The Night Before the Morning After!

Busy busy busy!  Preparing for the Country Love Crafts open day workshops tomorrow, It’s now 9:10 pm and I think I am nearly there. The workshops will include products from Duncan, Decoart and Personal Impressions and I will also be demonstrating the Imagepac stampmaker.
The tables are set and samples on display


The bisque is ready to go and so am I.. to go home..It’s been a long long day and I am sure there is a glass of wine waiting at home with my name on it!!

Take care,
Andy

Goodbye Bahrain

I am waiting for my lift to the airport so thought I would just do a quick post showing a few pictures of the Aboriginal  workshops, before I do I would just like to say a huge thank you to Anne, Mahindra, Mar, Sarah, Tina, Laura, Sophie and Paul for making my stay such a pleasant and enjoyable one…Think of me back in the cold won’t you!!

Bahrain 2011

Below I have posted a selection of photos I have taken during my stay in Bahrain.
It is my last working day here and I fly back to the UK in the morning, My visit really has been an enjoyable experience, although very busy I have managed to see so much of Bahrain thanks to Anne who was kind enough to drive me around so many places of interest during the afternoon breaks we had between workshops.

The Tree of Life

The Tree of Life in Bahrain is a remarkable natural phenomenon that is witnessed by most who visit Bahrain. It stands alone with almost majestic flair, miles away from other vegetation and with no apparent source of water. The Tree of Life in Bahrain is a mesquite tree that has grown at the highest point in Bahrain for over 400 years. The mystery of the survival of the tree has made it a legend.
The local inhabitants believe with heart and soul that this was the actual location of the Garden of Eden.
Shame about the graffiti though.

The Weekend Starts here!

Day 6 in Bahrain and its Friday which is the start of the weekend here, Sunday being the first working day. I have the day completely free so I am going out to visit some of the sights of Bahrain.
The Enamelling workshop held last night at Studio Ceramics was very busy so apologies to everyone attending having to share some of the tools, the numbers were very unexpected. The evening went really well if not a little manic at times but was great fun and everyone managed to make at least 5 pieces.

I had my first shisha last night since arriving, mint and lemon…highly recommended along with a fine glass of wine!!

I will leave you with a little montage of photographs from the enamelling and stamping workshops.. have a great day,
Andy

Views from the roof top

Day 5 in Bahrain and after a very busy schedule I have a couple of hours to put my feet up and relax back at the apartment before returning to Studio Ceramics for the second Enamelling workshop tonight. The enamelling is proving so popular that they are now having to turn people away. Anyway back to my point here are some views from the rooftop terrace!

		Rooftop Terrace VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Oh and I did stop by the gym! but I must admit after looking around I was far to exhausted for any exercise..but at least I am thinking about it….maybe tomorrow!




Now I am really confused…..time for a glass of wine!!

Andy

Moroccan Day in Bahrain

Another quick post as it has been a long day teaching and I am back at Studio ceramics first thing in the morning to start a silver clay workshop.

This morning We held a Moroccan decorating workshop and here are some of the plates before firing, they look great now but wait until they are fired as some of the black dots will turn metallic! I will post pictures of the finished pieces when they come out of the kiln on Thursday
.


Andy

Manama Day Two

Hi everyone,
Just pictures tonight as I am so tired and starting very early in the morning.
I just had to share with you the wall I photographed earlier today.  As I took the photograph a prayer was ringing out aloud over the rooftops, I was mesmerised and really caught in the moment, I guess this is very normal for people who live here but for me as a first time visitor it really was a magical moment. This is a very cool wall… whatever it says!


Here are just a few of the fantastic enamelled jewellery pieces made on the jewellery workshop today at Studio Ceramics in Manama, Bahrain.
I cant wait to show you the ceramic pieces from the workshops once they have been glazed and fired

Tomorrow you will get pictures from outside and inside this beautiful studio.
Andy.

