Needle Felting for Adults: Crafting Calm at UCL’s Mental Health Week
This May, as part of Mental Health Awareness Week at UCL, I had the joy of leading my first needle-felting workshop for adults — an experience that gently affirmed everything The Amoursphere is growing into. What began as a mindful moment for students and staff became something more: an intimate, creative, soul-nourishing session that reminded me why slow craft and community matter.
The past year has been hectic. In many ways, I needed this workshop just as much, if not more, than the lovely participants who joined me.
As part of Mental Health Awareness Week at UCL, a range of activities were offered to encourage staff and students to take a breather from the intensity of exams and deadlines. This year, I had the privilege of hosting a needle-felting workshop — my first time facilitating this craft, and also my first adults-only session under my new company, Amoursphere Ltd.
In honour of this turning point in my creative career, I called it The Amoursphere Experience. I’m not sure if that name will stick, maybe just The Amoursphere is enough, but it marked something meaningful: a new chapter of facilitating creative wellbeing workshops in London, rooted in mindfulness, handcrafted beauty, and community. Cultivating the Amoursphere, quite literally. 😉
Eight people signed up, and five lovely ladies attended. It was a more intimate group than I had anticipated, but it felt perfect, especially as I was feeling under the weather just before the session. Everything aligned as it was meant to.
Setting up the room gave me a clearer vision for how I want to evolve this experience — how I’d love to elevate the setting, guide the flow, and refine the details to make this offering truly mine. Having the space to focus on guiding adult participants, rather than managing little ones’ attention spans, allowed the energy to unfold beautifully. The focus, the calm, the flow in the room... it was incredible. I left feeling energised, and I can’t wait to offer it again.
“the rhythm of felting slows the breath and centres the body.”
This session was also an invitation to explore needle felting for beginners in the UK, a gentle introduction to tactile creativity, using wool fibres to craft simple, meaningful forms. It reminded me of the beauty of mindful making with wool, how the rhythm of felting slows the breath and centres the body. It’s meditative and quietly addicting, really.
I was so impressed by the creations made and deeply grateful for the quiet connection that emerged. I’d love to invite the women who joined to attend future sessions and continue crafting together.
A huge thank you to the Bartlett School of Architecture at UCL for valuing community and wellbeing in such an intentional way. I hope to partner with them again soon, and to bring The Amoursphere Experience to more spaces open to handmade art therapy sessions and the quiet joy of creating in good company.
Amour x
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