I wasn’t a big fan of arts and crafts. 

When I was a child, I hated that I couldn’t create anything properly. I blame it on the origami class from Grade 1. LOL. Not sure if it was since then I figured or thought that I will never be an artsy, creative, or crafty person.

Most of my projects in school were actually created by my mother. LOL. There you go, kids, that’s my biggest secret. Nah, just kidding. 

Ever since then I never created anything with my hands. Well, there are fics, essays, papers, and now blogs. But crafting something with my hands… nope. The closest, aside from writing, was paintings. I don’t have any training on it but I tried. It’s not perfect, but with practice or by attending other workshops, maybe I can do better. 

But it wasn’t the catalyst for me trying creative workshops this year.

You can find it here in my previous blog!

Anyway, I was lucky enough to find creative workshops back to back that I achieved 50% of the creative workshops goal!

It was all thanks to kakayanin and Bumi and Ashe!

Without a further ado-do, here’s my experience of these two workshops!

I don’t want to share much about my experiences because I don’t want to spoil you, but I hope you give them a try, if you have the time!

kakayanin

Kakayanin hosts the candle-making workshop. It’s headed by Christelle, the heart and soul of the company. She’s accompanied by her husband (Mikky), the muscle (haha) and photographer of the workshops.

I really enjoyed learning about candle-making from Christelle. I saw how passionate Christelle was about teaching it and imparting her wisdom to beginner learners. Plus, you can see the twinkle in her eyes as the students made their own candle brews. She was so patient in answering our questions, too!

I was lucky enough to be part of that workshop in Makati alongside other women! I finally got to smell different scents. Two of which were inspired by Brooklyn Nine Nine actually (Sandalwood and English Garden). I didn’t put them together because I wasn’t fond of the latter. However, I discovered a scent I know I’ll love and want to spray on myself, if I get the chance to make my own perfume based on it. Haha.

I also learned the art and science of candle-making. It was so cool to see how a candle gets made. I don’t use candles regularly, but maybe I can make candles just to smell it. Hahaha.

The candle I made had a mix of Orchard Pear, Sandalwood, and Bamboo & Coconut. I can’t describe the actual smell, but as Christelle said, it smells sweet. I’m addicted to smelling it actually. It makes me feel alert and alive for some reason. Haha.

I finally lit the candle on April 11, 2024, and I was so happy how it turned out. I couldn’t light up the candle inside the house but I just love the scent I created. Plus, I’m happy with how my candle turned out.

You can follow kakayanin on Instagram and sign up for their workshops!

Bumi & Ashe

Bumi & Ashe are the wonderful creatives behind the mug-making workshop. The Cubao-based studio teaches pottery and rug-tufting. They have regular classes in the studio, but they host pop-ups in Makati, Alabang, and BF Homes, which is a plus for many of the Southies that can’t make it to their HQ.

A week after the Kakayanin.ph workshop, I was happy to join Bumi & Ashe’s pottery workshop! I was in the Alabang one, which was a huge relief to me. Hehe. Anyway, I was there early and got to know some of the other participants. One of them being an acquaintance of a friend of mine. Small world, I’d say!

We had two instructors, I believe. However, I won’t name them since they might not want to be named. LOL. However, if asked, I’ll definitely say.

Since there were two tables, one of them was the instructor for our table. I like that our instructor gave us clear instructions and was super encouraging! She was also patient in helping us fix our mugs. Also, she gave us pointers on how to mold the mug and handle! She’s a pro at creating mugs while she was teaching us.

Mine ended up being a soup bowl and mug. I’m not sure if I could drink from it, but I tried molding mine as best as I could. It was my mug-child and I loved it. I didn’t expect my first ever pottery creation to be perfect. But, I could sign up for more workshops in the future! They have other classes, such as:

• Wheel throwing
• Hand building
• Rug-tufting

I’m planning on trying the rug-tufting and hand building classes!

Anyway, we’ll be receiving our mugs in a few weeks! I’m excited to see what happens to my mug-child after it’s heated.

You can follow Bumi and Ashe on Instagram to sign up for their workshops and classes!

Final Thoughts

These workshops brought out a creativeness in me that I didn’t expect. I’d call myself a not-so-creative creative. A title that long and self-deprecating won’t get me any job offers from LinkedIn. LOL. I think my inner child was even jumping for joy after these workshops. She’ll have more fun once I sign up for two more workshops in Q3 and Q4. 

I’m really grateful that kakayanin and Bumi and Ashe exist. I longed to create a piece I’d be proud of. 

With them, I did.

Till next time, dudes!