Beaded Necklace Workshop

Libbie Coulson is running a beaded necklace workshop at Hotwalls Studios on Wednesday 9 September. It's a creative session where you'll make your own necklace under her guidance, and you'll leave with something you've actually put together yourself.

Coulson is a jewellery designer and artist from Drayton, and her business, 26th of May, is named in memory of her mother, who died of cancer when Libbie was 22 and whose birthday fell on the 26th of May. She's a Fine Art graduate with a fifteen-year design career that started in web design, but she only discovered polymer clay during lockdown in Christmas 2019. A marbling technique she was playing with turned a hobby into a passion, and her designs subsequently took off on Etsy and Instagram. These days she specialises in semi-precious beaded necklaces and bracelets alongside elegant polymer clay earrings, all crafted by hand.

She runs her classes from Hotwalls Studios in Old Portsmouth, where she also displays her artwork and draws inspiration from painting — something she still longs to return to. The studio is at 8 Broad Street, Old Portsmouth, PO1 2FS. If you've never been, it's right down by the water in the old naval dockyard area, so it's a nice spot to spend a few hours. The workshop is on Wednesday 9 September, and you'll be working with beads to make your own necklace.