Showcasing the crafts of Marton

Spinner Laura Thomsen (left) with Gillian Futcher. Marton craftspeople will be on show at Crafts Alive on August 29 and 30. Photos / Paul Brooks

Over the weekend of August 29 and 30, craftspeople of Marton and further afield will gather to show visitors their array of talents and the products of those skills.

For the fourth year, Crafts Alive will allow local people to display their skills in an interactive craft event in the Marton Memorial Hall.

It's the brainchild of Gillian Futcher who has brought Cath Ash, Project Marton co-ordinator and Rangitikei District councillor, on board to help out.

"Cath is very supportive, very positive and she has lots of knowledge," says Gillian. Cath has managed Project Marton for nine years.

Gillian says Crafts Alive is growing and there's a lot more interest this year.

"I'm involved with the Marton Women's Institute and we were challenged by head office to support something in our community. I'm not a fan of raffles ... I think we should be doing something to earn the money and giving something back to the community. We were going to support the Hunterville St John's Ambulance, which we still are doing."

The ambulance team are all volunteers and they cover a large amount of country – a 50 kilometre radius, and, being on SH1 between Marton and Taihape, they're a busy crew.

Gillian says Hunterville St John needs a purpose-built ambulance station where on-call volunteers can sleep and be on the spot if called out. They are also in need of a new ambulance.

That's how Crafts Alive started four years ago. It's no longer a Women's Institute project but Gillian has kept it going.

"After the first one it proved so popular we didn't want to flag it."

A Creative Communities grant assists with costs and a small $2 door charge goes to the chosen charity.

The range of crafts on display is extensive.

"We've got recycled furniture ... felting and embroidery, beeswax candle making; the Rangitikei Writers' Group is coming; beads and supplies for jewellery making; Judith has dolls and bears and runs a dolls' hospital; we've got a knitting group here; we've got the Arts Centre here that are doing pottery, lino cutting, weaving and that kind of thing; Julia does flax weaving, soy wax candles and she does rongoa, traditional Māori medicine; we have a lady who makes textile art ...; rock painting; knitting and embroidery; a very gifted lady who does crochet and publishes her own patterns; another lady does polymer clay beads; Jan Penn from Whanganui with her textile art; a Marton lady, Lisa, does all sorts of different things including Harry Potter wands ... they're all multi-talented and all dabble; Rangitikei Quilters; we've got two ladies coming down from Taranaki – one is a spinner and one is a painter; we've got Laura who also spins but she uses possum fur."

Pieces of work from Chloe's Faerie Jewellery.

Also displaying their work will be Manawatu Lace Makers, a woman who does clothes mending and recycling, a group of colourists (as Gillian calls them), a woman who does face painting, an Australian woman who makes natural fabric dyes, a mosaic artist, a jeweller and so much more.

"They've got such a passion for what they do," says Gillian.

Pieces of work from Chloe's Faerie Jewellery.

Laura Thomsen is the young woman who spins possum fur. She also kills and plucks the possums.

"I've done it since I was a kid," says Laura. "It's funny what you grow up with."

She mixes the possum fur with various wools, but she uses spinning techniques to highlight the fur, rather than seeing it lost amidst the wool. She uses dyes to the same effect, with the fur a different, often brighter, colour.

"I haven't tried alpaca yet because I'm not sure how it will hold."

She knitted as a child but got so badly teased she stopped doing it for a long time.

"It is okay now, but I still get comments ... it's a shame it's not more loved."

Laura's grandmother taught her to spin and she uses her great-aunt's Crofter spinning wheel.

Also on site at Crafts Alive will be Taste Buds, a cafe making country style food, and the Historical Village next door to the hall will be open for those interested in old farm machinery, domestic items and historical information. Visitors can also check their family records.

Crafts Alive
August 29 and 30, 10am-4pm
Marton Memorial Hall
Wellington Rd