Workshops

June 25-27, 2010

"Surface Design with Photo Images"

This fun techniques workshop begins Friday evening with an overview of image transfer methods (and dinner at my home) and continues on Saturday and Sunday for a total of 16 hours of instruction. All of the techniques will involve photo imagery or scans of objects, plus working into the images with dyes, crayons, and paints.

WORKSHOP COVERS: We will put designs on fabric by means of silk screen monoprints and inkjet transfers (wet images printed on sheets of plastic and transferred onto large pieces of cloth or clothing). We will create negatives on inkjet printers to work with Solarplates (a light-sensitive material to make relief printing plates).

We will use all-in-one inkjet printers to copy objects and images directly, as well as printing from computers with PhotoShop Elements. It's not necessary to bring a computer with PhotoShop, but you are welcome to bring one if you wish. We will also explore photo images transferred with disperse dyes. I will be showing you what I know about these techniques, but the work can be very experimental -- you can do the class projects I will provide, or take off and use the materials as you wish.

COST: The class handbook has full instructions and resources, and class size is limited to six people to provide better access to tools and a better learning experience. Tuition is $166 with a materials fee of $33.

MATERIALS PROVIDED: All the basic materials will be provided through the materials fee -- dyes, thickeners, silk screens and equipment, inkjet printers (with pigment and dye-based inks), Bubble Jet Set to prepare fabric for dye-based inks, SolarPlates and the materials to make negatives of images to put onto the SolarPlates, crayons, inks, markers, disperse ink prints, irons, and lots more, including several yards of fabric for each student. You need only bring images you would like to work with (hard copies or on flash drive or CD for PC), scissors, some rags, and any special fabric you would like to work with. There will also be scoured, prepared-for-dyeing fabric available for purchase. If you send me a couple of images before the workshop, I will save some time by scanning them beforehand.

LOCATION: The workshop will take place in Klamath Falls, Oregon. It is located half way between San Francisco, California, and Portland, Oregon (about 5 1/2 hours drive from either). The area is celebrated for wonderful bird watching, is close to Crater Lake National Park, and has a range of accomodations -- all the way from modest or national chain motels downtown to bed and breakfasts, or the upscale Running Y Ranch a short drive away. After registration, I'll send you more information, including a list of possible accomodations. Klamath Falls is fairly small, but we have several fabric and quilt shops, some supply stores, and an airport.

To register for the workshop or just learn more about it, please e-mail me at contact@mickiemccormic.com.

Recent Workshops

"Inkjet Transfers on Fabric"
Saturday, Nov. 7, 2009
Willing Hands Center, Klamath Falls, Oregon

This four-hour technique workshop covered how to print directly onto fabric, and how to transfer wet inkjet images onto larger pieces of cloth or clothing, as well as the difference between dye-based and pigment inkjet inks and how to prepare fabric for printing in your inkjet printer. Class size was limited to provide better access to tools and a better learning experience.

"Photos on Fabric"
Sunday, Oct. 13, 2009
Rogue Gallery, Medford, Oregon

This one-day technique workshop in the Rogue Gallery's printmaking studio on Oct. 13, 9:30 am to 4:30 pm, covered how to create personal fabrics for memory quilts or pillows by printing directly onto fabric or transferring wet inkjet images onto larger pieces of cloth. It also covered using photos on fabric to make art dolls. Students brought their own images and printed and transferred them onto several kinds of fabric.

"Surface Design with Photo Images"
Friday evening through Sunday afternoon, August 14-17, 2009
Willing Hands Center, Klamath Falls, Oregon

This innovative, fun techniques workshop began with an overview of image transfer methods (and dinner in my home studio), and continued on Saturday, ending mid-afternoon on Sunday for a total of 16 hours of instruction. All of the techniques involved photo imagery or scans of objects. We put designs on fabric by means of inkjet printing, inkjet transfers (printing our images on sheets of plastic and transferring the wet images onto fabric), and we made rubbings from Solar Plates (relief printing plates made in class from negatives we produced on inkjet printers). The workshop also covered silk screen monoprints (also known as 'deconstructed silk screen'), and gave the students an opportunity to try out disperse dye transfers of photo images.

"Photoshop Applications on Fabric"
Saturday/Sunday, Dec. 7 and 8, 2008
Mendocino Art Center, California

This two-day technique workshop on Dec. 6th and 7th, 9:30 am to 4:30 pm, covered how to create art pieces, quilts or wearable art by printing directly onto fabric, transferring wet inkjet images onto larger pieces of cloth or clothing, and working with Solarplates, a light-sensitive material to make relief printing plates from photo negatives created in PhotoShop. Experience with PhotoShop was not necessary, but most of the students had some familiarity with it, and we used the Art Center's computer lab for some instruction. Some participants brought their own computers with PhotoShop (full or Elements). The class handbook provided full instructions and a resource list. Materials fee: $32. Tuition: $165.

