Microscopic

Swings Asunder

I'm working on my homework backstage while volunteering for Swings Asunder. Go see it if you are in Austin, we have three more shows. I'm drawing inspiration from all the aerialists and masked turtle people in wigs. Here's today's pattern:

Tie Dye with Friends

Last weekend a friend and I did some tie dyeing. I made a couple sarongs, and she made a lovely dress. I am also really happy that I've finally found the perfect blue-green: Kingfisher green from Dharma Trading Company!

Yellow Owl Workshop Indigo Blue Dye Kit, Pt 2.

I spent over an hour stamping circles of approximately 1 cubic cm on this cotton cloth. Then, I went over it with a hot iron, sandwiching the messy cloth in between two sheets of blank newsprint.

Lastly, I stuck it in the washer to remove excess dye, as well as the resist. I'm a little disappointed in the large white patches. I'm guessing I didn't iron enough to set the dye uniformly. Oh well, lesson learned!

Yellow Owl Workshop Indigo Kit, Pt. 1

I recently purchased Yellow Owl Workshop's Indigo Blue Textile Kit, which simulates the look of indigo dye. Tonight I'm decorating a cotton scarf with Elmer's Gel Glue, which will act as a resist when I paint on the blue dye.

I used up the whole bottle of glue, just like an American Kindergartener. (I was working on a craft project in college with a Bulgarian student, who observed how much glue americans used and noted that in his primary school, glue was quite sparse. I've also noted that using too much white glue results in a wrinkly application, yet young children tend to lay it on thick regardless.)

Scales

More geometrics

Today I played around with hexagons and came up with this design. It looks very dimensional depending on the coloration.

Geometric Patterns

Tonight's pattern is based on hexagons.

Green Antlers & Spoonflower contest

My Mom asked me to make a green colorway for my Antler inspired pattern:

Also please take five minutes to vote for me in this week's Kuler Spaces Spoonflower Contest. You may vote for as many designs as you like, but you may only vote once. Remember my design looks like this:

Thanks!

Antler in Sea

This pattern is now available as a Spoonflower print. I think it would be cool as a large-scale wallpaper.

Antler Damask

Tonight's pattern: fantastical antlers.

 

Loopy Colors

I made a few colorations of my loopy damask pattern this weekend using the Adobe Kuler app as part of the latest Spoonflower pattern contest. The app is free, and very addicting! I made about 40 different color schemes so far.

Texture Repeats

I want to add textures to some of my patterns to give them more dimension. This means making repeat textures. Repeats within repeats. Here goes... This first one is a quick experiment. I want to make future textures more subtle.

Loopy Damask

Today I experimented with making a Damask pattern! I discovered the mirror tool in AutoDesk's Sketchbook Pro. I think I will try making more of these.

Working Large

Earlier this summer I visited Houston and stopped by the fabulous Texas Art Supply store. This is one of my favorite art stores ever.* Basically my test for a "good art store" is do they carry litho crayons. It has been 5 years since I did lithography and I no longer have access to stones or a press, but this is still my metric. It's such a historic yet arduous medium that only stores that cater to serious art students would bother to stock such items. Items which generate very little profit, mind you -- litho crayons sell for a couple bucks. There are plenty of stores that cater to more popular media: painting, crafting, drawing, but you're not going to find the cool stuff like cerulean oil paint crayons with a color that makes you salivate (I still want that pigment but I need a plan to use it before I let myself buy it.)

 Okay, so Texas Art Supply is a store where you will be swooning over all the pretty colors and items. I found an urge to work large and loose, and I found these cool paint markers. The tip is about .5 in across.

I used three markers and a big sheet of bristol paper tonight.

My pattern was inspired by tortoises and an incredible design from the 1920s I found here.

*Two other favorite art stores: Flax in San Francisco, and the University Bookstore in Missoula, MT. Have a favorite art store? Please leave a comment, and also let me know if they have litho crayons.

Circles

Tonight I used circles to create a design:

Dim Sum - Final Draft

I did some minor touchups on my Dim Sum pattern and entered it into the weekly Spoonflower contest. Notice I made the basket tops alternate, I replaced one set of pork buns with another potsticker, and I spaced the sesame and pork buns further apart because there were too many white circles in the first draft.

Dim Sum Repeat

Here's my progress on my Dim Sum pattern for Spoonflower's weekly contest. That's right, chicken feet, tripe, and pork bun! This contest has a limited color palette. Odd colors but I've kind of made it work.

Dim sum doodles

Tonight I'm brainstorming motifs for spoonflower's dim sum pattern contest. Here are chicken feet & a basket.

Mega Allsorts Repeat

Tonight I turned another drawing into a vector repeat. I also uploaded it to Spoonflower!