Spring Time Online Learning Workshops

 I have a few online learning opportunities coming up that I want to share.

First up is my workshop with Making Zen. I will be amongst a stellar line-up of teachers that will be sharing projects and techniques with the Making Zen Audience. Making Zen is a 5-day online creative workshop retreat that runs from May 26th - 30th. It is free to sign-up and there is a VIP option that you will want to look into that gives learners some enticing benefits. Click here or on any of the links above for more information and to register for free.

My workshop will be Book + Bag: A Traveling Kit. The workshop runs about 30 minutes and in it we will create a sketchbook kit for your upcoming travels, or daily wanderings, that can hold books, pens, pencils, brushed, and a small watercolor palette. The workshop includes demonstrations on how to bind a pamphlet book, a ledger book, and how to hand sew a Japanese tsunobukuro style bag that will keep your supplies organized for your creative adventures. 

Also, upcoming are two June Zoom workshops!

On June 7th I will teach my popular French Stitch Cracker Box Book workshop. I love this binding for its flexible exposed sewing spine and it's use of recycled and reclaimed materials. 

Click here for more information and to register.

And, on June 14th I will be teaching the Exploding Picture Box! This clever box is based on a Victorian paper box that has 28 surfaces where pictures, words, and illustrations can be placed.  It is like a little book or photo album in a box… that explodes! Small objects can also be placed at the center as an extra surprise.

Click here for more information and to register.

And, as always I have online classes on Creativebug - click here to go to my page.

Spring is a great time to get creative!

In-Person and Zoom workshops - 2022

 Boy, oh boy, am I a liar. In my last post (date 12/2/20) I promised I would post soon. Oh well. Best laid plans. These last two years have been...A...LOT!

But, here we are and I want to let you know where I'm going to be teaching in the next 6 months - both in-person and zoom.

I will be adding to this list so check back with my "In-person and Zoom Workshops" page where I am being really good about updating my workshop engagements and dates.

Here's what I have so far (click on workshop title for more info.):

Two fun and accessible workshops that I am offering via Zoom through Wishi Washi Studio:

 

Exploding Picture Box (Zoom)

February 5, 2022

1-3:00 PST

 

 

Origami Travel Notebook (Zoom)

February 12, 2022

1-3:00 PST

 

And, here are some In-person workshops that I have scheduled:

 

 

Stitch, Mend, Print, Make (In-person)

April 21 - 23rd, 2022, 10-4:00 daily

Ephemera Paducah, Paducah, KY 

Exploring a Sense of Place with Books, Textiles, and Objects

June 12 - 26, 2022

International Center for the Arts, Monte Costello, Italy

Hope to see some of you out there and remember that I have classes on Creativebug 24/7.

 

 

 

 

Fall 2016 Workshop Wrap Up

When I had my teaching studio I would try really hard to create a blog post after every studio workshop with a little report on the workshop containing images and information about the structures, instructors, materials, etc.

Since moving my studio this summer I have been lax about writing up reports on my workshops that I have been teaching out and about.

So, here is a little wrap up of my Fall 2016 workshops.

In September I taught at 3-day workshop at Cabrillo Arts Extension (as a result of the Summer workshop filling up and having a waitlist). I took more pictures of the summer workshop that you can see in this previous blog post, but I just wanted to share this wonderful bag that one of the students made on the last day of the September class:

This is a structure that I casually teach as a bonus project on the last day of the 3-day Japanese Boro Textiles workshop. I've played around with this structure a little in the last year or so, and I just love how it looks in this rather unfinished state with the "floppy ears".

In October, I traveled across the bay to A Verb for Keeping Warm to teach my Boro Bags class. Verb is such a wonderful shop and they always gather fabulous students for me who do beautiful work:

In the Boro Bags class we practice Japanese mending techniques on a length of fabric and at the end of the day make the cloth into Japanese style bags. Always a fun day.

Later in October, I had the pleasure of teaching a group of public school art teachers who were in town for a conference. I decided to teach them the Exploding Picture Box since it was something that I could teach in half day, and it was a structure that they could pass on to their students:

I have to say that sometimes teachers are not the greatest students but this group was an exception - a wonderful group that was talented, creative and appreciative!

