ULLABENULLA

Fall Classes At The Castle And In Ulla's Studio Now Scheduled!

I have finally added my Fall class selection to my side-bar for easy review, and sign-ups!  I am really excited about the classes being offered at the CASTLE and hope you will be too!  I have also added a few studio classes to the list, including a weekend of Soldered Jewelry Fun. These are wonderful 'get-away' opportunities, for yourself, or you and a couple of friends!  I look forward to seeing many of you as the weeks progress!  

Papercutting Class In Ulla's Studio

Wednesday I had three wonderful women in my studio for my first ever 'Papercutting' class.  What fun we had!  I am truly amazed at how personal and delightful each piece turned out!  Kristine loves gypsy caravans and decided to do a Christmas themed piece with a caravan, jolly St. Nick and his donkey and 4 sweet little waifs.  The oval shaped canvas back  really completed the piece!

Barb wanted to do a piece for a good friend of hers who loves all things Egyptian.  She posed herself  hieroglyphically as a maiden fanning her King!  So much fun, and so original!!!

 

Kat decided to do a piece for her husband who is a scientist specializing in 'animal sounds'.  She created a wonderful scenic background (those trees were individually cut out!) with songbirds and her husband with his 'equipment' getting center stage!  Wonderfully personal and very heartfelt!!!

The day was such a success and I will definitely be teaching this class at the Castle this Spring!   

WHIMSICAL PAPERCUTTING CLASS - In Ulla's Studio!

Silhouette Papercuts are all the rage right now.  With this in mind, I will be teaching a basic papercutting class in my studio, here in Santa Rosa, on Saturday December 13th, and/or Wednesday December 17th.  In this class you will learn a few 'tricks' on how to make papercutting easier, and how to mount your finished cuts on canvas boards.  I love combining papercuts with photographs, so feel free to bring favorite images that might spark your imagination.  (My sample is a series of four 8" x 10" panels depicting the Four Seasons:  Spring/Bulbs, Summer/Love in the Mist, Autumn/Chestnuts, Winter/Mistletoe.  The little girl is from a vintage French postcard series that I own.)  

 Time:  10:00 to 4:00  (please bring a lunch)

Cost:  $100.00  - includes all supplies, and access to Ulla's collection of images.

Will teach to a minimum of 2, and up to 4 students.

If interested, email me at:  ullam@earthlink.net

  

Fairytale Altered Books in my Studio...

A long overdue post from a couple of weeks ago, when a delightful student came to my studio to create her own 'Fairytale Altered Book'. Beautiful work!!!

Crystal And Pearls!

My friend Molly and I met 7 years ago when she had a wonderful boutique called 'Mixing Whimsy' here in town. Since then her business has grown and changed but her 'frenchy shabby chic' style has remained constant! Thursday she came over for a private class in soldering, with a goal of re-inventing antique glass bottles into something she could call her own. I was truly delighted in the end results ~ a wonderful melange of pearl crowned bottles that truly sparkle and shine ~ just like Molly!!!

Private Reliquary Class In Ulla's Studio

On Wednesday a good friend of mine and former student came for a day of 'soldering reliquaries' at my studio! She brought some wonderful pieces of coral to play with and really wanted to focus initially on creating a piece with a true vintage reliquary feel with an essence of ocean... Look how FABULOUS her piece turned out!!! The background on the inside is a crumpled piece of old gold candy wrapper. Tiny coral beads were glued along the inside edge. A large piece of coral and a tiny star-fish sit cozily between two paper quills. The whole piece is covered in mica and then soldered. On the outside she attached a strand of wonderful tear-drop coral beads and a delightful vintage silver crab brooch! Truly Inspired!!!

For her second piece she wanted to use some of her vintage 'cracker jack charms', and chose two wonderful little scotty dog charms. The background is a piece of hand dyed Chartreuse velvet, and the little girl is from a french postcard. I really like the shape she chose, and we debated for a while on what to hang from the bottom. Brass letters 'D O G S' finally won out! FABULOUS WORK DIANE!!!

