Tim Holtz workshops last Thursday

(Click on my picts if you want a larger view) I spent an entire Thursday at 3 Tim Holtz workshops. I have to tell you that I had a lot of fun. I don't do some (okay, a lot) of the stuff that was shown but I went away learning quite a few things. I got my hands dirty and I got to play. That was the most important thing to me. Please remember that this is just my opinion. I do encourage people who have never gone to his workshops to do so. Tim Holtz is very personable. He kept the workshops moving along. His assistant, Mario, was excellent (even while dining on Chinese carry-out). He showed me how to use some of his stuff - which I ended up buying. I was groovin' on a nifty Fred Mullett fish stamp all day. I will end up getting it. I also liked a library card stamp from Stamp Camp. Anyway, Tim kept the workshop moving along. He answered all questions very nicely and gave some very good tips. He was pretty well organized with a lot of the stuff in plastic bags with a supply list of what he used for everything and written instructions. I liked the written instructions part because many people forget something once they get home. This way, I did not have to write anything down. He supplies everything you might need during the workshop so you don't need to bring a thing. The first workshop was called "washed in color". It was all about using Adirondack spray washes. The plastic gloves were a waste on me because I can't wear them. My hands need to feel what I am doing. Getting them dirty is nothing new. The first thing we did was using the color wash like watercolor using stamps. I had seen that in his first video. He has a brand new one out which I have not seen yet. I do watercolor and I thought that was fun. Don't make cards anymore though. Most everyone did flowers and made them dainty. I put fish on mine! One of the first things he said to me, "You aren't a scrapbooker, are you?" I stared right at him for a second - very amused. I replied, "No, I am a mixed-media artist. I do more the DeMeng type of stuff." He just nodded and walked away. Gee, I wonder how he knew that. Could it be that I was spraying away and experimenting? I had no hesitation. If I did not like something, I just covered it up and did it again. People at our table talked a little bit about it. They talked about how structured they were in real life and art let them let loose a little. I said that I was also very structured in many ways but not when it comes to my art. I guess it is a matter of degrees. I "let loose" a lot more than some of them. Guess that is one reason why I don't do scrapbooks. The second thing we did in the morning was the tags. I have done tags like that before but not the way he did it. It was fun that way. I did get aggressive with the color washes though. I liked the 3rd project of the morning the most. I could have used the images for mail art postcards but cut them up for the book we would do in the afternoon. I really liked the colors in the page with the fish embossed on it. The one underneath got muddy and I could not save it for the life of me. Tried the wipes, drying and then layering more colors. I just got mud. I did like the embossed images though. I had recently bought some of Tim's embossing inks and powders. Loved the matte effect he showed us how to do. Will be doing that in the future. I had actually learned about the color washes a long time ago from Mary Jo McGraw. She used it in an altered book. I have a small hardcover book with all the backgrounds done in color wash colors. You can spray color wash on the pages, press them together, and they will not stick when dried. I loved that when I did it. I then just stamped my favorite stamp images in it. I did molding paste covers. It is still one of my favorite ABs because of its simplicity. I will have to do another one to include my new favorites. Anyway, I digress. We then took an hour and a half break until the afternoon class. I did think that breaks were too long. I don't know if that was the store or Tim's request. Originally, I was on the wait list for the afternoon class and got in at the last minute. I was not too groovin' on it because I don't do clay. Like I need one more thing to do. It was actually very interesting. I loved learning how to mix Perfect Pearls to get the metallic colors. It was very fun to play. It is like UTEE for me. It is a little more work though. I do like the flatness of the images and they are thinner to me. Texture is different. This will be a great thing to do with my class or art club. I did not know that I could bake my clay in the melting pot. I have two, so I can bake my little heart out. Loved making the fragments. My favorite were the fish and the tickets. The tickets came out great. I am not sure that I would ever weare them, but I would definitely use them in my art as a 3D element. Fireless Raku was very interesting. I would use this more with my class or art club than for myself. I think that I could get a similar thing with UTEE. It was fun to learn how it was done though in case I want to do it again. Also, I think the micaceous iron oxide is the thick kind and not the fluid. The stuff we used was in a jar and it was thick. You need a small, stiff brush to put it on or you will lose the fine detail of your what you imprinted with your clay. The evening class was called "breaking al the rulez". Tim provided us with two covers and stuff to fill it. We distressed the pages and started working on a few of the pages. He showed us how to use some of his embellishments. What I loved most was the little edge distresser/shredder. It is actually a thread cutter that you scrap along the edges of your paper. It is made by tonic studios. It comes in two different models - one for paper and one for card stock. The other cool thing that he showed us was the scrapper's block. This block distresses paper without shredding it like regular sanding blocks can do. It is by pm designs. Hey, I am not ashamed to say I use some scrapbooking stuff. I do like the Adirondack inks. I like them because they are earth tone. I use the acrylics all the time because they are metallic-y and they dry dimensionally. I use them a lot for my matchbook art. I love the alcohol inks because they are great for aging my shiny metal pieces. I have the Distress stamp pads in all the colors. I have a lot of the Adirondack dye stamp pads. I just got a few of the embossing inks and powders. Will need to try those. That's about it. Oh, need to mention that my art friends, Cindy Kotora and BJ Kennedy were there. They made it so much more fun to be there. BJ was taking Tim's roadside necklace class the next day. I was SOOO jealous. Need to do stuff for school. Thanks to Tim and Mario for a great time at the workshops.