Not many of you will know this, but I’m a bit deaf in my right ear which, on several occasions has led to me mis-hearing things and getting myself in all sorts of trouble, but more often than not, some hilarious situations. Anyway, a couple of years ago, I was having a conversation with the guy who prints my labels and leaflets for my kits and he muttered something, which to me, sounded just like ‘tit kits’. I can’t remember for the life of me what he was actually saying but, it definitely wasn’t tit kits and we ended up howling at my mistake. Another Rachel classic.
Anyway, after he’d gone back to his office, laughing all the way up the corridor, I started to think how ‘tit kit’ had a nice ring to it and how cool it would be to actually design and make a pair of mosaic tits, that could be used as cheeky coasters. And, even better, what if the sale of those kits raised money for a breast cancer charity?
So that’s what I did, I designed a little set of tit kits in a range of ‘skin tones’ that could be easily made at home and would raise money for the breast cancer awareness charity, Coppafeel. If you don’t know about this amazing charity, then go and look them up - they are funky, cool and original, getting their important message out in loads of fun ways.
Following on from the tit kit idea, when I moved into my new studio, I really wanted to do an event, where people could listen to advice about keeping their breasticles, titties, baps and boobs healthy, then make a pair of mosaic tits to take home. And, by making them in the studio rather than following a kit, imaginations could run wild and designs could either be nude, dressed in bikinis or my personal favourite, embellished with titty tassels. During the summer of 2020, when the studio was open in between the lockdowns, conversations turned to an event I’d run in my old studio where I delivered a gin tasting, followed by a mosaic workshop to create a pair of coasters. There was lots of interest in running something similar and it got me thinking how perfect it would be to combine it with the titty idea…….so that’s how the G&T - “Gin and Tits” idea was born.
Fast forward to 2021, and the realisation that the pandemic is seemingly never ending, I decided that I could be waiting forever to run my charity fundraiser in the studio with REAL people, so I decided to take the experience online and run it via Zoom, so last week that’s just what we did.
Sixteen wonderful women joined me for a Friday night in with a difference. First, we had the beautiful Emily, a Boobette volunteer from Coppafeel, talking to us about her own personal experience with breast cancer, plus the highs and lows of her treatment journey. It was the most humbling experience to listen to her story and her honesty and courage was truly inspirational. She also gave a presentation about the facts, the myths and all the things to look for in detecting breast cancer early and if anyone gets the chance to listen to this talk, then I highly recommend it.
Afterwards, the wonderful Yvette from Hart's Barn Cookery School, delivered a gin tasting session, talking us through two locally sourced gins by Woodside Distillery and the Silver Circle Distillery. Before becoming a Cookery School Principal, Yvette originally trained as a horticulturalist, so she has the best nose for sniffing out botanicals in a gin or two! We sniffed the gin, sipped the gin, drank it neat, drank it with tonic, pimped it up with raspberry syrup and added a final flourish with a cocktail umbrella. It was fab but bloody hell, those gins were strong and, it was apparent I hadn’t quite thought this event through as, after downing two gins and being a proper lightweight, I had forgotten that I needed to run a mosaic workshop, when actually all wanted to do was faceplant on the desk. Anyway, I managed to string some sentences together and got everyone making their beautiful boobies - there really were some lovely pairs, and actually, everyone else on the workshop were a bit ginned up too, so I don’t think they noticed me slurring the occasional word anyway.
It really was a fun evening and the best bit was, we raised £105 for Coppafeel and, although not a huge amount, it will help support the amazing work the charity does.
As soon as all the restrictions are lifted, I would love to do another in-person Gin and Tits event in the studio, but in the meantime, if you would like your own ‘tit kit’ and help raise funds for Coppafeel, then head to the website HERE. Each kit donates 10% and ‘every little helps’ as they say.
