2020 Flower Meadow. Remember a picture is worth 1000 words, but only if it reaches the right audience.

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1 2020 Flower Meadow WORKSHOP FACILITATOR PACK Remember a picture is worth 1000 words, but only if it reaches the right audience. Women in Prison supports women affected by the criminal justice system and campaigns to reduce the women s prison population.

2 At Women in Prison (WIP) we love Craftivism the combination of activism through gentle creative crafting. Arts and Crafts have the power to draw people s eye, to tell stories and showcase talent. Therefore WIP is leading on a national craft project to create and display a huge meadow of flowers each one handmade, using a variety of techniques, by women affected by the criminal justice system in prison and in the community. The meadow will be displayed across the country and be used to raise awareness of the 2020 Ambition, a campaign to reduce women s imprisonment to 2,020 by We need your help to give the opportunity to as many women affected by the criminal justice system as possible the more flowers the more impact the meadow will have. This pack has been designed to help you facilitate a workshop to create flowers and also gives details on getting involved with the campaign. At the back are some handouts for the workshop and ideas on different types of crafting technique. The idea for this project formed after the response to two events hosted by WIP. The first was an exhibition of a patchwork quilt created in HMP Holloway. Each square told such a powerful story about life in prison including patches with footprints of babies in the Mother & Baby Unit. The quilt was displayed in Parliament and had a huge impact on MPs and Peers. The second event was on International Women s Day 2017 which marked the ten-year anniversary of Baroness Corston s seminal report into women and the criminal justice system. To celebrate and thank Baroness Corston for her dedication to the campaign we presented her with a beautiful bouquet of knitted flowers made by women in HMP Foston Hall, HMP Downview and the Beth Centre, our London-based women s centre. The response was so positive to these crafted pieces and the women who made them really enjoyed the project, and so the idea for the Flower Meadow was born. We hope you find this pack useful get in touch with other crafting techniques or feedback on how we can improve this pack. But most of all we look forward to receiving hundreds of beautiful flowers!

3 Step By Step Guide To Running a Workshop Before you get to the fun messy bit the crafting it would be great to have a little discussion in the group about the background to the project, to let participants know how their flower will be used and how the meadow forms part of a bigger campaign. Here are some discussion prompts: THE BACKGROUND AND AMBITION TO THE MEADOW If helpful in the Handouts section of this pack you will find the photographs of the Patchwork Quilt and the bouquet for Baroness Corston. There are also photos of the flowers that have been created so far to give inspiration and illustrate what this project will look like. We plan to exhibit the meadow across the country at festivals, conferences, maybe in Parliament and other public spaces. The meadow will be displayed alongside all the logos of the charities and women s centres who took part. The aim of the exhibition is to raise awareness of the 2020 Ambition. For more information on this campaign go to In a nutshell the campaign seeks to reduce the women s prison population to 2,020 by 2020 (about half the current population) by calling for investment in women s community support services and housing. We also hope that one of the benefits to this project will be a sense of taking collective action creating something that then contributes to something bigger. We hope it can be tool to link up the sector and a way for women affected by the criminal justice system to show solidarity with others.

4 THE MESSAGE IN THE MISSION: Campaign Tactics You could ask the group about what they think about the Flower Meadow as a way of raising awareness of the campaign. Why craft? Why flowers? What does the group think the meadow says about women affected by the criminal justice system? - For us we think it shows creativity and talent. It shows potential and is very symbolic of growth and blossoming. Flowers have so many different meanings to different people at different times you could ask the group if anyone has an example of a flower that has meaning to them. We also think that many varieties of flowers and types of craft will represent individuality and the different stories of those affected by the criminal justice system. Also craft, art and creativity has therapeutic value and should play an important role for women in prison and in the community, it s also an important tool for expressing yourself and telling your story. In the handouts there are some photographs of large-scale art installations exhibits which have impact due to their sheer scale. These can hopefully outline how this project will only work as a campaigning tool if it grabs attention and for that we need as many flowers as possible. WHAT S IN A NAME? Finally we would love to hear the group s ideas for where we could exhibit the meadow, how we could display the flowers and also ideas on what to call the meadow. At the moment it s called the 2020 Flower Meadow are there any better ideas or any clever play on words for a slogan to go with it? Any feedback or ideas that come from this discussion please get in touch and let us know (contact details below).

