Lindsay's Mirror Frame Workshop

Yesterday I had a lovely day out ...... caught the train early on a sunshiney morning and travelled over to Oswaldtwistle, where Lindsay was running the Rangers Mirror Frame workshop at the Dawn Bibby Studio. 

I had a couple of hours to spare before the workshop began, so I had a wander round nearby Oswaldtwistle Mill (didn't buy anything), walked round the Mill's garden and pond and had some lunch. 

........Looking across the Pond to Oswaldtwistle Mill

and the ducks and beautiful daffodils in bloom .........

There were about 10 of us in Lindsay's workshop and we spent three hours learning new techniques and ideas with the aim of creating a beautiful mirror frame.  Several techniques involved using UTEE and a Meltpot, which I'd not dared use before, so I was really pleased to have a go with it and realise it wasn't quite so scary as I thought it might be!  We also melted down some beeswax in the Meltpot pan for coating a "scrap" image which we added to one corner of our frames.  We then scraped through the layer of beeswax to reveal a clearer image but with a translucent quality to it.

We began by painting a light colourwash (watered down acrylic paint) all over the wooden frame - I chose a purple colour, maybe a little darker than I'd intended it to be, but I did want a bright colour rather than my usual "vintage" choice!

Here is my frame with some of the pieces I made laid over it, nothing stuck down yet and I also want to create a few more items, using the techniques Lindsay showed us, before I assemble it all together (when I have the time!), but I think it will look lovely when it's completed.

Here are pictures of the two frame samples Lindsay had on display - aren't they beautiful?  The first one has an aqua coloured background and the second has a more "vintage" feel to it.  I like them both (of course)!

When I finally finish my frame, I'll post a photo of it then you can see how mine turned out too!

It was also very nice to meet up with Joanne and her husband, Terry, again (they popped in to say 'hello' as they were out that way) and to swap a couple of ATCs with Joanne as well.

Had a rather more noisy journey home though because at Blackburn our small train was boarded by a crowd of football supporters (standing room only all along the train) and some transport police to keep an eye on them.  They were Everton fans returning from a match against Blackburn - they'd obviously been victorious as they were all in a very loud(but good humoured) mood, singing at the top of their voices (using rather ripe language I'm afraid), until they left the train at Preston for their connection home to Liverpool.  But still - they didn't cause any trouble to anyone.