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Creative lockdown: Alice Astbury
Alice Astbury is part of the ongoing Bristol24/7 Creative Lockdown series, showcasing how people in Bristol have been getting arty under lockdown.
Trylla‘s ceramics technician, Alice Astbury, has created some new products under lockdown.
Trylla, based on North Street in Bedminster, normally hosts a Wednesday night Clay Club session in the studio behind the store. It’s run by Alice and it’s one of her favourite parts of the week.
is needed now More than ever
In light of the Government lockdown, she has found a way to run Clay Club remotely, so regulars at the club could relax, chat and create ceramics, carrying on with their projects from home during the lockdown.
“Then I started thinking about how I could expand on that and create other craft kits,” says Alice. “I thought about knitting and sewing and found a lot of enjoyment in cooking up new ideas and planning how to put them together.”
Alice has collaborated with her friend Meg at No Frills Knitting to create knitting kits that people can buy online and have sent to their house. They will be releasing sewing kits as well.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B-7gsI_jtlE/
Alice admits that not working at the store in Bedminster has been “really hard”, and that it will be “pretty tough” for Trylla to recover from the financial impact of the virus, saying: “I miss being in that space and chatting to the people that come in and seeing what people create in classes.
“Making the craft kits has definitely given me something fun to focus on, and I’ve had a lot of nice messages of support from lovely customers. All of that helps a bunch, and I’m very thankful for that.”
What does Alice hope people will get from the kits?
“The same thing I do from designing and making myself – some sort of calm – particularly in a stressful time like this,” Alice says.
“I tried at the start of lockdown to just relax, but I quickly became quite restless and realised that I am not really able to relax very effectively.I have a really busy brain and so I need something to focus my mind on, its good for me to have a project going on in the background.
“I think crafting is a great way to relieve anxiety, and I know a lot of people will be struggling at the moment to keep their brain quiet. I am hoping that maybe my craft kits can help a few people in that way.”
Buy products at www.tryllashop.co.uk/products
To share your work, email lowie@bristol247.com with a bit of information about you and how you created your masterpiece.
Main photo: Trylla
Read more: Creative lockdown: Jayde Perkin
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