Creative Retreat #2 - 2018 Fabric Printing and Stamping

On Day Two of our Creative Retreat last weekend, I taught Fabric Stamping and Printing. It was a smaller class than Day One but so much was accomplished. Unfortunately I didn't remember to take as many photos as Day One. Oh well. 

I envisioned this day as teaching Fabric Stamping in the morning and Linoleum Block Printing in the afternoon. With only three students there was more leeway to design the day to capture their interests.  In the morning we did do Fabric Stamping. I have a photo of 2 of the 3 projects. 

Stephanie has been here several times. She designed a pillow top that she will embroider to match the pillow top she printed and embroidered last year. Here is her foam stamp and the finished pillow top. She used a cork to make the circles.  

Here is a photo of Stephanie's stamped and embroidered pillow from last year and the new pillow top. Stephanie travels a lot so she is finding the embroidery a great thing to take to do on planes and public transport. (I'm with you on that Stephanie!)

I don't have a photo of Jan's bag she made - oops. 

Here is a project Cynthia has been working on for a couple of years. She is printing on navy and white ticking. I love how the shapes play together and how the colors overlap. I think this would make awesome fabric for upholstery (but that would take more time than I know Cynthia has). 

Just after lunch I showed everyone how to take a photo of a stamped motif and bring it into Photoshop. In PS, I tweak it a bit and saved it. Then I brought the image into the Spoonflower website and showed everyone how to use the program. I know there are many people who are very adept at Spoonflower but there are also folks who would like to try it and don't know how to start. 

Here is the photo of my stamp. 

Here is the page from Spoonflower where I demo-ed how the site works. 

Later in the afternoon, we went back down to the studio and Stephanie and Jan kept working. Jan continued work on her painted tabletop. Stephanie had brought a very cool project to work on.....

Stephanie's husband David had use of a laser cutter at his office. Stephanie asked him to cut out a series of different size ovals and circles out of a piece of adhesive foam. She brought both the circles and the piece of foam from which they were cut. We were all so excited about the possibilities of a laser cutter. I have never had the use of one and perhaps one of my readers might be able to give me a headsup to a scaled down home version vs the $5,000 model. Julia used a laser cutter and engraver in her woodshop class a couple of years ago and I was jealous. 

Stephanie mounted the circles and ovals onto foam. She used a brayer and block printing inks to apply the ink.

Here is her block and a piece of fabric which is printed with 4 of the blocks. 

Next she mounted the sheet of foam that the circles were cut from with the laser cutter. She inked that block and printed on the same green linen and on a canvas bag. 

Imagine the possibilites! I was so excited about her project. Maybe the laser cutters will come down in price so that individual artists can use them. Maybe they already have. For any of you familiar with the Cricut machine - does it cut adhesive backed foam that is about 1/4" thick? 

As with each Creative Retreat* - we had a bit of a hiccup when the plumbing pipe from the kitchen clogged and the basement sink filled up. Ooooppps. This has happened to the sink one other time in the 20 years we have lived in our farmhouse. Of course it had to happen when I had guests! Cynthia tried to plunge it out. No luck. I put some high power plumbing green blaster down it. Still no luck. Stephanie called her hubby David who was staying in the area with her. He went to Home Depot, bought a snake and was a real hero. After lots of work, 20 feet of the snake and a change of clothes, David cleared the drain. Thank you David. I do need to call the plumber who cleared it once before so I don't have the same problem this winter. I guess the clogged pipe will be a memory for everyone! 

*In past retreats, Nessie, the Border Collie, got skunked the night before and the toilet clogged on the very first retreat. Country living! 

Thanks to everyone who came to the second Creative Retreat of 2018. It was such a great weekend and I am still reeling from all the conversations and ideas that were floated around. I hope some more of you might be able to come to a future Creative Retreat here at our farm in western Massachusetts. 

Sew Much More Podcast with Ceil Diguglielmo + Kim's Chairs

I was delighted to be asked to be on the "Sew Much More" Podcast hosted by Ceil Diguglielmo. Ceil has been a maker of window treatments and began her podcast a few years ago as a way to branch out beyond just making. She is a great conversationalist and we had a fun chat. We talked about all kinds of things. It is a bit of a long episode - maybe I talked too much. Here is the link to the episode. 

You can check out all her podcast interviews on her site here. Thanks so much Ceil for helping to spread the word about my work. I was especially excited to be on this podcast because I would be reaching a whole new group of folks who do not know anything about what I do. The nice thing though is they are all very into fabric and design and so they might be interested in the things I am doing now. 

In other news, my friend Kim from Kim's Upsholstery is doing up a set of Victorian chairs. She purchased my new Mod Suzani Fabric for the upholstery. Here is a link to Kim's YouTube Channel where you can find many amazing DIY videos. Kim painted the chairs with a paint line I had never heard of called Debi's Design Diary's DIY Paints. There are so many great women out there doing interesting things - aren't there? 

Here is a small picture of the Mod Suzani Fabric that I designed and Kim will be using. You too can purchase it on over 25 types of fabric, wallpaper and gift wrap over on my Spoonflower shop here. 

Hope to see some of you at the Webs Tent and Fleece Sale in Northampton tomorrow. The event happens rain or shine.  I will be set up with our local lamb. I will be bringing my books and other products with me but if it starts raining like crazy, I will put them away - books, paper and rain do not do good together. 

