Some great appliques shapes cut with a soldering iron. Well that was fun. Workshop 2 - Transforming Transfer went well. I am getting used to the live Zoom format now. I am by no means an expert, but I am dithering less. We had students from the U.K, Ireland, Scotland, France and an early start in Georgia, USA. Whilst teaching on Zoom is not ideal, nothing can replace being in the same room as your students, it is pretty good. The studio looks relatively tidy behind me - you should see it in front of the table - not quite so tidy!!           The group were asked to mix their disperse dyes and paint up their papers before the workshop. This meant after the introductions and a quick demonstration from me, we could get started. Firstly the group got to grips with ironing their painted papers onto their synthetic fabric. It can take time for the heat to transfer the dye onto the fabric. A good hot iron is necessary. At least 2.000 watts. Of course, if you have a heat press, then you will h

 An amazing array of brushes and mark making tools.  I have had a bit of time in the UK to catch up with my family and friends over here and get a bit more planning done with Jayne for our Sonas Studio online workshops - more of that further down this post.  I popped over to Eastbourne today to see Christine Chester. www.christinechester.com   I have always admired Christine's work, so sensitive and thoughtful. We have always had the chance to have have a quick hello at shows but it was good to sit down and have a good chat and not rush.  As it is going to be a least a year until I can start work on my studio at home in Ireland, (it's a cow shed at the moment) I thought I might get some inspiration and ideas by having a look at Christine's studio. The studio is called Studio 11. My goodness it is fabulous. Studio 11 is right next to Eastbourne railway station, so it is very convenient. It is a bright airy space with plenty of room to move around. Classes are lim

A fabulous transfer print. The Granary Studio is a great place to learn new skills and techniques. It is run by Susan Chapman. The studio is well equipped and offers exciting courses - do have a look - granarystudio.com My Granary Studio workshops - On Friday the 9th June I taught my 1 day workshop - On the Surface and on the 10th and 11th I taught my Transforming Transfer 2 day workshop. On the Surface is my Bondaweb based workshop. The group also wanted to play with Tyvek, so we had a good play session for the whole day, working with painted Bondaweb, transfer foils, gilding flake and mica flakes - and Tyvek. The first activity was to paint the Tyvek and Bondaweb. It is important to know how thickly to paint both products. If the paint is too thick, the Bondaweb won't stick and the Tyvek won't texture with heat as you are creating a barrier with paint. As the Tyvek dries faster than the Bondaweb, we started with that - learning how to texture and the