The latest advanced course delivered in our Stucco & Stucco studio was early-February it was unseasonably warm, and a change from our normal winter course weather. So we started on day 1 with introductions, and as usual, they were from all over the country, Ireland, Brighton, Bristol, Birmingham, and Glasgow.
As always I like to keep the course fun and start light, as the finishes planned for this course were pretty intense, and this is often driven by requests. We chatted about the project enquires that the guys had, because, with these, that often drives the cool content, for example using stencils and liquid metal (Metallo Fuso).
In our usual style of learning, sweating and smiling, I went straight into blending, working with multiple colours for an artwork piece. This is always a good ice breaker, as it’s not so technical that the crew is nervous, best to get them settled in. As they had all attended the introductory course, I could dispense with some of the core setup bits, as they all know how to apply the base coats.
I’m always looking for one of those ‘big moments’, it usually happens when a particular member of the crew completely nails the brief, in this case, it was using liquid metal. The stencil was highly ornate and technical, something even I’d find challenging, but in this case, the level of detail, the sharpness, how crisp the whole sample artwork piece looked, was amazing!
Which made up for the fact that some of the blending, which we laughed long and hard at, couldn’t strictly be called ‘advanced’.
The lesson? Every day in the studio is a learning day.
The weather continued to be nice, many laughs were had, the first one having a Scottish guy translate the Irish guy into English! Let’s not talk about the masks…
Much tea was drunk (and coffee for some) and a good night out to celebrate everyone’s achievements.
Just another week in the S&S Training Academy.
Andy
