Sunday Mimosa Make & Take "Encaustic Wax Workshop"

Sunday we had a great time during the encaustic wax workshop! Students brought in their own pictures as well as used some that were on hand. "Encaustic" means with wax. A collage is created using pictures, papers, tissue, fibers, mica, bark, and other ephemera that is collaged with hot wax.Carol Leadbetter began the class with a background on the steps, materials, and safety of this craft. Then we got busy preparing our surface to collage.

It was fun to use the heat guns! Don't we look tough with our power tools?!!! Using the right amount of wax was a learning experience. Debbie and I won the contest for the best overuse of wax! Our work spaces had a little wax lake after we were done. Carol helped us all use the torch to melt off some of the excess wax.

The finished products turned out great! And I think this class should be offered again because it was a lot of fun! Here is my encaustic collage and the finished collages of the class...

Wednesday Wine & Cheese "Green Collage"

Another fun collage class with Courtney Prahl! This time we used all recycled items. Using a handmade viewfinder she taught us how to look at things differently. Suddenly with her help things such as an L.L. Bean catalog, a tea bag wrapper, and a security envelope became beautiful works of art! Here is some of the "junk" we worked with...

People were so into their projects there wasn't even much of the usual chatter! I think cutting and pasting was great therapy after a long day of work!

Once again, I was amazed at how each person approached their project differently. Everyone did a great job- who knew the "junk" we toss on a daily basis could produce something worth framing!

Mimosa Make & Take "Needle Felted Scarf"

This past weekend we had a very fun Mimosa Make & Take- Needle Felted Scarves! Despite the fact that it was a very warm September sunday, we were getting our fall wardrobe ready with stylish new fall scarves! We started with hand dyed or plain wool/silk scarves and a mound of luxurious dyed wool roving to choose from!

Once we picked out our colors and chose a design to work with, we got down to the felting process. Trying to be careful not to poke our fingers in the process! Here are some of the fabulous outcomes!

Earring Design Wine & Cheese Craft Party

Wednesday night we had another fun jewelry class with Chrissy Gemmill! There were three earring styles to choose from and many choices of beads and pearls. First Chrissy gave a demonstration on basic jewelry making techniques...After the demonstration, everyone selected their supplies and started making their earringsThese classes are a great way to spend time with friends and family members. The picture below shows two mother daughters that took the class together. Here are some of the finished earrings. Everyone seemed to really like their new jewelry and the best part was they made it themselves!Chrissy and I always have fun at the classes. Its rewarding to see how much fun people have learning a new craft! We're already planning our next jewelry class! Stay tuned...

Mimosa Make & Take "Oil of Wintergreen Printmaking"

This past Sunday we welcomed Dorthea Barrick to teach our latest class, Oil of Wintergreen Printmaking. Dorthea is a wonderful painter and printmaker from Fairfield, PA who I had the opportunity to take a workshop from a few years ago. When she expressed an interest in teaching for The Muse, I knew people would enjoy this rewarding craft.
Dorthea did a demonstration and showed samples of various past projects. Some were from colored photographs and some were black and white. I think the hardest part was choosing the pictures that we all brought to class... The technique for the printmaking was easy and I overheard some of the students say they liked it because it was instant gratification. We like those kinds of crafts! Kim Grinev from Art Tree ( a craft supply store on Patrick Street) was also at the class and we all encouraged her to carry the oil of wintergreen because we want to do more!

After some of the prints dried, we experimented with adding colored pencils and watercolor crayons to embellish the print. Here are some of the finished samples!

Mini Weaving Wine & Cheese Craft Party

This week we had a fun Wine & Cheese Craft Party- Trash to Treasure Mini Weaving! Using a box as a loom we wove yarn and other discarded materials into art. You could even take a picture that was cut up and weave it! The numerous beautiful fibers were hard to choose from!



Margaret Hluch taught the class. She is a weaver and fiber artist and recently taught in Korea as a guest instructor. After we wove our piece she showed up how to take the weaving off of the loom and turn it into wearable art!

Here some of us are with our finished pieces... Can you find mine in my crazy zebra shirt?!

Mimosa Make&Take Hand Bound Journal

We had our first Mimosa Make & Take yesterday. The class, "Hand Bound Journal", was taught by artist and former art therapist, Anne Quinlan. Anne is the collage artist who created The Muse collage which is seen on The Muse tshirts and was featured in the national mixed media publication, Cloth Paper Scissors.

She taught everyone how to do a pamphlet stitch binding.

We also learned her collage techniques and how to finish the book.We had several mother/daughter duos who took this class. I bought my mother the class for Mother's Day and Liz brought along her mother as a nice Birthday gift!!! What a great gift- you get to spend time together and you take home a piece of art! Here is Liz and her mother...

And here is another mother/daughter team, looks like they had fun making books together!