Fancy Tiger Crafts Welcomes Back Robert Mahar

Fancy Tiger Crafts is thrilled to welcome Rober Mahar back to our classroom space! This coming weekend marks Robert’s third time being a guest instructor at Fancy Tiger Crafts. Robert is an artist and designer who teaches imaginative do-it-yourself projects. He’s also a proud alumni of the inaugural season of NBC’s crafting competition show Making It with Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman!

This time around, Robert is helping us kick off the winter season by hosting three classes that will have students walking away brimming with creative gift ideas and their own wintery inspired embroidery piece! Although his "Embroidering on the Photographic Image" class has already sold out, Robert's "Hand Embroidered Snow Globes" and "Embroidered 2023 Wall Calendar" classes still have limited spots available, so don’t miss out on getting the chance to create your own special needlepoint piece! 

In preparation of this weekend, we invited Robert to share why he’s excited to be returning to Fancy Tiger Crafts and what students can expect from his workshops:

Friends, I am incredibly excited to be heading back to Fancy Tiger Crafts for a three workshop weekend on Saturday, November 4 and Sunday, November 5. The combination of Denver's creative community and FTC's brilliant retail and class programming have created a destination I'm always delighted to visit!

When I visited FTC in early Spring of this year, the class that generated the most enthusiasm was Embroidering on the Photographic Image - and so we’re happily offering another session. While instruction covers core embroidery basics, this workshop focuses on narrative embroidery - exploring ways to transform the story an individual photo can tell. We’ll embellish ten of my favorite vintage photographs printed on linen cotton canvas - but we also discuss ways to stitch new life into your own family photos for future projects.

While you might not be ready for Winter just yet, it’s been on my mind for months as I’ve been developing seasonal projects including my Hand Embroidered Snow Globe Workshop. This is your opportunity to create a charming Winter wonderland focused around a vintage evergreen tree illustration. We’ll explore all the ways you can embroider snow flurries and tree decorations including the optional application of beads, pearls and sequins. What really brings this project to life and completes the snow globe illusion are the artisan crafted hoop stands made in Virginia and the wood hoop backings created in Washington state. Once assembled, you can display your work on any flat surface - festive Winter decor that you’ll show off year after year.

And finally, a new year is on the horizon - and what better way to welcome it than a hand embroidered wall calendar! This generous 18x27” linen cotton canvas panel pairs an 1880s scientific illustration of spruce tree components with modern typography to create the perfect canvas for stitching. Whether you embroider a little or a lot, when you embellish this gorgeous graphic, you’re guaranteed a beautiful end result. You’ll also have the opportunity to machine hem your fabric, neatly finishing your calendar as a wall hanging or tea towel. The end result is a thoughtful, handmade gift for anyone (including yourself!)

This is the perfect time to create some handmade gifts, with plenty of time to finish before the holiday season. I work incredibly hard to develop workshops that are thoughtfully researched, diligently demonstrated and full of fun. You’re encouraged to take three hours out of your weekend to invest in yourself, learn a new skill and create something beautiful! I hope you’ll join us.  

- Robert Mahar