Tag: online class

On Work

Approaching the end of my first month as a self-employed artist, there is a lot to reflect on. Briefly, I don’t think I’ve ever worked so hard, and also I don’t think I’ve ever been happier. ‘Work’ means something different now. Primary goal for next month is to get better at managing my work/life balance, which is difficult when work and life have essentially become the same thing.

‘Work’ means this, among other things:

Thread dyeing in progress

It also means wearing a variety of different hats from one minute to the next. Some of the jobs I’ve done so far this month are Sales Manager, Marketing Manager, Accountant, Goods Inwards Manager, Customer Service Manager, International Relations Manager, Tech Support Assistant, Logistics Manager, teacher, photographer, copy writer, proof reader, film director, video editor, sound engineer, dyer, content creator, and researcher. Haven’t had time to do any actual art yet.

But it’s a glorious feeling to wake up every morning filled with excitement for the working day ahead.

There will be thread in the shop soon (ish) – when I can get all of these skeins wound and sorted:

Textured threads
Cotton threads (they’re not all green!)

Here’s my Heath Robinson style skein twister. It’s a tiny hand drill I used to use years ago when I made miniatures, with a bent paper clip where the drill bit should be. The board is thick foam with a pencil stuck in it, clamped to a stool so it doesn’t move. I should probably patent it.

Unpatented Heath Robinson skein winder

I think some of the Teachable teething problems have been resolved now, and so far people seem to be enjoying the online course – I’ve been assured by several students that it isn’t only for beginners, which makes me very happy.

I’ll let you know when threads are available – it will take as long as it takes, but probably (I hope) some time this week. The shop will be temporarily closed while I list the threads, but it should only be down for a day or two. I aim to have threads in the shop every month from now on, if I can. The first batch will be UK post only, just until Royal Mail gets through the backlog of delays caused by strike action in December and the cyber attack earlier this month. From next month I hope to return to international shipping.

And on that note, it’s back to work for me.

Teachable

Good morning, and thank you so much to everyone who has signed up so far for my online course, Intuitive Daily Stitching. I hope you’re enjoying it.

Some aspects of the platform, Teachable, can be difficult to navigate. I’m hoping here to try and clarify the process a bit for anyone who’s had some trouble accessing the course.

Part of the confusion I think might come from the fact that a Teachable account and a School account are two different things. When you purchase my course, you’re automatically signed up for my School, which may be a different login from any existing Teachable account you may have.

If you have an existing Teachable account, I *think* (if I’m understanding this correctly) you can edit your profile in the top right of your screen to merge your Teachable Schools. If you haven’t got an existing Teachable account, then it’s a bit less complicated.

When you purchase the course, you should receive an email like this:

If you have at the same time created a new account, you may also receive an email like this:

When you have clicked on the ‘confirm email’ button, you will get another email like this:

You may then need to log in again before you can see your home page on Teachable. The first thing you should see on your page might look like this:

Suggest you bookmark this page so you can find it again

If you’re having trouble seeing anything at all, try clicking on my profile image (the moon, top left). You should be able to see your course in the ‘my products’ page in the menu top right. You may well have to log in again. Your ‘my products’ page should look something like this:

You can access Teachable’s student help pages here – scroll right down the page where there is some information on trouble shooting. If you’re still stuck, contact me and I’ll see if I can help.

Also, an update today – Intuitive Daily Stitching is now available with (English) subtitles for each lesson. It’s exactly the same content as the original version, just with subtitles on all the videos. If you’ve already purchased the standard version but would prefer the subtitled version, contact me and I can add you to the new course. Don’t pay twice!

Intuitive Daily Stitching with (English) subtitles

This is probably one of the least interesting blog posts I’ve ever written, but I hope at least someone has found it helpful. Let me know if you have any problems getting in to your course. Or if you previously had a problem and resolved it successfully, please tell me what you did. This has been (and still is) an immense learning curve for me too.

Online course: intuitive daily stitching

Well, here we are. After a good few weeks of hard labour and a very steep learning curve, it’s about as good as it’s going to be, and I think I’m ready to let it out into the world. Thank you for your patience while it was under construction.

The course is all pre-recorded, with no live element – so there’s no rush to sign up and no requirement to be available at set times. You can access the material as often as you want, whenever is convenient for you.

