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 ...

  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 informat...