Another in the series of articles on members of the association.

Teresa Moore – Recycling Cast-offs into Creations

Teresa is a craft maker and designer who specialises in turning unwanted items into useful things of beauty.

Plastic bottles, card, pieces of fabric and bits of this and that are made with great inventive flair and design ability into ornaments, jewellery, hats, bags and scarves.

A current collection is created from old sweatshirts and knits – Swits as she calls them.  Her daughter, Persia, is shown here modelling some of them.

Another new design is the Mufflette, an ingenious creation which can be formed into different styles of hat or scarf.

Craft is in Teresa’s blood.  She worked for many years as interior designer and window dresser for Laura Ashley in London and Europe.

She brought up her four children in the Canaries where her husband was a professional windsurfer and they ran a surf shop and whole food restaurant.  Her mother was living in Gibraltar and when her children were grown up she decided to move here.

It was a good move for Teresa: she joined the Arts and Crafts Association and with time for herself after many years of concentrating on family, found creative ideas flooding in.  As well as making and selling her work, she and Rose Senna run children’s workshops at the Arts and Crafts Centre.  Currently they run Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 3.45pm to 5.15pm for children aged four to 12 years.  They have proved so popular that they plan to run them on Tuesday and Friday as well.

The children use a wide range of crafts, including papier maché, sewing, clay modelling, painting and mosaic, to make decorative items such as jewellery, bags, cars, aeroplanes, masks and mobiles.  All materials and a snack are provided.

Teresa loves doing these workshops and so do the children.

Having run a class near her summer morning workshops, I can testify to the enthusiasm and enjoyment of her young students, and to her unwavering patience and calm presence in the face of sometimes excited (and very loud) children!

Combining craft and working with children, she feels she has found her niche.  She is planning ‘Happy Crafting’ birthday parties where a child can bring up to eleven friends.  People can bring their own food, or it can be provided.  An excellent idea: children will be involved in a creative activity and will produce a hand made gift – very rewarding, perhaps more so than the hectic activities of some parties!

A part of the Arts and Crafts Community Project, which is Government funded, Teresa runs a craft morning at the Albert Risso Day Centre, where she has introduced 15 older ladies to a range of crafts.  Although anxious about their abilities at the beginning, the participants have gained confidence and they have a great time.

Teresa is running a children’s Christmas craft workshop at the Waterfront Christmas Crafts Fair where children will be able to make ornaments for their tree from recycled bottles.  The Fair, which supports several charities, is on Tuesday 4 December from 4.00pm at the Waterfront, Queensway Quay.

Always a popular, free, and enjoyable event, it includes an appearance by Father Christmas, a wide range of crafts and gifts, food and drink and music.

For further information Teresa can be contacted at: Gibraltar Arts and Crafts Centre 20073865 or Teresa at 54006059 or e-mail tressmoore@hotmail.co.uk or find her on Facebook at ‘Teresa Moore’.

Deborah M Lawson

Photograph by Teresa Moore

Photos show

Teresa

Persia modelling ‘Swits’

Christmas baubles made from recycled plastic bottles

Happy Craft children’s workshops