our Come & Try sessions:

Create with EGSHEL with Mobina Rajabimoghadam - Tuesday 8 December 2026

Create festive objects from innovative biomaterial made from waste eggshells.

Introduction to Coiled Basket Weaving with Tabara N'Diaye - Tuesday 19 January 2027

Learn about the cultural significance of basketry and create your own unique basket.

Explore Twining and Weaving with Esna Su - Tuesday 9 February 2027 

Explore traditional twining techniques and create sculptural forms through weaving and everyday materials. 

Immersive Colour-Making with Polly Bennett - Tuesday 23 March 2027

Create your own pigments from natural minerals in this immersive colour-making workshop.

Come & Try: Explore Eco-printing with Jaixia Blu - Tuesday 27 April 2027

Explore eco-printing from foraging natural materials into unique textile designs.