I had a night out

last night.

I've been playing with the idea of taking a workshop at Blim for quite a while now. Last week I finally got around to registering for a workshop.

What's Blim? Well based on their web site:

BLIM is a Community Based Art Resource Center which facilitates screen-printing, button making, drawing, knitting, local underground audio, film screenings, animation, video, dance, spoken word, visual art, creative workshops, and crafts in the independent field.

Based on my experience Blim is a funky open studio/ retail space with a super helpful director Yuriko Iga; who facilitated our workshop and made sure that the workshop atmosphere was comfortable and enjoyable. I took the collage button making workshop and I am so excited about the whole process and the fact that I can now attend open studio there and have access to the button making tools. It was a small workshop, with only two other participants, so access to the cutting tools and button machines was pretty open. If you live in BC's lower mainland and want to try a little arty fun I give them a big thumbs up! You can find out more about them here.

A few things I'll keep in mind for my next visit:

1.5" button images have to be cut by hand (past participants have used heavy card and glued on paper which has made the 1.5" cutter unusable), I'll have mine done before I go so that I can get right to the machines. If I'm going to collage I'll also have that done to my 1.5" too.

1" and 2" buttons can be cut at the studio, I'll have collage extra's ready for these too so that all I'll have to do is glue extra bits onto my images

I'll make my 1" images a little bigger than I had them (my print outs turned out to be a little smaller than 1").

I did some Alice in Wonderland buttons. I'm planning on altering the buttons to make them into fridge magnets.

I was so inspired last night that I also have ideas for some hand carved stamps that I'll be able to use with the Alice Images and ideas for Alice related photographs....

If all goes well I'll be listing some of these in PeanutButterPie soon. The shop has been sitting empty for months as I've been focusing more on Photography and putting time and effort towards some other new projects that I'll be listing there soon. I've been busy making and creating over the last few months and I'm hoping to keep up the pace. How about you? have you done anything new lately?