I’ve finally started planning my luxurious five-day weekend between jobs. What to do? Usually I go somewhere exotic between jobs, but five days isn’t really enough to go to Peru (etc.). I was thinking about finding an interesting weaving class somewhere that I could fly to, that just happened to be over Memorial Day weekend and wasn’t full…
…then I realized I was being silly. I don’t really like in-person classes; they’re expensive, they either move too quickly or too slowly, and hauling tools around for hands-on classes is a pain. Furthermore, I sit here surrounded by a TON of books that I have not had time to read, full of wonderful techniques that I have yet to try, with materials and tools that are patiently waiting to be used.
In short, an at-home, do-it-yourself workshop seems called for. An intensive, of course, so I can immerse myself in the topic day and night for five straight days (Mike is out of town over the holiday weekend, so I won’t be neglecting him). And exploring something I wouldn’t normally poke my nose into, in keeping with my tradition of traveling somewhere exotic between jobs.
I haven’t decided the topic fully yet, but I’m leaning towards surface design – playing with paint, dyes, discharge paste, and various ways to apply them. This is a topic I’ve wanted to explore for awhile, but never had time – always “some other day”. Well, “some other day” is here, and five days of messing around in the studio seems Just Right. I just got a lovely book by Claire Benn and Leslie Morgan of Committed to Cloth, titled Making Your Mark: Creating Cloth for imagery, stitch, embroidery and embellishment. It covers various ways of applying dyes directly to fabric – brushing, scraping, monoprinting, etc. And I have books (boy, do I have books!) on screen printing, shibori, katazome, batik, painting with fabric paints, and all other manner of toys. And have I mentioned that I have an embarrassingly well-equipped surface design studio? and have used only a tiny fraction of my toys?
Yes, surface design seems called for. What topic? I have no idea yet. If I only have five days, I need to narrow it down, but I really want to try it all! I need to settle on a few topics to explore, dedicating a day or two to each.
But I love the idea of a choose-your-own adventure workshop at home! I’m looking forward to it.
