Friday, November 27, 2015

what I do ...

akimberlydesign.blogspot.com
First...
I sketch on tracing paper.
akimberlydesign.blogspot.com
Then I play with color,
here I used colored pencils
but sometimes I splash paint on it.

At this point, I've also darkened in the
pencil sketch with a black marker.
This enables me to see it through
the canvas for tracing.
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And so begins the actual painting
once I'm happy with the preliminaries. 
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Tada!
Painted and ready to send to Ruth
for the next leg of it's journey.
Ruth being Ruth Schmuff Designs
my illustrious distributor.
Once Ruth gets my finished master, 
it's measured, photographed,
hopefully ooooo'd and aaaahhhh'd over,
and then
... it's sent to the repeat painters for production.
Whew, it's a journey.
akimberlydesign.blogspot.com
Viola! A belt...
I love borders, I love to make a design feel
solid by boxing it in and most often adding some
kind of border. The border can happen in the stitching.
Or as with this design, in the painting.
This border took some figuring mathematically,
hence, the belt was born
so I could figure out the count and spacing exactly.

The next step in the design journey,
stitching!
Although, I don't always write a stitch guide for
each piece. I'd love to but the time
just isn't there to play with each new design.

I draw much faster than I stitch!


Friday, November 13, 2015

Movement!

Can you believe it??
Class time is just around the corner!
Pictured below is 
"Movement"©
the first of my nine smalls 
being featured at
in Orlando, Florida
Class time is December 12!
follow up is January 9
We'll plunge in to learning 
padded leather applique, couching, cut turkey work, 
bullions, and playing with silk wrapped pearl purl!
Most importantly
we'll have a blast!
akimberlydesign.blogspot.com
"Movement"
If you're in the area
or able to zip on down
for some warm Florida breezes,
we'd love to have you join us!
akimberlydesign.blogspot.com
"Yes, I'm Special"
is the next design to be featured from, 
as I'm fondly calling them...
'the nine'
This oh so modestly handsome birds class
will begin on February 13th,
with the follow up on March 12th.

Can't wait to show you peeks as to
how I'll stitch the feather eyes!

Monday, November 2, 2015

Dragon weave ...

akimberlydesign.blogspot.com
 'My Castle, My Dragon'©
Wish you could see how the sun 
was making this guy sparkle.
I've incorporated some needle weaving 
for his neck flare.
Proof that embroidery/stump work 
techniques can be adapted
for just about anything!
I've used Kreinik Braid here and it 
catches the light beautifully!