Day 14: Paintsticks

I had scheduled two days to play with Painsticks in the belief that I would have so much fun, and I had been working so hard all month already, that I deserved an extra day to play.

I've decided that one day is enough.

Don't get me wrong. I think that Paintsticks could be loads of fun for the right person. I just found working with them awkward. I much prefer working with liquid paints and paintbrushes. I am no great artistic painter - I've never painted on canvas. The last time I painted on anything other than fabric was probably in Kindergarten.

Just the same, here's how my time working with Painsticks went. I first tried out the different colors on black, white and a variety of colors. This seemed to use alot paint. I bought mini sticks (glad that I did) and used up a good quarter of the sticks for simple coloring. Crayola crayons last longer.

Here's a photo of the workspace.

I protected my work surface with plastic and taped down the hand dyed fabrics with masking tape. After I finished working with the fabric squares, I put them up on my design wall. I will heat set them later on.

The next thing I tried was to use the rubbing plates. I bought the leaves and found that you really have to layer paint in order to make them interesting. Also, the plates have a tendency to move underneath the fabric, so you can get a muddy effect.

My conclusion: Paintsticks can be fun, but they have some issues. These are my opinions only. Your mileage may vary.

• You have less control than will paint brushes. Yes, you can use brushes, but if you're going to do that, why not just use paint? And, yes, you can use stencils, but the paint is thick and you really have to work the brush and then you run into problems ensuring that the paint stays above the stencil.
• You have to peel off a protective 'skin' that forms over the top of the Paintstick. The book claims you can 'pinch' off the skin, but I tried mightily and had to resort to a sharp craft knife. Then I had little bits of the skin falling onto the floor. I'm pretty sure I'll end up with some permanently marking up my carpet, even though I've tried to find all the bits. So, cleanup is actually more difficult (in my opinion).
• You have to heat set the work, unless you are willing to wait several days for the paint to cure. I don't know about you, but I don't have extra craft space to wait for work to cure. I have to protect my ironing surface with several sheets of newsprint (unprinted) in case the paint leaks. That's a pain.

These are my opinions only. Your mileage may vary.

Day 13: Hand embroidery

I learned to embroider when I was a small child. My grandmother was Ukrainian and embroidered linens and my aunt taught me to cross stitch. It wasn't until I was a working adult that I discovered quilting and, like many obsessive-compulsive people, virtually gave up all other crafts in favor of quilting.

This summer the Western Washington Shop Hop was held in July and I was able to hop from store to store for three glorious days - 36 stores in total. There were quite a few blocks that included embroidery in the block. Once I got my hands back working on the hand stitching in the hoop, I was reminded of how peaceful the act of embroidery is. The block below is just one of the blocks I created. It was designed by Carriage Country Quilts in Des Moines, WA.



During shop hop I browsed many stores with extensive embroidery patterns and kits. One that immediately caught my eye was called "Zelda's Fancy Hat" by Crabapple Hill. The Halloween-themed hat was actually a pillow to be used as decoration, but I couldn't imagine putting the work into the hat and then NOT wearing it! I finished it in time for the beginning of October and to wear it to my quilt guild meeting. I bought a cheap $1.99 witch hat at my local Target store and cannabalized the wire in the rim for my hat.

When I decided to work on the hat, I realized I wanted to use the very cool (but expensive) hand-dyed floss the kit recommended. I ordered the floss, handily packaged together, from the Crabapple Hill website and, as happens to me alot, I found other items that I just couldn't live without. Since I was already getting excited about Halloween, and since the pattern I saw had elements from the Wizard of Oz (the greatest movie ever!), I had to buy the Hocuspocusville pattern which combined embroidery, the Wizard of Oz and quilting in one gorgeous quilt. Below is one of the 12 (count 'em twelve) large embroidery blocks in the quilt that I just began work on. I like to keep hand work handy (no pun intended) for when I am sitting in front of the television in the evening - it keeps my hands away from the chips.

Day 12: Background design

In the Circle Play class, I found a new way to create interesting backgrounds. I like to sketch things out first before I start cutting out fabric. Others like to work directly with the fabric. Below are the two pages of designs I created.

Out of these four designs, I liked the interlinked triangles the best.

These designs lend themselves well to charm squares, those 6 inch squares of fabric we all collect at out quilting guilds. I had a Christmas packet in my stash. I used the reds and greens within the packet and added a gold as the light color. Below is the result.

When I add the circles on top of this background, I have a feeling that they will give the look of Christmas ornaments. I could also use other shapes and perhaps a cherub motif or stars as the foreground.

For now, though, this will go into the drawer of "stuff I may never finish."

Day 11: Border control

No, not US borders, quilt borders.

Today, when all the football games were over, I took time to work on border design for the project begun during the Circle Play class. Here's the original piece, just the background, without the circles and unstitched together.

Nice spiral. So far so good.

This is what it looked like after I stitched together the background, added the circles, turned it on point and added triangles.

I like the piece on point but with the circles, it's still a bit flat to me.

This is what it looks like now with the borders added.

The borders make all the difference in the world to me. The small red border really pops and enlivens the piece. The contrast of the border triangles with the border supports the shape and movement of the piece. All of a sudden, the circles float above the surface and I can see some life and excitement.

Now, what am I going to do about quilting it that will enhance it without making it too busy?

That's a task best left for another day.

Day 10: Motifs and postcards

Today I took a look at motifs. I took the square in a square and altered it to create a few different versions. The resulting composition, created onto a postcard, kind of looks like a robot face to me.

The original motif, the square in a square is actually the square at the bottom. In the original square in a square, there is a foreground and background. The 'background' is part of the background for the whole postcard, the block disappears and forms just a square.

I then added another border around the square in square and ended up with the image on the upper lefthand side. The raccoon eye. After that, I split up the border into line segements creating the final and third image on the upper right.

Metallic thread in a zig zag pattern helps to highlight the pieces.

Day Nine: Scale

Today I studied scale. I took the very simple, square in a square motif and created blocks in varying sizes. I tried to vary the sizes in order to create a pleasing composition.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with the composition, however, the fabric choices have a higher contrast than I had anticipated. I was trying to go for something subtler. I am a big fan of Janet Steadman's work and her ability to use such a low contrast and still create beautiful pieces.

Guess I may need to focus on color, hue and contrast a bit more...

Day Eight: Illusion of Depth

Today's exercise was a study of the illusion of depth. Depth can be created by varying the size of objects - objects closer are larger, by varying the hue - objects in this composition get darker as they are farther away (I understand that this is backwards from reality - my art ignorance is showing), and by using quilting lines - the lines are further apart when closer and seem to converge as they get further away.

I cut out several sizes of triangles in purple hues. In the composition to the left, it would have been better had there been a subtler variation in the color. The triangles get too dark too quickly in the middle.

Another way to show that an object is closer is to have it not entirely encapsulated in the frame. Notice that the lightest purple and largest triangle does not completely show up on the page. Just as if you had a camera lens focused on objects, one that is very close may not entirely be able to be seen within the frame.

The original schedule has changed. I found that there were exercises scheduled that overlapped work that I will already do and that there were techniques I wanted to study that had not made it on the list. I also had to bear in mind that I will be on quilt retreat for several days toward the end of the month so the exercises are tailored toward an environment where I will not have the abundance of resources I have in my home studio.