Do you fancy making your own bespoke designer jewellery? Check out the classes at the London Jewellery School where you can learn to make jewellery from beads, silver, wood, perspex, glass, resin, haberdashery and recycle vintage jewellery.

The London Jewellery School is located round the corner from Hatton Garden, an area known for being the centre of London’s jewellery trade, so there are plenty of places to look for inspiration on your way to class.

I took an evening taster class working with silver metal clay. We were each presented with a tiny lump of silver clay which we rolled flat, embossed, cut into shape with a little cookie cutter and decorated with a sparkly stone. Finally the piece was blow-torched. This left a small white blob with a crust which brushed off leaving a shining silver pendant.

Making a silver pendant from scratch in two and a half hours initially felt rather ambitious, but the class was well paced and everyone had a lovely pendant to take home. Tutor Sima Vaziry was reassuring and experienced, explaining each step clearly and making sure everyone finished their pieces. Most of my coursemates had some experience of jewellery making, and a couple were regulars at the school, but as a beginner I didn’t feel overwhelmed.

Often craft classes require little more than tables, chairs and biscuits, but the London Jewellery School workrooms are set up like a well-stocked professional studio. The taster class was a fun and friendly introduction, but the school was equiped with the facilities and expert tuition to give you the skills you would need to embark on jewellery design as a career.

The silver metal clay taster evening class costs £35. www.londonjewelleryschool.co.uk

Then make your theatrical dreams a reality and enter our competition to win a course at leading performing arts school City Academy.

Whether you want to learn to sing, dance or act, City Academy has most disciplines covered. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve got previous performing experience or are a complete beginner. City Academy teaches courses at all levels.

So make 2011 your most creative year yet – we’ll see you on the West End stage soon!

Enter our competition to win a course at City Academy

The Close Encounters Festival will see huge planetariums erected in the main hall, each able to hold 30 people.

The Royal Albert Hall will also host exciting events from “make a crater” workshops for kids, to screenings of classic alien movies including ET, Barbarella and Alien.

There’ll also be a free photographic exhibition, featuring stunning images of the solar system and planets.

And look out for a crashed space ship installation on the South Steps, designed by students from the Royal College of Art.

Lucy Noble, Head of Programming at the Royal Albert Hall ssays:

“We are looking to broaden people’s perceptions of the Royal Albert Hall, engage with new and young audiences and work with new and innovative partners and I believe that this will be a unique event for Londoners of all ages to be involved in.” 

Close Encounters is at the Royal Albert Hall from 25 to 31 Oct 2010. Buy tickets here

BBC Blast is coming to London and is looking for enthusiastic teens to take part in a programme of free creative workshops at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) and the Natural History Museum.

Workshops are available in a wide range of topics including set design, spoken word, DJing and a festival Q&A with Bestival founder Rob Da Bank. There are limited places available so apply now.

See the full programme and book your place at www.bbc.co.uk/blast/events

BBC Blast in London 17-20 June 2010

Make & Do is a brand new craft club run by expert knitter, embroiderer and general crafter, Kate Buchanan. Popping up in pubs and cafes all over London, each workshop teaches a new craft technique, and you’ll get to make something you can take home with you.

Sunday’s class focused on last-minute Christmas gifts, and we learnt how to make simple yet impressive looking lotus flower table decorations, a mobile phone cover personalised with our own design, and a knotted bead bracelet.

All materials are provided, and we could even take home any extra buttons, sequins and thread if we wanted to continue with our projects.

Kate is on hand to help with any questions – whether you’re a beginner like me, or a more advanced crafter who needs advice on your latest project.

And did I mention there were plenty of biscuits, homemade cake and tea to keep you going?

I left the class with dreams of throwing sophisticated dinner parties, and wowing my guests with my incredible table decorations! And I’ve even had a request for a bespoke mobile phone cover.

If you fancy trying your hand at knitting, crochet and origami, the next Make & Do meeting is on the 8 December at the Hoop & Grapes pub. Visit www.make-and-do.co.uk to book your place.

