Barnard Castle WI
MEMBERS met online via the Zoom platform on Monday, November 23.
President Naila Laundy welcomed nine members and our guest speaker Louise Lewis. This was our third meeting online and gives members the opportunity to see one another and chat together whilst we are all in lockdown.
Louise lives in Greta Bridge and has made the art of gift wrapping into a business. She started five years ago working from home sharing her skills with friends and family.
This has now grown into a much bigger business where she is running classes for corporate parties as well as various groups and now with the need to run online classes she has two sessions booked from the USA.
In the past she has completed huge wrapping orders for P&O Cruises and Cunard where lots of huge teddies needed to be beautifully wrapped.
We learned gift wrapping has been around for centuries but really took off in the 20th century and has evolved into a fine art.
In Japan, they use a square silk scarf or piece of fabric as a wrapping material and this is known as Furoshiki.
There is no sellotape involved and is very easy to finish off with a bow from the material on the top. We can also easily do this by using the gift of a tea towel or scarf as the means to wrap something small up.
During our class we learned how to cut the exact amount of paper that we would need for the size of the present, ensuring there is no wastage.
Double sided tape is the neatest way of wrapping presents so that nothing can be seen on the joins.
Three pieces of tape is the maximum amount used on a small book-sized parcel as opposed to reams of sticky tape on our usual presents.
To finish off we were shown how to create the perfect bow.
Louise gave us lots of tips for using up scraps of paper; which type of paper could be recycled and how to create different effects on the wrap.
The evening was a great success and all who listened and watched learned lots of new techniques and ideas for the coming season of Christmas.
Sheila Jones gave a vote of thanks and the session ended.
Our next online meeting will be on Monday, December 14, at 7pm with Christmas crafts and stories from lockdown.
We hope to have a meal together in late spring when things are much more back to normal.
Any enquiries about Barney WI can be made to Naila Laundy on 07999 957898 or Sheila Jones on 01325 733228.
Sheila Jones
Secretary
