Cosy Craft Club subscription box review
I love the concept of trying a new craft each month – one thing we see all the time here on Gathered is that so many of the makers we meet and who follow us enjoy lots of different crafts, and on a personal level I'm the same and am endlessly curious to try different ways of making. For this test box review, I was sent The Cosy Craft Club's Wire Box – their December box which is an essential guide to wire craft.
I discovered a well-thought-out craft box that was easy to use. It included full instructions, ample supplies and lots of inspiration so she could choose to either follow the tutorials step-by-step or create from scratch. The company supplies monthly starter kits for a variety of crafts to give you a flavour and introduction to each. Recent kits have included origami, knitting, needle felting, embroidery, weaving and brush lettering.
What is Cosy Craft Club?
The company send out monthly starter kits by post for a variety of crafts to give you a flavour and introduction to each. Recent kits have included origami, knitting, needle felting, embroidery, weaving and brush lettering. Each kit includes all the supplies you need to try a craft, a personal introduction and tips from the makers who curated the box, plus instructions, templates and all the supplies and tools you need to get crafting.
How much is Cosy Craft Club?
Each Cosy Club box costs £24 and you can pick a way of subscribing to suit your budget or buy the boxes individually too if you want to just pick your favourites.
A month-by-month subscription costs £24 a month and you can cancel any time. Alternatively, you can pre-pay for 3 months in one go for £72 or 6 months for £138 (the latter option works out as £23 a month). If you prefer 1 payment for the full year, that costs £264 in a one-off payment (22 a month).
If you want to buy individual boxes you can head to the Cosy Craft Club shop and pick your favourites from recent boxes – these range from £19 to £35 per box, depending on the craft.
Is Cosy Craft Club good value for money?
Yes, given wire starter kits can retail online for around £30, the kit we had included good quality supplies that can be used again again and enough wire to make several wire craft projects to get going.
What are the subscription terms?
Cosy Craft Club subscriptions are flexible so you can skip a month, cancel or even swap your craft anytime. We especially like the option to swap your box if it's a craft you already have lots of supplies for or don't like the sound of.
Cosy Craft Club: What's in the box?
We trialled the introduction to wire crafts box and it came with everything we needed to try the techniques and projects inside. Our box included:
- Needle nose pliers - for creating loops and sharp bends
- Wire pliers - for holding wire in place and right angle bends
- 2mm wire – 5 metres-worth
- 1mm wire – 25 metres-worth
- Instruction booklet – explaining the basic techniques and 2 starter projects
- 4 bonus leaflets – with project ideas, templates and tutorials
- QR code – to send me to a video tutorial
Are the project's supplies good quality?
Yes the supplies included were really well made – the tools were well-made and sturdy, there was plenty of wire to make all the projects in the box and the instructions were well written.
What are the delivery options?
Delivery to the UK is included in the price and there are options to pick 1, 3, 6 or 12 month packages when you pay.
Are all of the boxes available nationwide in the UK?
Yes, they are. You can find out more about this on the Cosy Craft Club website.
How much packaging is there?
There wasn't excess packaging in the box, which is something that's important to me as I love the idea of receiving a craft subscription box but am very conscious of the environmental impact. The contents of the box were wrapped in tissue paper but the only other packaging inside the main box was a canvas draw-string bag which also doubles-up as storage for the wire supplies, so there was very little packaging waste.
Is the packaging recyclable?
Yes the packaging inside the box was fully recyclable. The box itself was cardboard, the canvas bag was reusable and will become a long-term part of my craft stash. There was no single-use packaging – even the tissue paper can be recycled when I wrap gifts in the future.
How easy are the projects to make?
Easy peasy for beginners. I've never tried wire craft before, and it does require a bit of practise as you learn which tools to use to shape the wire and how to create certain shapes or 3D effects, but with the box's instructions this was easy to pick up. One of the really nice things about the concept of these boxes is that you are taught the basic techniques (in this case how to shape the wire), and then given some beginner-friendly projects to try, plus shown how to take your crafting up to the next level. If I already knew wire craft before, the box included inspiration for more advanced projects I could make to stretch my skills.
Are the instructions clear?
Easy-to-understand instructions are something I find really important when learning a new craft – there's nothing worse than setting out to make something and then not really understanding what to do. But the leaflets and booklets included were really well put together – offering me a combination of templates, video, text and photo steps that meant I could get started instantly. I did find when I was trying the trickiest project (the wire man, I went wrong and shaped his legs in the wrong way – and would have liked a bit more detail in that project as it was quite a lot harder than the basic shaping wire letters and 2D shapes, but I was still able to make my finished project easily and quite quickly too.
Our tester box included templates to help us practise shaping wire letters. I did find these alphabet templates a little small for my first attempt at wire craft so used them as a guide and ended up shaping my wire letters larger-scale.
What are the finished projects like?
Pretty cool! I used the wire box instructions and supplies to make a batch of starter projects with wire. Here they are – I made a wire Christmas bauble, a sweet turtle bookmark and tested out making wire lettering. They're not perfect – they're a little wobbly in places – but that's the joy of handmade right? The more I shaped these, the better I got at using the pliers as my confidence grew, so I think future projects will hopefully feel a little more polished!
To finish off I made a 3D shaped person. I've seen mini wire sculptures before but never thought I could make my own. I was pretty pleased with my first attmpet, which involved making a wire base and then wrapping to create arms and legs which can be fully adjusted to change the person's posture. I'm going to add them to my craft desk and shape them into a variety of positions to hold my craft pens and pencils or perch on top of my sewing machine.
What other craft stash did you need to make the project?
The only additional supply I needed was a a pencil to wrap my wire around. Apart from that the kit came with absolutely everything I needed to learn wire craft.
Who would these subs boxes be most useful for?
If you're someone who likes to try lots of different types of making, then this could be the craft subscription box for you. It will suit crafters who like to dabble and learn new crafts, and also younger or new crafters who don't have much of an existing craft stash but want to learn new things and build up their basic supplies.
What's been my favourite thing about this subscription box?
I love the concept of a monthly taster of a different craft – and the recent crafts featured show a broad range of exciting ways of making, from block printing to origami and needle punching – so this really is a subscription kit for the crafty and curious!
Find out more about Cosy Craft Club at www.cosycraft.club
