My class at The Pacific Northwest School of Art was taught by Peg Gignoux. I had first admired her work locally at Light Art Design during the STITCH exhibit. Ironically, she lives about 30 minutes from me but I flew cross country to attend the only workshop she had scheduled in the USA for 2014. I am very happy with that decision, as it was exactly the workshop I needed as well as being introduced to PNSA. You can view Peg Gignoux's work on her website http://www.ingignouxity.com. The course description for the class, Textile Dyeing & Collage read as follows: "Explore the translucence and luster of silk of many weights and hues. We will hand dye silk thread and lengths of organza and habotai creating a vivid collection of fabrics to layer and stitch to linen, to cotton, to paper! Create complex colors as you blend materials, cut and redefine the surface. Add in vintage maps, old lace, antique letters and find your way into a series of expressive mixed media collages. We will play with innovative ways to work hand and/or machine stitches into the surface of each composition." (PNSA & Peg Gignoux)
In the class we covered stamping, silk screening with thermofax screens, dyeing silk fabric and thread, hand stitching, layering of organza, and basic collage techniques. We were unable to learn how to make the thermofax screens since the school did not have a thermofax machine. However, it sounded like after the class that they were going to try to include it in their future budget to obtain one for class use.
One of the products that was introduced in the class that I have used extensively since the class instruction is Pellon 805 Wonder Under which is a paper backed fusible web interfacing. I had previously used 505 Spray for join fabrics prior to sewing. However, the Wonder Under works much better for sheer fabrics and controlling frey in raw edge applique. During the class I was also converted to using multiple layers of cotton or linen fabric instead of using batting. For stiffer applications we included Watercolor Paper. Both options made it much easier to pull the silk thread through when hand-stitching.
I started experimenting with color manipulation with varied layers of silk organza during the class and plan to experiment more with this technique in one of my next projects.