The Experimental Textiles End of Year Show at the NEC March 20 - 23


 
 Tucked away in one of Mary's work book was this beautiful sampler of textures.

The Experimental Textiles End of Year Show went down very well. It was good to see so many visitors asking the girls questions. It makes a massive difference when you are making a piece of work to know that it is going to be seen by thousands of people - it can be very scary. 
Especially when it is the first time you have ever shown your work!

 The day always started quietly as the visitors made their way through the show to our back corner. It gave the girls a chance to 'warm up'. 
This is Kat and Rachel explaining about the course.

 Rachel's paper collage is a the top and 2 of Val's samples are below.

The students have to help hang the show and then steward it between themselves.
I am there to keep an eye on things  . . . . 

 We had a lot of interest in the course - I am hoping to run 2 courses side by side from June - one on a Thursday and Friday and the other on a Saturday and Sunday. We already have students enrolled from Scotland and Cornwall as well as the local area. There is a good Holiday Inn Express close where by the students from further afield can stay overnight. One of the reasons I teach the course in Redditch is that is almost the middle of the country, has a train and train station very close by and is very close to the major motorways.

 There are a maximum of 10 students on each course and we are taking enrolments now so if you are interested go to - experimentaltextiles.com
 
 One of Mary's weavings above and one of Val's experiments with using one of her block designs for applique.

 Kat's transfer prints at the top with felt by Val and a print by Mary.
On the plinth we have 'Bette Noir', Mary's 3D piece and few of the felt bowls.

  
 From the left - 4 of the 'Jouneys', a selection from the large still life and then some of the samples featured below.
 
 
 Kat's large, stitched paper collage at the top surrounded by gorgeous stitched samples.
 

 This was the beginning of Rachel's final piece. As the course is not accredited it means the students have less pressure to make a final piece, unless they want to. They can choose to do what they want to. Rachel wanted to continue making considered, stitched samples, until the show loomed into view - then she wanted to make something special. Having created so many samples of how to create the finished piece, Rachel out of time to finish it, but it still looked great. It just needs more stitch. This is one of the reasons it is important for the groups to have an end of year show - it changes the way you see your work and up to a point - how you you work.
I was particularly pleased with Rachel's work throughout the year as she had never even picked up a needle before the course. She can now work confidently by herself. 
 One of Mary's samples - Layered and stitched Tyvek  zapped and backed with pale grey fabric.
  
 Mary's fantastic woven bowl.

 
 From the top, Barbara's 2 newspaper faux chenille samples, left is Barbara's hand dyed and stitched sampler and Val's final piece.

 Val's final piece, layers and layers of hand dyed natural fabrics hand stitched in self coloured thread. It too a very long time to sort the way the colour 'falls'.

 One of Mary's hand dyed samples - about 10" x 7", the flowers can bet into all kinds of shapes.

 
 Val's small hand stitched sampler - just beautiful.
 
 Rachel's lovely hand stitched piece. So much fabulous hand stitch.

 Val's paper collage made from one of her still life paintings.

 Mary and Barbara taking advantage of a lull in proceedings to have a bit of lunch.
 
 The group's work book were very popular indeed - well they are the backbone of the course. The girls will have these amazing resources for the rest of their lives.

 One of Mary's designs from her journey. Print blocks on the left, print on the right.
 
 One of Rachel's samples for her final piece.

 
 
 Barbara's 2 felt hangings were just superb and very popular.

 *

I hate it when a long course finishes - you build a bond with each student. I know I will be speaking to them and seeing them again, but for now I need to think of the next course starting in June.

One of the good things about the end of the course is the occasional gift a tutor receives - I was very spoilt this time with books and even a 'monster'.
  . . AND a rather large box of chocolates. Very carefully chosen - look at the design on the corners - quite 'journey' like.


. . . and the the description of the box of chocolates . . . couldn't be better . .

 . .  and NO!!! there aren't any left! Quelle Suprise!!

  ***

News about nid-noi.com

While I am away from the 30th March - May 6th nid-noi.com will be on a 28 day turnaround as opposed to the usual 7 working days. Jayne will be coming in to pick and post orders once a week but orders will take longer than usual to get out. All orders should be out within 14 days but I need to cover myself!!! 
PlayPacks will be unavailable till I get back and we are out of stock on the small Hot Spots. however, the new KK glue is now on the site and Reclaimed Textiles should be on the site next week. I am leaving a pile of signed copies for Jayne to post out.


KK Glue sprinkled lightly through a stencil and then foiled.

This will be my last post before I leave  -  I will post from Canberra next week - oooerr!!!!