Inkjet Transfers on Fabric
    "Inkjet Transfers on Fabric" is a hands-on technique workshop that explores one inkjet transfer method in depth -- printing onto a nonabsorbent surface such as a sheet of transparency material and then transferring it directly to the fabric. The workshop also looks at other methods to put inkjet photographic images on cloth, such as printing directly onto cloth in the printer. The class size is limited so that participants will have more access to equipment and instruction, and we will have two inkjet printers to work with. Participants will have an opportunity to use their own images and to transfer images onto cotton, silk, and linen in many weights and weaves. One of the advantages of this technique is the possibility of transferring images onto large pieces of fabric or odd-shaped pieces like clothing. We will use pigment-based inks that are washfast and lightfast. The methods we will use do not change the surface of the fabric and do not make it stiff. Basically, it's dyeing with an inkjet printer.

Image Transfer Techniques for Artists
This is an intense survey class that offers hands-on opportunities to try a variety of transfer methods for working on fabric and on paper. The main difference between this class and the one designed for working on fabric is that we explore the making and use of decals as well as other methods. The class handbook includes full instructions and starts with a chart of kinds of transfers and what purposes they are appropriate for.

We look at the difference between toner-based copies from commercial copiers and inkjet prints, and use copies to transfer images with a heat tool, with solvents, and with adhesives such as white glue and household caulk. For inkjet prints, we use a technique for printing onto a non-absorbent surface (transparency material) and transferring the image onto paper or cloth, which can be large.

When working with decals, we use water-slide films such as Lazertran, and make decals using a multi-layer glue technique. Decals can be used on canvas as well as paper, and are especially useful in mixed media work, particularly for adding words to pieces. This can be a one-day workshop, but because it covers such a lot of material, a two- or even three-day format is preferable. I bring all the necessary supplies, so there is a materials fee, and I provide a comprehensive class handbook.

Sculpting Rolled Cloth Dolls
"Sculpting Rolled Cloth Dolls" is a one- or two-day, hands-on workshop that explores a method for constructing cloth dolls without stuffing them. It's a technique that was described in the spring 2005 issue of Art Doll Quarterly in "The rolled cloth dolls of Mickie McCormic." Participants should be able to finish a doll during the class, or come close, depending of the level of detail they want to accomplish.

This technique relies on hand sewing, and participants will learn ways to sculpt dolls while creating them. In class we will be using recycled fabric from clothing and vintage household items, but of course the construction methods would work with new cloth too. This is an art form that you can pick up and take with you anywhere; it requires nothing but your hands, cloth, scissors, and a needle and thread.

This workshop covers making the bodies, making and attaching arms and legs, attaching hair and clothing, and designing faces with buttons and embroidery. We will see how to use both yarn and cloth strips for hair, and how to use recycled clothing to make the doll's clothes. Each person will take home full instructions as well as a doll.

We will also look at using photo transfers for doll elements, and how to prepare fabric and print it directly in an inkjet printer.

The class manual includes resources, but there aren't any books about this kind of doll-making except the one I am publishing, "Rolled Cloth Dolls." The class manual includes many excerpts from that book.

Inkjet Art Dolls
This class uses an inkjet printer to produce printed fabric from which dolls are made. The participants start by making collages, which are copied in an inkjet copier/printer onto fabric, using pigment inks. The resulting prints on cloth are hand sewn into art dolls using my rolled doll technique.

Participants learn how to prepare fabric to make permanent inkjet prints, how to print on it in an inkjet printer, and how to construct rolled cloth dolls. They will take home a doll well on the way to being finished, and will also learn how to attach the limbs and the hair to the doll.

See the full description and illustrations above for the class that was held at the Mendocino Art Center in 2008. Full instructions are included in the class handbook. This can be a one-part or two-part class.

This doll is focused on the photo of the face. After printing on cotton, the doll body is rolled and sewn.	Arms, legs, and hair have been added. Some of the fabric for the arms and legs is copied from chintz, some is from art fabric.	The finished doll with clothing sewn on -- made from recycled clothes, a decorative pillow case, and a crocheted doily.	This is quite a different kind of art doll, a collage of elements printed on fabric, and intended to hang on the wall. Some parts are sewn onto the doll after printing.