Just back from a fun retreat with the Dirty Dozen Fiber Artists, my small fiber art group. We had so much fun being in the same space, creating, collaborating, learning, sewing, gabbing, eating, and laughing! A few highlights: A carrot cake, made FROM SCRATCH by Martha. Those are candied carrots used as decoration. I’d never […]
I needed some leaves for the quilt I’m currently working on. At first, I cut some from fabric and auditioned them. I liked the effect, but thought it would be even better if I added some textured ones. I knew just how to achieve that: melted plastic! I had some new plastics I wanted to […]
I recently attended a demonstration by artist Renee Decator about how she adds texture to her acrylic paintings. She showed us several techniques, including one in which she imprinted textures into heavy body gesso. After spreading the gesso onto her canvas she pressed things like doilies and produce bags into it. This gave immediate interesting texture. […]
After discovering the excitement of doing gesture sketches with charcoal, I decided that I would try to do something similar with fabric and thread. First, I set up a still life composition. Then, I did a quick gesture sketch with a very fat marker, just to practice before going to the sewing machine. (I turned the cup […]
In my recent drawing class, we spent a lot of time doing gesture sketches. These were fast sketches (3 minutes) in which we tried to capture the nature of the subject, without a lot of accuracy. Although these were initially intimidating to my classmates and to me, I eventually came to love them because of their […]
Have you ever made a “friendly” quilt? You know, one that waves? I’ve had that problem multiple times, as can be seen in the quilt above. (It’s lying on a flat table, but it has lots of hills and valleys.) Thankfully, blocking will take care of such problems. I’ve written an article on the subject, which […]
One of the great things about teaching online is that I get to interact with students all over the world. One such case is Nathalie Goosens, from Belgium, who has now taken three classes with me. Nathalie especially enjoyed the Design Your Own Nature Quilt class, which teaches students how to interpret their own photo […]
For the last eight weeks I’ve been participating in a drawing class. Although it’s been challenging (which is the point really,) I’ve definitely gained some skill. In future blogs, I’ll show you examples of some of the various techniques. For now, I’ll show you something better: everyone’s work from last week’s class. Click the image […]
I thought you might be interested in my set up for melting sheers. Since melting plastic releases toxic fumes, I always do it under my cook top’s exhaust vent, with the fan on high. Plus, I always wear a respirator with acid gas filters. The cook top is glass, so it’s a good working surface. […]
Ta-da! It worked. Plan B is better than my first botched attempt! (Click photo for a larger view.) I’ll add some hand stitching to the border/background part, attach the two portions, and this piece will be complete. (Although I think I’ll rotate it 90 degrees to the right.) I’m making this piece to swap with […]
