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...

Here I am back at the Connaught Centre for the last time before it closes in September. I have worked there since 1996 and have made many good friends both with my colleagues and my students. It will be a sad end to a remarkable era of Adult Education. I am teaching a 4 day Hot Textiles workshop with 13 students on the course, it's a great group of ladies - 6 of whom were on the design course here 2 weeks ago - see 'Back to the coalface', They must be suckers for punishment!!!! The students are - Vonnie (2 trollies) Huguenet, Marilyn Donovan, Ann Davies, Dorothy Stevenson, Selma Eroglu, Teresa Surtees, Edwina Mlynowska, Sue Benn, Sue Walters, Liz Smith, Sarah Paterson, Caroline Eldefield and Liz Lundin. Today was the second day of the workshop and so far we have attacked, Bondaweb - painted and otherwise, Hot Spots and Tyvek with all the attendant use of heat tools. Tomorrow we will be working with various weights of Lutradur and then layering some fab surfaces. The grou...

12th - 15th July  -  I love teaching at Denman College .  Everyone is so well looked after and we always have great fun. This time it was a Federation event and I was delivering a Hot Texiles workshop.  The students attending this workshop were Carol Griffiths, Joan Huyton, Jean Jeffrey, Judith Jenkins and Yvonne Jordan. We had a great few days together.   Judith - Dyed Lutradur 130 decorated with dyed and painted newspaper and distressed Tyvek strips.  Yvonne- Yvonne hadn't used a soldering iron to cut fabric before so this was her first attempt - no bad eh! Bondaweb was applied to the back of the pink acetate satin. The backing paper was removed and the fabric was laid onto a smooth ceramic tile and cut with a soldering iron. Using a soldering iron give you more freedom for more complicated shapes than scissors. Once the shapes had been cut out they were ironed onto dyed Craft Vilene.   Carol - All the students had a try at layering ...

The work included in this post was created by -  Marilyn Donovan, Ann Davies, Vonnie Huguenet, Charlotte Pugh, Helena Mundy, Teresa Surtees, Annie Cannan, Julie Tolman, Selma Eroglu and Dorothy Stevenson.  What a FAB group of girls - we had a such a great 4 days. They produced an amazing amount of designs and colour combinations. We discussed how you get inspired in the first place and how you can develop and interpret those ideas into your own work. Six of this group are coming back to the Connaught Centre on the 19th to do a 4 day Hot Textiles workshop. I'm really looking forward to it. Here are some more images for you - enjoy! The final display of work Selma painting her design      Teresa's first fabric print   Julie Tolman's display   This is a section Helena Mundy's scrap paper she cleaned her roller/brayer on. gorgeous isn't it?  Marilyn's sample trying out her block and overprinting onto fabric  I am trying to upload a slid...

  some of the flipped out designs   taking a section Well we have just finished our third day and the ladies have done me proud . Having done all the black and white work yesterday we started by taking sections with 'L' shapes. Any of the design exercises that had been created could be used. The students then traced off 4 designs to choose 2 for making up printing blocks. Before making up the blocks the students did some flipping and mirroring exercises with their designs to see how they would look. These exercises were then painted in 2 colours.    This one (above) by Teresa Surtees had been flipped and mirrored twice    Printing blocks were then made from self adhesive funky foam and mount board. This work is by Helena Mundy. The first experiments to see how the blocks look when printed.                 This block is by Charlotte Pugh.     Having the first play with the...

    getting down to action I have started teaching my summer schools. This week it is Design, Inspiration & Interpretation at the Connaught Centre in Hove. I have a FAB group who created an amazing amount of work today. The first session the students got down to a relaxing 'play' with paint and brushes describing a journey, imaginary or otherwise. This is an exercise from my book Experimental Textiles so if you have the book you can see the exercise in action. developing the 'mark making' I always check with my students to make sure they are happy for me to photograph them and for their work to be published either in one of my books, websites or now on this blog.      all of the journeys pinned up on end The students then got on with the next exercise which was the 'flipping out' exercise from Experimental Textiles. This is one by Charlotte and it wont go into the centre of the page. . . . AARRGHH!!!   Tomorrow we will be taking sectio...

I t's 7am on a beautiful sunny day in Brighton and the smell of the Jasmine in my garden is amazing. This is the day I am going to really get to grips with my new book. I think I have got the chapter run sorted and the general layout of the book. It seems I spend more time thinking about it than actually writing it. I have to write at least 5.000 words today as my editor is starting to get twitchy. The summer schools start tomorrow so I will be teaching 4 days a week with all the preparation that entails so there will be no more time for writing. Why do we always leave these things til we REALLY have to do them?  AARRGGHHHHH!  . . . . . and Yes! I am aware that writing in this blog this morning is yet another way of putting off the inevitable - maybe I will do the washing up now - or the hoovering . . . . . Hello Jen Hen, thanks for being my first follower - if I could work out how to send you a message I would. This is all very new to me. Hi Christine - thank you for the f...