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

 Vilene Spunbond (Lutradur) with Bondaweb on the back, cut with a soldering iron, then ironed onto a background. I teach a lot of workshops to a lot of Guilds, both Embroiderers and Quilters. Every now and then you come across a rather special group. Don't get me wrong, all groups are welcoming and great fun - but this group was FAB! The Malmesbury Guild are one of three Embroiderers Guilds in Wiltshire. They are a  small group and as with all small groups they could do with some more members. If you live in the North of Wiltshire, I highly recommend you consider joining them. This is their blog - malmesburyembroiderers.blogspot.co.uk with contact details.    Painting Bondaweb. Hot Textiles is the first workshop I wrote after my book of the same title was published. I hadn't taught it for a while, then two or three bookings come along at once. It is the basic sampling workshop, teaching how to use heat tools safely - Soldering irons, heat guns and irons. T

  Don't you love copper?  Well here we are, Christmas is gone and the New Year is looming - have you finished doing the washing up yet? I finished all the glasses this morning so now my kitchen is clear - Hurrah! I am slowly catching up with what I got up to in November.  The 7th weekend of my Experimental Textiles course is a students choice. The group can negotiate which techniques they want to play with or they can use it as chance to catch up with their folders. Jamie Malden from Colouricious kindly made this video for me at the Harrogate show to give you all some idea of what we cover on the course.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97vwcwmHjv8  (you can skip the advert at the beginning) Experimental Textiles teaches you all the basic techniques and skills that you need when working in textiles. None of my 'Hot Textiles' techniques are included in the course - They are fun but can be learned from books and videos. The studen