Julie Arkell papier-mache workshop at West Dean - January 2015

Hot off the press for once.  Just back from a 5 day course at West Dean with Julie Arkell.

The characters in their mummified state.  For speed we were using a 'dry' method of constructing the underlying structures by scrunching newspaper and binding it with masking tape, rather than using paste which would take too long to dry.

With a layer of newspaper pasted over the masking tape.

Being glued to pieces of mountboard for the soles of their feet.

Wearing some of their clothes.

Other odds and ends: tree, toadstools, stitched picture, and doll torso with papier-mache limbs.

Everything, although not finished of course.

Julie also had us making bird nests with papier-mache twigs, real twigs, and scraps of fabric, thread etc.  She completed one which is due for her nature table at her exhibition in Swansea.  We suggested that one of her partially completed nests would be best worn as a crown (above).

My nest was well camouflaged against the flint walls.


A good group of classmates who created some very inventive creatures:
 

Not a lot of daylight for walking in the grounds at this time of year.  The ground was quite bare compared with the summer but the snowdrops and hellebores were out and the river was in full flow.