I'm off to find my BIG suitcase and start packing.

Have a great weekend!

 *
Hi Jill and Diana and Swansea!
This one is for you Mr Sculpher I hope it has passed muster?

x x x

Comments

  1. jill29 March 2014 at 12:08

    Have a wonderful time darling. Safe journey. Have you posted THE cheque?? xx

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kim Thittichai29 March 2014 at 12:46

    Thank you honeybee! YES!!! have posted THE cheque.
    It won't be long . . . . . take care and love to all. x x x

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts

Extreme Surfaces for Stitch - West Dean College July 17 - 20

Image
Mary's beautiful composition of painted Bondaweb, newspaper, foils, gilding flake and jewel dots - and seaweed! Every now and then in your teaching life you come across a 'super' group. 'Super' in the the way they work together, share their materials and experience and of course they produce some fabulous work. It is particularly unusual to find this on a three day course - it is something I would associate with much longer course. Nine students who have never met before with the widest divide of experience and age from 17 to much older, experience ranged from very little through City and guilds up to degrees and a PHD in textiles based subjects. "Where sheep may safely graze . . "  The view outside the workshop door - sigh . . . it is so beautiful. Of course, being at West Dean College  www.westdean.org.uk helped, what with stunning surroundings, space to work and wonderful food it would be difficult to find anywhere else more suited t...
Read more

Zap, Pow, Slash and Burn! Foredown Tower part the first

Image
  Layered Tyvek and polyester organza. We had a great day to day at Foredo wn Tower. I t was the f irst day of a two day workshop - Zap, Pow, Slash an d Burn! This workshop gives stud ents a chance to play with all the zappable products that I work with namely, Tyvek, Vilene Spunbond and polyester organza.    The group painting their Tyvek . There were nine in the group and although it was pouring with rain outside and blowing a hooley, we were almost snug and warm inside.    Working with a heat gun, an inch away f rom the surface of your work and holding the heat gun at a slight angle.   The group ha ppily using their heat guns.   The following images are all three layers of heavy (75gm) Tyvel layered with polyester organza and then stitched together on a sewing machine . The samples were then zapped with a heat gun. This exercise helps the stude nt learn contr ol - by moving the heat gun away from and towards the work,...
Read more

Hot Textiles at The Bridge, Brighton. 6th and 7th September

Image
  A scrumptious sample of textured and foiled Tyvek. I am finally catching up with myself, have been in rather a headless chicken mode for the past few weeks - things are bit calmer now. I have a few days in between each teaching session now right up to when the shows start next month. As long as I keep moving I will be fine. So . . . I have a new teaching venue in Brighton, just 10 minutes up the road from me, I can't believe how close it is - such a treat. I have booked some more workshops for next summer and once I have decided what I will be teaching, I will let you all know the dates and workshop information. The Bridge Community Education Centre is light and airy place with plenty of well equipped rooms and a fabulous cafe with scrummy food. There is a huge car park and the Centre is close to Falmer station and is also on many bus routes. www.thebridgebrighton.com   We had a group of seven fabulous girls. This is the Art Room. I was teaching a ...
Read more

The Full Works - 2 day workshop, Solihull Embroiderers Guild 17th & 18th July

Image
 3 layers of 75gm Tyvek layered with polyester organza. The Full Works is my basic workshop learning how to use heat tools. We work with Tyvek, Lutradur/Vilene Spunbond and painted Bondaweb.  Solihull Embroiderers Guild is a great group. Good fun and well organised. Have a look at their website. All Guilds can do with new members, if you fancy joining, you won't be disappointed. www.facebook.com/SolihullEmbroiderersGuild   and the website - www.embroiderersguild.com We started off painting up all the products which took a couple of hours. It is important for students to know how to paint up all the products if they want to do this kind of work at home. When working with heat distressable materials, it is important not to paint them too thickly or the paint will form a barrier.    Painting up the products.  Painting Bondaweb. Lutradur/Vilene Spunbond. We started off playng with the Tyvek, laying it between 2 sheets of baking parc...
Read more

More prettys at Bobbys

Image
We have had the first day of my new course Print, Paint, Stitch and Play! and things seem to have gone well so far. I love teaching in Bobby's studio, it is purpose built with plenty of space, power and water. We had a fab day painting Bondaweb and colourwashing newspaper. The group then worked through my tearing and layering process and this is what they have produced so far. They have already started stitching into the papers and tomorrow we will be printing onto them. We had a discussion tonight about how to spell Prettys or Pretties. Apparently the latter is correct but I like the former so that is the word I am going to use - I have no doubt a certain gentleman in the Portsmouth area will now be sitting with his head in his hands and shaking his head saying No! NO! As part of this process you need to be able to describe a piece you have layered up with gilding flake, sequins, glitter and all the other gorgeous sparkly bits we are using. So I have started c...
Read more