Fabric Printing + Embroidery Creative Retreat WrapUp - Day One

The second Creative Retreat here at Leyden Glen Farm was this past weekend. I had a small group of 4 students but we all had a fantastic couple of days together. Although I prefer a larger group for my income stream I actually do enjoy the dynamics of a small group of students. Classes are never big here - 8 people maximum. If you have ever taken classes in hotels and conventions, you can only imagine how much better the setting is in my studio. Every student that has ventured to our farm has been a wonderful, open, talented woman - anxious to soak up every bit of inspiration I can give. It is pretty cool that many students have returned for a second and third Retreat. 

This was the first time I have taught Fabric Printing + Embroidery and boy - was it fun for me and for all the students. My concept was to teach how to do simple fabric printing on Day One. It is a technique I have developed over the years. It is featured in Crafting A Colorful Home and I will be showcasing more of it in my upcoming book. This technique is one which anyone can re-create in their home with limited materials and space and that is why I keep doing it. 

We began by talking about motif design and then the students jumped into designing their own motifs and printing some canvas bags. Here are some process photos. 

And here is one of the finished bags. The others were beautiful but it's hard for me to keep on message, teach and take photos too! OOOOPS. 

We broke for lunch on the porch. It was a gorgeous day with no humidity. Perfect.

In the afternoon, we talked about different kinds of paint and printing inks. We also talked about how printing the next piece would be different from their bag. The second piece was to become the basis for their embroidery on Day Two. 

Each student came with some ideas for their embroidery project which was the homework assignment. It was fun to see their inspirations morph into printed fabrics. 

Lee was inspired by the artwork of Angie Lewin.

Nancy wanted to recreate my Paisley Pillow Project. 

Amy is a fan of Mid Century Modern Design. 

Lauren was inspired by a fabric she picked up in Scandinavia. 

Here the students are looking over each other's work and discussing what they would have changed next time. The first time for every technique is always a learning process and I can never stress enough how each project will improve with practice and thought. 

More tomorrow. 

There is one more Creative Retreat this year. It is a Knitting, Steeking, and Embroidery on Knits Class and it is September 24/25. Check it out here. There are a few spaces available. Come join the fun. Considering the weather, the leaves will be changing by then. 

Lampshade Painting/Fabric Printing Retreat 2016 - Day Two

Wow - the past weekend was certainly a whirlwind. Day One of the first Creative Retreat here at our farm went great. Day Two was Lampshade Painting Day. I had never taught this class so I wasn't sure how it would go. The first time teaching any new subject is always a bit of an experiment - kind of like doing a craft for the first time. 

I must say, I think it was successful. Although there was a whole lot packed into the day, almost everyone finished their lampshade. If they didn't, I sent them off with paint and the where with all to finish. 

It is always so amazing to me how each project made differs so much in the end. That is how it is with individual art making - you see the personality of the artist coming out - even if they are not very experienced at painting or making. 

Here are photos from the first half of the day. Students had to plan their lampshades and then begin. Blank canvas fear for sure but I could slowly see their confidence increase and they began relaxing into the brush and the paint and the creativity. 

Some of the lampshades I have painted for inspiration amongst the jumble of the studio. 

Everyone is working away - deep in concentration. 

They barely wanted to stop for lunch. We decided to take a photo of the half way mark in front of my shed. 

And then they got loopy! 

Lunch was awesome - thanks to my friends Cathy and Cynthia who were helping for the weekend. 

All afternoon, everyone painted their heart out. It was a race to finish. Perhaps next time I will suggest smaller shades but truth be told, I think no matter how long they had or what size lampshade, I still think it would have been tough to finish. 

Here are the finished and almost finished lampshades. Aren't they fantastic? 

Here are a few more views. 

I'm hoping everyone will send a photo of their shade in their home. That would be fun. I am so proud of all the students. What a great day and such good work and art made. 

I will definitely be teaching this class again next year. To find out when, make sure you sign up for my newsletter at the top right of the sidebar. 

FYI: On July 30th I have the second Fabric Printing Day here at the farm. There are still 3 spaces available if you are interested. The price is $250 for the day and it includes morning food, full farm lunch, and all supplies. More info here to sign up. If you have any questions, please send them on to kristinnicholasATgmailDOTcom. There is an Add-on Day too which is Crewel Embroidery for $160.

Garden Shed Floor Project Update

I've been working away on the floor of the newly renovated Garden Shed. I'm pushing to get this project done so that I can move on from painting with brushes to printing fabrics and more. This week I decided to paint a faux rug design featuring easy to paint flowers. 

I began by drawing and cutting out 3 different size flowers out of a heavy paper. These were my templates. After I had the shapes, I used a quilting ruler to measure out a large square in the center of the room. Here is the start to the project with a border painted.

Next I began tracing the flowers on the plywood floor - placing them randomly. 

I painted them in. 

I tried a few different colors to determine the background color. 

I decided I didn't like any of them and painted over them with the original light pink color. Then I added the centers to the flowers. 

Then it was to decide on the background color and do that. I chose a color I thought was bright pink but now looks more purple. I think I like it though. Lots of painting in the background and having to be very careful working around the shapes. 

Lastly, I added a bright lime colored inner border. 

Here's what it looks like after one coat on the border and background. I am going to add second coats to both of them - hopefully this afternoon. 

I'm not sure if I am going to outline the flowers with lines like I usually do. The colors and shapes seem to be working together without lines. It is always hard to know when to stop. Since this is a project I will be writing instructions for, I am thinking I might leave off the lines so that it will be a little easier for people to copy. 

What do you think? Would love to hear.