dragonflies

A River Runs Through it: Creating Stunning River background with Oil Paint Sticks

| ellenanneeddy

You know I go crazy over oil paint stick rubbing. My first tries with rubbings were not successful. But at this point, I use them regularly to texturize backgrounds. Mostly I use commercial rubbing plates. They’re pretty and flexible. But they’re not very big. The technique lends itself to smaller pieces. They’re fun. But covering a half yard of fabric with a 6″ square design takes forever

This was a leftover piece for it. I love it but it’s just too small. And I wanted a piece that would give me perspective on the river I wanted to build for my frog river.

I love this background. I found I had a leftover frog and dragonfly, and they suited each other quite well. But the fabric didn’t feel enough like a river. It needed water and rocks.

. Unfortunately, I haven’t found any rock rubbing plates.That just meant I wasn’t looking in the right place. Lowes has some rock backsplash tile I’d purchased. I love the texture.

Here’s the extra rock tiles I found. They are backsplash tiles from Lowes. They are on a thread mesh, but they are real rocks.

Rivers are often defined by the pebbles at the bottom. So I decided to build my river with some rock rubbings.

So I went back to Lowes. In the backsplash section, I found a collection of rock tiles in different sizes.

I also picked some rubbing plates that make good river foliage.

I drew some chalk lines to show me where to put the river. Then I began with the smallest rock tile

I went to the larger rocks landing at the bottom. Then I rubbed blue and purple ripples through the river area.

This is subtle. But I do like it. Here the frog and the dragonfly fit into the river and sky. I’m planning on minnows and cat tails along the edges.

I finished off the composition with water patterns over the rocks. Then I added a layer of blue and green sheers for that wet look. I can hear the water running

What’s the take away? I can build depth into my piece by making a path that starts near me and gets smaller as it retreats. I also can find stones and tiles that pass as rubbing stones at any good hardware store. And I can make a river out of a paint stick, a backsplash of rocks, and a water rubbing plate on top of them. That’s a lot to ask of a piece of fabric and some paint. But we all know that oil paint stick-rubbed fabric is a magic of its own.

Check out this earlier blog on working with oil paint sticks if you’d like a tutorial on using paint sticks.

Bringing Books Back to Life: Reprinting My Classroom Books

| ellenanneeddy

Over the years I’ve written a lot of books, small and large for quilter. When I was a child I believed that you could always get a book that had been printed. I was in high school when Eileen Driscoll, my English teacher, made us look for books out of print. Then I understood that a book wasn’t necessarily forever. Books go out of print. And then they’re just not available in the same way.

Books are primarily for a particular audience and purpose. We don’t think about that as we buy books, but the publishers always have that in mind. As a writer, I’ve learned to do that too. You need to have a pretty clear image of who you’re writing for and what they’ll use it for.

I’ve done a series of classroom books that were written primarily to be classroom notes for students. I put a lot of love and care into those booklets. They are not a catalog of skills or a huge gallery of pictures. What I was aiming for was a set of notes and pictures you’d want to keep as a reference after a particular class.

I’m proud of those books! They have patterns, step-by-step photos, a gallery, tips, and source information. They were never intended to be comprehensive. And they were self-published, which always costs more than going through a publisher. Some people were disappointed by their size. But they were always meant as classroom support, to as a comprehensive text.

I had a number of these books I’d printed for class. At one point, my printer stopped doing the saddle-stitch format they were in and they went out of print.

For more information about classroom books, see Classroom Books, Some thoughts about what you leave your students with.

But since I’m teaching Dragonfly Sky I decided to reprint two of those books together as one volume.

So Dragonfly Sky and Ladybug’s Garden are reprinted as one book, and are available in paperback now on Amazon. Kindle copy coming soon.

That’s good, because they cover the two classes I’m doing at Peoria Art Guild, September 9-10th.

Peoria Art Guild 

Natural Threads Ellen Anne Eddy Show September 1-28

Peoria Art Guild, 203 Harrison St, Peoria, IL, 61602, 309 637 2787 

Hours: Monday 9-4, Tuesday 9-6:30, Wednesday 9-6:30, Thursday 9-6:30, Friday 9-4 Saturday 9-2, Sunday CLOSED

Living Large: Strategies for Dealing with Large Quilts

| ellenanneeddy

I almost never do bed quilts. I did them when I was younger and watched them die as I used them. It was too depressing. I occasionally will do a baby quilt or a comfort quilt for someone dealing with illness. Mostly I do art.

And since art doesn’t have to be big, I don’t often make something bed-size to put on the wall. Except when I do,

This heron couldn’t be done smaller. At least I couldn’t do it smaller. He’s 60″ x 52″. He’s pretty much the size of God’s underpants.

There are some strategies for dealing with overlarge quilts. The first three are, don’t. But if you’ve decided it must be large, there are several things you can do that will help.

Strategies for Large Quilts

Break it into components. For myself, that means the embroideries. I do them separately and then apply them when the top is ready. But it might be working in rows or in segments. Different quilts will suggest different approaches.

Use larger details. Scaling up the design means there’s less work in it. Sometimes extensive detail just looks ditsy on a larger piece.

Buy extra sewing machine needles. Larger quilts require more tugging and pulling and that will break needles. Promise.

If you have a machine with a wider arm, this is the moment. The arm of your machine is the space between the needle and the mechanical right end. A lot of manufacturers make machines with a longer arm. That’s extra room to shove the quilt through the machine. It can be very helpful.

Use a design wall where you can walk away and really see your design. A design wall should be big enough to accommodate your work and in a big enough space where you can walk away and really look at it. For more information about making and using a design wall, here’s a blog post on it: Studio Essentials: The Glories of the Design Wall.

The other helper is what we used to call bicycle clamps. Roll your quilt, clamp them with these clamps and then you can maneuver it easier.

I don’t do large quilts often. But they do really make a punchline in a gallery show. So this heron is promised to a show at the Peoria Art Guild in September. We should have him crowing by then.

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New Quilts on Sale: Just in Time for Mother’s Day

| ellenanneeddy

I just finished a new batch of smaller quilts and put them on sale on my Etsy shop! 15% off until May 22. Just in time for Mother’s Day.

And in case, upi can have one for yourself.

Quilts on sale now! Etsy Shop

Translucence: Making Stitchery Look Transparent

| ellenanneeddy

I’ve been rethinking how I usually make my dragonflies for my quilt Great Blue. I picked up some new research books and I was struck how very transparent and translucent their wings were. How could I do that?

Dissolvable stabilizer really is transparent and has that look. But it’s made to dissolve if it gets wet. I can’t promise that won’t ever happen. Humidity itself might dissolve the stabilizer.

I’m pretty sure Saran Wrap would tear. Sure enough not to try it.

I I have used organza or lace. It’s a neat look and I like it. But I wanted a more integrated stitched effect. I wanted them to appear to be see-through.

So I thought about it in terms of thread choices. I love Madeira Supertwist. It’s my go-to metallic thread. There are several color ranges. One range is of solid metallic colors. But one of the color ranges is opalescent and crystal. It’s translucent in itself. So I used it in the transparent part of the wings, and the metallic parts in the exoskeleton of the dragonflies.

It doesn’t look transparent exactly. It looks reflective, like glass or water. Not quite what I had in mind, but I think it does the job.

Here’s the difference. This bug is out of solid metallic thread. It makes a bolder statement, more like an exoskeleton than like see-through wings.

All stitchery is a gigo proposition. Good things in, Good things out. When you use excellent threads and get excellent although sometimes unexpected results. I’m going to try these crystalline threads in other ways where I want a translucent look.