March Workshop - Transferring Images to Fabric with Wyn Ingham

Our very talented chairperson Wyn Ingham tutored our March workshop and she was a right slavedriver! She made sure that we all went home loaded down with samples from the new techniques we learnt during the day. 

We learned about transferring images using sellotape and what the Blue Peter generation know as sticky backed plastic; we made new fabrics using peeled serviettes; we used solvents and PVA, photocopies and magazine images, and lots of printing and rubbing using transfer paints and crayons. 

Wyn telling us just a teeny weeny bit of what she knows 

and making our heads explode

Members brought their usual small amounts of equipment...

Note that we also have opportunities for shopping at our venue!

Rachael did some work using stamps, over-layering with sheer fabrics, 

and made some labels using the sellotape transfer method

Jo spent the day working with leaf images in shades of umber

Sue L made lots of samples, these show images transferred using wide sellotape  and Bondawebbed peeled serviettes

Sue M's mini canvas with transferred printed image, 

and emulsioned spatula (as you do)

Mandy was determined to get some stitching done on her fabric 

made from peeled serviette which was adhered to cotton

Sue H made some lovely new fabrics from her transferred images 

Talented artist Judy drew a free-hand image of a face using transfer crayons

Margaret H transferred some strong images using the sellotape method, 

these would look great with some stitching added

Sue K made lots of samples showing all the different techniques

Jane C was finishing off her little felt house 

and her Branch Challenge zentangle

Jacqui's transferred images - does that make it a wooden spoon?

Margaret's samples, inclulding a lovely strong sellotaped image

Another busy day for Margaret W!

Jane made some lovely new fabric from peeled serviettes

Davina's transferred images included some illustrations from 

Alice in Wonderland

Janice, as usual, produced twice as much work as everyone else! 

New member Deborah produced some lovely colourful work  

including the stamped piece at the bottom 

*If you would like Wyn to come and work you to a frazzle for the day, 

you can contact her at winniewoo@btinternet.com

Inbetweeners - Barking up the wrong tree

Abi is the first to send me her update from last week's workshop with Sandra Wallace. She says, I may add a few beads, as Sandra taught us how to string tiny beads. The white puffy bits are made by painting Xpandaprint onto my scrim base. There are lots of layers, which don't all show on the photo."

The second photo shows the picture of bark that Abi used for inspiration.

February Workshop - Fabulous Felt and Brilliant Beads

Following on from our February meeting, Sandra returned to run a workshop with members, making felt and teaching beading techniques. They also worked on making some textured background fabrics.
Here are our members hard at work! 

It's amazing what you have to bring to a workshop, "just in case"...

 Some beading samples...

 Sue L

Sue H

Sue K (I promise, not all our members are called Sue!)

Rona

Janice

Catherine

Abigail

Margaret (I'm very intrigued about that red bead!)

Felt AND beads! That's just showing off...

It's a shame our "Small World" challenge has finished!

Davina's added another continent to hers

A group shot

The start of a lovely muted collage

A colourful piece by Jo

Rachael's interpretation of rock strata

I think Jane's hoping for some freebies for her product placement...

A close-up of Jane's lovely Lucky Bag piece

There wasn't mushroom to fit in this photo of Catherine's work

A very textured felt piece with added fibres, by Janice

I feel like I'm actually in Scotland, looking at this beaded, felted piece by Sue L 

Felt, needle felt and Tyvek are the basis of Sue H's collage

I love the piece of seaweed in the foreground of this painted fabric by Margaret

It's going to be interesting to see how these pieces develop! 

February Meeting - Sandra Wallace - Fabulous Felt and a Mixture of Media

For our February meeting, we had a talk by Sandra Wallace, who as well as being a successful artist, tutor and author, is a member of our Branch! We are so lucky to have such talented members to inspire the rest of us! Sandra surprisingly started off as a teacher of maths and science, however it soon became clear that her interests lay in more artistic subjects. 
Her work is inspired by topics that have interested her - Sea and waterfalls, Native Americans, and all aspects of the natural world, all feature heavily in Sandra's work. 
Although her main interest is in felt making, along the way she has specialised in beadwork and her use of colour led to her being asked to write a book on this subject. 
Sandra also likes to work in mixed media and has incorporated more contemporary textures into her felted work, such as Tyvek and Expandaprint. 
Here are some photographs of the beautiful work that Sandra brought to show us. 

The works above and below are on the theme of "Fire and Ice"

These two pieces depict lichen and tree bark, 

using silk cocoons and beads along side felted backgrounds

This piece depicts the stunning show of lupins which can be seen in Iceland in springtime. They were planted to try to stop soil erosion but 

have started to take over, as you can see from the below photo.

You can practically hear the water rushing over the stones in this piece 

(which is actually a waterfall, but I can't turn the photo round!)

A vessel made by using wire alongside beading thread on the loom

Beautiful beaded bracelets

A stunning peacock feather, again made on a beading loom.

As well as Sandra's lovely work, another highlight of the meeting was our colour-themed raffle, which really seems to have caught the imagination of members. Big thanks to Elizabeth who organises us every month, and also special thanks to Judy who brought in lots of turned wood pieces that she'd made - they weren't all black (this month's scheme) but we were very happy to have them!

Finally, *someone* had finished their lovely little house from last month but I can't remember who it was! 

Please let me know if it was you and I'll make sure you receive the due credit! 

(If any other members have finished theirs, please send me a photo!) 

PS - You can still get hold of Sandra's book on Amazon!