Fabulous painted newspaper and painted Bondaweb.  This is going to be a hit and run post - don't have much time as I am about to leave for Shropshire. So lots of photos and not many words. A five day summer school at Foredown Tower - New Layered Textiles. And it was definitely summer - pheeWWWWeee, very hot. We coped womanfully!!! There were ten lovely students which is the maximum for that teaching studio. We covered painted Bondweb on fabric and paper, Tyvek, newspaper faux chenille and cutting CS500 and 800 with a soldering iron and applying it to different back grounds. These images are a small selection of what we got up to -  Painted Bondaweb on fabric and newspaper and book covers              ] Newspaper faux chenille -     Painted Vilene Spunbond CS500 and 800 backed with unpainted Bondaweb, cut with a soldering iron and then applied either to fabric of more CS800.   ...

  Two scrumptious Tyvek corsages. We had a great weekend at Foredown Tower, a small but perfectly formed group of five. It was a great luxury to have two days to play with Tyvek, normally it is just included as one of many products in a workshop.  Tyvek is a very versatile product which responds well to heat. It can be heated and shaped while hot so Tyvek is great for making three dimensional objects such as bowls and beads. It can be ironed lightly between baking parchment to create beautiful textures and also distressed and shaped with a heat gun.                                 Some of the corsages made on the weekend. This is Pip making a rather large bead . . .     She made a few more and created a  . . . hair ornament!!!!   Claire making one of many beads.   A select...

   Maureen's fabulous layered and zapped Tyvek sample. Denman College is a great place to teach, it is the home of the W.I. and the teaching facilities are superb as is the food and the accommodation. They offer a variety of courses throughout the year. It's always worth seeing what they have to offer. The grounds and gardens are very beautiful, at any time of the year. www.denman.org.uk  We were a select group, just five students, which meant we could cover more ground during the workshop. My Hot Textiles workshop covers most of the techniques in my book of the same name - and a few more. Tyvek really got the groups attention and they had a good time trying out all the ways to distress and texture it. Here are some of the samples -                   In the photos below you can get an idea of how light and airy the textiles studio is . .     Maureen is on the left and Jess...