A great vessel decorated with Tyvek and polyester organza flowers.                                                      Mary Kay Aukea   Do you feel that Zoom meetings are the norm now? They can't replace the engagement of in person meetings, but they are brilliant when you can't get to a meeting or a workshop because of time restrictions or physical distance. I am getting used to teaching workshops via Zoom. I recently delivered a lecture and a workshop spread over 2 days for The Needlework and Textile Guild of Michigan , USA. Because of the time difference the workshop needed to be delivered in 2 halves. The Needlework and Textile Guild of Michigan https://www.ntgm.org/   is a multidisciplinary fiber-art guild. The purpose of the guild is to bring together members who learn, share, teach, and participate in workshops, talks, and demonstrations relating to a wide variety of the fiber arts. Members have interests ranging from quilting and embroidery to weaving, wearable a

An amazing pinky blue sky as the light faded on the 13th December 2021             Well here we are - cantering towards THAT time of year. How are you all getting on? Do love Christmas, or do you dread it? I have had a busy few weeks with the exhibition and then a craft fair over 2 weekends at a local restaurant. I feel as though I have come into land now, and can take stock and start to look at next year.  You might have heard that Ireland suffered a pretty big storm last weekend. Luckily, only my big storage shed suffered, losing part of the roof. I am getting used to the regular storms that we enjoy on the west coast, but storm Bara was much more powerful than normal. I suspect the storms will be getting more powerful as the years go on. But onto happier and more colourful things. December can be strange weather wise here on the west coast of Ireland. We had temperatures of 13 degrees a couple of days ago. quite balmy. But today is pretty chilly. The skies can be quite amazing in th

  2 new pieces of textile art work       Phew!! Well, that was a whirlwind of a month or so. What with visitors staying and getting my new work ready to hang, it has been none stop.  It has been wonderful to finally have visitors to stay now that Shannon, my local airport, is opening up. More flights are being added every month, it is very encouraging. However, there was the added irritation of the studio door coming off it's rail and smashing that really didn't help.  I really didn't need this . . . Groan! It is very handy having large sheets of farm plastic stored in my big shed. The boarded and secure door. It can be locked. A local builder has kindly boarded the door so I can still use it, but is does make the studio very dark. Which is an issue when I am filming or doing a live stream. Any of you that watched the live stream I did for Vlieseline on Saturday will have seen what I mean. If you haven't seen it yet - hop over to the Vlieseline Freudenberg UK facebook p

  Layers of Lutradur cut with a soldering iron by Joane from Montreal, Canada When you have taught for several, verging on many, years, you build a great collections of friends, as well as students. Some you see as regularly as time allows, others pop up now and again and the joy of seeing them is very special. I have had a few reunions in the past month on the workshops, making them extra special. This is an extra blog post as I wanted to showcase some of the amazing work created on the Zap Pow! Slash and 3D workshop. We worked with various weights of Lutradur using heat guns and soldering irons to create fabulous edges and shapes. A wonderful sample combining textured Lutradur and Tyvek decorated with painted melted glue by Frances in Montreal, Canada Pieces of zapped and soldered Lutradur and textured Tyvek   Squares of zapped Lutradur on a background of painted Bondaweb with wisps of wool tops. The long silver line is melted glue by Joane from Montreal, Canada Curved shapes cut out

 A detail of one of my vessels Earth Jewels, featuring Lutradur and painted Bondaweb. This is covered in Workshop 6. Well, who knew that a catch up and show and tell 2 weeks after a live Zoom workshop would work so well? Whenever I taught workshops in the olden days before Covid, I would rock up to a workshop with a car load of supplies and samples and teach, have a great time with the students and then leave . . Occasionally students would send me images of work they had developed from my workshops, which was very satisfying.  Technology had a lot to do with it of course. In the real olden days we didn't have the amazing possibilities of digital photography and all the apps we can now use. It is incredible how we can now communicate in seconds, anywhere in the world via the internet. In my lifetime as a traveling tutor I have seen so many changes. It is quite remarkable. So - back to the present . .  My live Zoom workshops are going well, which is great. But what is going even bet