Balzer Designs

Stencil Hop: Peek-a-Boo

Today is stencil hop day!  Hooray!  I asked three wonderfully talented woman to participate today:

• Jenny Doh: Jenny is an artful creator, collaborator, curator, and crochet-er.  She was the long-time Editor-in-Chief of Somerset Studio and now runs the popular website CRESCENDOh.com.  She has curated numerous books including Art Saves and Journal It (to which I was a contributor).
• Joanne Sharpe: Joanne and I first met at a CREATE retreat where we were both teachers.  She is a wonderful lettering artist.  You have probably seen her beautiful stamps from Art Gone Wild.  She is teaching at all three CREATE retreats this year (California, Chicago, and New Jersey), so do yourself a favor and take a class from her!
• Ronda Palazzari: Ronda is warm, enthusiastic, energetic, and talented.  She recently attended Ranger U. and is a misting maniac.  Ronda is the author of the book Art of Layers and on the design teams for Maya Road, Purple Onion, and Sizzix.

So what stencil did these three ladies get to play with?  I sent them Peek-a-Boo:

You can probably guess why this stencil is called Peek-a-Boo, can't you?  Yep, it looks like eyes.  Although I will tell you that at the time I designed it I was actually thinking of Indian textiles, which use a lot of circles and sequins.  So the first project I created with this stencil is this one:

It's kind of a faux version of an Indian textile.  I love the way it turned out.  I used Lumiere paints to do the stenciling and Lumiere paints have mica powder in them, so it really glows!

I instagrammed some process photos, so you can see how it came together:

After stenciling the moons and adding some blue circles I used the free motion foot on my machine to stitch around each shape several times.

Once the machine sewing was done, I hand stitched some sequins and beads onto the piece.

I'm not sure I managed to capture it in the photography, but it's very shiny -- between the paint and the sequins.  Just looking at it makes me happy!

Of course, the Peek-a-Boo stencil works for scrapbook layouts too:

I masked the stencil so that only one row showed at at time.  This allowed me to do the rainbow coloring. 

And as for the circles inside of each of the moon shapes...well, I'm kind of proud of this bit of design cleverness!  This is the Punchinella stencil:

And the circles fit perfectly inside of the moon shapes from the Peek-a-Boo stencil!  Check it out:

It works for both 12x12 and 6x6:

Of course one thing always leads to another, and using the Peek-a-Boo stencil with the Punchinella stencil started some wheels turning in my head.  And thus, my favorite use of the Peek-a-Boo stencil has been to use it the same way I would the Punchinella:

Lots of folks use Punchinella to jazz up a soft background.  The 6x6 version of the Peek-a-Boo stencil does a great job of doing that, but with a really unique shape.

And did you notice that I also used the 6x6 version of the Chevron stencil on this layout?  I traced a small section with a pen to create an arrow-like effect.  Here's another instagram work-in-progress photo:

I created this quick art journal background using a similar techinque to the one from the page above:

Watch the video for the how-to:

If you would like to win the Peek-a-Boo stencil in 6x6 and 12x12, please leave an answer to the following question in the comments section of this blog.  

Where do you find artistic inspiration?

If you don't know how to leave a comment, please watch this video.

Now get hopping:

• Jenny Doh
• Joanne Sharpe
• Ronda Palazzari

Thanks for stopping by!

Second Floor Challenge #3: Truth

Today is the third Second Floor challenge!  Are you ready to take it to the second floor?

The challenge this time around is to create something inspired by truth.  Whatever that means to you or however it inspires you.  The prompt is simply meant to get you started.  The level of challenge you aim for is entirely internal and up to you.

Click here to see what Nat did.

As for me, I started with a small monoprint...

...and then worked my way around to this image:

Hmmmmmm...that's pretty unreadable.  So I decided to work on a bigger plate and with a bigger tool.

I liked it, but I wondered if the image was too obvious.  Various iterations of the image developed....

And then I changed it up a bit....

Some of these prints are pretty darn cool, but I wondered: was I really taking it to the Second Floor?  Probably not.  I had already experimented with this layered printing technique this weekend, so I needed to do something to push myself.

But what?

