Here's some stuff I made at ArtFest

This is the adorable little suitcase I made in Pamela Huntington's Just In Case class. I was a bit apprehensive going into this class because Pam's style is very pretty and vintagey with soft muted colors. I love her work, but my style is very different. I thought I would be the weird girl with the bright colors. I was the only one with colors this bright, but it was all good as everyone in the class brought their own unique style. The cases all turned out very different and each was a very personal expression of its maker.

One of the many cool things about ArtFest is how down-to-earth the teachers were. The three I had were almost more facilitators than teachers. They showed us techniques and they answered questions and gave excellent guidance, but most of the time in class was spent making and there was an expectation that we would pretty much do whatever the heck we wanted. The teachers were so accessible and encouraging to every single student. The atmosphere was "we're all artists here" not "I'm the teacher and you are the students." Pam was just delighted with all the different directions we pushed her techniques.


Here's the inside of my case. One of the main reasons I chose this class was to get some instruction on making fabric paper. I've tried it before and never could get it right, so I was very excited to finally figure it out. The inside top and bottom are fabric paper made with a batik and tissue paper with embedded bits of paper and fake flowers.

The other technique that was super-cool was the way we applied the fabric around the outside edges (the hot pink "binding" in the top photo). You soak the fabric in watered-down glue. The fabric gets all sticky and stretchy and you can just stick it right on your surface and manipulate it to fit. It dries nice and tight and very solidly attached.

I'll post more about my other classes soon.