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| Opening dinner on march 1st |
This year World Wide Pressed Flower Guild international conference was held in Bensalem, PA (just outside Philadelphia) on March, 1-4. It was a great time because we also could visit famous Philadelphia Flower Show that usually takes place in Pennsilvania Convention Center for the first week of March.
Many thanks to all who worked to organize this event and special one to Micki Wach who hosted this conference. She was very helpful and also provided us cheap tickets to the Flower Show!
This year I had to teach two classes at the conference - one is my coffee grisaille and another is drawing with plant fluff because the author of this class Elena Prokhorova couldn't come. I worked hard with my English teacher during two monthes before the conference but it was not enough anyway to understand clearly what people say :). So I'm grateful to my husband Vlad for his help in translating and conducting the classes. Without him I probably would have to explain everything in sign language!
The conference began with the traditional opening dinner and pressed flower exchange.
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| Flower exchange |
Also there was card contest on the theme Spring. Look at these beautiful cards:
The winners of card contest:
Our petal friends from Brazil
The classes started the next day after opening dinner - three or four classes every day with a break for lunch. The class by Betty Green was in the morning. She taught to make a pressed flower pendant with a money plant seed pod background. Unfortunately, I had to miss the class because of my judging work for PFS competition.
Everybody 's working at Kentish Scene class by Denise Stirrup (UK):
Nancy Mayer likes this class so much :)
After Denise it's my turn to teach. There were very few of us who knew how to draw with the fluff. I also made only one picture of that kind and it was a month before the conference when Elena Prokhorova came to teach me this technique. I was very worried that I would not be able to explain how to work with fluff because it was brand-new for me. But there was very creative and friendly atmosphere at the conference and everyone wanted to get new knowledge so it was easy and interesting for me to teach this class, and I did my best! We made kitten face from poplar fluff
Some girls have even completed the face
In the evening blizzard began and we got our homestay with difficulty though the city is only half an hour drive from the hotel in Bensalem where the conference took place. The wind toppled the trees onto railway lines and somewhere on the road. We hardly found Uber driver to take us to the city (thanks Kate for her help).
The next day there were interesting classes: a pear by Jacki Harrington
and "Happy Chicken" by Chinese teacher Xiangchuan Liu who was also unable to come, and Kate Chu taught the class. Denise shows her artwork
After lunch Kate demonstrated the vacuum sealing process that helps to keep the colors of pressed plants for years. This method allows you to save even green color for a long time. This information was important for me.
Kate also showed new materials for protection of pressed flower cards - soft touch laminate films for hot and cold lamination.
The day finished with gift exchange. Everyone brought a gift to the conference and they were raffled off among all attendees. I got a roll of very nice papers by Carolyn Foley. And my decoupage heart box went to sunny Brazil.
The last day of the conference started with Kate's class. We decorated a paper fold fan with pressed flowers. There I found about new (for me) material - double-sided transparent adhesive tape by Elizabeth Craft Designs. This tape was used for attaching pressed flowers so they didn't break on the folds of the fan. Also it's helpful to use this tape instead of a glue for any small design. It definitely speeds up the working process.
These are our fans
The next class was mine again. I called it "Grisaille" because I used only materials of brown color for two pictures that we made during the class - instant coffee and brown leaves under snow. At first I showed how to paint with coffee on watercolor paper.
The process of coffee painting is very pleasant because of its smell. So folk enjoyed the painting
When the coffee paintings are completed, I show how to make rocks and tree trunks from unbeautiful brown leaves.
We didn't finish the pictures but everyone caught the idea and it was important.
After lunch Kate taught the project of decorating a pocket mirror. We used again double-sided adhesive tape to attach pressed flowers onto circle pattern and then covered it with soft touch film for cold lamination to protect the design.
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| My mirror is in the top row, on the far left |
I presented my artwork from Micki's class to nice girls who hosted me and my husband in Philadelphia by Airbnb. It was my thankfulness for the comfort and communication with their cute pets (cat and dog).
The next day all attendees gathered again in the Convention Center by the wall with competition artworks to take group picture.
Actually I have a lot of impressions this trip. Beyond the conference time we managed to catch a couple of sunny days to look at historic sites of Philadelphia which was once the capital of the US and where the Declaration of Independence was signed.
Of course such events as the meeting of people who have the same interest in pressed flower art I do, always give great impact to my plans for the future. Also I heard many kind and grateful words about myself. It's so valuable to me.
The conference was over but our jorney continued. We flew to warm Florida from windy and cold Philadelphia but it's another story.
