Bottles Of Hope Workshop At NCC

Tracy Van Buskirk will offer a Bottles of Hope workshop at Newtown Congregational Church on Saturday, February 4. The workshop is open to anyone age 8 and up – anyone who has an inner artist and who would like to offer hope to someone with a serious illness.

The workshop will run from 10 am until noon. There is a $5 supplies fee, which can be paid on the day of the workshop, but the group is limited to 25 students so reservations are needed. Contact Nancy Crevier at 270-0681.

Mrs Van Buskirk, who lives with her family in Newtown, has been a polymer clay artist for several years. She is a member of the Southern Connecticut Polymer Clay Guild and has led numerous Bottles of Hope workshops around New England including some at C.H. Booth Library.

Bottles of Hope are small recycled glass bottles that have been decorated using poly clay and are given free of charge to seriously ill patients to spread a little hope and to let them know people are thinking about them. Polymer clay, which is sold under the brand names of Sculpey®, FIMO® and PREMO®, is a colorful and versatile man-made clay that can be sculpted, textured, stamped and combined in a multitude of ways to produce unique designs in pieces of art.

Some patients keep their bottles as a memento of their hospital treatment and consider the bottles a wish of future good health. Friends and family also give the bottles to loved ones to let them know they are thinking of them. Religious patients have been known  bottles by their sides as small prayer bottles filled with hope.

The bottles are small but provide patients with a great deal of sentimental value as each bottle is requested by someone they love, letting the patients know they are not alone.

All of the directions and supplies needed to create a bottle of hope will be provided by Mrs Van Buskirk at the workshop.

Newtown Congregational Church is at 14 West Street. The workshop will be held in the church’s Great Room, and the building is handicapped accessible.