Portland-Portland!

No... you're not seeing double! We actually just wanted to bring you a sneak peek of some Portland Art & Soul workshops for 2014... but we realize you're probably shopping for supplies for this year's Portland event as we speak! This little Portland-Portland overlap is going on because we've moved our flagship event back to the beautiful Oregon springtime... when we originally had the mixed media gathering. As I was looking through and choosing classes for next year, I got really excited about what we have coming up... and so I thought I'd share a few of the workshops with you!

Kate Thompson
Fabric Art Book
Kate is a new and exciting artist who combines teaching you how to make a 6" x 8" fabric 4-signature book with a wood based front and back cover. You will be learning a unique coptic loop binding technique which will be used to attach the covers. You'll get to work with gesso and plaster to cover fabric for the pages and discover how to make lace, fabric, and plaster borders to trim your pages. Yum!

Clarissa Callesen
Gut Instincts
Okay — I know it sounds gross — but, oh my gosh what you will do in this 2-day class is fabulous. You'll learn to create strong translucent panels filled with inclusions of found objects, transparencies, string, wire, and fabric. The first day you will be working with sausage casings in their wet state (hence, the gut part!). The next day you will be embellishing the dried gut with writing, paint, stamps, and sewing. The panel pieces will be formed into a wall or window hanging and accompanied by a talisman string of small objects.  I mean, come on — how cool is this????

Suzanne McNeill
Treasures Unearthed
When Suzanne taught this class in VA we were flabbergasted!!  The finished items looked exactly like relics from the past.  Do not miss this opportunity to create these 'unearthed relics' from reactive brass, copper, bronze and iron materials, adding patina treatments to produce amazing colors. Learn to patina metals that 'bloom' overnight into rich colors... iron to rusty orange, brass, bronze, and copper to verdigris.

Jen Crossley
Looking Glass Book
Many of you have taken classes from our fabulous gal from Down Under.  This one is very unique. You will  learn how to make a glass and metal book...  you will discover a metal binding technique... metal etching and glass effects. Learn how to drill a hole into glass safely. You'll discover patinas, paint and a distinctive yet simple binding technique.

Susan Bezek
Santos Crown
Who doesn't love or deserve a crown??  These beautiful art crowns were inspired by Susan's love of anything Santos! The crowns can be made in any size by enlarging or reducing the pattern. Embellishing is the key here — and the fun part. The more the better!

Ruth Greening
Copper & PMC Hinged Pendant
A great combination of copper sheet and PMC embellishments, assembled with cold connections and wire! Use those silver 'orphans' that have been on your work bench or create something especially for your creation. It will be a unique piece! You'll learn to cut, texture and form the copper, work with PMC, ball wire and make cold connections! Add patina to copper and silver, wow what a full day of fun and a beautiful pendant!

So I hope you enjoyed this sneak peek of our 2014 Portland Art & Soul retreat — which will be taking place April 7-13, 2014. We'll keep you updated on all the important event dates, like when classes are up on our website and when registration begins. Enjoy the rest of the summer and we'll see you very soon for our 2013 Portland Art & Soul retreat, September 30th - October 6th (P.S. it's not too late to sign up)!