I decided to print on fabric and stitch up a little quilt.  Here are two fabric prints:

And my little quilt:

The quilt started as a piece of monoprinted fabric.  I added some fabric bits into portions of the design (including some sun printed fabric), stitched it up, and then added paint.  This monoprint on paper is the first print from the same plate:

And here's a peek at the back of the quilt:

I used a piece of fabric that I had painted months ago.  Love that!

Here's what I learned from this experiment:

• Fabric and paper take monoprinting very differently.  Fabric is much more absorbent and so it's much more difficult to get a clean second or "ghost" print from the plate.
• I miss quilting.  This was the first quilt I've made in about six months.  It felt so good to sit at the machine and let the free motion foot fly.  You can see how densely quilted the piece is.  I just couldn't stop sewing!
• I think I already knew it, but I love monoprinting!  It's such an immediate art form and certainly the most painterly printing technique on earth.  I can see now that I am in the grips of a love affair!
• With the oil-based paint I had trouble lifting it from the plate with anything but a cotton swab.  I suspect that a water-based paint may lift with a tool like the back of a paintbrush, but I'll have to test that theory!
• I got lazy when I quilted and didn't pin it.  Truth be told, I didn't even iron the rumpled fabric.  I just sort of smooshed it all together and you know, it's a small enough piece that I don't think it made that big a difference.
• I loved using up some fabric bits I had sitting around, namely the sun printed fabric and the painted fabric.  I have so much stuff at this point that I love it when some of it ends up in my artwork.  This is one of the reasons that I'm loving Project Life.  It has me using up so much of that "stuff."
• This Second Floor project is so good for me.  Without the need to write this blog post and do something that pushed myself I would have stopped with the prints.  I was happy with them.  There was no reason to go any further.  But I needed to take it to the Second Floor in order to write this post.  So I did.  And I'm thrilled with the results and the new ideas that are floating around in my brain!  We all need that little push to take a step further sometimes, don't you think?

If you'd like to show off your response to this Second Floor challenge, leave a link!

Thanks for stopping by!

Art Cloth

When I was in San Antonio I stayed with Leslie Tucker Jenison, who is a wonderful mixed media fiber artist with an encyclopedic knowledge of surface design.  She was a very gracious hostess and really made my stay in San Antonio memorable.  I wanted to send her a thank you gift, but what to send? 

Leslie had just gotten back from a meeting of the Art Cloth Network.  From their website:

"The Art Cloth Network is dedicated to exploring and promoting art cloth. Art Cloth is cloth transformed by adding or subtracting color, line, shape, texture, value, or fiber to create a compelling surface." 

We had several conversations about art cloth while I was there and I found the whole thing fascinating.  I paint on fabric all the time, but these women have taken it to another level.  I am fascinated by all of the chemical processes they use! 

Most art cloth is finished art.  Meaning, that fabric isn't meant to be turned into anything.  It is the art.  Whenever I paint on fabric, I'm just adding texture for when it goes into its final home.  So this is a dramatically interesting idea to me.

And despite feeling terribly intimidated, I figured that a lover of surface design might appreciate a fat quarter of my own painted fabric.  So I made a piece of fabric for Leslie:

It's definitely evidence of my "more is more" life philosophy.

I'm not sure if it's "art cloth" or just painted fabric meant to be used in a piece of fiber art.  What do you think?

---

P.S. The winner of the "Circles in Squares" stencil in 6x6 and 12x12 is...

Congratulations, Kate!  E-mail me with your mailing address!

Ten Days of Jury Duty = Finding Time for Arting

For the past ten days I have had Grand Jury Duty.  That means that I've been going to the courthouse Monday-Friday since October 25.  In between cases there is some dead time. Some people read, other people watch TV, call their offices, type on their laptops.  Can you guess what I did with my down time?

I made art, of course!

I spent several days sketching.  And while I don't think there's anything wrong with posting the sketches I did of people on the jury, the whole thing is supposed to be secret, so I'm going to err on the side of not showing them.  I will, however, share this bit of lettering I did:

Best travel sketch kit ever: tiny Moleskine watercolor journal, mechanical pencil, set of 4 Pitt Pens, Sakura watercolor set including a waterbrush, Staedtler white eraser, and it all fits in a little pouch I stitched up.  Perfect!