If you’re one of London’s fashionable set, you’ll know that it’s quite the thing to sew and knit your own clothes and create couture on a budget. And in fashion tradition, now you’ve got used to the idea, it’s time to raise the stakes – you need to be spinning your own yarn and weaving your own cloth!

The Handweaver’s Studio can help. From bundles of sheep fleece, to cones of dyed silk, this shop meets all your fibre needs. You can buy a spinning wheel or weaving loom and take classes to learn how to use them. Weaving isn’t for hippies, it’s for your own handwoven Chanel-style jacket.

The Handweaver’s Studio has just reopened in Finsbury Park, selling everything a textile fanatic could ever need. The new shop is light and airy with a big space out the back for crafting. The Handweaver’s Studio is under new management but they’ve retained the great stock and best of all, kept all their knowledgeable staff. Happy crafting.

www.handweavers.co.uk

These new Central London evening classes have just launched and they’re the perfect way to try something new.

Each class lasts for one evening and you’ll take home something you made and the instructions to make more. I learnt how to make a crochet flower corsage which I finished off at home with a shiny button.

As there are only eight students to a class, it’s perfect for beginners. Tutor Jane was very patient, spending extra time with complete novices and suggesting advanced techniques for those of us with a little experience.

If, like me, you’ve been trying to teach yourself to crochet from a book, failed, thrown your knotty mess on the floor and then stamped on it, you need this class. I now know where my rows begin and end, how to hold the yarn and can read a basic pattern.

Classes lined up for September in London include beginners’ knitting, basic jewellery, crochet granny squares and crochet flowers. Find out more at www.teaandcrafting.co.uk.

Covent Garden is the place to be today, with a jam-packed schedule of exciting events from talks on Urban Beekeeping, to grow-your-own workshops, at The Covent Garden Real Food Market.

Speakers’ Corner (the series of free, weekly talks and demonstrations for London’s foodie community) will feature two of the UK’s leading experts in Urban Beekeeping and Urban Allotments:

• Thursday at 1pm: Beekeeping advice, honey & beeswax workshops with The Hive Honey Shop
• Thursday at 6pm: Urban Farming talks and demonstrations with Capital Growth

If you can’t make it today, there’ll be more talks and demonstrations on Thursday 20 August at the same times.

Don’t forget, if you’re struggling to entertain the kids this holiday, Covent Garden is running The Kids Are Alright summer promotion until Sunday 23 August. This massive free event includes juggling and puppet workshops, cupcake decorating classes, and even a giant sandpit.

The Kids Are Alright also sees great offers on toys and family dining from some of the area’s leading shops and restaurants, including complimentary kids meals from top Covent Garden restaurants, free Disney goodies and the chance to win a Build-A-Bear Workshop party.

A: Throw it away and buy a new one?
B: Get out your needle and thread and bring it back to its former glory?

Despite having no sewing skills, I decided to embrace the make-do-and-mend spirit of the recession and have an attempt at B. Luckily, creative workspace The Make Lounge had just the right class to help me -Survival Sewing.

Survival Sewing teaches wannabe amateur tailors basic repair and alteration skills. We were shown how to take up a hem, sew on a button correctly (there’s more to it than you might think!) and given help from our tutor on how to fix the items of clothing we had brought with us.

It all takes place in the bright and welcoming space of The Make Lounge in Islington, where as well as sewing, you can chat with your classmates over a cup of tea, biscuits, and even a glass of wine.

Even with my non-existent sewing skills, I successfully completed what was apparently a fairly tricky repair job, thanks to the expert help of our tutor. There’s something really satisfying about fixing things yourself and I’m hoping to put my new hemming skills to the test soon – any willing trouser victims/volunteers?

If sewing doesn’t appeal, The Make Lounge runs all kinds of classes including cupcake decorating, crochet and jewellery-making.

More classes and workshops in London.