There are two major components of online classes, the lessons themselves, and the forum. The lessons are the guts of the class. The lessons are an Adobe PDF document are disseminated to the students by joggles.com.

Each student is given a User ID and password as well as the URL to the class webpage where they are expected to go and download each lesson. There is a one lesson per week. I have designed the lessons so that people can work at them as much or as little as they choose. Some people have more time to put into them others do not. I understand this, for this reason I have designed the lessons to be self paced.

Students download each lesson weekly and progress through the class. They can choose to just do a few hours stitching or more. It’s up to the student.

Each student is invited to register at the forums, which is where all class communication takes place. While not real time chat, you can post messages. I check the forum daily to answer questions and join in on the chat. Students can post images of their work online so I can give them feedback. Participation in the forums is totally voluntary but I think this is the fun part of the process as it is where students get feed back from me, bounce ideas off each other and share pleasure in learning a new skill.

A notice to students
For anyone who has taken one of my classes please feel free to leave a comment so that people who are thinking of taking a class can read what you thought of them.

Sumptuous surfaces explores the wonders of highly textured free form contemporary hand embroidery while also developing design skills. Students will learn how designing is accomplished as well as techniques used in free form textured hand embroidery. Students are encouraged to design and make two or three small hand embroidered panels. I suggest students work on fabric postcards as this size is ideal to work as a small design exercise. However if people want to work larger it is their choice.

If you are hesitant about designing your own projects, new hands to embroidery are offered the choice of a number patterns to either directly follow, use as a jumping off point, or see how a design is developed. Those more experienced stitchers are actively encouraged to jump in and design their own piece. This means the course is suitable for beginners to advanced stitchers as you can work at your own skill level.

The first section of the course deals with designing highly textured pieces in monotone. The second section of the course builds on that knowledge and students design and work a piece using colour. Throughout the six week course key concepts in design are covered such as, composition, shape, geometrical and organic shape, space, handling positive and negative space, scale, density, weight, line, movement, direction and texture.

Throughout the course I have focused intensely on texture as design element. Understanding texture is key in the textile arts. An area of interest can be created because it is heavily textured, complex and intricate. Texture is also the element that separates textiles from arts such as drawing or painting. In both drawing and painting texture is represented whereas in textiles we have the option of representing texture or actually working the physicality of texture. In other words the surface can be manipulated in a physical way not just represented. This aspect of textiles sets it apart as a medium.

All my courses are written to be used long after the course is finished. I understand that sometimes life gets in the way and some students are not able to stitch along in the 6 week period. For anyone who finds themselves in this position the teaching material provided will enable you to work through the ideas in a self paced manner.

Course Outline

Week 1
The first week is an introduction to the design process. The same basic process is used to design everything. This process is often described in three steps, Concept, Form and Content. Simply put the Concept is the idea, the form is the technique and the Content is the meaning in the realised project.

In this first week key principals of design are covered in order to develop a design for a monotone piece of embroidery. I cover where to look for design ideas and how to develop them. This week we cover key concepts such as, composition, shape, geometrical and organic shape, space, handling positive and negative space, scale, density, weight, line, movement, direction and texture.

Week 2 and 3
In week one we discussed Concept and developed our designs. In week two and three we look at form. In other words we deal with techniques that can bring your project to fruition. In these two weeks we look at the nuts and bolts of stitching, thread choice, working with textured stitching, found objects and beads.

In these two weeks you give form to your concept. This is the physical part of the design process for embroiderers it is the time when you actively work your ideas in thread. At this stage you can never tell what might happen. Along the way ideas change and develop. Flexibility is an important artistic skill and this attribute and what it does to the design process is discussed.

Week 4
Colour is a huge topic so I have devoted a week to it. In week 4 once again we return to the design process and work up a design in colour. So it is out with a colour wheel, and learning how to use it applied to textiles and in particular hand embroidery. Once again we are exploring ideas on paper or in a visual journal only this time we are dealing with colour principals and design combined. New designs are explored and worked up with an eye to creating them over the final two weeks.

Week 5 and 6
Once again in these two weeks you give form to your concept. In this time block it is the time when you actively make up and stitch your design or designs. This time you learn to handle colour as well as combining the skills learnt in the first section of the course. During these weeks I introduce more stitches and new techniques to help you realize your design.

Throughout the course we will discuss the third step in the design process that of Content. The forum at Joggles provides an ideal place for this, as we can see and discuss the success of a piece. Students can see how their work is being read and interpreted by others. In other words we can ask if the Content of the piece reveals the concept of the piece.

Some students may wish to simply treat everything made in this course as design exercises. That is fine, as that is their chosen concept. The content is a design exercise. Other students may wish to tackle other subjects. This is also fine as I actively encourage all students to learn and develop in their own manner and it makes for an interesting class!

This Class will start on March 11th 2010. You can book and buy the class here 

 A notice to students

For anyone who has taken one of my classes please feel free to leave a comment so that people who are thinking of taking a class can read what you thought of them.

This class will begin on February 24th, 2010. You can book and buy the class here

Keeping a Studio journal is a process for catching ideas, developing those ideas into designs with the aim of realising those designs in fiber. Unlike an Art journal which aims to be an aesthetic object in its own right a Studio journal is a designers workhorse. Many people confuse the two!