Of course, I forgot a rag, so I ended up using the back of my hand to clean my paintbrush:

When I got bored of drawing, I did some stitching.  But I didn't make anything of consequence.  Mostly I worked on an older piece that is still very much in progress:

But it filled the time.

My very favorite activity was carving stamps!  I made quite a few repeating image stamps.  Believe it or not, this is just a small sampling:

I managed to get a lot done in little bursts of time.  If I'm prepared I can always find time for art.  The other members of the jury loved seeing what I was doing.  It was a wonderful conversation starter.  And it was also a great way to cope with some of the ickiness of the cases we were hearing. 

Where in your life is there time for a little bit of art?

Heading to Texas Tomorrow

I'm heading to Texas tomorrow and looking forward to it!

On Saturday I'll be teaching a card class in Houston featuring these cards:

And on Monday I'll be teaching this quilting class at The Crafty Girls Workshop in San Antonio:

There are still a few seats left in the quilting class.  We'll be painting and collaging fabric and having a generally awesome time!

I'm pleased to say that every other class I'm teaching in 2011 is already sold out.  So catch me at Crafty Girls or online if you want to take a class!

Thanks for stopping by!

The Best Part of Class is the Chatting

I taught a hand stitching class at The City Quilter on Saturday and stamp carving at The Ink Pad as part of Art Journaling Club on Tuesday night.

My absolute favorite part of any class is the chatting and getting to know people.  The handstitching class was a perfect opportunity to just talk and talk and talk!

And one of the things I love about an ongoing class like "Art Journaling Club" is that you really get to know people and catch up each month!

I'm looking forward to this weekend's classes at BizzyB!  Lots of new people to meet!

Thanks for stopping by!

San Antonio, here I come!

I'm going to be in Houston, TX in a few weeks for a rep show (this is a place where store owners come to learn new skills and it is hosted by a rep group).  And after the show I'll be driving to San Antonio, TX to teach a class at The Crafty Girls Workshop in San Antonio on October 17.

In this exciting mixed media class we’ll be painting fabric and then collaging it to create a unique quilt. You’ll be able to choose from four different images, or create your own! Not only will you learn some simple ways to paint up your own fabrics, but with this easy collage technique you’ll be able to “paint” with fabric to create new images! Students should be comfortable with a sewing machine. Knowledge of free motion stitching is helpful, but not required.

This summer I taught this class here in NYC at The City Quilter.  And I was 100% sure that I had blogged about class, but when I went to link up the post...it wasn't there.  So here are some photos from that class, to give you a sense of the flavor:

We always have a lot of fun!

Class in San Antonio is on Monday, October 17 from 10am-5pm.  Contact Anna to sign-up and for more details.

ETA: Here are the links un-pretty and easily accessible:

• anna@craftygirlsworkshop.com
• http://craftygirlsworkshop.com/item_943/Painted-Collage-Quilt-Workshop.htm

Hope to see you in San Antonio!!!

Alisa Burke: Sew Wild

Alisa Burke is a wildly talented artist whose work I fell in love with the moment I saw it.  A few years ago Claudine Hellmuth linked to Alisa's gorgeous leaf wreath made with Sticky Back Canvas:

And I just knew that she and I were kindred art spirits.  You have probably seen me link to her blog many, many, many times.  One of her extraordinary talents is creating fantastic tutorials for creative projects.  She always transforms the most humble of objects into wonderful, colorful art!

Alisa has written an exciting new book called Sew Wild.

It is just like her -- fabulous, creative, full of color and pattern, and permission to create imperfectly!

Rather than do a book review, I sent Alisa a few questions so that you could get to know her better.

Julie: How do you define the art you create?

Alisa: Hmmm…good question I am not sure if I can really commit to defining my art. I try really hard to challenge myself to cross over into all sorts of different mediums and am always looking to get better and grow in my process. I guess I would say that my art is fine art- mixed with craft - mixed with photography- mixed with surface design- mixed with stitching (how is that for a definition?!?!)

Julie: I’m so impressed with how you run a very successful artistic business.  You once mentioned that you try to stay off the computer/internet for periods of time.  I would love to know more about how that works with running a business.

