Layers of printed and painted Bondaweb and torn newspaper ironed onto heavy iron-on interfacing . I LOVE this piece by Christine Because my clever students produced so much excellent work I will make this a two part post. My course had been brought forward from July to January and consequently I only had four students on my course. This was a great opportunity to get a lot of work done and fun for me. I usually teach ten to fifteen students in a group which is fine - but you don't get much time with each student. This was a real treat. Coupled with the fact all the students had been on a previous course with me in October, they all knew the basics of Hot Textiles which meant we could cover a lot of ground quite fast.  Newspaper printed with a leaf block - strips of which were used to create the beautiful work at the top of this post   Painted Bondaweb also printed with the leaf block.The Bondaweb is then careful...

 old dyed newspaper torn and layered with painted Bondaweb and then torn and layered . . . Just a quick post to say we have had a FAB morning working with painted Bondaweb and old newspapers. My girls have been layering up large squares which we will be sticking to heavy iron-interfacing to make boxes - once the interfacing is dry as we dyed it this morning.           We have also been printing onto the layers . . . .  more later . . . . .   x

    Decorated newspaper ironed onto heavy pelmet Vilene plus and cut to shape with a die cutting  machine I am just packing up the car ready to leave to teach at Denman College  www.denmancollege.org.uk for the next couple of days. I will be teaching my Hot Textiles 2 workshop to a small group that I first met on Hot Textiles at Denman at the end of last year - they are coming back to play. We should have a wonderful time as they already know the basics. We will be able to move fast and cover a lot of ground, I am very excited - some FAB work should be produced. I'm going to take my heat press and die cutting machine in case the group want to try any of the my newspaper processes with painted Bondaweb.   Decorated newspaper brooches . . .       . . and more . . .  I will report back as we go along - we should have a great time in class - and then of course there is the food  . . . .  the beautiful grounds ...

Sorry - I couldn't resist showing you how beautiful the sky is here in Spain this morning . . . . . I love the pale berries on this tree. x  Murcia Cathedral at dusk Brenda, Keith and I went into Murcia last night to watch The Three Kings Procession. Today is Three Kings Day, a bit like our Christmas Day. We had a great night and I never tire of taking photo's of the Cathedral - it is SO beautiful . . . . .  My images of the procession are not the best as it was dark, but hopefully you can get a flavour of what it was like. There were marching bands and all kinds of floats and most importantly - sweets and toys being thrown  to the children. It was all very exciting. The Spanish certainly know how to put on a good show . . . . . I love sitting outside in the evening and watching the world go by - it is not something that Brenda or I do a lot of when we are back in the U.K. Once we are up - we are at work! I fly home tomorrow night...

Well I got there - and was totally overwhelmed! Brenda had booked tickets for 9am- 2pm so we stayed in Granada overnight to be there in time - if you miss your allotted time, you don't get in. It was FREEZING that time in the morning with frost on the cars. We had planned to start with the Nasrid Palaces and then explore further. However, I was so blown away by the whole astounding experience, the Nasrid Palaces were all I could take in. I will just have to go back . .  again . . .  and again . . .  . . .  and  . .  again!!!! I will just load the images - they don't need words to describe them. Not being able to use flash I couldn't get a lot of the shots I wanted, But I am very happy with the several hundred I took. Here is a selection -  . . . . so, you can see, I have enough inspiration to last for the rest of my life. Truly wonderful . . . . . ...