2 workshops at Craftynotions - November 5th & 6th

 
happy students in Sarah's VERY well equipped studio

I was delighted when Sarah Lawrence of Craftynotions invited me to teach 2 one day workshops at Craftynotions base camp in Newark, Nottingham. The first workshop was based on Vilene Spunbond and the second on Tyvek. The students were - Mary Kerr, Sheila Buchan, Jackie Litchfield, Cheryl Herod, Carol Devany, Janice Rose, Judith Gill, Margaret Williams, Linda Sottle, Anne Marsen, Jean Baker, Elaine Winterton and Brenda Wilkinson. Two of the ladies did both workshops and one of them came all the way from Edinburgh.
 
layers of Spunbond and polyester organza stitched together then zapped back with a heat gun

The first day was devoted to colouring and distressing Spunbond. Sarah has developed a new range of absolutely fabulous paints and sprays that work particulalrly well on all Spunbonds and Tyvek. I have waited a long time to find the perfect paints, but I think I have found them. As some of you will know - when painting products like Bondaweb, Tyvek and Spunbond you need to make sure the paint is not applied too thickly or it will form a barrier and you wont be able to use heat effectively on your products. The new Colourful Thoughts paints are brilliant (literally) for printing and can be watered down to colour products you wish to distress with heat, They are water soluble and will not give off fumes when you heat them - and the colour range - Wow! They are even washable when heat fixed on fabric. What more could you ask?

strips of painted and zapped Spunbond

Well - you could ask for a fantastic range of sprays and low and behold - we have Creative Colour Sprays. These are a new range of sprays that come in various guises including mica sprays that are SO iridescent. As you can probably tell I am hooked on these colouring systems. It is such a relief to find something reliable at last.

Spunbond layered with polyester organza, stitched together and zapped back with a heat gun

On the second workshop we coloured and distressed Tyvek in 2 different weights. The heavyweight comes in A4 sheets that can be run through an INKjet printer, the fabric weight is sold by the metre and is 150cm wide.

Layers of fabric weight Tyvek stitched together and zapped back with a heat gun decorated with 2 'corsages' made from heavy weight Tyvek

 Heavy weight Tyvek layered with polyester organza stitched together than zapped back with a heat gun

By layering and zapping heavy weight Tyvek you can create quite firm surfaces that can be manipulated into structures and vessels.

we also made bowls

I couldn't resist taking a shot of this wonderful pile of samples before they were swished into the students bag at the end of the day

We all had a great time were very well looked after on both workshops with a regular supply of coffees, teas and biscuits. Everyone at Craftynotions is friendly and helpful and I cant wait to go back to torture more students and play with more of Sarah's wonderful products. I will be talking to Sarah later this week to try and fit in more workshops so watch this space.


Just when you think everything is sorted - the heat gun that I stock has been discontinued - if anyone knows of any other 350 watt heat guns could you let me know? A heat gun is the one product I can't do without on the website.

November is a very busy time for me with my Open House starting the same weekend as the Design and Technology Show (only for education professionals) So I am trying to clear my house ready to exhibit 13 artists while making samples for all the teachers. Funnily enough I seem to be making more mess than I am clearing up!  . . . . . and I still have a book to write . . . AARRGHH!!!!

Yes! Jill - it is very busy time and my 'social life' is going to suffer - hopefully he will wait! x

Comments

  1. Dorthe13 November 2010 at 22:33

    Hi I`m a danish woman, whom just saw your great video about bondaweb.
    I would certainly like very much to try, playing with all those funny things, but I don`t know if I can get the acrylic wax, here in Denmark.
    Would you please tell me the name of the product-and where to eventually buy it in England. I will be so happy, if you can help me out with this.
    Thank`s
    Dorthe

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kim Thittichai14 November 2010 at 10:44

    for anyone that needs to know -
    Acrylic wax can be bought in the U.K by mail order from www.Craftynotions.co.uk , www.artvango.co.uk and www.ario.co.uk .

    ReplyDelete

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