Mica workshop and Janice Gunner

We went to Forge Mill for a workshop on using mica a mineral that can be split into fine sheets it was tutored by Angie Hughes and was very interesting, I have never used the stuff before and it was fascinating . Also at Forge Mill was an exhibition by Jannice Gunell quilted indigo dyed pieces I do like her work first seen at the FOQ and I am envious of her superb indigo dyeing techniques.Below is some of her glorious pieces,enjoy.





I really liked this piece it was very appealing and livable with if that makes sense it was priced at £75 which was also appealing.

Now onto the Mica workshop, Angie is always good value for money she is a fun tutor and so generous with both her ideas and the bits and pieces that you need at workshops.The 2 frames below are Madi's on the left and mine on the right, I was pleased with mine.
My first attempt.
Some of the other students work

the best bit of the trip to Portsmouth?.

We all went to Portsmouth for the W/E and were so lucky with the weather it was glorious,and what do you think was the really best bit ever? Was it seeing the graceful Victory? Was it these gruesome surgical instruments?

Or these leather fire buckets?

Grandma enjoyed looking at the embroidery on Nelsons`s cot linen

but it was not that.

Was it the excitement of seeing the Mary Rose?

or Nelson skewed?

No none of those interesting historical things it was these "hamster balls" which after about 10 -12 goes Olive was really good at and could run over the water having a fantastic if tiring time at the cost of about £40 to her doting Grandparents,so much for history!

Sue Brown`s collograph workshop.

A fantastic workshop,Sue is a great teacher with a good sense of fun and she helped us all make and print collographs in just 2 hours, Sue is the one in the middle The mighty press complete with felt blanket

My daughter hard at work cutting her mount board,

After we had inked the collograph we had to remove the waste ink with old yellow pages.

One of the group looking very pleased with her print.

The next two pictures are Sue`s collographs.

And then we come to our efforts.

My daughter did this crow by a castle,well done Amy.

I went home full of enthusiasm and having found a new yellow pages on the doorstop took this as an omen to have another go using my mangle.

I was pleased with the results and will do some more after the Easter visitors,Sue Brown does workshops at Cirencester and at Andoversford if anyone interested is near enough email her at sb.brown@talk21.com

I have been crafting ,honest.

I am afraid this was not an original idea it was Ann`s to make political pincushions,I just thought it was brilliant,Mandelson is going to be my favourite to stick pins in, who is yours? This is one for me to drool over and I shall not be sticking pins into that gorgeous visage

I have also been screen printing again and my lovely husband has stretched them over a frame for me, I have done three which I am pleased with, the last ones I did were a disappointment but I shall be able to cut them up and use them.

This is a close up of one of the "flowers",the colours are brighter in real life.

And look at all this lovely material dyed and screen printed all colour coded ready for use,I a good girl tidying it up.

The latest craze is collograph printing,I am doing a short session with Sue Brown and went to see her work, her prints are superb and she is so friendly and helpful see her work at http://:suebrownprintmaker.blogspot.com I would love one of the ostriches.I have had an attempt at printing first with a rolling pin for a press then thanks to Maggie Grey with a pasta maker,which worked well for small prints.But today I became the proud owner of a mangle care of ebay so there will be no stopping me.

These are mount board carved out with plastic daisies and scrim.

These are shapes cut out of sandpaper and thread as are the two below

These are the plates I have been using but as these prints were done using a rolling pin with the mangle I should get a deeper more 3D impression more like an intaglio print