Category Archives: workshop

Weaving by the Sea and Some Lichen

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Apologies for the lack of posts recently, I have just returned from 2 wonderful weeks in northern Spain. The first week was spent with Tim Johnson on a (“basket”) weaving course, aptly named weaving by the sea. I put basket in quotes as that was probably the one thing I didn’t make. I went with the intention of learning Tim’s methods so I could interpret his methods into textiles and mixed media pieces. The 7 and 9 stand braiding was really interesting but is very slow, I expect I will make some fabric bowls using it but don’t expect it to be commercially viable to make these professionally.

The second half of the week was spent on freeform or chaos weaving which I loved and can see myself using some of the willow stored in my garden to make some mixed media sculptures. Tim was an amazing teacher, he is incredibly knowledgeable and keen to share what he knows. His fine art background brought a different flavour and an unexpected freedom to what we made under his tutelage, he was very keen that we move away from making functional objects and experiment with different forms.
Here are a couple of photos I took during the course but more can be found (including a few of me ;o/) by following the weaving by the sea link above.

Mr TB joined me for the second week which we spent touring northern Spain and walking in the Catalonian National Park, Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici, according to Wikipedia this translates to “The winding streams and lakes of St. Maurice”. We certainly followed a stream for most of our trip so this seems quite apt. The views in the park were absolutely stunning and so varied. In the space of just 7 km (about 4 miles) we found ourselves walking through woodland, along the banks of a stream, across pastures, sitting by a huge serene lake and always with mountains providing a majestic backdrop.


Even with all this beauty on such a grand scale, it was some lichen growing on a tree trunk that caught my creative attention and this is what I have been working on since we returned.

I like the lichens and the tassely bits but think I might repeat this piece with the bark represented using strips of cut-away resist.


Fiona Duthie Surface Design Workshop

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I signed up for Fiona Duthie’s online suface design workshop a few weeks and it started last week and I have to say I am loving it! Although many of the techniques we have covered so far are already familiar to me, Fiona has some quirky suggestions for how to use the techniques that I am finding very refreshing and stimulating. It looks like we will be covering 2 or 3 techniques each week and coming to the end of week 2 I am loving combining the different techniques in new ways.

While I don’t feel it would be fair to Fiona to share the actual techniques here I think it is ok to show some of the results….

I plan to add some stitching to this piece to highlight the setting sun on the left and make the foreground look more like a beach.

I still need to do quite a lot of needle-felting details onto the turtle’s head and legs and I will add more texture to the “rock” with some stitching but am pleased with how this piece is coming along.