Alisa: While I depend on the internet and computer to run my business I make it a priority to stay far away from using it for inspiration or gathering ideas. I have found that almost shutting myself off and “not looking” at what other people are doing keeps me inspired, keeps me from feeling like I need to be doing something different and keeps me from comparing myself to others. This is the only way that I can attempt to stay authentic in my art. Since much of my business is built around sharing inspiration it is really important for me to try and keep my blinders on. I only look for inspiration in my physical world (out and about with camera) and through my experiences every day and don’t care that much about trends in the art/craft industry or what other people are doing and the direction that they are going.  If I do have time to surf the internet for personal fun I typically stick to looking at lots of fashion (for myself- I love clothes!), food and embarrassingly-reading celebrity gossip blogs.
 
Julie: What’s a typical day like for you?  Can you describe it to us?  Would  you mind sharing a photo of your creative space?

Alisa: Lately I have a lot of irons in the fire so my days are jam packed and I am often working on a few things all at once. My days don’t ever look the same but here is a more typical kind of day-

6am- Get up early with my husband- check/return email for a couple of hours. Catch up on those celebrity gossip blogs

8am- eat breakfast

8:30- head out to take photos for future blog posts and to find inspiration

10:00- back home- work on art for licensing project

12:00- eat lunch while drawing in my sketchbook

1:00pm-film a few lessons for future online classes

3:00pm- head to the gym

4:00pm- back to filming a few more lessons

5:00pm- fix dinner with my hubby

7:00- 10pm- back on the computer to return more email, edit video, edit photos, structure blog posts and anything else that require computer time all while watching all of our favorite evening shows.

10:30- crawl into bed.

Julie: Something I have always admired about you is how you take simple every day things and transform them with paint and imagination.  Do you keep notes on things you want to transform or do you simply create in the moment with what’s handy?  Something in between?

Alisa: I do keep ideas and notes on hand- I have to write things down as they come to me or I will forget. I have lists and lists of future ideas, blog posts, projects, new classes, etc that I organize by month or season. But I also am very much in the moment and often when I working on something with a deadline or if I am out and about I will all of a sudden have all kinds of new ideas come to me in the moment and I have to stop immediately and create!

Julie: Your book, Sew Wild, is amazing!  What is your favorite project or technique from the book?

Alisa: I think my favorite technique is all of the messy free motion stitching. I love being able to use stitching as another layer in surface design.

 
Thanks, Alisa!

I hope you'll take the time to visit:

• Alisa's Website
• Alisa's Blog
• Alisa's Online Shop

 And to learn more about her book, here is the complete Sew Wild Book Tour Blog schedule:

Sept. 14           Sew, Mama, Sew
Sept. 15           Balzer Designs
Sept. 16           CraftTestDummies.com and The Creative Goddess
Sept. 17           FaveCrafts 
Sept. 19           Crescendoh - Jenny's Blog 
Sept. 21           Scarlet Lime 
Sept. 22          A Stitch in Dye 
Sept. 23          Living Art at the Speed of Life

Thanks for stopping by!

--

P.S. All these photos are from Alisa's blog.  Her book Sew Wild is full of lots of other great ideas, but still in fabulous Alisa style!

TCW221: Triangle Plaid

Welcome to Stencil-a-Palooza!  Several days a week for the next month or so I'll be featuring one of my eighteen stencil designs for The Crafter's Workshop!  Each post comes with a giveaway.  Leave a comment answering the question-of-the-day and you might be the winner of that day's featured stencil in both 6x6 and 12x12!  Comments will remain open on this post for seventy-two hours.  The winner will be announced after that.  In the meantime, if you'd like to purchase any of the stencils there are many in-person and online shops to choose from (including my own little online shop).  See a complete list here.

Today I've got a treat for you!  I've got a little stencil hop with four of my favorite paper artiste types:

• Ronda Palazzari: A paper artiste extraordinaire Ronda's book Art of Layers: Simple Techniques, Inventive Scrapbook Pages, Imaginative Papercrafts is currently available for pre-sale.
• Nathalie Kalbach: Miss Nat is the Tattered Angels Design Team Coordinator, and an amazing teacher. She teaches all over the world and online as well!
• Paula Phillips: The number one name given in response to the question, "Who rocks stencils?" was this girl!  Paula's DVD Layered & Textured Backgrounds: Art Journaling Tips & Tricks is currently available for purchase.
• Doris Sander: Long time Marketing Director for Jenni Bowlin Studio and frequent teacher at Masterful Scrapbook Design, you have certainly seen Doris' gorgeous layouts in every single one of the scrapbook magazines!

