Painting on Silk with Margaret Wilmot - a Quirky Workshop at Greystoke Craft Garden - near Ullswater and The Lake District

Description

Painting on Silk' with Margaret Wilmot Spend an exciting day with Margaret creating a design and painting this onto pure silk, using steam-fix dyes and hot wax. Silk is a protein, like all the animal-based yarns such as cashmere, angora, mohair and wool and Silk painting is hundreds of years old (like felt-making) and has been practised extensively in Europe as well as Asia. The silk is pinned out evenly on a frame. The colours are diluted to give the desired shade and painted onto the silk with a brush. The dyes soak into and spread throughout the fabric so as to produce a design. Hot wax, applied with a brush, is painted on and used as a resist Once dry, the dye can then be painted within or around the shape. . Successive layers of wax and dye can be built up to give depth and contrast. All stages will be demonstrated first by Margaret and Students will work at their own pace. We will begin by experimenting with the colours so as to become familiar with the `feel` of painting with a brush and how the dyes move through the silk. We will then move on to using the hot wax and building up patterns and designs. Students will create 4-5 pieces of finished silk. Margaret will take the finished pieces away to steam-fix the dyes. (The silk must be prepared and steamed for approximately 2 hours). She will then return them to you within about 10 days and they cane be framed or used in other textile art. Since 2005, ‘Quirky Workshops’ in Greystoke has been offering an eclectic and unrivalled range of arts, crafts and heritage skills courses. We now run over 140 ‘Quirky Workshops’ each year from our pretty 17thC farmhouse on the fringes of the beautiful Lake District and Eden Valley in Cumbria. In July 2020 we opened a lovely new, listed & spacious 'Covid-secure' teaching studio - the 'Swallow Barn', which now enjoys consistently excellent feedback; please see below for all details.

What's included in the price?

Welcome drinks: fresh coffee & home-made biscuits; a lovely 2 course Aga lunch served on individual trays at your desks or outside on the Tea Lawn if it's warm enough. To finish off the day, a freshly made Cream Tea (including Aga-baked scones, cream and jam). Our days are considered special treats; many come back time and time again and often combine it with a short break to the Lake District. We have been hosting and organising 'Quirky Workshops' since 2005, from what was the original C2C Greystoke Cycle Café situated on the northern fringes of the Lake District. It was with great sadness that the Cycle Café was closed to the public in 2018; we since have become ‘Greystoke Craft Garden & Barns’. All our tutors are carefully hand selected professional experts and many are considered as national leaders in their field.

Cancellation policy

Medium - Cancellation and a full refund can be obtained up to 4 weeks before the course starts

Maker

Quirky Workshops at Greystoke Craft Garden and Barns

with Craft Courses since 2013

Message the tutor

Situated in a tranquil location on the fringes of the Lake District, we have been hosting a Quirky range of workshops since 2005. We are now proud to offer over 140 Arts, Craft and Heritage Skills Workshops each year, led by an incredible and talented range of local and national tutors, all experts in their field. We have two teaching studios, the 'Squirrel Barn' and the newly renovated, spacious and airy 'Swallow Barn', the latter of which, at 60m2 was very popular in the months post Covid, allowing 2m distancing, hand washing and two staircases. We have several garden teaching spaces too. Lunch (included) can be taken outside on the Tea Lawn in warmer months and teas/coffee with Aga home-baking is served at your desk. Our days are considered real treats.