This course covers the process of using a Studio journal to create designs suitable for textiles such as contemporary embroidery, or quilting but not making those pieces up. To use a Studio journal as part of your creative practice you do not have to know how to draw but there are some tricks to establishing a process that leads to a design that can be applied to textiles. This workshop covers the process of how to keep a studio journal, how to develop and idea further, and how to turn it into a design suitable for a project in fiber. Painters keep a sketchbook to take visual notes of what they see but their finished paintings and their sketches are very different. Writers keep notebooks but their published book is not the same as what is first put down. Notebooks are starting points for more developed ideas. Both writers and painters go through a process using their sketches and notes as a starting point. Fiber artists do the same thing when they develop a design. Studio journals can be used as the starting point for textile practitioners. This is what this course is about.

Each week a series of design exercises are introduced. Students work though these in order to develop designs that can be applied to fiber. They aim to develop design skills and the habit of using a studio journal.

Please note that this course is about keeping a studio journal as a work horse not about creating an art journal that is a finished object in its own right. The emphasis is very much on using a studio journal as part of a design process to produce something in fiber. The course contains design exercises and techniques and discusses how these might be applied to textiles. It is a course where students spend their time designing for textiles and working in their Studio Journal rather than working a step by step project. That said I am definitely not going to discourage anyone from jumping in and making something!

A notice to students
For anyone who has taken one of my classes please feel free to leave a comment so that people who are thinking of taking a class can read what you thought of them.

Course Outline

Week 1  introduces the course and I cover things such as fabric selection and block assembly. Dealing with colour and applying basic composition tricks to a crazy quilt block are covered.

Week 2 students start to embellish the block. Hand embroidered seam treatments and embroidery that consolidates composition is covered. Building on basic hand stitching techniques, developing combination stitches is covered.

Week 3 students are working with motifs. Motif selection, size, balance and placement is discussed. Different possible hand embroidery techniques and treatments such as silk ribbon embroidery and using textured stitches are covered.

Week 4 we take the eye on a journey by building up visual texture. Working with lace, ribbons and braids and further embellishing the crazy quilt block.

Week 5 we work on further encrusting a block by building up texture working with buttons and beads. The implications of highly textured areas for the composition and design elements of a block are discussed.

Week 6 covers more possible embellishment techniques and combinations of techniques. Many of these are methods to pull the block together. General tips, tricks, advice on balancing the many elements of design active on a crazy quilt block are offered.

A notice to students
For anyone who has taken one of my classes please feel free to leave a comment so that people who are thinking of taking a class can read what you thought of them.

In this class I provide instructions on developing the basic stitches and exploring them while also presenting some of the more unusual stitches. For those thinking about taking this class the course is structured in such a way that each week I take a principal of design and apply it to stitches. Students work samplers which are any size and shape of their choice.

Week 1 introduces the course covering such things as deciding on what format for your sampler might take, suggestions on how you might think about and choose a colour scheme, and I talk about equipment needed and how it is used. I cover how to start and finish your embroidery and finally I look at a few stitches that can act as borders.

Week 2 I look at Point as an element of design. Most people understand what we mean when we talk about a point of emphasis in a work but many people do not understand that the concept of point is applied in numerous ways in design. In design language a point the simplest unit or fragment of design. When you apply this to stitching, the concept of a point can be a single stitch or part of a stitch. We examine isolated stitches and look at how to break stitches into fragments and change various parts of a stitch in order to develop new stitches.

Week 3 we examine stitches that lend themselves to a linear treatment. What is a linear element? How can lines be represented in stitches? There are obvious stitches such as stem stitch and outline stitch but what other stitches can be used as a linear element? How interesting can you make a line? When we vary our threads what sort of line does it produce? What sort of line is created with couching?

Week 4 we examine scale and density as design elements. Stitches can be worked far apart or closely together even overlapped. What happens when we think about these design considerations and apply it to various stitches? What happens when we introduce lacing these stitches, threading or whipping them with another yarn. What do they look like and what can you make from this exploration?

Week 5 we will be looking at direction, movement and shape. Your stitches can be worked back-to-back or flipped. When you do this you are changing the direction and angle of stitches. How does this influence the look of a shape? What happens when we think about these design considerations and apply it? Can these same design considerations be applied to beading?

Week 6 we look at texture and building textured surfaces. What happens when we combine stitches with beads or found objects? In this last week we pull all these elements together and further explore textured crusty surfaces a little more exploring more stitches such as Cast on stitch, Double cast on stitch, Drizzle stitch, double drizzle stitch and Woven stitches.

Please direct all orders and inquiries about Develop a Personal Library of Stitches to Joggles.com.

A notice to students
For anyone who has taken one of my classes please feel free to leave a comment so that people who are thinking of taking a class can read what you thought of them.

People generally have on of two responses, to Silk Ribbon Embroidery. It is either “I could never do that” or “I don’t have the time to do that.” But with a bit of practice anyone can work with silk ribbon to produce wonderful embroidery and it is amazingly quick to work a design.

This course is designed for absolute beginners to silk ribbon embroidery. In the 6 weeks we will be covering all the basics from needle types to how to work ribbon stitches into attractive designs.

I have designed 6 floral motifs. It is anticipated that students will work a design a week and learn how to stitch it. The process is phototgraphed in a step by step manner and directions assume no prior knowledge.

Students are free to work these designs on anything they choose. What the designs are applied to, is completely left up to the student. Students can use these designs on projects such as small bags, clothing, etc. Crazy quilters are free to and encouraged to use these designs on their current projects and crazy quilting blocks.

Please note: to my regular students this is NOT a design based course but a project based course which aims to teach people the basics of silk ribbon embroidery not how to design.