So what stencil will these four girls be showing off today?

Meet TCW221 Triangle Plaid:

I designed it after a visit to the Neue Galerie - a small museum here in Manhattan.  I stared long and hard at this painting by Klimt:

It's called "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer."  The museum bought it for an amazing $135 million!  I stood in front of this wonderful painting and I drew this simple sketch:

That sketch filtered through my brain to become two stencils: the Triangle Plaid stencil and the Circle in Square stencil!  

The Triangle Plaid stencil has a kind of funky, vaguely Egyptian feeling to it and I think it's great for covering a background:

You can see that I used both sizes of the stencil on this page.  The large size in gold paint and the smaller one with colored spray inks.

And here's an art journal background just waiting for something:

But of course, it's not just reserved for your art journal!  Watch this video...

...to see me put together this layout...

...in fast forward!

The Triangle Plaid stencil even works as an embroidery pattern:

Another few long plane trips and this hoop will be done!

To win both the 6x6 and 12x12 versions of the Triangle Plaid Stencil, answer the Question of the Day:

What is your favorite project from the five blogs in today's blog hop and why?

Just a reminder: To be eligible to win, you must post your comment in the comment section of this blog post.  You cannot post on Facebook or by replying to the e-mail (if you subscribe) in your inbox.  The reason for this is that I pick a winner via "random number generator" so I need a single list of comments.

Thanks for stopping by!  Now go and get hopping:

• Ronda Palazzari
• Nathalie Kalbach
• Paula Phillips
• Doris Sander

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P.S. I just want to say thank you to the all the people who sent me sweet notes and kind words when asking for access to Stencil 101.  Your enthusiasm and compliments really made me smile!  It *almost* made having to respond one-by-one to hundreds and hundreds of e-mails an enjoyable task.  Almost.  (I think I underestimated how many people would be interested in the class!  My inbox has been exploding!)

Slowing Down: Hand Stitching

If you've ever watched my videos you know that I move fast.  I don't spend a lot of time thinking or planning, I just kind of do what feels good and make quick decisions.  I favor techniques and mediums that are fast and esasy.  I mean, my DVD is called "Collage Fast and Furious."  Anyway, that love of speed is part of the reason I can get so much done.

But every now and then I like to slow down.

Several years ago I read an article (similar to this one, but I can't find the one I'm thinking of) about how our brains need down time away from stimulation in order to process the things that have happend to us -- our thoughts and emotions need percolation.  The article was criticizing technology for giving us virtually no gaps for processing.  Or perhaps criticizing us for technology constantly (think checking your e-mail at the bus stop or talking on the phone at every boring moment) instead of taking a mental break.

Certainly craft of any kind is a wonderful time to meditate and get away from the TV, the computer, and all of that stimulation.  But I really appreciate the deep meditative quality of a craft that's just a little bit slower; that allows your mind to wander and your imagination to soar.

Most times when I start a slower craft like stamp carving or hand stitching or bead weaving I find myself racing, pushing, and trying to muscle my way through the task more quickly.  It takes me a little while to calm down, and stop thinking, "Gosh, this is taking forever."  But once I do, it's a wonderful experience.  And I think it really saved my sanity on this epic travel adventure I've been on.

I calmly stitched my way through seven hours at the airport on Thursday. 

I stitched through my Friday morning flight. 

Elana and I talked and stitched together on our Monday night at her home. 

I stitched in the airport on Tuesday while I waited for my flight...

...and continued to stitch from Chicago to New York City. 

And in some ways I feel like I exited the plane more refreshed than if I had slept.

(My little stitchery box: tiny travel scissors, embroidery floss, fabric scraps, needles)

When your arting time is limited, it's hard to think of picking up a slower craft.  It just seems like nothing happens in the spare ten minutes you have.  Or even the spare hour you have.  But for long periods of time, it can't be beat!  And it is truly meditative.

Do you enoy any "slower" crafts?  Which ones and why?

Thanks for stopping by!