West Dean - Layered Textiles - Hot Techniques for jewelled surfaces - part 2

Image
  3 A4 sheets of painted Tyvek layered with polyester organza. this was then machine stitched together and then zapped with a heat gun to reveal different layers of colour and to create texture. The second day of a three day course - we have covered most of the basic techniques now and the students will be combining their own layers and stitching into them tomorrow.  There are seven in the group and it is another good group - textile ladies do seem to be good fun in general. I rarely get someone who moans. These are two Bondaweb pieces that I missed yesterday We worked with Tyvek for most of the day, starting with 'kissing, stroking and caressing' single sheets and moving on to layering Tyvek with polyester organza and zapping back. I don't know if you can have too much of a good thing but here are all the layered samples - front and back - Maggie's front and back Jean's front and back   Janet's front and back...
Read more

Sussex Quilters - Tinkering with Tyvek workshop 5th June

Image
A stunning corsage - one of the best I have seen on a workshop.    I had a great day today teaching at Southwick Community Centre for the Sussex Quilters. The workshop was 'Tinkering with Tyvek'. As usual for my workshops this was a process based day. I think it is important to know what the the materials will do before you can decide to make anything. First thing, we spent an hour painting both sides of several sheets of A4  heavy Tyvek and fabric weight Tyvek. Dull but necessary, it is very important not to paint the Tyvek with thick paint. If you do, the paint will form a barrier and the Tyvek won't react to heat. We then had a play with ironing Tyvek shapes between baking parchment, learning the 'Kiss, Stroke and Caress' way of lightly heating the Tyvek till it shrinks and puckers. We then moved on to layering 4 sheets of A4 Tyvek with polyester organza and machine stitching them together ready for zapping back - a bit like cheeky reverse ...
Read more

West Dean - Layered Textiles - Hot techniques for jewelled surfaces part 3

Image
  Painted and foiled Bondaweb with painted, textured and foiled Tyvek The final day at West Dean was a day of layering and stitch, a great treat. Having the extra day made such a difference, to the work and to the group. All the students bar one were beginners in the Hot Textiles field and they all produced some brilliant work. We worked through all the basic Hot Textiles processes as you will see in the previous posts. The students were left with various piles of heat treated fabrics which I asked them to create some kind of composition - here are the resulting samples -   Layers of transfer printed CS800 Vilene Spunbond zapped with a heat gun and decorated with frayed organza and embossing powder.   Transfer printed CS800 Vilene Spunbond zapped with a heat gun decorated with a Tyvek motif.      Polyester organza decorated with painted Bondaweb, zapped with a heat gun and decorated with textured Tyvek  P...
Read more

Registering your interest in my online teaching . . .

Image
It's almost here! I have been getting a lot of requests for me to teach online over the past 2 years. From all over the world. This combined with me wanting to stay at home in Ireland more and slow down a bit has decided me - it is going to happen. Starting in May. I am currently building a database and everyone who is on the database will be the first to hear what is happening and when. They will also receive the Sonas Studio newsletter (you can opt out). My house in Ireland is called Sonas - it means happiness and well being in Irish. I chose it because it sounded just  . . right. This year I will be concentrating on my one/two day workshops that will translate well to online workshops. For example -Tinkering with Tyvek, A New Starting Point and Transforming Transfers will be online from May to July. This all very new to me and I will be having IT help from my good friend Jayne. If you have been to the show at the NEC in March you will have seen her there. She he...
Read more

Hot Textiles - North Kent Embroiderers Guild June 27th - and feed dogs!!!

Image
Newspaper decorated with painted Bondweb, silk fibres, glitter and transfer foil. On Saturday I drove over to Meopham in Kent to teach one of my last one day workshops. The workshop was Hot Textiles, working with Bondaweb, Tyvek and Lutrdur/Vilene Spunbond. As some of you will know, I no longer take bookings for one day workshops, you can never get enough done. This workshop was booked 18 months ago.  Having given a lecture to this group the previous Saturday in Gravesend, I knew I was in for a good day with plenty of fun and laughter.  We started off painting up the Tyvek, Bondaweb and Lutradur/Vilene Spunbond. When working with materials that distress with heat, it is important to know how to apply colour to them, most importantly, how thinly to apply the colour. If the paint is applied too thickly, the paint will form a barrier and form a resist to the heat.   The group painting up their products. The Tyvek is always the first to dry - so we we ...
Read more