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Today on her blog, iHanna shares some great ideas to spark your creativity. Here is a sample:
1. Doodle big on brown paper and colour it in with crayons or paint
2. Take an art journal class with me and sponsor my work while you learn new things
3. Sign up for the Sketchbook Project and spread your art into the world
4. Make a library pocket from recycled papers
As I mentioned previously, I will be attending the Certified Zentangle Teacher (CZT) workshop in October. If you are interested in Zentangle art, or classes, you can follow my new blog, Zentangle Harmony.
The new fall issue of A Needle Pulling Thread magazine features an article about me, as well as a tutorial for a bead embroidered pin called Autumn Swirl. The article looks great, there’s even a photo of a model wearing my pin!
I just received two new Zentangle books from Design Originals. One is Zentangle 3, the newest in a series by Suzanne McNeill, and Totally Tangled by Zentangle instructor Sandy Bartholomew.
The books contain lots more patterns for your tangling pleasure.
I thought I had lost this, but it turned up yesterday. This is the tissue box cover I made to match the Cubicle-Sweet-Cubicle piece.
Sister Diane at CraftyPod recently posted a great blog entry about making jewelry with plastic canvas. Now plastic canvas has been the butt of many jokes over the years, but I had to share one of my creations from the 1980′s.
This was prominently displayed in my cubicle for many years… But now that I no longer work in a cubicle farm, I’ll concentrate on making jewelry.
By the way, plastic canvas figured prominently in a recent video on CraftyPod titled Craft supplies I am no longer allowed to buy.
Since our big move last year, I joined several art guilds here in St. Thomas (Ontario). The guilds have one or more art show every year, and I wanted to have something more substantial than my jewelry to display. So I came up with a way to make a bead embroidery piece for wall display. Here is the piece I came up with:
I started with this luscious batik fabric which I thought would be perfect for an underwater piece, along with an 11×14-inch stretched canvas.
First, I applied some Pellon fusible web to the back of the fabric, to give it body for stitching.
I placed the canvas on the fabric, drew a chalk line around it.. Then I basted along the line, so that I’ll know where the edges of the canvas are going to be.
I then drew some simple fish, freehand, with a chalk pencil. This is still rough and subject to change.
Now I went through my stash and pulled out some beads that I thought would fit in with the goldfish and undersea theme.
Using the back stitch, I stitched the outline of the fish with orange seed beads, and some red ones for the whimsical mouth. I also added the eye, which is a faceted fire-polish bead, flanked by two orange seed beads.
Still using the back stitch, I filled in the two fish with orange and white beads. Also, instead of the third fish, I decided to make a few smaller fish. You can decide whether they are full-size fish in the distance, or babies up close.
I added strings of white beads to outline the fins, so that they look transparent.
I added a bit of greenery, using both the back stitch and the stack stitch.
I also added a few shiny sequins, affixed with small seed beads using the stack stitch.
Finally, I stretched the piece around the canvas and stapled it on the back.
One of the great things about bead embroidery is how easy is it to start. You can create beautiful pieces using only these two stitches.
The back stitch is by far the most often used stitch in bead embroidery. You start by bringing your needle up through the fabric. String a few beads (five or more if you’re going in a straight line, less if you’re making a curve), and pull the beads close to the fabric surface. Bring down your needle through the fabric. Bring your needle back and up through the fabric between two of the beads, and take your needle through the remaining beads. You are now positioned for the next back stitch.
You can use the back stitch for stitching lines, straight or curves, and for filling an area with beads.
The stack stitch is very versatile. You can use two beads, one bigger and one smaller. Bring your needle up through the fabric and through the larger bead. Pick up the smaller bead, and then go back down through the larger bead and the fabric. I think of this as the French Knot of bead embroidery.
You can use the same technique for a whole stack of beads, or for fringe.
I’ll be referring to these stitches in my bead embroidery tutorials.
Sharon Tomlinson is getting ready to start a new online course, Faces in Technicolor.
I have been taking Sharon’s other online class, Faces, and I am still working on it. The classes consist of a series of videos, together with a discussion forum where you can interact with Sharon and all the other students. I hope I’ll see some of you in one or both of these classes.
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