Simone and Kath cutting the S133 - the big boy!!!   So - we have worked through The Journey design exercise , we have made printing blocks from the isolated designs. Then we created some fabulous torn paper and painted Bondaweb surfaces using my 'Background & Pretty' technique.   Decovil 1 and Decovil 1 light, cut and rolled ready for the group to use   And then, I brought out the the heavy interfacings!!  Decovil 1 and Decovil light are leather-like interfacings for making bags, but we can do so much more with them. They are great for making book covers and small boxes and vessels. The S133 interfacing is my favourite. It is very stiff, like cardboard and fabulous for making tall vessels.  All 3 interfacings have fusible web on one side, so you can iron fabric onto them, or more importantly for me - the torn paper pieces the group had been creating. Vlieseline Australia and New Zealand kindly sponsored my workshop with these wonderful interfacings. It made a massive di

Gorgeousness by Wilma And then this happened . . . It is very satisfying when you have developed a process and your students really run with it. A New Starting Point is a workshop I developed in 2012 when I was playing with old papers and scraps of painted Bondaweb - and of course, a bit of sparkle. The process became a great 1 - 2 day workshop that can be slotted into a 5 day workshop quite nicely. The great thing is your work doesn't have to look like anything, there is no pressure. The torn and layered process creates a great background to print onto. And then you can iron your work onto a heavy interfacing to create boxes, book covers . . more of that tomorrow. Layers of torn paper, card, transfer foil and Hot Spots The group working happily away The 'backgrounds and prettys' process creates luscious layers with lovely torn edges. I think it is my favourite process out all the techniques and processes I use. I start the students with my way of creating layers, then they

Nicola Brown and me in the sunshine in Geelong         The Geelong Fibre Forum 2023 was fabulous. Yes, Australia was a long way to go, but it was worth it. There are few opportunities to teach a live 5 day workshop. They can be a challenge, but so rewarding when everything you have planned works out. It is a good test to check you are still capable of developing and delivering quality teaching. Whilst I am a very experienced tutor, you can never take anything for granted. You are only as good as your previous workshop or course. It was also a great opportunity to catch up with my good friend Nicola Brown (who also lives in Ireland and was also teaching) and tutors Mary Hettmansperger (America) and Pam De Groot (Australia) who I hadn't seen for several years. It was so very, very good to see them again. Plus I finally got to actually meet Dawn Edwards, who I have been friends with on FB for several years. There will be at least 3 blog posts about the work my group created. The work

  My first 4 books . .    Welcome to my new blog subscribers.  I have 2 mailing lists one for this blog, and one for my newsletter. This blog tends to be a long read, it can contain all kinds of things, my life here in Ireland, my dogs, my travel, whatever takes my fancy, I can ramble, I like to talk to you all. There is a search engine in the top right hand corner, I have been writing this blog for 10 years or so, so if you want to find out what I have written about Lutradur or Tyvek or New Zealand, anything really . . just pop it into the search engine My newsletter is more of a short read, what is happening with my teaching, news of shows and new travel tours. That kind of thing.         I don't know if you can hear it from where you are, but my brain is whirring with new ideas and techniques. While I am filming and updating my 12 most popular workshops, I am developing new ideas to share with you. My 'what happens if . . ' head is definitely on. More of that in a mi

Me on my stand having the best time,  photo by Amanda Duke Well I am back - just! I got back home in Ireland on Monday night. I still haven't fully unpacked the car. I am waiting for some energy to galvanise me - maybe it will arrive tomorrow . . ! The Festival of Quilts was fabulous. It was like one big colourful party. It was so good to catch up with so many friends. There was so much laughter and squeals of delight. Lots of plans were hatched and several trips planned. The beginnings of my stand   It always takes longer than you think to set up a stand. Particularly when you are demonstrating. How much space do you allow to spread out and play? I wasn't really happy with it until the second day. My last show was pre covid in 2019, so it had been a while . .     Video of my stand There were exhibitors and visitors from all over the world at the show. I was particularly pleased to meet one of my online students from America. While we can chat and have tutorials via the intern