At our new Glasgow arts centre, The Culzean Glasgow, participants from Fortune Works Glasgow have been working with tutors Steph and Maria on a wonderful project focused on natural staining and stencilling onto fabric to produce personalised tote bags.

Fortune Works is a social enterprise for people with learning disabilities, focusing on social and personal development and community engagement by providing training opportunities as part of a full-time programme.

Over six weeks, the group explored using tea, coffee, turmeric and cinnamon to create a striking base colour on their fabric totes. Personality and vibrancy were added to the bags using stencils and fabric paints to create unique designs, with themes ranging from wildflowers to music. The group had a fantastic time nurturing their creativity and are excited to show off their brilliant work.

Comments from the group reflect just how much they enjoy the workshops and the positive impact they bring:

“I enjoyed mixing the stencilling with the drawing fabric pens to get different effects.”

“I can’t wait to take my bag home and use it.”

“This is honestly the highlight of our week, we love coming here.”

“A really good range of materials and I liked mixing my own drawing with the stencils.”

We can’t wait to see what project the group gets stuck into next!