Baby wipe applique. I have had a busy and fun week. I made nine new videos with Jamie Malden of Colouricious on Thursday. We combined products from nid-noi.com and the printing blocks from colouricious.com/craft-supplies The new videos can be accessed on the left of the blog. They use polyester organza, Decovil 1, Decovil 1 light, S133, transfer foils and baby wipes!  It is always great fun making videos with Jamie - she relaxes you and we get a lot done.  Decovil 1 clutch bag decorated with transfer foil and a fossil printing block.    Decovil 1 decorated with torn newspaper strips, printed with small printing blocks and then defined with machine stitch. I thoroughly enjoyed creating the projects, particularly the printed polyester applique.  Printed polyester ironed onto Bondaweb and cut out with a soldering iron.  Decovil 1 light colour washed with a very dilute solution of acrylic paint and then decorated with torn newspaper. This was then print

    A lovely sample of the tearing and layering process that has been decorated with a print using one of the colours in the work. Using a 'self' colour paint enables the print to bleed in and out of the work and not be too obvious.  As we only had six in the group the students were able to spread out and we managed to get a lot more done. The larger the group the slower things happen. The group caught onto the 'background' and 'pretty' rotation quickly, sometimes it can take a while. It never ceases to amaze me how the simplest process can sometimes take the longest to understand. I think our brains like to make things complicated, they get bored when something is too simple. A few of the torn and layered backgrounds -         Pru added frayed fabric thread to this sample -    It add an extra texture - if you are aiming for a lot of texture - you need to keep the colours down to a low roar . . tones of one colour tend to work best.    

Layers of torn newspaper and painted Bondaweb. Regular readers of this blog will know how much I love teaching at Foredown Tower - high up on the Sussex Downs you can see for miles. It is also home to a wonderful camera obscura. The tower is open to the public on Tuesdays and Thursdays with camera shows at 11am, 12pm, 1pm and 2pm. On a clear day you really can see forever . . .  . Foredown Tower A New Starting Point is my newspaper based workshop. It is easily my most popular workshop I have ever written. Once the group get the hang of the 'background' and 'pretty' rotation, they are off and away, having great fun throwing glitter and gilding flake around with great abandon. I think that because the workshop is process driven and the samples aren't supposed to 'look like' something, the students can just relax and enjoy making their samples. Colour washed newspaper printed in a similar colour with a wooden printing block. Once the sa

A rather delicious 'pretty'.   I apologise for the rather woeful delay in writing this post, I haven't been this behind for ages. What with teaching over the weekend and nid-noi.com being a bit busier I am a wee bit behind with answering emails and all the usual admin.  I am rather fond of the Worthing Embroiderers Guild. Being local to me I have delivered several workshops and lectures over the past few years and many of them turn up from time to time on other workshops. So I was looking forward to spending a sparkly day with them last Thursday. The workshop was 'A new starting point' - my newspaper based one day workshop.     A few of the ladies getting stuck into their 'pretties'. The Guild hold their meetings and workshops in a fabulous room with plenty of power and light, it was a great treat to work in there. The plan was to create some 'pretty' backgrounds to print onto and also create a faux chenille sample using newspaper an