Today is the last day of class and a certain air of panic has taken over! As part of receiving fully-subsidised places on the course (all accommodation, travel, food etc is paid for which is amazing) the students have been asked to make a finished piece of work which will go on exhibition starting at the British Consulate in Cairo and then moving around embassies and cultural centres before travelling Egypt and potentially Europe.

Pieces will also be photographed for a catalogue detailing the event. Except the exhibition begins on the 23rd April and photos need to be done a few weeks before that which leaves everyone 2 weeks to make some finished work...except of course the students from the UK whose work will need to be posted a week or so before that…

As any beader knows, only 1-2 weeks to make a finished piece can be very hard. Add in that the London students are preparing their degree shows, the Cairo students all have mid-term exams next week and everyone else has family, work, real life and other commitments, never mind no beads at home, and I think the final display, through no fault of the students, may be lacking compared to the final displays from the other workshops. This is a real shame as all the students have shown real potential in their beadwork and I think given a few months their final pieces would be outstanding.

This workshop was originally due to take place in December, which would have given everyone months to continue learning and creating work. The first of this group of 4 workshops (just this last one was beading) took place nearly a year ago so those students have had a long time to work and develop their ideas. I would love to see how the work of these students develops over time and hope to be able to keep in contact with them and see.

So you can see why there’s some panic today as everyone realises this is the last day in class when they can ask questions directly, (I will of course be available by email and phone but it’s not the same) see ideas being demonstrated and get me to undo knots and thread needles.

So today is mainly spenting going over anything anyone wants to see again and also beginning my own piece of work.

Although there is no request for me to make anything for the exhibition, as I sit here everyday and share this experience with everyone else, I am aware of just how much I will miss them, the experience, the camaraderie and the sunshine when I return home.

I am also aware of how much some of them want to make something for the exhibition, partly to be in it and partly to please me, so I am overwhelmed with a desire to take some of this home with me and join the others in their challenge.

As the theme of the week has been colours, hand-work and sharing, a design has been brewing in my mind about beading hands but it’s not until today that I know exactly how I want to express this. So many possibilities have whirled through my mind the past few days from making 3D hands in beads (or other materials), stringing a necklace with every bead representing a person and experience and some bead embroidery to reflect how I feel. But as soon as I realise that my hand fits onto the peyote stitch graph paper I have brought with me the design idea is sealed.

So I place my hand on the paper and draw around it. To finish the design I colour in beads which I will stitch in black on a background of all the colours of beads we have used and which represent the variety all of us in the class bring to the workshop.

I am hoping that sitting at home, working on this piece, will enable me to bring a bit of what I have found here back with me and serve as a virtual umbilical cord to Aswan and this week. As I sew in each bead one by one I will remember the experience, the women, the sights and sounds and the simple sharing and joy in beading we have all shared here.

It also feels unfair to expect all the students to work hard on a piece and me not so I want to undergo the challenge with them and for me beading a piece of flat peyote and following a graph is definitely a challenge!

Today our morning is interrupted by the arrival of a film crew from an Egyptian TV channel who want to film us working and talking about the event. I think it is for a local news programme as the questioning centres around what inspiration Aswan has given me, my work with beads and how I have found the week. The thought of me appearing on local Egyptian TV discussing beads is a very surreal one but I think by now on this week nothing would surprise me any more- it’s that kind of experience.

We continue working into the early evening before heading off to Philae Temple for a weird light and sound show and then home for a late dinner waiting to see what our last day together brings.