The dynamic duo - Viv and Kevin Change is a part of all our lives. It is important to mark certain changes, particularly one that will affect so many people in the creative textile world in the UK and further afield. Art Van Go is winding down . All good things must end! Art Van Go was started by Viv Arthur in 1989.  Viv bought herself a van, filled it with art materials and travelled around the country to colleges, schools, and textile groups. Her mission? To 'take the art shop to the artist'. Through travelling the country, meeting artists from far and wide and building contacts, this led to the need for a solid base. And so, in 2001, Viv and her partner Kevin, bought the bricks and mortar shop in Knebworth to be able to connect all the artists they had met, and continue building the Art Van Go community! The brilliant Art in Action stand at The Knitting & Stitching Shows Over the last 34 years, Art Van Go has become an institution. An artistic hub for artists

   The 12 workshops that I am currently filming       Argghh!!! It was all going to well!! Have you ever lost work on your computer? I have learned a big lesson when editing videos - save the entire file first, then start editing. The software that I use to edit my videos crashed while it was exporting a finished file - without saving it. Groan.  So, back into the studio to record the final part of Bonkers about Bondaweb. The second workshop I have recorded for the Experimental Textiles Video Library & Membership. At least it was only the last shorter section of the workshop. I am really enjoying recording all my workshops, even with the hiccups. It is good to revisit processes I have been developing and teaching for a good many years. The new membership is only available to my newsletter subscribers, you can subscribe at the bottom of any page of my website - www.kimthittichai.com The membership already includes students who have signed up from various part of the UK, The United

  I'm talking to Nicola live on on Sunday at 10am BST Here is the link to the livestream on YouTube  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHH6ukhvlcQ and Facebook https://www.facebook.com/events/1702337703569486/?ref=newsfeed If you can't make the live interview, Nicola is recording it. Well this is going to be fun. Nicola Brown is a great friend. We first met in Australia 8 years ago when were both teaching at the Fibre Forum in Geelong. Since then we have become very good friends. Nicola lives on the east coast of Ireland, about 3.5 hours drive away from where I am on the west coast.  You wouldn't necessarily think Nicola and I would work friendship wise. We are very different and our textile practices are poles apart. Nicolas work and teaching is based on all things natural. Eco dyeing and printing and felt making. She is an authority on these wonderful processes, particularly eco printing without mordants. Nicola modelling 2 of her eco printed garments  We both love gardeni

  Tyvek layers zapped with a heat gun      If you love texture, colour and exploring new processes - you may be interested in this - I keep my newsletter and blog subscribers separate and you may have missed this important information, I didn't want you to miss out on this opportunity. The NEW Experimental Textiles Video Library & Membership will launch at The Festival of Quilts at the NEC, Birmingham in August 2023 for the full annual subscription price of €350. Subscribers to my newsletter will be offered a special one-off €100 early bird discount of €250 from May 4th to May 11th. The early bird members will be able to view the 12 videos as I upload them between now and August, which means they will have a 15 month subscription. 2 of the 12 workshop videos will be launched into the video library on May 4th. The rest will be uploaded regularly in the months up to August 2023. Early bird members will have access to each of the private groups (hosted on my website) for the works

Jayni's completed Journey Jacket   Regular readers of this blog will be aware of the design exercise I created many years ago to help my students create original designs. I have taught The Journey exercise all over the world, and now with Zoom I am able to teach live workshops anywhere. I 'met' Janyi Bloch on a live Zoom workshop I was delivering for a textile group in Canada that she belonged to. It is amazing to be able to teach a group in real time, just in a different place. I know it will never replace face to face teaching, but it does save a long flight!! It is always interesting to see what students develop after a workshop, and very occasionally, a student just blows your mind!! When I saw what Jayni had created from her Journey exercise, I knew I had to share it far and wide. With Jayni's permission of course. Jayni's Journey exercise in her studio at home in Ontario.     2 sections from Jayni's Journey Painting the design onto fabric and then free mac

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

Recycled cardboard packaging woven into with printed newspaper. The completed weaving was then printed and hand stitched - by Shaun West   I have been teaching weaving as part of the Constructed Textiles module of my course Experimental Textiles for many years. When I taught 'in person' we would create a huge pile of fibres, paper, yarns, fabrics and plastics in the middle of a huge table and the group would take what they thought would work for them. We always concentrated on interesting texture rather than weaving techniques. It is quite possible to create something rather special with simple techniques and interesting materials. The work in the first 5 images in this post was created by Shaun West in 2013.  All you need to weave, is a grid or a warp. With recycled cardboard packaging that is sliced in regular intervals it becomes quite possible to stretch it out and weave into it. Choosing to weave with painted and printed recycled newspaper keeps to a muted colour pallette.