Stop. Hama Time (I'm sorry. I had to.)

Hey readers! Megan again! And my word... This society and their Hama beads...

This society. They love Hama beads. And to be honest with you? So do I. Hama beads are great. They're relaxing. They're fun. Anyone can do them. This is why they are something that everyone, young and old, can enjoy together.

As you probably guessed, we as a society are pretty skilled with Hama beads now. So, to help you become as skilled as we are now, we're going to give you our Top 5 Tips to Hama Beads.

#5: Sort Your Colours!

Okay, hear us out. We know this sounds like common sense but trust us, sorting your beads will help you in the long run. Just take a day out of your schedule, stick a podcast or a show you're currently watching and just sort. You'll need a few pots to separate the colours into but you can get them cheap. Once everything is sorted into their colours, everything from the this point on will be a lot easier. You won't be needing to search for colours as you go, you can just focus on what you want to make and have fun!

#4: Greaseproof! Greaseproof! Greaseproof!

When you're planning to iron the beads down, make sure to use Greaseproof Paper. I've seen people say that regular paper and tin foil work just as well but it's not. The beads will melt to the paper and make them stuck, rendering them unusable and the same will happen with the tin foil with the added danger of the heat being conducted through it. Greaseproof is the safest, and easiest route. You don't need to worry about buying the Hama official Ironing paper,  it's literally just overpriced small squares of greaseproof. You can get a 10m roll of greaseproof for £1 and that'll last you ages. Not only that, but you're able to see your progress with the ironing of the beads! 

#3: Don't apply too much pressure!

Okay this one is a difficult one. The pressure on the iron is KEY. If you press down too hard, the beads will melt too much and can also potentially melt the peg board too. If you don't put enough pressure on, the beads won't melt and the picture could get ruin. You need to slowly apply pressure and keep moving the iron ensure that the heat is spread evenly across all the beads. That way no beads will be over melted, and all the beads will be connected.

#2: Watch the Heat!

The heat of your iron is extremely important. If the iron is too hot, the paper will burn and the beads will burn and over melt. If the iron is too cold, it will have minimal to no effect on the beads. To start off, make sure to put you iron on a medium heat and iron over the beads. If the beads melt too quickly, reduce the heat. If the beads do not change state, increase the heat slowly until it has an effect. If you feel that beads are melting at a good rate and are melting evenly, keep at that heat. It takes a while to work out what the best heat for your iron is however, once you work it out, the rest of you Hama beads projects are going to be perfect!

#1: Just enjoy it!

The whole point of Hama beads is to have fun and be creative with simple designs! Just start with the basics and work up to more complicated designs. Don't get frustrated that you may not be able to do the amazing, fancy designs straight away. Just enjoy making pretty patterns. Even your practice pieces can be useful. They can be used as coasters or decorations. No creation is a failure! 

PHEW! We got there in the end! However, I can guarantee that these tips will help you become a so much better Hama bead artist! These have all helped out members, and we're sure they'll help you too!

Until next time, Readers!!
-Megan

Busy! Busy! Busy!

Hi Readers! Megan here! Cosplay and Craft have been super busy this week! Our Wednesday meeting was jam packed!

This week, our society took on the challenge of trying to repair our own clothes or costumes. For a lot of our members, this is the first time they have picked up a sewing needle or touched a sewing machine. However, they showed determination and perseverance and we ended up with some pretty great results! Well done, Guys!

Along side sewing our own things, we helped out the SU with the Wiggly Bags for Great Ormand Street Hospital!
If you don't know what Wiggly Bags are, Wiggly Bags are small bags which are distributed out to children who have a Hickmen Line (a central venous catheter most often used for the administration of chemotherapy or other medications, as well as for withdrawal of blood for analysis.) We helped out by re-sewing some bags that have come slightly undone and strengthened others. Our aim for this is that when the SU hands over those bags, we get to give them a best we possibly could! Everyone in the society loved helping with these bags and can't wait to do more!

To keep up with the pace of the session, the committee got the society involved with VPSI Jimi Adeyinka's campaign "Buck's Proud"!
If you don't know what "Buck's Proud" is, it's a campaign that allows the students of Buck's SU to show how proud they are to be part of  Bucks! It's a great way to show the SU our appreciation and also help us get geared up for Varsity!

The last thing we did while we were a busy bunch was that we held our Annual General Meeting and asked the society a few questions. These were the responses we got:

• The society really enjoyed hosting and being part of our Globetrotters Italian Takeover.
• The other things that the society enjoyed were: 
• Hama beads sessions- Everyone said that they loved the ability to relax, have some fun, and chill out!
• Poster session- Members said that they thought it was really fun to be able to design something that would benefit the society and let other people know what kinds of things we do as a group!
• Blades Collaboration- Members also agreed that the RAG Pajama collab with Blades was really fun and it allowed us to hang out and get to know the members of  Bucks Blades and try something new.
• The society also said that they wanted to do some weapon crafting sessions.
• Other things they asked that we could do are:
• Resin sessions- Make charms and jewellery for costumes all while learning a new skill and techniques
• Hama beads! This society can't  get enough of those Hama beads! Lucky for them we're just waiting for some to be delivered and they can Hama bead to their hearts content!
• Actual Costume Sessions- Because we're a new and start up society, we haven't had the chance to do a costume session so they want to do a session ACTUALLY based on
  costuming. Mostly planning and designing and they doing the odd creation session.
• We also asked what they thought that committee was doing well and the answer that they gave us were that we were really friendly and welcoming and that we get across any info and news well.  They also said that we always meet the needs of the society and never leave them hanging.
• Although we liked hearing all the good things we do, we also asked what we could do better and they said that they wanted to do more recruitment events to try and get more members. They also asked that we could do concourse activities. They want to do more things to show they uni the fun stuff that we can do at the uni.
• One  last thing that they thought we could do more as a committee is UXB activities. They thought that it would be really good for the nurses studying at Uxbridge to just take an evening off to do some Hama beads and crafts and just get a chance to relax and have some fun.
• The committee also asked everyone what they thought would be a good idea for RAG ideas for the society and they thought up some fun and wacky ideas!
• Charity Week
• Lazer Tag Water Gun
• Human Chess
• Globetrotters
• Hama Bead Charms sale
• Craft Sale
• Paint Fight
• Carnival/ Funfair games
• Dick and Dom charity night
• Tutor Water Bombing
• One last thing we talked about as a society was about socials! We wanted to make sure that when we arranged socials, everyone felt welcomed and included. The ideas that they had were:
• Games Tournament
• Movie Social
• Movie Social with dressing up
• Disco Social
• Roller rink 
• Rush
• American Diner
• Food Social
• Toast Social (Toast-ial)
• Bread Social
• Garlic Social
• Cooking Social
• Jelly Social (Jell-o-cial)
• Water Social (H2O-cial)
• Dark Social
• Glow-in-the-Dark Social (Glow-cial)

See? I told you guys that we've been busy this week! See you next time! :D
-Megan