Just when I had got around to the idea that technology could be useful I was caught up in the perfect techno-storm. My mobile phone failed, my wi-fi connection lost its connection and couldn’t be resolved before I left Cambridgeshire AND my USB cable/connection to my phone is on the blink.

So somewhat belatedly, here is a pic from one of my two Zeelon workshops. Suffice to say, there were more pictures and information planned, but this is mostly a summary of what I snatched from the jaws of defeat. I’ll try harder next time.

The show itself was very brisk, especially on Friday. I think most of East Anglia’s textile folk go shopping here. And it lives up to its name, exhibitors and traders are focused on textiles. A good one for the diary in 2013.

Arrived in Cottenham earlier today after a (thankfully) uneventful journey.
Everyone is buzzing around as I just left putting the finishing touches to their various stands. Particularly worth a look are this year’s special exhibitions including Fibre Fusion in the annexe hall as well as Fen Edge Textiles group.

The picture above was taken at last year’s event as yours truly keeps forgetting to take pics. So just look at the above image and try to imaging lots of people milling around.

Anyway, hope to see everyone tomorrow, although I won’t be on my stand between 10 & 12 as I am conducting a workshop. Otherwise I’ll be the one with the caffeine drip attached to my arm!!

Well the time has come to load up the car ready for my sojourn to Cottenham for Textiles in Focus (17-19 Feb), and as usual there is too much to fit. So a little regrouping is necessary. This year I will be taking much more goodies with  me, much more varied and hopefully, not crossing over too much with other suppliers. I’ve always tried to stock unusual items or hard to source items, and this year as I am streamlining the business there will be quite a few bargains to be had eg Lots of current books at HALF the marked price. Lots of spunbonded and more unusual fabrics, dyes, pigments, threads etc etc.

Hope to see everyone there, and I hope to update my visit on a daily basis, just so that you can get a snap shot of the event.

I have just been sent the advance publicity for Textiles in Focus which is held annually at Cottenham Village Collage, Cambridge every year in February half term. Most of the owrkshops are now sold out but you maybe able to bag a space if you are quick.

I will be in attendance for the three days (17-19 Feb) and am holding a workshop using Zeelon on Friday am and Sunday pm. I will endeavour to take a bit of everything with me to sell especially the spunbonded fabrics, but there are lots of other goodies that I will be selling the remains of, particularly those which are going to be deleted from the catalogue – at bargain prices!!

Last year was very busy most of the time, but with lots to see, and buy, and the food comes recommended too!!

See you there.

This is just a last call for orders to be placed at Gallery Textiles with up to 75% off some items, the books are especially good buys as books as a selling line are going to be discontinued.

Click o n the link on the right or click here

Historically, Photoshop was a very hefty software package that required much learning and understanding, and to be fair, was developed as photo editing packaging ( ie editing photos by digital means rather than darkroom means). Full fat Photoshop still is, but that is what you get for your 00′s of pounds investment. However, Adobe recognised that truism, that people use 20% of the capability of software 80% of the time and issued a slimed down version, that deals only with images created as screen images (RGB) as opposed to images that printing companies have to convert to printing plates (CMYK). And that is where the massive saving on cost is obtained. Photoshop Elements – I think the current version is 9 – costs around £80. Even better, most of what PSE delivers can be obtained with much older version. I use PSE3 which is currently obtainable for around £5-£10 – bargain!!

I digress. The difficulty with delivering a computer based workshop, is that for everyone that enrols, they have a different starting point/ experience/ expectations/ hardware/ and not to mention ‘age’ – by this I mean that for people of a certain age, IT was not a world that we grew up with. TAKE HEART if you think I am striking a chord. Using IT is  skill to be learned. Some of use learn it faster than others, some are more interested etc than others, but remember; if you are a driver, how did learning to drive feel?