Next up was a unique opportunity to teach photographers a book structure and talk to them about the Importance of Play. I was invited to teach at the Center for Photographic Art in Carmel as part of their PIE Labs (Photography + Ideas + Experience).

 I showed some slides of my work, talked about how allowing myself to play in my studio has led to new ideas, and then engaged them in a little play of their own by having them use their own photographs or found photographs in an accordion structure. They were encouraged to extract lines and shapes from their images, repeat them, and create interactive structures.

 I've taught my Boro Sampler Book workshop many times but it was so nice to teach it at the San Francisco Center for the Book in conjunction with their current exhibit In Remembrance: People, Times, Places curated by Lucy Childs. It is a beautiful exhibit if you get a chance to see it, and my original Boro Sampler Book was included in the show so it was nice to teach along side of the exhibit. And, of course, the students did gorgeous work:

You can see more Boro Sampler Books from previous workshops here and here and here. 

Lastly, was a new workshop for me taught at Handcraft Studio School - one of my favorite places to teach. The workshop was called: Zakka, Zokin and Chiku-Chiku. I have been teaching Boro Books and Boro Bags a lot in the last two years and wanted to vary from that a little while still teaching stitching inspired by Japanese mending techniques. I came up with this class so we could just make stuff! The class was inspired by zokin which are Japanese dusting cloths made from old pieces of fabric that are layered and stitched and stitched and stitched:

My collection of Zokin

Zakka is a Japanese term that means: anything that improves your home, life or appearance. Chiku-Chiku is an onomatopoeia that mimics the sound of needle and thread passing through cloth repeatedly. I just love all these words so I put them together for my class.

Students did beautiful work interpreting these ideas:

 

Phew! That was a lot of teaching. I'm going to take a couple of months off from weekend teaching so that I can concentrate on my own artwork, and some other projects, but I will be back at Cabrillo Arts Extension in March for a two-day workshop called: Creative Textiles: Deconstruction, Reconstruction and Re-Use. We will be taking old clothes apart and drawing inspiration from seam lines, tears, and fading to create new textile objects.

Then, I will be teaching a similar class at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in June that will be a five-day class called The Boro Aesthetic where we will also be taking apart old garments and then looking to Japanese Boro textiles for inspiration in creating new objects

Be sure to check back and visit my workshop page on this blog where I will continue to post workshops as I schedule and confirm them. And, as always, I have classes on Creativebug that are available 24/7.

This is my last post of the year so I will wish you a Happy New Year and I hope to see some of you in a workshop next year!

Fall 2015 Workshops in Wishi Washi Studio

Wishi Washi Studio's Fall 2015 Workshop schedule is up!

We have a fun and varied selection of classes coming up.

I'm kicking off the season with my Boro Books workshop that has been popular, and true to form it filled lightening fast. But, let me know if you want to get on the waitlist as I may be adding a second date.

Boro Books workshop

Next up are my guest instructors extraordinaire, Macy Chadwick and Courtney Cerruti.

Macy will be teaching a Pochoir Sampler Book workshop for the first time at Wishi Washi Studio. I'm personally very excited about this class since I've been mark making on paper and fabric with carved blocks, transfers and stencils and I hope to learn some new tricks from Macy (yes, I always play along with the class when we have a guest instructor!).

Macy Chadwick's Pochoir Sampler Book

In November Courtney Cerruti returns to Wishi Washi Studio to teach her Image Transfer class. But, this time we added a twist: students will also be creating a hardcover accordion book into which they will transfer their newly learned techniques. The end product will be a transfer based artist's book that will also be a great reference for future projects.

Student work from a past Image Transfer class with Courtney Cerruti

Every year I make myself a date book using the Crossed Structure Binding so I thought this would be a great time of the year to teach that binding to students who might want to do the same. Or, make a journal or sketchbook for the new year. Or, create a really, really nice present for a special someone for the upcoming holidays.

