Gorgeousness by Wilma And then this happened . . . It is very satisfying when you have developed a process and your students really run with it. A New Starting Point is a workshop I developed in 2012 when I was playing with old papers and scraps of painted Bondaweb - and of course, a bit of sparkle. The process became a great 1 - 2 day workshop that can be slotted into a 5 day workshop quite nicely. The great thing is your work doesn't have to look like anything, there is no pressure. The torn and layered process creates a great background to print onto. And then you can iron your work onto a heavy interfacing to create boxes, book covers . . more of that tomorrow. Layers of torn paper, card, transfer foil and Hot Spots The group working happily away The 'backgrounds and prettys' process creates luscious layers with lovely torn edges. I think it is my favourite process out all the techniques and processes I use. I start the students with my way of creating layers, then they

Polyester organza decorated with painted and printed fusible web then decorated with hand stitch The NW Region Embroiderers Guild summer school was held on 2nd - 4th June at Waddow Hall, Lancashire. http://www.waddow.org.uk/home.aspx   A stunning view and great workshop rooms along with really good food made a fabulous start to the residential workshops. I highly recommend this venue if you are looking for rooms to hire. The staff can't do enough to help, brilliant. This combined with a group of very keen guild members made sure I had one of the best experiences teaching a summer school.    My group was in a large airy room on the ground floor with plenty of tables and power sockets. The workshop was based on working with painted and printed fusible web. This was torn and ironed down to create a back ground for stitch. These backgrounds were decorated with combinations of Xpanadaprint, embossing powders,painted newspaper, gilding flake, mica flake or transfer foi

 Torn music and newspaper . . OK, enough with the relaxing and the pure enjoyment of being back home.  I am a tad late posting this last workshop from my New Zealand trip.  I had a fabulous time with this group - some of them were VERY naughty - you all know who you are!! This was the second of 2 x 2 day workshops in Taranaki and most of the group did both workshops. This has become one of most popular workshops. I think it is so loved because what you are making doesn't have to look like anything. Also recycling old papers, maps and magazines is very enjoyable.      Painting the Bondaweb/Vliesofix  Scones and cookies are the thing in New Zealand -  and I am NOT complaining. Once we had painted the Bondaweb/Vliesofix we got to making the first small samples - you learn just as much from making a small sample as a larger one, and you use much less product. I have named the process 'Backgrounds and Prettys'. It is a repeated tearing process that gives