1. Intro to Blogging: How to use WordPress.com to set up and maintain your own blog.
   $49 for Kennesaw Residents
   • Saturday, June 20, 2009 10:30 AM
   • Saturday, August 8, 2009 10:30 AM
2. Tiny Art Make & Swap: Learn Mixed-Media Techniques, make ATCs and trade ‘em at the end of the night!
   $15 + $7 supply fee
   • Tuesday, May 5, 2009 6:15 PM
   • Wednesday, August 12, 2009 6:15 PM

You can register for these classes at the Kennesaw Parks & Rec Online Catalog.

I love to teach – and I’ve been realizing this more & more lately. So I started a class based around an idea I’ve had rolling around in my head. It’s tentatively titled “Art Journaling for the Intimidated” but I’m not married to it. I’m taking about 12 people, some who haven’t even picked up a paint brush, through a process from writing, to doodling to a full-fledged mixed media journal page in 4 weeks. This is my testing ground. Students aren’t paying much in the way of class fees, but there is a supply fee.

My goal with this is to formulate a set class to teach elsewhere and to create an on-line class for those who can’t come to where I am.

I will still make & sell my journals, so don’t be too disappointed. I’ll probably only do 1 or 2 festivals a year and concentrate on actual art shows – showing some of the more elaborate journals and even my completed art journals. We’ll see how that goes.

I’ll keep ARRRT! updated as much as possible with details on how my class is going, where else I’ll be teaching, and when the online class is launched.

So, here’s the Six Needle Coptic tutorial.

And those of you who took this class, if you can find me at the Big Shanty Festival at the end of April, I’ll give you a nice discount on anything you buy – I know, it’s not much but I’m trying to make it up to you.

I hope to see you at the new classes (I’ll update them here).

Setting up:

My Students:

Showing off:

My next class is October 21st. Most of the ladies who were in this class are taking the more advanced class – we’re doing a six needle coptic with bookcloth covers & eyelets.

Hope everyone has a great creative day

If you’re in the area, pass by for a wine & cheese party from 6-10 pm on Saturday the 29th and 2-6 pm on Sunday the 30th. All their info including directions are on their website.

And more news… I had a meeting with the great folks at Rubber Stamp Fantasy last night. We decided on two classes:

• Book Arts 101: I’ll be teaching three different bindings (accordion, stab-bound, 2-needle soft-cover coptic)
  • September 7th from 6-9pm
  • September 30th from 2:30-4:30pm.
• 6-needle hard-cover coptic (an expansion of the 2-needle) on October 21st from 2:30-5pm.

I had handed everyone a supply list a month ago and asked for a small amount of money up front to cover the cost of glues, things that were hard to find & stuff they probably wouldn’t want to use themselves again. My intentions were honorable, I suppose – I wanted to minimize everyone’s up-front costs, and seeing that I could barely squeeze out $10 from each person, I think I should have expected the trouble to follow.

Ten-thirty am on Saturday, I was at the office setting up for the class. I was running late, and handn’t cut my papers to size yet. No one showed up until 11 or so, which gave me time to cut & set up the table.

There were problems from the beginning. I hadn’t brought my t-square or cutting mat since I thought everyone would have had their paper cut to size. I, of course, was wrong. So instead of starting at 11 and having a great 3-hour class, the first two hours or so (11-1) were spent waiting on one girl to go get her canvas boards and cutting 30 sheets of 8×11.5 300lb paper (not the 140lb I had asked for).

And during the cover decorating stage of the bookmaking, one girl had to re-do her cover since she used the wrong photocopy, and two didn’t bring any photocopies so they spent more time than I had expected painting their covers.
Despite all the delays, the actual assembly went relatively smoothly. We took our time, chatting, taking breaks – I think the actual assembly once I took out all the stops & starts was about 3 hours, which is what I had expected (although I was there from 10:30am to 5:30pm).

Everyone was VERY happy with their books. At least two were very sceptical that they would even be able to make a book at all and when they finished, they were so proud of their creations.

I love seeing the brightness in people’s eyes when they make something with their own two hands. It makes me proud of them, and encourages me to teach more often.

Lessons:

1. Just because you’re a paper freak doesn’t mean your students will know what 140lb watercolor paper looks like.
2. Don’t expect anyone but you to know the difference between mat board and canvas panels, even if they’re the “crafty” type.
3. Never expect anyone to cut their own paper.
4. Bring your camera. Always.

So I did learn a lot this weekend. I know now that if I do another class teaching anything, I should have each person’s supplies cut & assembled into kits and just build in the cost of the supplies to the cost of the class. The most I can expect is a small basic toolkit (ruler, pencil, xacto knife & scissors).