Snowy day and kids are already bored. Yes, it snows in Greece, too :) But it rarely accumulates. So it's not enough for them to release their energy outside making and throwing snow balls. Now we have decided to sit in and engage with an indoor activity, my favourite, doodling! But this time, we upgrade it by doing so on a fabric.
We need:
-Pretreated Cotton Fabric (you can find how to do that <here>)
-Felt tip markers for fabrics
-Sponges or Brushes
-Waterbased non-toxic fabric paints
-Plastic cups for diluting paints
We started by just making any shape we like with the markers, then connected lines from one to another. There were 3 of us, so we took 1 corner each and rotated the canvas as we went. When we were done, we air dried it, then splashed (more like bombing!) diluted fabric paints with the sponges on it. But I wished if I had heat fastened the first ink before the fabric paints rather than just air-dried. Some of the marker ink ran and left a dark smear.
Nevertheless, the results were more delightful than we anticipated. But I was more surprised with the kids who engaged throughout the whole process for hours without even a break.
This was definitely a great indoor activity. It gives you a bonus to go on for another day because now we are sewing these :) So to be <continued>....
I don't know if it's the Spring seems so close by. I woke up with a creativity fully charged one morning and finally decided that I want to start by making a skirt for my daughter with the <first digitally printed fabric>. And I knew just where to look for the inspiration. I stumbled across with a gorgeous <pin> the other day. Simple, modern and original yet so elegant. Just the type of skirt that would complement the design of the fabric. I also found a kind and well described <tutorial>, which I followed most of the steps while making this skirt. It was straight forward procedure from the start till the end which I enjoyed thoroughly. And most of all, the smile and a thank you hug from my daughter! was joyful. =)
This fabric is now available at my etsy shop
Relocation, school year ending, kids parties...beginning of the summer is fun everyday, but we really have to stretch ourselves. Today I want to share some illustrations I did for relaxation to unwind from this crowded schedule.
It is something I always wanted to do, to draw the face of my kids together with their favorite things at that age. My boy 4 years old, he loves dinosaurs, cars and panda. My girl 6 years old, she loves horses, dolphins and gemstones/crystals.
I drew mostly with pencil on a plain A3 paper, then with BIC ballpoint pens. Colourings were done with Copic alcohol based markers.
It's been a very warm winter, and I am already bringing in the lighter jackets.
I bought this pretty nude pink short jacket online. It looked great on the model.
But only when its arrived I realised, actually it had way too big puff shoulder for me.
Otherwise a very good jacket for upcoming spring, so I decided that I needed to volume it down a bit.
I didn't want to remove the entire sleeve and redo it, so I first opened top half of the shoulder by unstiching it from the lining side.
As you can see, the sleeve side of the shoulder is much longer than the armhole side.
So I regathered the sleeve and sew roughly with a red thread (for me to find it later and remove it) along the armhole side of the shoulder curve.
I tried it on once to see the sleeve length and the shoulder is not too tight or be shortened too much. I then trimmed back the excess fabric, which I kept to use it for measurement for the other sleeve later. I sew it back along the red thread with a sewing machine and closed it from the lining side also....and Done!
This one is going to be treasured this spring. :) Well I first have to fix the other sleeve for sure!
Although I still enjoy mixing dyes and get my hands dirty. My experiments with <hand-painting fabrics> gave me a wonderful idea to my next step. I wanted to take these projects a little further by going digital.
So I got right on it and made few designs with my dearest old pal, photoshop :) At first it didn't come out right, because it wasn't a flowing process like painting directly on a fabric. It took a lot of tweaking and staring at the screen, back and forth until I finally came to a print design I could say, YES to.
I also did a lot of research to decide where to print it. Digital printing on a fabric for a small quantity and with a good quality didn't come easy locally. In the end I found <a workshop in Japan> who custom prints but keeps the tradition of kimono fabric making. So I sent the digital file to the printing shop in Japan. Unfortunately, they don't send their products oversea, so I had to arranged it otherwise. They deliver the products in 7days to a local address. For me 3wks, and now....Ta-da!
It had finally arrived! I am overjoyed. The quality is what they promised it would be. Very beautiful cotton 100% poplin, with very clear and vibrant colour!
Cannot wait to make these into little....<many things>!
I continued with my little "up-cycling duvet cover projects" and made more dresses for my little girl and a bag, until I finally ran out of the cotton pieces made from that cover.
To my pleasant surprise, these small things I made led to few more requests of bags and gadget cases from my family and friends. This was a wonderful opportunity for me to experiment with different fabrics, and on a new one this time!
Painting on new fabric was different from the used one. Firstly because I needed to pre-treat it before I could paint on it.
My pre-treatment of the fabric is quite simple, I first sew the edges of the fabric in zigzag to stop it from fraying. Then wash it with a washing machine like I normally wash clothes without a softener. Because softener seems to leave a coating on surface of the fabric, and may prevent the paints and dyes to lock on the fibers....resulting in discoloring after the first wash.
After few tries I discovered that I prefer to draw on a natural material like cotton or linen, because the colour appears more vibrant and also the paints seem to engage better with the fibers.
When I finish with the drawing I usually leave it over a night to make sure it is completely dry, then heat fasten the colour by ironing it. Next, I wash the fabric to remove the excess paints and dyes. After the first wash, whatever you see usually stays.
I also tried on T-shirts, which ended up as a disaster at first. I was starting by painting outlines with a felt tip pen type of paints at that time, but drawing on a stretchy fabric meant that you cannot apply a pressure on the fabric otherwise would smear easily. So I now use brushes only on t-shirts to draw.
So this is how my experiments with new fabrics turned out. Discoveries one after another, and so much fun!
Visit my gallery of past little projects <here>! :)
My title image of this blog was created in an application called PAPER by 53. And it is my latest addiction. To my surprise this application replicates the feel of drawing on an actual paper more accurately than any thing I have tried before. And I am totally hooked by its flowy process of creating a digital illustration.
Not long ago they have released their original stlyus pen called, guess what? Pencil!
I ordered my pencil just last week, and now its here! hoooray! I'm well excited.
Everyone, meet Pencil ↓
I read several reviews on Pencil before purchasing. Many reviews said it is the best stylus pen they have tried, but I was still skeptical. Firstly because I couldn't quite tell the size of it. There was a specification of its dimentions, but what I wanted to know was more of "how would it feel in my hand?" Regular pencil is thinner and in cylinder or octagonal? This one seems to be flat and fat. But don't worry, it actually feels more comfortable this way than I imagined.
Although start using pencil is as simple as just one tap on its palette's Pencil icon, I had few tries before Pencil actually connected to my ipad. I needed to restart my ipad in order for it to connect. Pencil activates a feature of the application called "blend". It is like rubbing charcoal powders on a paper, or a term more familiar to me is blurring.
The tip of the Pencil is a rubber cap on something solid underneath, it is not a solid rubber. And there is a small air gap between this solid core and the rubber cover. There is also a replacement tip attached to the first purchase.
Overall I am happy with this newest gadget added to my collection, it is beautiful and made with care. Paper and a pencil, it is a perfect couple ! And I am looking forward to experiment with it more. :)