Online course via Teachable

The course is aimed primarily at beginners, so it may be helpful if you’re just starting out with some hand stitching, or some daily stitching. If you’re already stitching quite confidently, there probably won’t be much there that you don’t already know. You can watch the introduction without committing to a purchase, and that will give you an overview of the course content.

You can preview the introduction video here

Briefly, section 1 is about choosing suitable fabrics, needles and threads; section 2 focuses on a selection of easy hand embroidery stitches and various ways in which you can adapt them; and section 3 has some general information on how to approach hand stitching as a mindful, meditative practice.

Teachable landing page
Learn to make something like this

The course is quite informal in style and has me going ‘er’ and ‘um’ a bit, even with a script, but nothing is ever going to be perfect. I’ve tried to present it as if we’re in the same room, learning together.

If you don’t already have a Teachable login, you’ll need to create one (it’s free) in order to access the course.

Here’s a bit of the demonstration sampler that I’ve used to show you the stitches. I finished the sampler after recording the course – I just show you the basics in real time. You should be able to recognise the stitches I’ve added.

The price of the course is in GBP, because I’m in the UK. If you’re not in the UK, you can use any online currency converter to see the equivalent amount for you. The secure online checkout system will automatically convert the price to your local currency.

Please try and remember this converted amount so that you recognise it when it appears on your bank statement later. If you don’t recognise the amount and flag it as fraud with your bank by mistake, that can cause extra work and expense for me. Thank you.

Selection of worksheets accompanying each stitch lesson

And after all that preliminary waffle, you can find the course here

I hope you enjoy it. Let me know what you think.

Vertical learning curve

I feel as if I’ve climbed a mountain today. I’m making a start on this, my first online class for absolute beginners:

Online course for beginners

I’ve learned many things already, one of which is that I’m pretty rubbish at keeping my hands in the frame when taking a video of myself stitching.

Summary

But perseverance is a virtue, so I will keep at it. It will be ok in the end, whenever that turns out to be…

Benefits of hand embroidery

He(art) of Soil

I have given myself too many things to do: no surprises there. I have signed up for three online courses, all running at the same time, while continuing to work three days a week at the desk job. I did know what I was doing, and all of it seemed like a really good idea at the time, and I’m already slightly behind. But then I get lifetime access to all three courses, and you can do them all at your own pace, so there is no rush really.

One of the classes I signed up for is a delightful mixed media watercolour course called He(art) of Soil, organised by Leaca Young (you can find her on Instagram here). It’s very accessible, with ten mixed media artists each contributing a simple project, and there’s still time to sign up if you’re interested – go to Leaca’s website in the link above for more information. All the proceeds go to World Central Kitchen, in aid of the conflict in Ukraine. The projects in this course are based on a very limited palette: just three shades of blue, and three shades of yellow, for the Ukrainian flag. The paints are made from soil and pigment and look really beautiful. You can see more about how they’re made here. I didn’t purchase the paints – it would have been very expensive to have them shipped from the USA to the UK, and I don’t need more watercolour paints, so I’m adapting what I’ve already got. You can see my substitute palette below.

A6 folded sketchbook for The Art of Soil online class

I don’t need much of an excuse to splash some paint around, so I had a very happy hour or so this afternoon painting some collage papers in these colours.

delicious pile of vintage and modern papers painted with acrylics and watercolours

I’m collecting and completing all the lessons in a little folded A6 sketchbook made with three sheets of A3 paper, folded and cut to make a little zine-type booklet. If you’re not familiar with the technique, you can find instructions for making a one-page booklet here. One of the tutorials in this class includes instructions for making this kind of booklet, which will be perfect for keeping everything together.

The projects are very simple and suitable for all abilities, and I guess you could make them as quick or as complicated as you like.

Page based on Tiffany’s Hearts project – find her on Instagram here

It’s really interesting to work with such a limited palette, and surprising to see just how many shades of blue, green, and yellow you can actually make. A lot of the artists remark on the texture of the watercolours that they’re using, describing them as quite gritty. My paints are all very smooth, so I might try using some watercolour texture medium for some of the classes, just to see how it turns out.

Loosely worked page based on Megan’s Bird of Peace tutorial. You can see her work here

Regardless of how long you might have been making art, in whatever medium, I love the fact that there is always something more to learn, something more to practice, and plenty more ways to grow. I really like the fact that this online class supports a great cause, and that the artists have given their time and skills so freely. I’m looking forward to completing more of the classes in this course.

%d bloggers like this: