A rather delicious collection of decorated and zapped polyester organza.  This was the last workshop on my West Country run. I must admit I was a wee bit tired by the time I got there. All these workshops seemed like such a great idea at the time!!! Hot Layered Textiles is a combination workshop. Working with requested products. The products chosen for Nailsworth were Lutradur/CS800 Vilene Spunbond, Tyvek, Bondaweb and polyester organza. When you are teaching a run of workshops in a certain area it is important to make sure you don't teach something similar too close to another one. It's all in the planning - which took about a year!!  The workshop organiser, Becca, approached me when she heard that I was planning a run of workshops in Devon and Cornwall and asked if I might add Nailsworth either at the beginning or the end of the run. We decided I would do it at the end.  A very enthusiastic group working away happily. The workshop was held in the subscrip

 Painted Bondaweb ironed onto black cotton decorated with transfer foil and gilding flake.  The third workshop I taught was 'On the Surface', a fast paced 3 hour workshop that was great fun and full of very naughty students - the main protagonist was Denice Walker who attended all my workshops - we had a great time. The entire time of the The Jersey Textile Showcase felt like a fast moving, most enjoyable holiday. On the Surface is a painted Bondaweb based workshop where all kinds of glitter and sparkle is allowed.  This was the main table of naughtiness . . . there was quite a party atmosphere!  Here are just a few of the samples -      As you can see the group were prolific - and talented. There were several functions in the evenings - one of them being a rather splendid 'do' at the local posh hotel. My it was fabulous.  This is a photo of, from the left, Val Holmes, Pat Robson, the very glamorous and tireless orga

    A lovely sample of the tearing and layering process that has been decorated with a print using one of the colours in the work. Using a 'self' colour paint enables the print to bleed in and out of the work and not be too obvious.  As we only had six in the group the students were able to spread out and we managed to get a lot more done. The larger the group the slower things happen. The group caught onto the 'background' and 'pretty' rotation quickly, sometimes it can take a while. It never ceases to amaze me how the simplest process can sometimes take the longest to understand. I think our brains like to make things complicated, they get bored when something is too simple. A few of the torn and layered backgrounds -         Pru added frayed fabric thread to this sample -    It add an extra texture - if you are aiming for a lot of texture - you need to keep the colours down to a low roar . . tones of one colour tend to work best.