Here I am back home again sitting in a sea of mess and carnage . . . .  I MUST tidy up my house!!! I seem to have been teaching and travelling for months - I now have over a week at home - Whhopppeeeee!!! I have a huge amount to catch up with but if I work steadily at the list, I should get to the bottom of it by the time I leave for the Exeter show. One thing I must do is buy a new washing machine - sigh! The joys of domesticity . . . I was booked to deliver a lecture on Monday afternoon and a one day Scrumptious Spunbond workshop on the Tuesday. There was such a long waiting list for the workshop that we had to arrange an extra workshop for the next day. I had a rather traumatic start to my trip to Marlborough - no car!!!! Luckily the A.A. man pointed out that I had hire car cover on my policy - why do I always panic and not think clearly???? it was a bit of a rush getting to the car hire place in time on Monday morning to collect the (much smaller car than my Volvo

6 of the 7 lovely ladies on my course last week enjoying the sunshine on the terrace at West Dean As the title of the course suggests I wanted to incorporate design exercises into this 4 day workshop which may then lead onto more considered samples as we worked through the 'Hot Textiles' processes. Here a few of the exercises the students worked through on the first day. * We then worked through most of the 'Hot Textiles' techniques, half the group had never painted Bondaweb so we started with that. This lovely sample was decorated with the background paper from the Bondaweb. These 2 samples were created with Vilene Spunbond and pelmet/craft Vilene with Bondaweb on the back, cut with a soldering iron and ironed onto more pelmet/craft Vilene.    75 gm Tyvek layered with polyester organza,machine stitched together and then zapped with a heat gun.   Layers of polyester organza machine stitched together and then zapped with a heat gun These wonderful Tyvek

  all the floral 'journeys' hanging on the wall Hot Textiles - drawing inspiration from the garden - West Dean College  www.westdean.org.uk One of the very many wonderful things about teaching at West Dean is that they will run a course with low numbers. The maximum for any course is 10 - such a treat and due to cancellations I have seven on my course this week. I am combining design with layers that are to be cut back with a soldering iron. We will be using shapes inspired by the beautiful grounds of West Dean.    Today we worked on a floral 'journey' (see pages 20 - 23 Experimental Textiles). The studios are huge and each student has their own bench and power supply - the facilities are really excellent. Esther filling in the spaces of her floral journey The journeys all hanging together on the wall they almost look like one design as they are only black and white. If we had introduced colour it would have lessened the impact. We then moved onto the 'flipping

disperse dyes (transfer paints) ironed onto polyester satin The last workshop of 3 at Inkberrow Design Centre Inkberrow Design Centre was Transforming Transfers. I love transfer printing, it is one of the most simple techniques for colouring synthetic fabrics and one of the most effective. Disperse dyes (transfer paints) are painted onto copy/computer paper. Once the paper is dry the dye is ironed off onto synthetic fabric. You need to place baking parchment underneath your fabric and between the iron and the dyed paper. The dye is transferred by heat, so the iron needs to be as hot as your fabric will stand. The papers can be cut or torn and resists can also be used between the dyed paper and the fabric. We had a great day experimenting with the dyes, the studios at Inkberrow are large and airy with plenty of room for play! Emma and Sally ironing off their papers   grasses used as a resist between the dyed paper and the fabric Sally used a metal frame as a resist - and discover

 one of the beautiful layered samples created on the Tinkering with Tyvek workshop Last Saturday night saw me dashing up various motorways from Art Van Go in Knebworth to Inkberrow Design Centre in Redditch ready to start teaching on Sunday. I was booked to deliver 3 one day workshops - On the Surface, Tinkering with Tyvek and Transforming Transfers. As I  have just posted about painted Bondaweb I will omit the images of the On the Surface workshop and go straight to the Tyvek. We had one of the best days working with Tyvek that I have ever had.  I had a great group of students, some already attending the college and some were new to the 'Inkberrow Experience'. Brenda Killigrew who is the managing director of Inkberrow Design Centre  www.inkberrowdesigncentre.co.uk/?q=front_page_alt and Castanea  http://castanea-craft-courses.com/ was around most of the time, popping in to check we were well supplied with coffee and biscuits. Brenda is a very good friend of mine and it was w

  one of Sharon Tavener's many excellent samples Just one last quick post about the summer school at Art Van Go last week then I can catch up with the Inkberrow workshops before I go to West Dean College. As you have probably gathered the final day was very productive with many different techniques employed. I don't want you to think that painted Bondaweb was missed out so here a few FAB samples. another sample of painted Bondaweb by Sharon Tavener   detail of above This delightful sample by  Paula Mason shows you don't need to add too much to painted Bondaweb. Just a little delicate hand stitch is all you need . . . . .  I will be back at Art Van Go in November. While I was teaching there this time Viv and I got down to booking my courses for next year, they are listed on my full diary  www.nid-noi.com/events.php    There will also be a special mentoring day for my past students at Art Van Go who want to develop further ideas and skills on September 1st 2012. more on