Saturday, March 28, 2009

home again

I got back last night (my luggage was first off the plane - and they also waived the $15 luggage fee for the trip home). I am still catching up with e-mails and tomorrow I need to do laundry so I can pack for the next adventure. The workshop was great fun and the group who took the class were ever-so-enthusiastic, even if some of them had never done surface design before. This lively piece is one that Merrilee Tieche brought with her to show me what she had made with gelatin prints. She painted directly on the plate to get these prints. The Ozark Piecemakers is an open-minded traditional guild that has two art quilt sub-groups. Uncommon Threads has been together for a number of years and they are all experienced art quilters that do beautiful work. The second group, Quilt Odyssey, is newer and is led by Maureen Ashlock and Lily Kerns. How lucky to have such wonderful mentors! Here is Maureen with her charming piece, Artspeak, which she brought to show me. Be sure to click on the picture to really see it. The class spent the first day making their own stamps and discovering the possibilities. The variety on the wall was amazing and if you click on the picture, you'll see them better. Cher brought along a silk scarf and printed it with the stamps she had carved. She hadn't liked the first layer, so she washed it up and wadded it up in a ball. I encouraged her to iron it dry and keep going. This lovely wearable art is the result! The second day, we did image transfer and worked with thermofax screens. Merrilee and Karen (below) are concentrating on their images, some of which transferred well and others of which did not. We are still trying to figure out why prints supposedly from a laser printer did not transfer easily. Merrilee finally got results, but it took more effort in the burnishing than it should have. I just don't think there is as much carbon in the toners as there used to be. Karen is taking notes right on her fabric so she can remember what she did in each case. Everybody simply loved doing the tape transfer! As usual, I was too busy teaching to take many pictures but Roberta Ranney has lots more on her blog, in addition to pictures of her work which you really should see. For now, I am going to finish the book I started on the way home and then find some other projects that I hope will keep me up late.

5 comments:

Rachel said...

Glad you and your luggage are home, safe and sound.

Linda Branch Dunn said...

Just wanted to tell you: I taught a screenprinting class yesterday, and one person pulls out scads of beautiful fabric. "I made it using Rayna's book. It was the most fun I'd ever had."

She took off with the printing, did beautiful work. I told her you taught me everything I know.

Eva said...

It is fascinating what you wrote about the technical research being done in your class! I'll be following your reports with greatest attention. The results are great, I am very impressed with the show wall and the No 2, the turquoise-and-brown piece and the purple one at the bottom. -- "finish a book" -- are you writing or reading one?

Rayna said...

Linda - thanks! It' nice to know that my book is helping people make scads of beautiful fabric.

Eva - I was reading a book - LOL.
Peter Robinson, a British mystery writer, has a series that is well-written - I highly recommend this author.

Judy said...

Welcome Home! Looks like your class was a huge success. When do you teach at Pro Chem?

xo

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