Birdhouses, barbed wire balls, fibre baskets, Hebel stone swirls … you name it, Coolamon’s Nadine Lucas can probably teach you how to make it. Her workshops have a huge following of happy pupils all lining up to learn a new craft. Photo: Supplied.
When Coolamon’s Nadine Lucas decided to pick up the tools in 2018 and share some arty inspiration with friends she had no idea her first crafty workshop would burgeon into a flourishing new career.
The creator of ‘Make it Your Own’ hosts two to three workshops a fortnight, has a waiting list for most of them and has now been encouraged to develop online tutorials for her international Facebook followers who want to learn her wiry ways.
“This was actually meant to be my winding down for retirement but it’s got bigger than Ben Hur!” she laughs.
Nadine teaches people how to make a variety of garden art and decorative items from “swirly” barbed wire balls to birdhouses, no-weld flowers, carved Hebel art, rustic wooden pigs, fibre baskets and Christmas reindeer.
In fact, she has 18 different workshops where people who think they have no skill at all in this department will walk away having made something beautiful.
“It still shocks me that people don’t think they are capable until they prove it to themselves; I’m sort of the opposite way around,” she says. “I’m definitely capable and if I didn’t do it right the first time round, I’ll have another go.”
Nadine Lucas (right) has always had an affinity for making and creating and has combined her skills on the tools with her love of art to develop workshops to teach others the trade. Photo: Supplied.
Growing up on a farm and surrounded by tools Nadine was a natural when it came to tinkering. A truck driver for a time, she went on to hold the general assistant maintenance role at Coolamon Central School for 20 years and it was there that a suggestion from “the girls in the office” sparked an idea.
“They said they wanted to make wooden reindeer that I had seen on Pinterest so I said, ‘Come out and we’ll have a day of it’.
“They made them and I thought, I could do this for a living.
“Art is not really my background but I’ve always been interested in arty things. When you cross maintenance, renovating old houses and an interest in the arts you end up with the workshops I offer. I think people need an artistic outlet.”
A leap of faith saw Nadine take a year off from her full-time maintenance role and set up her new business in the ample shedding on her property. The day comes with all the items you need for your masterpiece and to top it off comes with homemade fare from the garden.
“I try to add new things all the time so that what we offer is always expanding,” she said.
“I have flowers on the wall of my shed I did with a welder and of course everyone wanted to make them but I can’t teach welding so I thought how can I make these flowers similar but without welding and just done with wire.
“I also get a lot of ideas from Pinterest, that is a hobby in itself, and I can look at things and work out if I can do them.
“You get ideas off other artforms; I do macrame and fibre basketry and you think, can I do that in metal? One plays off the other.”
Her willing students come from far and wide and her Facebook page is filled with beaming smiles on the faces of students proudly displaying their achievements.
“Some of the workshops are not easy. When we do the barbed wire balls it’s a hard day and your fingers end up sore.
Nadine hosts 18 different workshops at her property in Coolamon with everything you need provided to create your masterpiece. Photo: Supplied.
“They can be all consuming and pretty full on. There’s not usually much time for chit-chat apart from talking about what we are doing or about the other classes they have done.
“In fact, a lot of people comment that it is exactly the sort of thing they needed, to switch off from everything else in their life and concentrate on learning a new skill.
“They’re hands are occupied as well as their minds; you are tired by the end of the day. I definitely make them earn their scones,” she chuckles.
Nadine now sets her program well in advance and places fill fast. She has nearly 10,000 followers and a demand for growing her online presence.
“When I first started this my daughter said, ‘Mum, you have to be on Facebook’. Well, I’m technically an underachiever there I’d have to say and luckily she came to the rescue and set me up.
“Now I have people wanting me to video what I’m doing, so my daughter is coming to the rescue again and we are creating online tutorials so that people in New Zealand, the US and other places who can’t get to the workshops can login and learn online.”
She loves that she’s able to help her followers make something wonderful but gain a new skill that they may be able to benefit from.
“Some people just want to learn a new skill and go home and make them for themselves, but I have others who make birdcages and go and sell them at markets. That’s fine by me, I’m not interested in doing markets; what I’m selling is a day out – I want people to come to me.”
To find out more about Nadine’s workshops you can follow her on Facebook.
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