I had seen and admired Frances Pickering’s work at Ally Pally a couple of years ago. So when I found out she was running a workshop for our branch of the guild, I was keen to be on it. I certainly was not dissapointed.
We all arrived laden with materials and on seeing her exquisite books we were keen to make a start, even though I think a few of us thought “oh my goodness, can I do that?” but we all came away with books to be proud of, some finished, some to be worked on.
How we all enjoyed the two days. The techniques we used were fun, stamping onto gesso with a print block, letting it dry, applying colour and acrylic wax then enhancing the texture with treasure gold. Making the pages from lining paper and brusho produced a pleasing effect. A pile of wet brushoo painted pages were laid across one another and let dry. I left mine to dry overnight and it was so exciting to see how they dried when I arrived the next day.
Then came the stitching and filling of the books, with a subject of one’s own choice. Everybody’s was so different.
Having a two day workshop was great. The only criticism, most of us slept badly on Friday night, as our heads were full of ideas and itching to get back on Saturday.
Thank you to those who organised this workshop.
Lorraine Orriss
