The FWWA held the "Decorative Effects Workshop" at the Forrest Heritage Centre in Dwellingup over the weekend of 27th to the 29th of March 2026. Eight FWWA members plus several instructors participated in the workshop in which the students learned the basics processes for the application of Gold Leaf and Maki-e mica powder to decorate boxes, furniture and other items. The students all went home with a box that they had decorated using one or more of these techniques.

The students and instructors arrived in Dwellingup on Friday afternoon. A cyclone off the coast brought torrential rain to Perth and the surrounding areas, including Dwellingup, making for an eventful trip to get there. Friday evening was spent socialising over dinner and getting to know each other. This is a great way to get to know our members and is a feature of these events.

The course began in earnest on Saturday morning. The students created several test pieces as they learned the techniques, with the goal of developing a design they would apply to their box on Sunday. FWWA member Harry started the morning's learning by talking about the application of gold leaf and how it has been used to decorate boxes and furniture.

The students were supplied with everything they needed for the course, but due to the cost and fragility of gold leaf, imitation leaf in various colours was used instead. The imitation leaf is also much more forgiving of begginers than real gold leaf.

At the end of Harry's demonstration, the students selected the patterns they wanted to apply to their test pieces before going back to their workbenches to start work. Over the course of several hours the students taped off their design and learned how to glue leaf to their test pieces. Gluing leaf to timber sounds easy enough, but there is a lot more to it than meets the eye for it is very easy to damage the leaf if the amount of glue is not right.

Our students were a very creative bunch and there was quite an array of designs and leaf colours used.

We broke for lunch around noon and shared a light snack of rolls and watermelon before heading back down to the workshop to start the Maki-e part of the course.

FWWA members Carolyn and Life member Ian took over at that point and spoke about Maki-e and its uses, before demonstrating how to apply it. Mica powders are glued to the piece to create the desired design. Again, it sounds easy but there's much more to it, just like applying gold leaf.

The students then selected patterns that they wanted to try, and returned to their benches to practice applying Maki-e. As with the gold leaf test pieces, the Maki-e pieces were varied and very well done. Those very artistically minded students created some amazing test pieces.

We retired to our accommodation at the end of the day's activies to spend several hours having dinner and socialising.

The morning of the second day was where it all started to come together for the students. Life member Ian gave a brief demonstration of how to inlay mother of pearl dots, and the students started decorating their boxes.

The course was a great success, not just because of the pieces created by the students. The camerarderie between students and instructors was a feature of the course as we all got to know each other over the weekend, which helps to strengthen relationships with the FWWA.

Special thanks goes out to our instructors: Life members Ian and Kevin, and members Carolyn and Harry, for without them the course could not have been held.