Balzer Designs

Two ScanNCut Tutorials: Cutting HTV & New Disney Roll Feeder Designs

Today I've got two ScanNCut video tutorials for you!

First up: HTV or Heat Transfer Vinyl is one of the most popular things to cut with your ScanNCut.  Today I'm sharing 7 tips on cutting HTV with your ScanNCut DX.

Here are the tips I go over in the video:

1. How to place HTV on the mat.
2. Mirroring or flipping your design.
3. Consider drawing your cut file first.
4. Setting the Half Cut.
5. Do a Test Cut.  Every.  Single.  Time. 
6. Weeding tips.
7. Ironing & Peeling Tips.

And here is the shirt I made in the video:

If you've never used HTV, it is permanent and washable and lots of fun!  I hope you'll give it a try!

And, if you have a ScanNCut Disney DX machine, things just got even better for you!  If you update to the latest firmware, you will discover TWENTY new Disney roll feeder designs that are available to you.  How cool is that?!

Watch the video for more info:

Here is the design I cut in the video:

If you'd like more information on the Disney machine, you can find it here.  And you can find out more about using your roll feeder in this video.

I hope you found these tutorials useful.  Thanks for stopping by!

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P.S. I am a paid spokesperson for the Brother ScanNCut.  It is a machine that I love and use.  All projects and opinions are my own.

Product Registration: https://www.brother-usa.com/registermybrother/
Brother Customer Support: https://www.brother-usa.com/support/

Guest Post: Abstract Winged Creatures

Today's guest post is from the talented Mystele!  I have long adored Mystele's folk art-style paintings.  And having met her in person, I can say that she is just as lovely a human being in person as she appears to be in her videos.  Such a delight!

The process I’m sharing with you via video is one of my favorites- creating abstract winged creatures with textured collage. You don’t need a lot of supplies for this, either- woot!, and you can, of course, adapt the supply list to suit your collage and creative aesthetic. There are NO hard and fast rules. In fact, I really hope you’ll take this basic concept and figure out how to incorporate it into your creative style. Enjoy the process!

Main Supplies:

• Sturdy substrate
• A variety of textured collage ephemera
• Extra heavy gel medium
• Scraper/Burnishing tool
• Brush for gel medium
• Scissors (tearing is just fine, too!)

Secondary Supplies:

In the photo above, you can see the supplemental supplies I used to work with this particular painting.

Step One:

After you’ve prepped your substrate (I used a cradled wood panel from the clearance aisle at Hobby Lobby and covered the image with scrapbook paper), determine how you’d like to compose your creature and then glue down the pieces with gel medium.

Step Two:

Continue adding texture until you are satisfied with the overall composition. The great thing about collage is that you can move the pieces around before adhering them. You can even take photos of different options to help you decide. Then, add color (and pattern, if you’d like) around the image.

Step Three:

The final touches are made by adding some unifying color and design to the wings.

Happy creating,

Mystele

Bio:

• Began painting in 2008; My home studio grew into a space where I could exchange the weight of depression for Something More
  
  
• Self-taught but not living “off the grid”= inspired by so many things out there; lifelong learner
  
  
• Acrylic & mixed media + childlike wonder (play) + “me” = what gets created

Website: www.Mystele.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/mystele1

Shop: http://bit.ly/WonderWorksbyMystele

Iris Van Herpen Inspires Again

Last January I wrote a long post about inspiration and how fashion designer Iris Van Herpen had inspired me to make several pieces of art.  For example:

When I was watching the Golden Globes Red Carpet on Sunday night, I sat up straight in my seat when Joey King walked out in a beautiful Iris Van Herpen gown.

Lots of inspiration in that beautiful gown!  But even more in this video from Iris Van Herpen's most recent runway show:

What to do with this inspiration?  Well, inspiration isn't a straight line.  Ask yourself a simple question: What inspires you about this video?  Is it the movement?  The music?  The colors?  The shapes?  The fabrics?  Take that element of inspiration and create something from it.

For example, you could make a pair of earrings based on the large sculptural arch the models walk through.  You could make a painting filled with circles based on that same inspiration.  It all depends on you, the artist!

Never forget.  Inspiration is all around us!

Thanks for stopping by!

Two Day Class with Susan Lenz

Just before I went into labor with the baby, I attended a two-day workshop with fiber artist, Susan Lenz.  Class was wonderful and got me super excited about making things.  Susan uses a combination of fast (burning and machine stitching) and slow (hand stitching and beading) techniques and does a ton of transformation of ugly items into things of beauty. I loved class.

Unfortunately for you, I did a terrible job taking photos during class -- i.e. I didn't take any.  But I do have photos of some of the things I made in class.  I actually walked away with FOUR finished pieces and several more in-progress.  Here are the four finished pieces:

The photos truly do not do these pieces justice.  There's so much dimension and texture and shine.  They're really lovely and I'm excited to find some shadow box frames to put them in so that I can put them up on my walls.  I love them that much!

One of the most interesting parts of class was choosing mats for some of the pieces.  Susan made a living as a framer for many years before becoming a professional artist.  These next few pieces are very much works-in-progress, but I thought I'd share the "before" and "after" of matting:

It's amazing what a bit of focusing the eye can do!  I'm looking forward to finishing these four pieces...though I suspect it may take me a while with the baby running the show around here.  Nonetheless, you know my art philosophy: a little bit every day builds up to lots of finished art!

Thanks for stopping by!

Art Journal Every Day: More of March 2019

If you're new to Art Journal Every Day, there is a short introduction here.  All of the previous posts can be found archived here.  Remember, it's just ten minutes of nourishing your creative self every day!  No need to finish anything or even like it. If you've done some art journaling this week, use the hashtag #artjournaleveryday so that we can all take a peek.  Even if you're not on social media, you can see everything (from twitter, pinterest, instagram, and facebook) that uses that hashtag here. 

As you know, I love a black page.  Typically I keep the artwork and text white, but I decided to branch out on this one:

The journaling was done with Moonlight Pens.  On the left, I did create a doodle with a white pen:

On the right side is an image I cut out of a magazine and then embellished with a white pen:

The next two pages feature no journaling, just artwork.  That used to be unusual for me.  I used to almost never have a page without journaling.  But things change and evolve and I'm okay with that.

I feel like the first portrait is in a slightly new style (for me) and the second portrait is classic Julie-style.  Do you agree or disagree?

Thanks for stopping by!