Over the past few years I have taught workshops in Hong Kong, Australia, Singapore and the USA. Every one has been different, from weeks spent with small private groups, multi-venue tours of a country’s calligraphy groups, to vast international calligraphy conferences.
Teaching at IAMPETH 2025 – a class of 98!
I’m happy to teach groups of any size. Small groups allow more individual attention, with focussed skill building for each student, but large classes are great for those who wish to learn a set gilding technique.
For those specifically wishing to use loose leaf gold, I have 15 sets of gilding equipment (gilders cushions, knives, tips and burnishers) which students may borrow for the duration of the class. For large classes I definitely recommend using transfer gold – easier to transport and much less frustrating when there are 100 students on the move!
As far as the actual class is concerned, I’ll simply need a table to work and demonstrate on. A document camera and screen are essential for participants to see fine details from a distance. I’ll also need space to put examples of my work, reference materials and the contents of my well known ‘just in case’ bag.
Multi-location teaching tours
Sometimes, if I am travelling overseas, I try to combine several workshops in one tour, either using the same venue or locations in adjacent cities / countries. I’m very aware of my air miles, and although I contribute to various schemes to offset my carbon footprint, it makes sense to organise teaching tours by area. Filling multiple workshops doesn’t seem to be a problem, with some classes selling out three hours after opening for registration.
Gilding on gesso is incredibly slow, painstaking, but utterly rewarding, for the shine that the finished and burnished gold reflects and our class was justifiably proud of their achievement over the two days. A huge thanks to Shas Baker for setting all the arrangements in place, and we all loved Toni, her generosity, care in helping us achieve and solve problems, her wonderful patience, and exceeding good humour. Everyone who was lucky enough to attend either or both of the gold workshops all agreed that the experience was greatly enjoyable. Thank you, Toni, for sharing your knowledge!
Evening presentations
Will I give a presentation one evening? Of course! I’ll bring my hard drive / laptop but I’ll need a projector and screen.
If you’re interested in hosting a workshop do get in touch at toniwatts@live.co.uk. I look forward to hearing from you!
A huge thank you to all my international hosts who have done such a great job of organising workshops and to my students for working so hard and producing such amazing work!
I can’t thank Toni enough for inspiring and teaching us so many techniques, giving us the freedom to move forward to create our own work. I, along with the others, genuinely can’t wait till you come back again to ‘up our game’ some more. We love you, Toni! Until next time…