Tilemaking begins with the ground beneath it at La Tuilerie de la Bretèche’s open house. Guided visits take in the working premises and quarry, connecting raw material with the place where it is transformed. Local artisans and a children’s workshop add further ways to encounter practical skills, with the tileworks team and volunteers sharing their knowledge in Ligny-le-Ribault.
Tag: workshops
Chamerolles: Ghost Stories and a Creative Workshop
Former residents of Chamerolles return as the subjects of ghost stories in Les Fantômes du Château. A guide leads children aged six to twelve through a themed visit, mixing the history of the people who lived there with playful tales of haunting. A creative workshop follows, allowing the stories and characters encountered in the rooms to inspire a handmade piece.
White Embroidery: Stitches and Touraine Lace
White embroidery reveals its precision in demonstrations by Sylvie Lezziero. A separate practical workshop introduces either a whitework motif with plumetis, sand and straight cordonnet stitches, or a Touraine motif incorporating Valenciennes lace. The small-group format connects close observation with needlework, making the techniques behind the delicate surface visible and teachable.
Les Grands Feux: La Borne’s Wood-Fired Ceramics
Wood-fired kilns set the pace of Les Grands Feux in La Borne, with loading, firing and unloading carried out in public. Ceramicists from many places exchange working knowledge around the furnaces. Studio visits, exhibitions and practical workshops extend the programme from utilitarian pots to sculpture, revealing the range of practices sustained by this pottery village.
Brenne Basketry: From Wild Plants to Woven Hoops
Wild plants gathered in the Brenne become the material for hoop-based basketry with Frédérique Ardibus. The course starts outdoors with collecting, then moves into successive sessions of weaving and making. Organised by the regional natural park, the small-group activity follows the craft from raw vegetation to a formed object, with all sessions forming one learning sequence.
Loches: Paintings and a Shared Heritage Mural
Restoration of local heritage becomes the subject of a shared mural in Loches. Members of the public are invited to take part in painting it, bringing their own contribution to a collective image. A painting exhibition accompanies the activity in a garden setting, placing finished works beside a new piece that develops through participation.
Lansyer’s Japanese Fans: A Making Workshop in Loches
Japanese fans are both useful objects and works of art in the collection assembled by Lansyer. This Loches workshop introduces that part of his collecting interests before inviting participants to make and decorate a fan themselves. The finished object goes home with its maker, linking a local artist’s preserved collection with a practical encounter with Japanese decorative culture.
Loches: Read a Medieval Keep, Then Model One in Clay
Marks in the fabric of the Loches keep become clues to how a fortified tower was built and survived. Children aged four to twelve study those traces before modelling a keep of their own in clay. Accompanying adults can work beside them, turning observation of medieval construction into an exercise in shaping walls and imagining a castle’s form.
Loches: Make Paint the Medieval Way
Traces of colour on the carved walls of Saint-Ours in Loches provide the starting point for a medieval painting workshop. Participants draw a design, learn a historical paint recipe and bring their work to life with colours they have made. Accompanying adults can create alongside children, connecting close observation of the church with practical experimentation.
Bourges: Military History Through Children’s Workshops
Military history becomes a subject for observation and making in this Bourges museum programme for children aged six to twelve. Each session begins with a discovery activity before moving into a practical workshop. Handling and creating help connect the historical theme with something tangible, and participants leave with their own work at the end of the free session.