students painting up products I always enjoy teaching at Art Van Go , www.artvango.co.uk we are all SO well looked after. Fresh coffee and tea on tap with biscuits in the morning and chocolates in the afternoon. But I suppose you will want to know about the work! Hot Textiles 2 is the follow on workshop from Hot Textiles - funnily enough! The main idea of these workshops is the safe and creative use of irons, heat guns and soldering irons. Although my book Hot Textiles was published back in 2007 these workshops are still my most popular.  We were working with Vilene Spunbond, Tyvek, pelmet (craft) Vilene, Bondaweb, painted and plain and polyester organza, all the usual suspects. I also included Hot Stuff Sheets and Lamifix. As followers of this blog will already know, I have a passion for old painted and dyed newspaper. The faux chenille technique with newspaper was also tried out in this workshop to great success. It is featured in my new book and judging by the reactions fr...

Wow! What an amazing group. I was booked to deliver a lecture on the Saturday afternoon and a workshop on the Sunday in the local Darby & Joan Hall in Cottingham. The hall was packed on Saturday with a vibrant group of ladies of all ages. The lecture was well received and I was fascinated to see how the group was run. I am used to travelling around the country to Guilds and private groups and it is always interesting to see how things are organised - or not! This has got to be the most organised, friendly and possibly largest group I have encountered.  The group was started in 1982 by a C and G embroidery group with some of the original member still attending  The group were about 30 strong and have grown to 136 members. The E.Y.E.S. group also have an 'Eyelets' group for 5-10 year olds and a 'Highlights' group for teenagers. It was an absolute joy to meet everyone. some of the group working away in the workshop The workshop was Hot Textiles and we had a larger...

What a sexy little beast!!!  The heat guns have arrived and I am SO excited. This one is definitely worth the wait. 10 degrees hotter than my previous one so it is 360 watts - not only that, but it is 2 speed so you can use one speed for fine fabrics and for embossing and the higher speed for distressing the heavy Vilene Spunbond CS800, acetate satin and Kunin felt. Only distress synthetic fabrics - if you are not sure - do a test and if anything smells strongly - stop! Just to remind you all - when using a heat gun, always work on baking parchment/paper or a heat proof surface and make sure the room you are working in is well ventilated. Never paint products you are going to distress with oil based products as they will give off fumes when heated. I would avoid aerosol based sprays as well. Basically just be careful and use your common sense. If the product you are heating starts to turn brown - STOP - it means there is a natural fabric in the product and will not melt. In extre...

Alison helping Alyssa with the layout of her sample One of the great things about this course was the way the group all mucked in together sharing threads and materials and best of all - ideas. Keeping the balance between teaching processes and techniques and allowing the students to have time to develop their own ideas is always a hard one for me. I find it difficult to leave them alone! On longer courses it is very important for me to leave time for the students to be able to develop techniques and processes in their own way as much as possible. heat gunned dyed Vilene Spunbond CS500 and polyester organza Bondaweb was applied to the back of pre coloured Vilene Spunbond CS700 leaving the backing paper on the Bondaweb. This was then cut into delicate designs with a soldering iron. The designs were then lifted out and ironed onto a background of the heavier CS800 When using Bondaweb for applique on synthetic fabrics I find it best to leave the backing paper on the Bondaweb while you...

  happy students in Sarah's VERY well equipped studio I was delighted when Sarah Lawrence of  Craftynotions invited me to teach 2 one day workshops at Craftynotions base camp in Newark, Nottingham. The first workshop was based on Vilene Spunbond and the second on Tyvek. The students were - Mary Kerr, Sheila Buchan, Jackie Litchfield, Cheryl Herod, Carol Devany, Janice Rose, Judith Gill, Margaret Williams, Linda Sottle, Anne Marsen, Jean Baker, Elaine Winterton and Brenda Wilkinson. Two of the ladies did both workshops and one of them came all the way from Edinburgh.   layers of Spunbond and polyester organza stitched together then zapped back with a heat gun The first day was devoted to colouring and distressing Spunbond. Sarah has developed a new range of absolutely fabulous paints and sprays that work particulalrly well on all Spunbonds and Tyvek. I have waited a long time to find the perfect paints, but I think I have found them. As some of you will know - when pain...

Well we had a very full on week. My girls worked hard and produced some great samples - at least one of which will be in my next book . Here is a selection - Liz Smith 1 - Layers of Vilene Spunbond CS 500 Tyvek and polyester organza, machine stitched onto dyed craft Vilene in a flower pattern. The layers were then zapped away with a heat gun and the rest taken away with a soldering iron. The beads for the stamen were added later to create a more three dimensional sample. Craft Vilene is an excellent background for zapping onto as it doesn't distress with heat. Liz Smith 2 -  Strips of painted Vilene Spunbond CS 800 and 700 have been cut into wavy edges with a soldering iron and ironed on to painted Bondaweb. Liz wasn't keen on the colour combinations she ended up with but I think they work well together. Marilyn 1 - Layers of painted Bondaweb layered with Vilene Spunbond CS 800 and 700 that has been cut with a soldering iron have been ironed a piece of han...