Last weekend we had more of an open session using heat. We spent time experimenting with metal shims and foils, but the type I liked best was the thin metal mesh sometimes called woven cloth. Steel and brass don’t discolour well with the heat guns, but copper does it wonderfully! I had a go at resisting the heat with washers etc. to see if patterns would be made but it was rather indiscriminate. It didn’t really matter! Just using the heat gun in specific areas worked best – being careful to hold everything away from fingers.
Some used alcohol inks to colour metal surfaces, smooshing them together and using the blending solution. There are some good photos on Kim’s blogs of these.
I just had go at putting odd bits together but I’m going to take them out and have another go at something later.
We spent most of the morning discussing and admiring homework from the group – this time was amazing. Again, have a look on Kim’s Experimental Textiles blog. I get so much from these discussions and learning from the others, it’s a favourite part of the course for me and so inspiring.
Sunday was all about Bondaweb, foils and Tyvek. We had painted up the Bondaweb, and after a demonstration from The Wise One, we all spent time seeing what could be done. The glittery bits caused some slight dribbling from certain members of the group. For someone who doesn’t really do shiny, I have to admit to a few moments of guilty pleasure!
I liked using the Bondaweb to layer up other papers as well as the foils, and was quite pleased at how it stuck the mulberry fibres down.
The Tyvek was ‘nuked’ towards the end of the day, cutting out shapes first. We also had a demonstration of layering it up with organzas and machine stitching an all-over design before melting through layers with the heat gun.
I’m not sure if these bits will remain on the backgrounds but they seemed to fit. Homework is to do a little stitching so we will see…
The time has come to start thinking about what is going into the show. (I can’t quite believe I just wrote that) But no worries – Kim says there’s only 24,000 people going, so that’s alright then !!!
Rachael Singleton 
I have an embossing heat gun, would that work? Or what is the heat source? Mine looks a lot like the one in the picture.
Hi. To do the work on here, an embossing heat gun would work fine.
What and where is the “workshop?” I’d like to join. Sue
Hi Sue. Ard you referring to the one day Sea and Stone workshop I have advertised recently? If so, it’s in Huddersfield and it’s next Saturday. I can see you have responded to my experimental textiles blog from several years ago. That was from Kim Thittichai’s course and she’s taking enrolments now for an on-line course as she’s is living in Ireland. It’s a year long course . If easier, you can email me singleton.rachael@gmail.com for more details.