I’ve finally recuperated from three days of classes with the fabulous Meredith Willet.  So much fun! (So much work).  I learned SO much this past week.  And she threw every hard thing in her bag of tricks at me.

I’ve been working on learning more about ribbon work.  Even for me, it’s very daunting.  And so fussy!  But, there’s only one way to get better at anything. . . just keep working on it.

So, I’ve been saving this Amanda Lawford canvas for class with Meredith.

A perfect canvas for ribbon work.

So, on Thursday afternoon, after class, she told me to bring a candle with me to the store the next day.  I will admit, I raised an eyebrow at that.  But. . . what the heck?  I’ll try anything.

So here’s what she had me do.  I cut a bunch of little pieces of ribbon in two different sizes.  Then I rounded out the edge.  In order to seal the edges, you have to run the tip of the ribbon through a flame.  Well, the candle was throwing a lot of black smoke so that didn’t work.  So, I used a lighter.  It was quite a funny sight when a customer came walking through the door and saw me lighting ribbon on fire.

After I had all my petals, I basted them together, pushing, pulling and twisting them to get the right shape.  I did this in two layers so that the bottom layer was bigger than the top.  And voila!

Look what I made!  SOOOOOO cool!

Next up was a stem stitch flower with five or six colors of silk ribbon.  So pretty!

I can’t wait to get cranking on this piece.  If I look into my crystal ball I might see a future class.

Speaking of which, I’m working on putting together a class schedule for the fall.  Let me know if there’s something you’re interested in for a class.  I’ll see what we can do.