'Animals Masked Ball' Class in Ulla's Studio

Sunday, I had 5 women, a group of friends, take a class in my studio. I thought it would be fun to do a paper theatre where we focus on the characters rather than the background. We used oval boxes for our base, and paper theatre sheets for the backgrounds. I then had them chose 'characters' from paper theatre sheets and needle felt the heads. Costumes were created from bits and pieces of a variety of textured papers. It was like playing with paper dolls again... My vision was dressed animals, or people with animal masks, having a wonderful time in a fancy~ball like atmosphere!!! Didn't they turn out WONDERFUL?!?!

Miniature Paper Theatre Class in Ulla's Studio

Four wonderfully creative women joined me in my studio yesterday to make small Christmas paper theatres from German pressed papermache boxes (approx. 6" to 8" in size)!!! I apologize for the yellowed photos, I hate using a flash, and the evening light left the studio dark with electric lights. The theatres however, are magical, and full of whimsy!!! Great job girls!

Winter Classes in Ulla's Studio!

With Christmas just around the corner, my classes at the Castle are at a standstill until late February. Over December the shop classroom is taken over with Christmas merchandise, and January is spent getting Inventory done, re-doing all the displays and getting our class mailer ready for the Spring.

I've decided to take a serious step in teaching more classes out of my studio, based an hour North of San Francisco. Starting in December, I will be offering small classes (limit of 5 students) in a variety of mediums. I am dreaming up classes for January in 'Fabric Printing using Thermofax Screens'; 'Springtime Paper Theatres' and 'Marionettes' among other offerings. If you have anything special you'd like to learn, let me know, and I'll see what I can whip up!

This would be a perfect opportunity to gather a few friends together and come take a private class with me! The winecountry is beautiful this time of year, and there are many wonderful antique shops and cafes near by if you are tempted to make a weekend of it! Email me for more details... SEE SIDE BAR FOR DECEMBER CLASS DETAILS!

(photos from Ulla's studio)

Soldered Jewelry in Ulla's Studio

I am late in posting this, as its been a couple of weeks now, but recently I had the genuine pleasure of teaching 'Soldered Jewelry' to blogging buddy Trish, neighbor and friend Lucille and Lovely Jocelyn and her daughter Molly (who both flew up from L.A.!) in my studio! They all created wonderful treasures which need to be shared here! (Thank you to Lea for taking photos when my camera was missing!) Enjoy!!!

Miniature Shop Class In My Studio!

Last weekend I had two delightful women in my studio to do a paper theatre class. After talking a bit, they decided it would be fun to do a paper theatre, reminicent of an old-time shop, in this case a 'Sewing Shop' and a 'Candy Shop'! We designed them so they are more or less to scale with dollhouse accessories and then went from there. I think this will be a new class idea for next time around. Just think what wonderful shops you can hang on your wall, and I love the idea that you can add miniature doll-house accessories to them... In the sewing shop, note especially the wonderful 3/d cabinet, the 'wooden spool' table and those puffy curtains. And in the candy shop, the lovely lady behind the counter (she's actually from an old opera print of mine), those yummy colors throughout and the mirrored shelves full of candy boxes! WOW OH WOW!

What really made the day special was having only 2 students! Not that I don't love bigger groups, but having only two or three, allows me to really get to know them, and they get one on one attention from me. So I am going to offer a few days a month as 'BRING A FRIEND CLASSES', you chose what you'd like to make, bring your best friend, or friends, and we'll make a day of it... ANY ONE INTERESTED?

Christamas Theatre Class in the Studio!

Yesterday I had 5 lovely women in my studio creating Christmas Theatres! It was really wonderful having access to all my vintage postcards and scrap, with a photocopier at the ready... As you can see, the Theatres were all very detailed and full of seasonal whimsy and magic!!! Well done girls!!!

I hope to have classes here on an ongoing basis, so if you live in the Bay Area stay tuned as I will post my teaching schedule on the blog.