Two of my Crossed Structure datebooks

Speaking of the holidays, in December I will be teaching two fun techniques that could easily serve as last minute gift ideas: the Iris Fold Technique and the Exploding Picture Box. These are both historical crafting techniques, the Iris Fold originating in Holland and the Exploding Picture Box in Victorian England. Take both classes and combine the techniques into one project.

Iris Fold Technique

Exploding Picture Box

I realize that many of you are not in the Wishi Washi Studio area so I want to remind you of my online classes with Creativebug, including the Iris Fold Technique. And, Courtney Cerruti also has a wide array of classes with Creativebug, too.

  

Hope to see you in the studio and if you make something via Creativebug please share on Instagram or Facebook and tag me - I always love to see what you make!

SCRAP

I love SCRAP!

This past Saturday I taught a workshop there: The Exploding Picture Box. It is a really fun workshop to teach and it was especially fun teaching it at SCRAP.

If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area you have probably been there and if not - go! If you are not in the area be sure to put it on your list next time visit. This is directly from their website:

 

"SCRAP is a non-profit creative reuse center, materials depot, and workshop space founded in 1976 in San Francisco, California.

SCRAP breathes new life into old objects and reduces waste by diverting over 200 tons of materials heading to landfill every year.

Donations of quality re-usable materials such as textiles, buttons, paper, craft and office supplies, plastics, and wood are collected from businesses, institutions, and individuals then sorted and made available to teachers, parents, artists, and organizations."

You never know what you will find at SCRAP.

If it has the above stencil on it you can't buy it because they use it to move stuff around - they have some really cool carts.

 

This past weekend there were multiple sewing machines...

Weird things like this object above - not sure what it is...

there is always TONS of fabric and they let it go for really cheap!

there is a loom there now and many mannequins...

and magazines in Braille, including Playboy...pretty funny when you think about it.

I always get distracted there and end up doing some shopping for myself - most of these scissors came home with me - they were all a little different after all! Including those scary looking electric ones at the left side of the picture - they worked!

All materials for the class were gleaned from the SCRAP collection.

File folders are the perfect material for The Exploding Picture Box so SCRAP gathered up a couple of boxes of them for my students.

I love all of the color combinations!

 The boxes started taking shape...

The Exploding Picture Box is very book-like as it has 28 planes/surfaces that can be written on or decorated with photographs and images. See this post for some completed boxes from a class in my studio last year.

 

It was a fun day with a full class of great students. My car left a little heavier - but I really needed everything I brought home...really!

Thanks SCRAP!

SCRAP

801 Toland (entrance on Newcomb)

San Francisco, CA 

Busy Bees in Wishi Washi Studio

Apparently, now I hibernate and so does my blog.  

I last posted in late November while my solo show at Cabrillo Gallery was still up - then, evidently, some much needed downtime was in order - and down I went...

But, I'm awake now and so is my studio - busy with students making and creating.  Here is a Wishi Washi Studio recap of the last couple of months.

In February I visited the Codex Book Fair in Richmond, California and stocked up on Cave Paper and Hark!Handmade Paper for my workshops...gorgeous, right?

First workshop up in March was Crossed-Structure which is one of my favorite bindings to teach and make.  We used some of the beautifully rich Cave Papers made out of flax:

Next up was Buttonhole Stitch Binding.  I enjoyed photographing all the working hands in the studio that day:

 

 And, these are a couple of finished Buttonhole Bindings:

We started out April with the Origami Travel Notebook: a fun structure that has 18 pockets inside, lots of pages to write and draw on and more of that luscious Cave Paper and Hark!Handmade Paper for covers:

 And, just this last Saturday we made Exploding Picture Boxes - a Victorian paper craft structure that has 28 planes/pages for images and pictures.  My students came up with a myriad of ideas and innovations for this structure:

More great workshops coming up later this Spring and Summer.  Check out the schedules here.

And, if you aren't in the Wishi Washi Studio area come take a class with me in North Carolina this June - information here.

Also...don't forget about Creativebug...workshops 24/7...anywhere...anytime...