This background has just been wet-collaged and is still wet. It is abstract but with a feel of landscape about it, ready to be adorned with botanicals. You can see how I stitched it lower down on this page.
The course is self-paced and evergreen, so you can start and finish whenever you want to. It will be available for you to keep reviewing for years to come.
There are 11 videos where you can watch me creating the decorated fabrics and papers and then collaging the backgrounds using this flexible versatile technique.
Throughout, I show you 7 different decorative techniques using paint on fabric and paper. Some are established textile techniques like painting on bondaweb and magazine scrunching with a twist. Others have been created by me and my art process over years of practice.
You will be given some tips and the suggestions on how to create your own work and get experimental with the wet collaged backgrounds. This technique can be used for any topic, on many substrates and I hope it will spark all sorts of ideas and uses to carry your textile journey onto another level.
If you wish to use some of my flower designs, there are a few PDFs to download, these are A4 size and can be printed off at home and are for you to trace over.
There is comprehensive equipment, substrate and a materials list within the course but most of you will probably have much of the required materials already in your stash.
'Marsh Marigold'
Here is the collaged background after it has dried and I have stitched into it.
I do not cover stitching in this course. I have many other courses that cover that subject in lots of detail.
Note!
Please view my other courses. 'Flowers and Grasses' for beginners or 'Botanical Flowers' for intermediates.
Many Artists and Textile designers only show part of their process and keep areas hidden, I show you everything I do to create my work, nothing is held back. I do this in the knowledge that you might copy my work for a while, but then your own creative drive and interest in the textile processes will kick in and you will adapt my processes and put your twist on them and make them your own. (If you do copy my work directly, this should be for your own development, the designs remain my property and cannot be sold on).
This is not a step by step guide to making exact replicas of my work, there are no detailed layout or stitch plans. It is designed to teach you a process and to encourage you to create your own work. I offer tips and design pointers towards creating your own work.
Here is a selection of techniques I show you how to create in the first section of the course. You'll use these in your collaged backgrounds in the second part of the course.
There is a 'Jo Hill Textiles Course' Facebook group that you can join, this is for you to share your work with fellow students from all of my courses.
If you want to contact me whilst you are on the course you can email me on johilltextiles@gmail.com or there is a place within the course where you can add a comment which I will reply to. You can add images too if you want.
You will need access to the internet and although you could do the course using your mobile smart phone, to get the best from the course I would recommend using a laptop, pc or Apple Mac.
My wonderful tech helper Courtney will be available if you need help with anything technical like accidentally logging yourself out of the course and not being able to get back in.
Within the course, there are plenty of examples similar to this one, to inspire you. This background is ready to be stitched on, it incorporates some shop-bought papers and fabrics along with some of my own creations, which I show you how to make.
This technique does not have to be stitched into! it can be left as it is, drawn, painted or printed onto, the options are yours to be discovered.
The backgrounds can be a starting point for landscapes, wildlife, and urban architecture, perfect for anything you wish to create or whatever project you are currently developing.
At the end of the course you will have made many decorated and embellished fabrics and papers, some of these you will wet-collage into backgrounds, some you can keep for future projects. My desire is that you will produce many backgrounds and ideas to keep you stitching well into the future.