This course is inspired by gardens, whether it be the chaos of the border or structural plant forms.

We will look at the wonderful shapes and patterns of plants. We will discuss composition and study how other artists use mixed media in their work.

We will also look at collage and the correct mediums for sticking a variety of materials including bondaweb, PVA and Pritt Stick.

The course will include block and gelli plate printing onto paper and fabric, transfer printing with natural resists, transfer foiling onto organza, painted bondaweb with stitched organza, soluble techniques and lots of collage (including aluminium sweet foils) and plenty of hand and machine embroidery stitching to create a variety of individual pieces.

Materials Required

• A good sized sketchbook, the one I will be using is A3
• Linen, silk, cotton, scrim, rough and smooth textures, a modest pile to play with, no bigger than A4
• Organza go green as a starter – polyester is fine
• Threads, again a nice range of different thicknesses. Hand and machine threads
• Garden inspired stencils
• Press a few plants, cow parsley, grasses, nice structural ones
• Pelmet Vilene ½ metre
• Slightly heavier paper (light card) for making resists
• Mill board (grey board) mount board scraps
• Collage papers, dress patterns, old book pages with text, maps
• Solufleece – dissolvable fabric
• Transfer foil
• Small pieces of bright coloured fabrics…bits of sari silk
• Bondaweb
• Siliconised Baking Parchment
• Kitchen Roll
• Baby wipes
• Tools for making marks: Toothbrush, Cocktail sticks, Sponge brush, Old credit card, Paint brushes + 1” paintbrush for painting transfer paints, Rubber stamps, Dip pen etc. Indian wood blocks
• A lino Roller 4” (any size really) a sheet of plastic to roll colour onto
• If you like using a Gelli Plate you could use it for some of the samples (totally optional though, they are pricey about £13-14 for a 3x4 inch)
• Paints, acrylics, quink ink, ‘Koh-I-Nor’ brush, any paints you like using
• A pinny - it’s messy. Plastic to cover your table
• Sewing kit, scissors, a range of needles
• Sewing machine
• Embroidery ring 8”
• Glue, pva or pritt stick
• Palette and water pot
• Pencil case with a good range of drawing tools
• Hot iron (meaning the hottest you can lay your hands on for transfer printing onto natural fabrics)
• Ironing/printing pad (a piece of ply wood, chipboard or similar covered with cotton wadding and calico, not to squidgy mine is about 50 x 40 cms)

Materials Cost

£10 per person.

Preparation

Please can you start to gather grasses, cow parsley, ferns, flower heads not too lumpy… anything you can press simply between newspaper with a few books on top. We will use them as resists for transfer printing, they will become fragile quite quickly, so you’ll need a few. We can use fresh plants during summer school too.

Also take a few photo’s for your own inspiration, I’ve been mooching about the garden to find some nice compositions, drifts of wildness etc.

Bring along any materials that you like to include in your own work, that you think might fit.