Ante 2013 - day 2

You can read all about what happened on the Saturday of Ante here. But for me, it's all about Sunday, the day that we make things and share skills. Imagine a youth club for grown ups with an emphasis on diy and the belief that anyone can and should make art. I mean, even the sign for people to clean up after themselves was a work of art.

There was group knitting and pompom making from a massive pile of donated wool. The intention was that we go and yarnbomb the town centre of Shipley together at the end of the day. 

Many pompoms were made (some by first time pompom makers like this one) and lengths of garter stitch were furiously knitted on giant needles. But instead, it was decided that we all go and spread the love from Ante to our various locations so we all took a little something to share.

The other big draw was letterpress poster making kindly facilitated by Nick from the Print Project even though he wasn't feeling so well.

Some people made multi-coloured prints and used both images and letters to create complicated designs. This one was extolling the joys of riding a bike.

I opted to keep it simple, sticking with words and a one colour design. Inspired by the whole ethos of Ante, mine is the one that says "WHY the hell NOT!" (not a question).

In fact, the letterpress was so in demand you pretty much had to stand guard over the blocks you needed for your design. Here you can see an untrustworthy scamp eyeing up my E. He actually took it when I looked away at one point.

Most of the other kids were busy building a super complicated fort (complete with fishing dock) out of cardboard and fabric. They were entertained by this from 11-4pm solid, leaving their parents to get on with making all the beautiful things.

All in all, another wonderful weekend in Shipley courtesy of the Ante-organisers. I know we said it last year but the folks in West Yorkshire really do put most Londoners to shame.