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By Jackie, April 18, 2012 6:27 am

I am so excited to be apart of Quilting Arts‘  awesome new eMag called Surface Explorations. I’m still pinching  myself to make sure this is really happening.  This thing is packed with some really great techniques (from some really talented artists) that I can’t wait to try out myself.

I am introducing a cool technique that I call Improvisational Imprinting. Want to know how to screen print a lot of amazing color down onto your fabric with items you may already have at home and watercolor crayons? It is a messy process but well worth the effort.

One tip that I don’t mention in the article is that once everything is done and dry you can go back afterwards and add even more color with watercolor pastels, paint, pens or whatever strikes you. For example in the first piece above, I blended three separate images together and gave the piece a little more visual pop with the mediums I just mentioned. Even after all that you can still go back and stitch, bead, etc.

Alright, I’ll admit that I’ve never bought an eMag before, but this one is pretty cool. The navigation of it is fun, there is always something to click on for more information about tools, tips or the artists.  Did I mention that there are videos included. Yes, even one of me (special thanks to my awesome husband, Victor for being my audio/video specialist). So what are you waiting for? Go check it out!

Here’s where:

http://www.interweavestore.com/Quilting/Magazines/eMags.html?SessionThemeID=16

Tomorrow’s stop on the blog tour is Lyric Kinard. Yup, I’m a fan.

Here’s the blog tour line up for the week:

Mon 4/16 Lindsey Murray http://quiltingdaily.com

Tues /17 Jamie Fingal http://jamiefingaldesigns.blogspot.com

Wed 4/18 Jackie Lams http://studiolams.com

Thu 4/19 Lyric Kinard http://lyrickinard.blogspot.com

Fri 4/20 April Sproule http://sproulestudios.blogspot.com

Mon 4/23 Leslie Jenison http://leslietuckerjenison.blogspot.com

Tues 4/24 Jane Davila http://janedavila.blogspot.com

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By Jackie, April 16, 2012 8:48 am

I have an ever growing pile of sketchbooks full of random little sketches and doodles. It seemed like there should be something useful I could do with some of it, instead of just creating more piles.  Well, good news, there was. I turned it into custom designed fabric for the next masterpiece.

This piece started as a scrap fabric with random screen prints that I cut up and stuck into a big sketchbook.  I colored it with watercolor pastels and markers, then took to sketching designs all over it. Here’s what some of the sketches looked like before I finished.

Once I filled up every last corner with doodles I scanned it into Adobe Photoshop, duplicated, flipped and mirrored the image in order to create a new composition. I also digitally colored the image and  over saturated it because it was going to be printed on fabric and I did not want it to look faded. I uploaded the finished design, built to size, to Spoonflower.com. I went with a cotton sateen fabric. Yes, a little more money but the design was very vibrant, which is what I wanted,  so well worth the extra money and effort.

The finished piece is 36″ x 36″ on a stretched canvas. I did add a layer of fusible batting under the fabric, then I machine stitched a few small areas. I also embellished with small squares of stained glass and a few beads. It is currently on display at the Huron Valley Council for the Arts in a duo show I’m doing with Lynn Krawczyk. I would love for you to go check it out!

Don’t you have a good doodle some where waiting to be more?

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By Jackie, April 4, 2012 3:16 pm

Today Lynn and I hung up our show at the Huron Valley Council for the Arts. We were delighted to have such wonderful help from the volunteers who sped up the whole process of hanging our work. Hooray for volunteers! The show run all of April and the opening is this Friday night. We would love to see you there!