Back to my point.
I will be listing a Digital Imaging for Textiles (for more detail click here) over a  series of three sessions, but with an extra session for those who may need to be brought up to speed/ basic IT skills/ file management – nothing too onerous, just a session to give you confidence, and so that you get value for money from the sessions, and whilst on the topic of value for money, you WILL need to practice in between sessions,as a follow on session will become pointless.

This is a workshop looking at old, or what I call ‘kitchen sink’ recipes, ie what we had to do before technology came to our aid. All of them are little uncertain in the image they produce, but if you are a fan of distressed looking images or just like the  directness of transfering an ‘original’ images, then this one is for you. We will also be tackling some of the issues that arise when using these techniques.

Transfering a laser photocopy has its own issues, made doubly challenging because all toner is different, and some solvents attract health & safety issues, or as in the case of nail polish remover, acetone is the active ingredient to transfer a photocopied image, but is no longer an ingredient in ‘better’ nail polish removers.

Using images torn out of a magazine can be difficult as the type of paper used for printing magazines is become more environmentally friendly, but not much use for image transfer methods.

However, all is not lost, we do cover some interesting methods eg a transfer methods than can become a collage technique very easily.

If you fancy a go at these interesting method, click below

The background fabric is plain white in this example. This is good place to start as even a coloured piece of fabric will introduce colour combining, which for a beginner, only muddies the water. This fabric is then stabilised on a piece of paper, and simply printed through an inkjet printer laying some black text onto the background. For issues surrounding inkjet printing onto fabric, it is covered in my book, Spunbonded Textile & Stitch (published earlier this year by Batsford Book, and retitled Lutradur & the New Fibers published by Interweave Press) or, is also covered as a topic in this workshop.

All other embellishment lies over the top of the printed surface. The blue areas are dyed (not painted) Bondaweb and fused to the cotton, and the coloured fleur-de-lys shapes are created by using a foam stamp and metallic fabric paint, although acrylic paint will do just the same.

This is piece I am currently working on, in the perhaps vain attempt to create a picture quilt (???).

This is a project based workshop and is based on one of the very first pieces of using Lutradur, incorporating quite a few techniques, namely; using transfer dyes, layering colours, printing motifs with 3D medium, heat distressing and additional colouring and distressing with gilding waxes.

This project first appeared in Classic Stitches magazine, and I have to say, it wasn’t positioned very well within the magazine, and my copy was a very poor print.

A small piece of Lutradur (70 or 100gsm) is coloured with a technique using transfer dyes painted onto a photocopied piece of text. The amount of detail you get from this technique is quite staggering so can be left as is, but as this book cover received further embellishment, the colour became disrupted into the background. Lutradur is essentially translucent, so placing it on top of a strongly coloured piece of plain fabric, intensifies the colour.

The raised surface is obtained by printing the surface with a foam stamp and 3D medium, and then heat distressing with a heat tool. The medium acts as a mask and the Kutradur distresses the baclground.

Additional texture is achieved by rubbing gilding wax across the motifs. The whole piece of Lutradur was attached to its lining fabric with free machine stitching and finally small glass beads raise the surface a little further. This piece of Lutradur is then constructed as a cover for an A5 ring binder.

Special Preview
The spring edition of Simply Cards will feature some small pieces of Lutradur used to make cards. Here, the Lutradur has been cut with a soldering iron, but the effect of combining layers of colours is the same. See what you think .

This is the time of year when sales do seem to go on forever; so much so, that when they finally end it feels as though spring has arrived, or maybe that’s just me?

Gallery Textiles is having a huge clearout and not just the rubbish. Lots of items that no longer make sense to sell online, products where there are lots of very few colours – as it were or just need more space for new items. So this is a genuine clearout, probably not to be repeated

There is no official time limit on this sale, all items are individually marked, but be warned, some are in very short supply. The website has no stock control system operating at the moment (another job for the new year) so you may order an item that someone else has beaten you too (apologies in advance).

Also, it’s that time of year to think about workshops. If you have received a mailshot from us, there is a link in the message, or just click here which will take you to the Gallery Textiles landing page and just click on the workshops tab.