Something About Nothing

I want to create some mandala fabric on Spoonflower but first I need a repeating pattern.  My first attempt was the good old fashion way of creating a pattern in the middle, then cutting up the paper, rearranging it and finish up the pattern in the middle. Next I scanned this pattern and cleaned it up in photoshop. When I attempted to repeat the pattern I realized I had NOT scanned the entire image! It was off enough that the mandalas didn't line up properly. Sigh. Image before I finished coloring. I'll need to try scanning it again and see if I can get the entire image. Once upon a time I remember learning to create a vector image with Adobe Illustrator. I don't remember it being very hard, but I also don't remember how to do it. I need to learn the process again. In the meantime I decided to create individual mandalas that I can convert in to vector images and then creating repeating patterns digitally. Each mandala is at least a days worth of drawing and coloring. I

The beginnings of the Spring Queen - since the last wasn't called "Winter Queen" who knows what her name will end up being once she is complete. She'll let me know. Hand carved stamp, mask, and printed fabric ready to embroidery quilt. Final paper rough draft. Her face is embroidery quilted. Figuring out colors. Of course I had to order more. Her bangs begin. And of course her hair needs to be pulled back in order to get a beautiful Afro puff. More to come!

 I've been doing some stitching as well as drawing mandalas but I can't share the stitching yet, so here are the mandalas I've created: Playing with colored pens. I discovered how much I like Pitt Pens by Farber Castell . Added some Spirograph designs in to the mandala. I like the extra depth these designs add. Golden paints was giving away some samples of their new So Flat line and I was lucky enough to get one. Looking forward to trying them out! Mister and his Mom's came for a visit. Of course he had to make himself right at home in my studio.

It's been a week of Mandala drawing. Love the color on this Sepia one. Something new for me.  I find making these mindless and relaxing. The only problem is I'm getting sucked in and not doing anything else. Maybe I just needed a break. 

Moving forward with the Season projects. I carved her face in to linoleum but didn't like the way it was printing, so I carved her face in to EcoKarve. EcoKarve is my favorite carving material. It's 100% recycled rubber and besides being easy to carve in to, it also prints nicely.  Sample print - Not worried about getting it perfect. Putting the finishing touches on the Snow Queen. It's not finished until it's labeled! Discovered that Micron makes one of their pens with a plastic nib! This is the fabric pen of my dreams now. I like Micron's but I have a tendency to push too hard and break the nibs. The plastic nibs on these glide along the fabric and don't break! Thank you Micron!!! I've spent most of this week working on a secret project. It's been in the works for a year, and I look forward to revealing it all in the next month or so. I have a big list of stuff I need to finish: Fabric to be dyed for the Season Queens, blocks to be stitched for the gra