5 Crafting Time!! Please use the handouts at the end of this pack for ideas on different crafting techniques and find photographs of examples for inspiration. As long as it s a flower you can create whatever you would like. We think it works well when words are used too i.e. stitched, drawn on or through collage. Some women have included their poetry, but words are not necessary for all of the flowers and we would like as much variety as possible. At times we have found the workshop works well when everyone is using the same crafting technique and materials, but not always, you will know how your group works best. PLEASE NOTE WE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO RETURN THE FLOWERS. Part of the project is that each participant gives their artwork to the project in order to create something bigger. A good technique when running the workshop is for women to create a flower for themselves and then say, two others to give to the project. Women can send us more than one flower. At the end of the project we may use the meadow as a fundraiser, we ll be in touch with those supporting the project if we decide to do this. This project is ongoing and has no set deadline at present. Contact us Claire Cain Policy & Campaigns Manager e. claire.cain@womeninprison.org.uk t Share with us your crafting workshop and photographs of your finished #2020by2020 Send or drop off your flowers to: c/o Claire Cain 2 nd Floor, Elmfield House, 5 Stockwell Mews London, SW9 9GX Or write on the envelope: Freepost WOMEN IN PRISON (the last bit in capitals, nothing else is needed on the envelope)

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8 EXAMPLES OF LARGE SCALE INSTALLATION ART: From the beginning I was trying to make something as direct as possible with clay: the earth. The 210,000 body-surrogates occupy the space in which they are installed Antony Gormley, Field for the British Isles Pascale Martine Tayou, large scale installation from plastic bags. Jeff Koons, Puppy

9 Making your flower from BEADS [and Hama Beads]: Let your imagination take off with this DIY yard art project that turns copper wire and beads into cool fun flowers.

10 Making your flower from BOOK PAGES (or newspaper): These vintage-inspired flowers are quick to make and will definitely add flair to the meadow. If you don t want to use book pages you could use newspapers in prison you could use Inside Times. Alternatively you could use newspaper, tissue paper or crepe paper to create a collage or scrunch up to create texture and stick onto a flower template. You could also use newspaper to create a flower using papier mâché.

11 Making your flower from BUTTONS: Start out by cutting a variety of flower shapes out of colourful craft foam, paper, felt or cardstock. The buttons will serve as the centre of the flower so the size of the buttons will determine the size of the flowers you cut. From there you can develop various expansive ideas to create the meadow. Did you know that you can make a beautiful flat paper flower with just five circles and a button as shown above?

12 Making your flower from WIRE: INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO MAKE A WIRE FLOWER: Just twist and turn the wire to make big loops for shaping the flowers. Insert sparkling glass beads into the ends of the wire loops incorporating whimsy tones to the bloom. You can make a bunch of these unique flowers.

13 Making your flower from SALT DOUGH:

14 Making your flower by QUILLING: Quilling is created with lots of strips of paper. Paper quilling is the art of rolling thin strips of paper and then making those rolls into shapes. With just a few basic quilling techniques, you can create unique, 3-D flowers. Quilling is created with lots of strips of paper. Paper quilling is the art of rolling thin strips of paper and then making those rolls into shapes. With just a few basic quilling techniques, you can create unique, 3-D flowers.

15 Making your flower using RIBBON:

16 Making your flower using MOSAIC: You can use paper, beads, glass, and tiles a variety of materials to do your flowers.

17 Making your flower using MATCHSTICKS:

18 Making your flower using CROCHET: For those of you skilled enough to be able to crochet here is a flower patterns. This crochet pattern using common crochet abbreviations and basic crochet stitches. These are the abbreviations to expect in the pattern: beg = beginning ch = chain ch-3 = 3 chain stitches dc = double crochet sc = single crochet sl st = slip stitch st = stitch Ch 6. Join with a sl st to form a ring. Round 1: Work 12 sc sts in ring. Join the work to the beg of the round with a sl st. Round 2: [ch 3, work 2 dc sts in the sc st that touches the ch-3, ch 3, sl st in same sc st, sl st in next st, sl st in next st.] Rep sequence in brackets 5 more times for a total of 6 flower petals. End off. Weave in Ends.

19 Making your flower using KNITTING: Materials DK weight yarn 3.5mm needles (straight or circular, doesn t matter) Sewing needle Sewing thread (matching colour as yarn) Beads, pearls, buttons or sequins of your preference Optional (if you re making it into a brooch): small piece of felt Safety pin or brooch pin Abbreviations CO Cast on k knit p purl sl1k slip 1 knit wise sl1p slip 1 purl wise k2tog knit 2 stitches together p2tog purl 2 stitches together YO Yarn Over BO Bind off Petal (make 6) CO 8 Row 1: sl1k, k7 Row 2: sl1p, p7 Row 3: sl1k, *K1, YO* (repeat from * to * till end of row) (14 stitches) Row 4: sl1p, P to end Row 5: sl1k, K to end Repeat rows 4 and 5 till the work is around 1.75 inches. Start to reduce on a knit row as follows: Reduce Row 1: sl1k, k2tog, k to last 3 stitches, k2tog, k1 Reduce Row 2: sl1p, p2tog, p to last 3 stitches, p2tog, p1 Repeat Reduce Row 1 & 2 till you have 3 stitches left on a knit row. BO all 3 stitches, weave in ends. Assembly Thread your sewing needle with thread. Hold the base of the petal and sew it tight for each petal so as to create the crease so the petals will curl. Sew all 6 petals together. Sew on your beads, pearls, sequins or a button to the centre of the flower.