What you can learn at an Annie Sloan workshop

I attended the Annie Sloan demonstration workshop at Expowood Fair in Brasov. There is a lot of interest and enthusiasm at these presentations. The participants, who at first sit quietly in their chairs and listen, soon start to move closer to get a better idea of what is going on. Then they start asking questions, taking photos and filming. This is what happened in Brasov, and the hosts - Red Boutique Decordistributor Annie Sloan in Brasov and Allmycrafts in Miercurea Ciuc (the first Annie Sloan distributor in Romania) - did very well. What is an Annie Sloan workshop, what kind of painting techniques with cream paints are presented, what personal contributions the distributors have, you will find out below.

What is an Annie Sloan workshop and why it's good to attend before you start working with Annie Sloan products

If you read about Annie Sloan creosote paints find out how easy they are to use, how you can paint anything with them and how simple it is to change the look of an old piece of furniture with them. So why attend a workshop? Go to the store, buy the paint like any DIY store, come home and paint!

The workshops are not because it's not easy to use the paint but to see how you can achieve different effects using the same paint. Annie Sloan revolutionized the DIY paint industry almost 30 years ago. Her paints and painting techniques have fans all over the world and many have tried to copy her. When you create a great, great product, you don't want those qualities to be lost because of small details. That's why she was the first to organize these workshops and pass on the tradition to distributors.

The Annie Sloan Workshops are courses that showcase the cream paints and teach painting techniques that dealers learn directly from Annie. Before they can teach these painting techniques, dealers must attend workshops organized by Annie at her headquarters in Oxford, England. They learn techniques for achieving different effects with the same paint, application secrets for perfect results, special ways to mix colors, and how to make the same paint work on both furniture and textiles. All this information is then passed on and enriched with personal experiences and ideas.

How does a workshop work?

We also saw at the Expowood presentation that the same paint, applied differently, can make a piece of furniture look antique or modern. We also saw that black wax wiped off immediately after application creates one effect, while wiped off after a longer time creates another. It's simple but very useful information and it's the end result that shows the difference. I am sure many have said to themselves, after seeing the application techniques, why didn't they think of this before. It is true that the fast drying time of the paint, the texture, the density are important qualities that make the techniques possible.

Before the one in Brasov I attended a workshop in Bucharest, so I can tell you "inside" how it's going on. They are very carefully prepared and everyone gets their piece of wood or small piece to be covered and decorated with Annie Sloan products.

Each step is first described, then practiced. In this way everyone can see the result, and if they don't quite understand or don't get the movements right, they can ask questions or get help. The finishing is done from start to finish so that the result can be seen and appreciated and the simple way of working with paints can be discovered by everyone.

What painting techniques are taught?

Courses can last 5-6 hours. But even in such a long time not everything can be told about the application techniques. That's why there are several levels. There are the basic courses, where you learn how to apply paints to achieve various effects (shabby chic, rustic, modern, antiqued), how to seal the paint with wax, patinating with colored skies (white or black), applying the stencil

But there are also courses for the advanced, which teach special, more complicated techniques. Image transfer, the cracked effectGold leafing, gilding, decoupage or effects using 4-5 types of wax are just some of the techniques. You don't have to attend the basic courses to participate in the advanced techniques, but it is mandatory to know how to work with these materials. If you know nothing about them, attending an advanced workshop is time and money wasted.

Distributors organize themed workshops on various occasions. For example, before Easter or Christmas, such meetings are organized where specific decorations are made using chalk paints. Also, after attending a workshop in England, where new techniques were learned, meetings are organized to further teach these techniques. At Allmycraftson March 8, was a workshop on dyeing and decorating textiles, organized after attending a course with Annie.

In fact, Annie Sloan organizes workshops every year where you learn all sorts of new things. She is relentless in finding all sorts of ways to use paints and create new shades and colors. And all these techniques, once established, are passed on to distributors and can reach each and every one of us.

Distributors' own creative contributions

The above courses are more or less the same all over the world. They are courses designed by Annie Sloan and the distributors' contribution to them is quite small. There are, however, a number of courses where the creativity of the distributors comes into its own. It's good to know that Annie chooses the distributors precisely for this creativity.

And so you can attend classes in traditional Saxon furniture painting with Annie Sloan paints (in Brasov) or learn how to draw inspiration from famous painters to create unique pieces of furniture (in Bucharest).

Another course inspired by Annie, but done according to your own creativity, is where a piece of furniture brought from home will take on a whole new look. "Painting together" is an interactive course in which participants renew their furniture using the cretous paints under the supervision and with the help of the distributors.

Why you should take these courses

There's a lot to say about these courses, but it's best to go and see what you can learn. At Expowood there was a raffle organized by the folks from Rouge Boutique Decor to win participation in a course. The lady who won was over the moon. And for good reason. Rouge Boutique Decor has 8 types of workshops in its permanent offerThe more and more interesting. There are also Easter, Christmas and special team building events on request.

If you're passionate about DIY the course will launch new directions in which to go in the future. You may immediately want to change the look of your entire home and succeed. You will do this without buying new furniture and decorations but by investing your heart, passion and some hard work. Of course, you will also need to invest in information and learning (by attending courses) and in materials (paints, waxes and possibly also paint), brushes), but the result will be worth far more than the investment.

So I can only wish you good luck with your work and learning and....Success!