Canberra Mini Retreat

Had a great time in Canberra with the Unique Stitching Mini Retreat. Nothing mini about the organisation behind the event, or the hotel catering or the students' enthusiasm!I taught 3 x 1 day workshops with a full classroom for Oil Stick Intensive.

We made rubbing plates.

 And explored surfaces which gave us patterns.

What a great day we had with beautiful fabrics created.

Experimenting

I usually use Shiva brand oil paint sticks for my rubbings but wanted to experiment a little with oil pastels and a door mat I had bought some time ago.

I used 3 colours of oil pastel and then added a layer with paint.

A dip into a light verdigris dye colour to finish the piece.

And why not put the door mat on top while the fabric is drying for more patterning?

I didn't set the oil pastels until the end. Experiment 2 coming up!

Super Surface Design in Warwick

We were so busy playing with oil paint sticks, rubbing plates, paint, stencils, stamps and the odd vegetable and fruit that I forgot to get photos of finished pieces.

However this is a general view of the action in the afternoon.

Thanks for a great day of creativity L-R Dorothy, Lyn, me, Noreen, Mary, Chris, Melinda, Joyce, Karen and Merrilyn.

A day in the countryside

Why are country views so good for the soul? Combine this with good friends, good food, some art activity and you couldn't ask for a better day out.

Memories of the past- old milk urn and meat safe.

Merody and Jenny rubbing a country gate, using oil paint sticks.

My rubbings of collected textures from the property.

Blue Mountains # 5

L-R Jenny L, Jenny B, Merren, Sheila, Marion, Ruth, Val and Beverley, my students in the 4 day Textile Souvenir workshop at the Contextart Forum enthusiastically embraced all I had to share with them and produced marvellous work, directing their efforts towards their personal preferences and exploring new avenues also. The weather was kind enough to us, so we could get outside to rub our surrounds.

Some photos of our display table in the hall where all workshops had students' work on view.

 Thanks for a great time everyone and the lovely souvenir book you surprised me with!

Super Surface Design #2

Work from Sheila- L a stamp, R the actual fern.

Janet describing her piece at show and tell.

Suzanne

Ruth

Val

Super Surface Design

The workshop Super Surface design was held over the weekend and my 8 students rubbed and printed many gorgeous pieces of fabric.

Thanks to Janet, I have this photo of my first demonstration with the oil sticks. We worked in the art room at Springwood High School.

L-R Janet and Alison working.

Jenny, surrounded by student work in the background.

Alison

Judith

The tree ferns are amazing Lisa. Visited the large patchwork shop at Katoomba, The Stitching Post Stephanie.

Up-cycling tops

Sometimes I need to be reminded how much fun it is to splash a little dye onto fabric. Using Dye-na-flow by Jacquard, I have updated a white top to wear at the ContextArt Forum in the Blue Mountains. It begins this weekend and I'll be busy introducing students to lots of surface design techniques.

It is not as easy to rub on a knit fabric!

Rubbing Cleveland

The art group Broad Strokes invited me to rub Cleveland, a Bayside suburb. Kate had found many interesting textures for us to investigate.

Thanks for a lovely morning L-R Mel, Suzanne, Kathryn, Merody, Kate, Jane.
Puppy sitting has been fun- I had forgotten how much energy they have, like young children. Nap time is good!

Great bag

Mary Ann was a student in the Oil Stick Intensive workshop in Florida last November and has kindly sent photos of her finished bag. She rubbed the designs during the class.

Looks so wonderful on the black and this shoulder bag has a front flap and pockets.

Thanks for sharing Mary Ann- I know no one else will have such a special bag!

Rubbing India

Many of the sites we visited were heritage listed, so it was not appropriate to take out oil paint sticks and rub over the reliefs. An opportunity for a group rubbing/printing session came one afternoon at Udai Bagh resort, next to the pool.

We pooled our blocks bought during our shopping and off we went!

Even Anukram got into the swing of things with the elephant and camel wood blocks.

Anita's wood block was the most popular and I was able to rub it's design onto this rusted piece of cotton/linen fabric I'd brought with me. Rusting fabric is very easy with any rusty object, which can be placed on top of the fabric or under it. Dampen the fabric with a light application of white vinegar and water to begin the process. Keep the fabric damp by covering or placing in a plastic bag and after 24 hours you should see some results. When handling the rusty fabric and objects use gloves. Wash thoroughly in salty water and finally fresh water. The final wash can be in the washing machine.