Painted Bondaweb decorated with sparkles and artichoke seeds. The last day of the 'tour' saw me teaching in Bideford. (well just outside). I didn't get a chance for a wander about and it looked like a great place to wander - I hope to get back there next year for a bit longer. The workshop was held in a modern hall with all a tutor could desire, plenty of power, plenty of light and loads of space - a great place for a party . . .  The workshop was On the Surface- Plus. The 'Plus' was the addition of Tyvek and Spunbond to the days events. It was more of a taster day and I think I tried to do too much with the group but they were very good and kept up.  The group working hard with the painted Bondaweb and Tyvek drying on the floor.      Getting to grips with painted Bondaweb and all the sparkles.  The usual On the Surface workshop concentrates on the wonderful Bondaweb and all you can do with it. Foiling, adding sequins, gilding flake . . . . I to

The field opposite the tower. The second day started with a 'show and tell' of the work from yesterday. It was a surprising amount of work. We then got on with experimenting with Tyvek. I wanted to show the group how to raise the surface of a Bondaweb based piece of work. As Bondweb is ironed, it is flat, and sometimes you need extra texture. Small strips of Tyvek or Tyvek beads can help.  Introducing Tyvek might not have been my best plan . . .   I also mentioned how to make corsages . .  and they were off!!!! Not in the direction I was planning!!    Two of yesterdays Hot Spot! samples.  My plan for today had been for the group to have a quick play with Tyvek and then get on with a considered, stitched sample using painted Bondaweb - Huh!!! Fat chance!!    Olivia making several corsages at once.    Pip going into mass production.            As you can see, they had great fun creating some gorgeous pieces.       Sophie even sewed h

  A riot of colour - very Bollywood - painted Bondaweb decorated with transfer foil, gilding flake and dot jewels. It's great to back at Foredown Tower, particularly when the weather is fine, if a bit windy . . . . the tower is high up on The Downs. We had the first day of a two day version of On the Surface - good fun was had by all. We have six students in the group and three are teachers on CPD (Continuous Professional Development). They were champing at the bit to get stuck in with all the glitter and sequins. All three teachers have big changes in their curriculum and they need some ideas for Art Textiles.  We started by painting Bondaweb and Tyvek and then had a play with Hot Spots and transfer foils while we waited for the Bondaweb and Tyvek to dry.      Painting Bondaweb. There was a great atmosphere today and a good deal of joking and general fun. I prefer to teach in this way - if students are relaxed they will retain more information. Here are tw

 Foredown Tower Well, I'm home from the Bluewater show, it was great fun and I enjoyed meeting so many of you. Thank you so much for coming to say Hello! I have booked Foredown Tower in Portslade near Brighton for six workshops from this October to next July. They make up a 'course' of kind. They start with design and end with Tyvek. I have already started taking bookings as I launched them with my September newsletter last week and then took a few more bookings at the Bluewater show so don't take too long if you fancy coming to play . . . . The views from the Tower are stunning. I had such a great time teaching at Foredown Tower over the past two months I wanted to teach there more often. It is a kooky kind of place. There is a cafe on the ground floor, the teaching room is on the middle floor and the camera obscura is on the top floor with great views over the downs. Access to the teaching floor is via an external metal staircase so there is n

 one of the beautiful layered samples created on the Tinkering with Tyvek workshop Last Saturday night saw me dashing up various motorways from Art Van Go in Knebworth to Inkberrow Design Centre in Redditch ready to start teaching on Sunday. I was booked to deliver 3 one day workshops - On the Surface, Tinkering with Tyvek and Transforming Transfers. As I  have just posted about painted Bondaweb I will omit the images of the On the Surface workshop and go straight to the Tyvek. We had one of the best days working with Tyvek that I have ever had.  I had a great group of students, some already attending the college and some were new to the 'Inkberrow Experience'. Brenda Killigrew who is the managing director of Inkberrow Design Centre  www.inkberrowdesigncentre.co.uk/?q=front_page_alt and Castanea  http://castanea-craft-courses.com/ was around most of the time, popping in to check we were well supplied with coffee and biscuits. Brenda is a very good friend of mine and it was w