Layered Jewelled Surfaces with the Quilt Association at the Minerva Arts Centre - Friday 29th - Sunday 31st July.

 
A rather lovely sample created with painted Bondweb, distressed and decorated polyester organza.
My goodness - I have NEVER been so well fed!!! I had the most fabulous time on Llanidloes, Powys, Wales. What a beautiful town and just lovely people.

The Minerva Arts Centre is a splendid venue - it holds exhibitions of all kinds of textiles - while I was there there was a fabulous exhibition of old quilts from the collection of Barbara Chainey It also has a great workshop area. So much space and power sockets - I was a very happy girl.

I was booked to teach a 3 day version of Layered Jeweled Surfaces. Lots of sparkle - always good for me. 


We started of by painting up Bondaweb and Lutradur/CS800
While the painted Bondaweb and Lutradur/CS800 was drying we played with the soldering irons. I had some old stock of pre-dyed Lutraur 30/CS500 and this seemed like a good time to give some away. The group ironed Bondaweb onto  2 pieces of the Lutradur and 2 pieces of polyester organza. A piece of the lightweight Lutradur was left to be used as a background. Shapes were cut from the Bondaweb backed fabrics with a soldering iron. As the fabrics are synthetic, they cut very well with heat.

Cutting shapes with a soldering iron.
Once the shapes have been cut they can be ironed onto the background. (using baking parchment underneath and on top of your work).


Some of the layered applique shapes that were cut with a soldering iron and then ironed onto a background.
We then got onto ironing the painted Bondaweb onto polyester organza. This was decorated with gilding flake and or mica flake. The group had great fun zapping their samples with heat guns, creating gorgeous crunchy edges.

 







 
 
Polyester organza decorated painted Bondaweb, mica flakes and gilding flake.
This scrumptious piece was created by ironing painted Bondaweb onto a backing fabric. Zapped decorated organza was then ironed onto the painted Bondaweb.
I do love a mica flake!!!!
We also had a play with embossing powders . . .






And Hot Spots and transfer foil . . .





You can see from the following photos what a lovely big area Minvera has as a workshop. The table were against the walls as we need the sockets and it is good not to have trailing flexes if you can avoid it.

  

The workshop.
Having 3 days was a great luxury - there is time to really develop processes and start to stitch. I had time to talk to each member, another great luxury.
The group were really quite experienced, so at various stages during the course I could wind them   . .  and off they went. It is great watching students work by themselves, making their own decisions, but I can't leave them alone for too long - I want to play too . . . .

  



Starting to build up layers.

Here are a few of the more resolved pieces . . .

A great vessel on the go - just needs a seam to help it stand it up. 
Painted Lutradur/CS800, zapped with a heat gun and layered.

Painted Bondaweb decorated with zapped decorated polyester organza.

A detail of the work above.

Playing with composition . .

Playing with zapped Lutradur/CS800 and painted Bondaweb.

A table full of experiments. Great fun.


Taking photos of all the work at the end of the course.
I have to say something about the hospitality at Minerva, I don't think I have ever been waited on so well, it was like have hand maidens tending to your every need. A fresh lunch was prepared every day and served along with fresh fruit - and yes - CAKE!!! It was lovely for us to all sit down to eat together.

Delicious fresh and tasty food . . . .

The hand maidens that cooked, prepared and served the food . . .

and the cake . . . . .

Everything was delicious.

The lovely group all together - we did have a good time.

I will be going back to Llanidloes in 2018 - I think I will teach a 3 day version of The Journey. I can join the workshop onto the others that I will be doing in Wiltshire and Devon. 
Thank you everyone - I had a VERY good time.

***

I am writng this post at Art Van GO where I will be teaching a new workshop over the next 2 days. 'Sticky and Shiny' is my new workshop that shows how to work with all the heat bondable glues and transfer foil. We are going to have a great time experimenting and layering and maybe even stitching.
Watch this space. . . . 

***

Hello Jill - hope you are enjoying the rest of your life???
Hi Diana, we need to talk about 2018 . . .
Hello Tod - hope all is well. 

x x x x

Comments

  1. jill1 August 2016 at 19:13

    Rest of my life is looking good so far..... Ten more sleeps xxx

    ReplyDelete
  2. WendyK2 August 2016 at 11:33

    I wish I had known this was on, I would have come on the course. I used to live near there. It looked like a brilliant workshop.

    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, you can control the amount of lay
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 weeke
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 parchment and 'stroking&#
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  Painted Bondaweb decorated with hea
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 experimented w
Read more