Greetings From Bahrain

Arrived In Bahrain yesterday to run a series of workshops over the next 10 days at Studio Ceramics in Manama, the first this afternoon is Inca mask building and in the evening we have an acrylic technique workshop.
The apartment is lovely and spacious with its own gym (I’m not really a gym person but may give it a go). There is also a roof top terrace with pool which overlooks the World Trade Centre. I will post some pictures of the pool and views tomorrow as there is a sandstorm here this morning and not much to be seen!


Andy

Decopatch

Have you ever tried Decopatch? its fun, therapeutic and works on so many surfaces. Thought I would share this video I came across on You Tube this morning. The company is based in Canada but there is a great UK supplier called the Decopatch Place http://www.thedecopatchplace.co.uk/

The First CLC Open Day Of 2011

The date of January 31st  was announced this week for the first CLC open day of the year and the places are filling up fast!
Here is a sneak peek teaser  of one of the workshops for you.

Andy

Can You Guess What it is Yet?

I was cleaning up my desk last night (A rare occasion) when I remembered a video that I watched about using your scraps of paper, cardstock etc to make a collage.. Well this is what came out of it, all that was used is scrap paper & cardstock cuttings, a little string, paper towel and some baking foil glued on to a small Decopatch canvas and painted with Americana acrylics and Ink.


Does it have a meaning? You make up your own mind!
Andy

Popular Crafts

My Americana Faux Crystal glaze vases made the front cover of Popular Crafts magazine and a 3 page spread of tutorials!
Can I hear a Whoop Whoop!! lol.

Recycle Those Tins!

Don’t throw away your tins left over from Christmas, give them a makeover with Americana Acrylics!
1. Lightly sand tin all over with 220 grade sandpaper. Mix together equal quantities of DecoArt Traditions Light Primer and DecoArt Multi Purpose Sealer to act as a metal primer, apply to the tin and allow to dry. This will stop the paint from easily scratching off.

2. Choose your Americana colours and apply two coats to the primed tin and allow to dry.Here I have used DecoArt  Americana Spa Blue, Buttermilk and Lemonade.

3. Spray one good coat of Americana Matte Spray Sealer to the tin before stamping with Versa Magic Archival Chalk Ink. If you make a mistake it can easily be wiped away as long as you have the coat of Matte sealer applied.

4. Squeeze out a little acrylic paint into a pallet and use the handle end of the brush to place dots  around the base.

5. Finish of by applying a little Treasure Gold Guilt Wax with your finger to antique it and a final coat of Americana Matte sealer.

Done!

A New Arrival.. The Imagepac Stampmaker

The old Imagepac Stampmaker worked well but it took far too long for a man of my patience so I was excited to unpack the latest model which boasts to produce a stamp in 5 minutes….hmmm…really??
It comes with everything needed to make around 14 stamps along with the UV Stampmaker, software and all the accessories needed, after that all you need to do is replenish the negative film sheets and the imagepac gel to make more.

My first attempt was to produce a stamp of a child's handprint, reduce it in size and stamp into a silver clay pendant. As there were no children present I grabbed one of the girls from the office and took a print of her hand on paper which I scanned into the computer. I then used the software provided to print a negative black & white image to the size required. A stamp in less than five minutes?? you bet-cha!!  I was shocked at how quick the process was, the UV light box makes all the difference. Below is a silver heart pendant with the reduced handprint stamped into it, all it needs now is a polish.

Next I attempted a larger stamp which worked great with no problems.

On more experimentation however I found a few negatives.

• Very fine detail is not great, especially on smaller stamps.
• The software package works ok but I found I achieved far better results using Photoshop or Photoscape.
• The printed negative paper scratches very easily so be gentle with it.

On the whole this is a vast improvement on the old system and the positives far out way the negatives. I would suggest if using it for impressing baby prints into silver however,  you should get some training or it may cost you big-time in the long run.

Andy.