“Great beginners class! Our teacher was very patient and stepped us through each part, answering questions and giving helpful tips. There were so many colour options which made it really easy to customise our lamps to our own style. The complimentary Turkish delight & coffee were also the best I've ever had!”
“The workshop began very relaxed but instructions of what we were to do throughout the workshop weren't clear. The first step of choose your colours against a template on a work board, but not what happened next when designing and making your lamp were provided. Alongside no time checks this resulted in everyone having to stressfully rush towards completing by the end of the workshop. It was great they let us stay to finish because people had to move their cars as there is only 2 hour parking out the front of the shop along Smith St.
The presenter was disengaged and on their phone throughout the workshop, only responded to direct questions or requests for refills of glue or beads. This was disappointing as we felt like we didn't know what to do from step to step and uncomfortable asking for assistance.
We specifically chose to do this workshop in Collingwood rather than Flinders Lane in Melbourne because this workshop description included Turkish coffee, sweets and discussion around culture; but none of this occurred. In preparation I also rang the studio and left a voicemail asking about the differences in process given the Melbourne CBD one indicated you had to take your lamp home to grout it; I never got a call back so we took a chance. The only way of asking a question directly through Bento was via an online form submission.
The space was not well ventilated and we were working without gloves using roof sealant type silicone glue from a glue gun with popsicle sticks. When we asked to use the bathroom to wash our hands at the end, we were told to use the sanitizer provided because the sealant was designed to be waterproof and washing wouldn't help get it off our hands. (Whilst sanitizer helped, I found a nearby bathroom and washing hands after such work was absolutely necessary.)
The lamps are still to smelly to assemble inside and see how they have turned out but we're hoping they'll look lovely. It was a fun experience and the 2 hours allocated was probably appropriate for candle holder making but short for larger lamps. With more guidance throughout, demonstration of next steps to the group and indication of when these should happen would have helped greatly. We would also have loved to have experienced the cultural food and discussion elements that were advertised.”
“We had such a great afternoon making our decorative candles. The venue was easy to find and great street parking. We were a group of 10 - the instructor made sure we were all on the right track. Highly recommend.”
