Art Journey Retreat - Day 4

Sunday we woke to the rain steadily pouring down, it was very hard to get out of my snug warm bed, but the days class motivated me to get moving!
Today I was doing a class with Nina Bagley. In all the times that we have had Nina here, I still hadn't done a class with her. I was excited about learning Nina knots and was planning on making a necklace for my eldest daughter, Samara.


When we arrived at Swinburne, we were most upset to find it all locked up tight! After wandering around looking for an entry point for over half an hour, a lovely security guard came and opened up for us.

Everyone arrived, rearing to go! It was chaotic as we had decided to move Nina in to the bigger class room, as there was a full to capacity class.

Nina started by carefully taking us through the Nina knot process, step by step. Some took to it naturally, others not so. I picked up the actual technique okay, but knew I would need to do alot of practise to get them as neat as Nina does.

Here are shots from the class room of the girls all working hard.

And Nina showing the way. The technique of Nina knots is so effective, I love the way it gives jewellery a raw look, not so precise as jewellery bought from stores. And I also love the natural element, natural stones and gems, pebbles, sea glass etc...
This is Corinnes little box of treasures. I was fortunate enough to receive 2 beautiful pieces of Jade from Corinne (thankyou soooo much!!), one of which I used in my necklace for Samara.

And this is some of my treasures...

This is the class sample. It was great that no-one tried to reproduce this piece exactly and there were some wonderful, unique pieces created on this day.
I was so happy to complete my necklace, even though I was struck by melancholy, exhaustion and sadness about a quarter of the way through the class. Despite this, it was a great class and I felt I learnt so much from it. The day I returned to Perth I completed a necklace for my daughter Jessica, using a Celtic charm I had picked up in Melbourne on a shopping trip we went on the next day.

I am still happily playing with wire, beads and chain. A recent trip to a bead shop set me back over $200, but I am set to go now. Nothing holding me back.

I must take some photos of Samara and Jessicas necklaces to show you all.

Then, to end off the day we had to pack up and label all our stock and tidy up the class rooms. hat a massive job, but made fun by all our helpers.

Here I am putting my weary feet up after we got it all finished!

And what do you know? A church group was meeting in the foyer and a group of girls were giving massages! Well, who could pass that up after a week of hard slog, loads of walking, talking and creating!? Here are Mandy and Di, unwinding!!

Before I left, I just had to get a photo of this bizarre sign in the toilet!!!!
Veeerrry strange...

After packing up and massages were over, we all headed back to our hotel for an impromptu meal of Salads, cheese and dips, chips and whatever else we could find in our room.
We all sat around the table and did a show and tell of what we had made over the weekend.

It was such a great way to end the retreat.

We all worked in eack others journals, practised techniques, chatted, laughed and had fun.




Well, that is all for today. I will post again tomorrow with more photos and also be doing a response to questions, comments and concerns raised about the retreat!
Have a great weekend, it is a public holiday here in Perth on Monday, so a happy long weekend to all from W.A.