Vibrant Papier Mache Vases feature at Oswestry’s ‘Willow Gallery.’
This year saw a wonderful 8 weeks of creativity, as a focus group took place at Designs in Mind’s Studio on Cross Street. Working with our founder, Jo Davis, we each hand built an armature, and covered it with layers of paper, adding weights for ballast. Over time, these strange forms emerged as beautifully and individually hand crafted Papier Mache vases, for displaying dried flowers.
I joined in with this focus group, and thoroughly enjoyed working with the other women who attended. It was my first attempt at building the ‘armature’; a central column that would hold up these wonderful beings. The brief was to create something quirky, colourful, and that’s certainly what was achieved! 
What struck me the most was the fact that despite we all worked from the same brief, we manifested total different creations. It is this kind of thing that shows us how creatively diverse our Members are. The vases that emerged were vibrant and characterful, each one representing a one-off figure.
Each weekly Thursday afternoon session was really jolly. The group all had a real ‘Lark’ about, in keeping with our theme for this year. There was much laughter and banter during lots of creating and fun, bringing these beautiful creations to life. Each vase was thoughtfully planned and carefully executed by the nimble hands of Designs in Mind Members.
I’m not usually a fan of working with glue as I struggle with the sensory side of getting my hands sticky. However, I overcame this by working diligently and kept going until I was at a point where I’d finished, before washing my hands. Allowing my hands to be sticky for the duration ended up being quite fun, as my peers supported me in the uncomfortableness of the process, through encouragement and distractions.
Once we were in the finishing throes of painting these intricate vases, I contacted Park Gate Florists about their wide range of dried flowers, seeds and feathers displays, which we were now seeking, to complete these sculptures.
That same day, our completed designs paraded through the high street. As we walked, vases in hand, we gained some interesting glances. Park Hall Florist staff, were very helpful and notably kind in giving us a generous discount of the adornments, that were purchased that day.
One of the most exciting things that transpires from this focus group is that our vases are on display and for sale in the Willow Gallery in Oswestry! What a fabulous achievement by all Members involved. These are empowering ways for us to continue our work by finding commercial outlets for what we produce, alongside the support we are lucky enough to have from our grant funders.
Here we have comments from some of our Members who were involved:
“Olive is based on my love for open water swimming and how much of a positive impact its had on my mental health. She’s bright yellow as she has a sunny disposition and yellow makes me happy! Olive proudly wears the bather of a mental health warrior with a nod on her chest to all the Good Eggs at Designs in Mind, for all the support they give me and the Oswestry community. I’m delighted to see her for sale at The Willow and hope she bring happiness to someone soon” ! Nicki P
“My papier mache vase has a Peruvian feel. She was fun to create and paint. I had already made the papier mache mice for a previous studio project so incorporated that skill into this piece. It’s so lovely to have the collection displayed altogether in the Willow Gallery”. Ros
“It was such a pleasure to run this workshop. Great to see all our individual responses to the brief. I love the results, they are fun and joyful. To see them all displayed together, in a gallery setting, gave us all a buzz”! Jo – Designs in Mind Founder 
‘I loved the process of making my vase as this project was the second papier-mâché object I have made, and I love learning new things. I chose Frida Kahlo as I admire her fighting spirit presented with adversity and once I saw a painting of her holding a watermelon, that made up my mind, as a watermelon also represents the resilience of Palestinian people. I was happy to represent this in my Papier mache vase. I love the fact that my Frida, holding her watermelon, is on display for people to see her and hopefully make an offer to buy her and enjoy.
Blog Written & researched by Willow, Member & Social Media Coordinator