Glue guns, paint brushes, colorful markers, sequins and more litter the tables. The steady hum of conversation fills the room with a warmth more palpable than any music could.
Something electric happens when strangers shift to friends. NH Craft Club makes this easy.
“There is just something about getting together with people and doing something that you enjoy collectively, that kind of brings this rejuvenation, I suppose, to one’s life, to have something on the calendar to look forward to, to go spend an evening laughing with people and just communicating,” said Megan Locker, who founded the group last year.
It started with a question posed on social media last spring. Locker wanted to know if people wanted to come together and craft. She had been looking for sources of community. It’s hard as an adult to make friends, she said, and joining a run club or a book group didn’t call to her in the same way.
“I think a lot of people have a similar sentiment of not really knowing how to meet new people and not really knowing how to get involved,” said Locker, who lives in Canterbury. “And I think something like Craft Club or a similar community event is a good way to introduce people to the aspect of showing up alone to something and leaving with a new friend or a new acquaintance.”
But nothing like Craft Club existed yet. So, she started it herself, launching a community craft group open to anyone interested in collective creativity. Locker connected with the Concord Makerspace in Boscawen, Imagine Art and Play in Hampton Falls and Sunstone Brewing in Londonderry. Each business was thrilled at the prospect of hosting the group, which rotates locations and activities to make crafting accessible to people across the Granite State.
From pottery and block printing to mosaic trays and beaded plants, Locker selects crafts that people may not pursue at home, given the niche supplies required. She wants people to be able to explore as many niche areas as possible.
For Kiera Kennedy, who lives in Nashua, attending Craft Club has been transformative.
“I cannot even describe how much I actually love it, because I also love crafting, but I don’t love buying all the supplies, because you have to buy them in bulk pieces, and you’re left over with all this stuff,” she said. “And then also, just having a group, I have so many new friends through the Craft Club, like where we hang out outside of the club.”
She first heard about the group through TikTok, right when Locker issued her initial call-out. After attending the first session last year, Kennedy was hooked.
Fall wreaths and witches’ brooms have been two of her favorite activities so far. And even though she lives in southern New Hampshire, she’ll drive to wherever an event is being held on a given weekend — and she keeps making friends in the process
“Megan has been very open in being like, ‘If you’ve crafted before, come join us. If you haven’t crafted before, come join us.’ So, regardless of where you are with your abilities, she’s always able to accommodate everybody. I think that’s why I continue to go, because it’s just such a welcoming group,” Kennedy said.
As the group gained traction, with new people attending each session alongside dedicated returnees like Kennedy, Locker quickly saw how many people had been looking for the same community as she had been.
“Once I realized that the response was larger than I expected, a goal of mine has been to put Craft Club in as many pockets of New Hampshire as we can,” she said.
She tries to keep the participation costs as low as possible while accommodating for her purchase of all the necessary materials. Her roster has already grown to encompass Brookline, New Hampshire and White River, Vermont, with Plymouth being her next target area.
Locker works in real estate by day, although she dedicates much of her spare time to preparing for the different sessions.
“Dreaming as big as I can, Craft Club will become my full-time job,” she said. “We would have a cute little studio, ideally somewhere on Main Street in Concord, but that’s just like wishful thinking. But we would have a cute little studio where we could host more frequently and at a lower cost.”
Beyond that, she wants a space where people can come in for free with their own supplies and just sit together as they work.
A crafter herself, Locker sees tremendous value in having time to pursue a creative passion.
“When you graduate and you’re kind of thrown into the adult world of working nine-to-five and figuring out how to pay bills, I feel like sometimes those hobbies take a back seat,” she said. “And it was really important to me as, like, a little bit older, to fall back into the hobbies.”
For her, as for Kennedy, it all comes back to the people she meets.
“Crafting is a secondary to wanting to build this community and form friendships,” said Locker.
For more information, visit https://nhcraftclub.com.
Upcoming events include
June 19: Bedazzle Bar in Londonderry
June 20: Mosaic Trays in Concord
June 20: Block Printing in Hampton Falls
June 21: Tin Embossing in White River Junction, VT
July 9: “Summer Nights” free crafting event with NHPR in Concord
August 21: Craft Camp with Suncook River Camp
There will also be a series of events with Lucky Bug Farm in Amherst on June 28, July 12 and September 13, with the exact crafts to be announced soon.
