All workshops take a playful, creative, no-rules approach. You'll discover that when you experiment, stretch boundaries, and work intuitively, magic happens!
Jump-Starting the Art Quilt
confident beginner-to-advanced
2-3 days
Fresh out of ideas? Want to move away from traditional and not sure how? Spark your creativity and banish “blank design wall” syndrome!
Day 1: creative exercises, mind-mapping, words and visuals will lead you forward. Working quickly using line, color and free-form design, you will work conceptually, follow your intuition, and experiment with a number of small studies using glue stick or fusing.
Day 2: Sewing, group sharing & discussion, show-and-tell, optional critique if you are stuck, and ample time to explore and play. You may choose to expand a small study to a larger piece, continue working in a series, or try out a new idea you didn't have time for on day one. Leave class with a way to express your personal vision, the start of new work, and tons of new ideas!
Day 3: Studio time for you to continue working with the potential of finishing new and original work. Individual feedback, group brainstorming, “what if?” problem-solving, and a whole new way of creating exciting quilts!
MASTER CLASS
Print Original Cloth, Make Original Quilts
intermediate to advanced
5 days
The first half of the workshop is surface design (your choice) followed by creating new work using the fabric you printed in class, along with other fabrics. Creative exercises, group & individual critique and "what if?" discussisons. (see above description)
Cinderella Quilts! Reinventing the UFO
all levels
1-3 days
Get those UFOs out of hiding and bring them to class. Unfinished tops and orphan blocks you'll never finish as they are. Slice, dice, add strips and completely transform those stalled projects into beautiful blocks and quilts you never imagined you would make from them. Total fun!!
Create Your Own Free-Form Quilts
all levels
2-4 days
Is your creative muse on vacation? Take your own creative journey with no rules & no rulers (almost).
Free-cut strips, sew together and create an original quilt as you slice, dice, and combine elements in a variety of ways. Ahhhhh...stress free sewing that's better than being on the beach!
PRINTING WITH PAINT
Can this Fabric be Saved??
all levels
2 days
Update your stash without buying more! Drag out those "what was I thinking????" boring, outdated commercial fabrics or blah/ugly hand-dyes from your stash and make them new again with paints, stamps, and screens. You won't believe the difference a few layers of paint will make!!
Stamp, Screen & Stencil with Everyday Objects!
all levels
2-3 days
Rayna's easy methods for using ordinary objects to stamp, screen, and stencil. Using screens and low-cost, low-tech materials from the kitchen and around the house or hardware store, you will come away with your own unique fabric to use in your quilts, as seen in her book, Create Your Own Hand-Printed Cloth.
Carve Original Stamps - Print Original Cloth
all levels
2 days
Limited by commercial stamps? Expand your options! You can make simple and sophisticated prints with hand-carved stamps that reflect your design sense and personality. Print directly on cloth and on a gelatin plate for monoprints!
Day 1:
Using easy-to-cut blocks, lino cutting tools and water-based paints, explore different methods of inking the block and various design possibilities as you stamp.
Day 2:
Using gelatin from your pantry, water-based inks and your hands or a brayer your hand-carved stamps will partner with brushes, leaves, and other small items to put gorgeous texture and detail on your fabric.
Screen Printing Studio: Working in Layers
all levels
3-5 days
Explore various screen printing methods, including various papers, stencils, glue, tape, Thermofax screens, writing tools, and textured flat objects. Learn how to design with intent as you go along, adding layers and knowing when to stop. Discover how you to vary scale as you print, and use the same tools to get entirely different results, printing fabrics that are related by color or motif. This intensive workshop has plenty of studio time to use what you learned, to play and to imprint your own unique aesthetic on cloth
PRINTING WITH DYES
Soy Wax Batik
must have experience with dyes
2-5 days
A 21st century approach to an ancient art. Non-toxic soy wax, wood or metal stamps, inexpensive brushes, a and a writing tool are all you need to create your own batik fabrics. Five day class will include discharging with wax and using wax resist in screenprinting. Come play with soy wax and you’ll be hooked!
Deconstructing the Screen
must have some experience with dyes
no screening experience necessary
3-5 days
Working spontaneously with thickened MX dyes, explore deconstructed screenprinting as well as simple screenprinting with paper, tape, glue, and textured resists. This exciting and unpredictable way to print lets you create as you go, transferring your own marks from screen to cloth. We will work in layers, adding and taking away color with discharge (weather permitting) and more dye, steaming the fabric as we go. Work on silk, rayon, or cotton and discover this freeing process!
LECTURES
Oops!
Did you ever have a potential disaster that turned into art? Bring it to share, and we'll look at slides of how other artists have made "lemonade from lemons."
Pushing Creativity with "What If?'
Two powerful words that can push the boundaries of your work and increase creative courage. A look at an artist's journey from traditional to self-expression.
Creativity + Design + Color = Original Quilts!
Fearless Color: Anything Goes!!
beginner to intermediate
1-2 days
Do color decisions make you tense? Do "split complementary" and "tertiary" confuse you?
Throw away that color wheel and trust your eyes and instincts!
Fanny's Foolproof Color Theory will free you forever from the same old combinations. We'll look at value, fabric personality, combining patterns, and how to work with commercial and hand-prints together. Push your color limits and say goodbye to color angst forever!
