Journal
Random Musings on Art and LIfe
Last week I posted photos of Pine Beetle Art. In a nutshell, they are photos of tree trunks showing the paths taken by pine beetle grubs as they tunnel around under the tree bark – and slowly kill the trees. Oddball inspiration? Yes. But inspiration nonetheless. Today, I have photos of Pine Beetle Rubbings. No, not rubbings…
At long last, my Urban Computer Satchel is complete! This is one project that turned into a marathon, and I’m thrilled to cross the finish line. An off-road adventure with an Urban Computer Satchel is finally over. Click To Tweet I used Brenda Miller’s Urban Computer Satchel pattern and her hardware kit. (I love,…
One of my favorite things about working with Paintstik Rubbings (and teaching you to use them!) is that we can make rubbings from just about anything that is reasonably flat and has a texture. Including glass. See how you can save Grandma’s pie plate on fabric. Click To Tweet During one of the recent classes,…
Several years ago, when Zentangles were very much in fashion, I designed a set of rubbing plates I called Doodles. Many of the designs were divided into sections instead of having one distinct design for each plate. Build your own textures with Rubbing Plate Surgery! Click To Tweet My favorite plate in the collection is…
As I have been preparing to teach my new Whole Cloth Collage with Paintstiks and Textures course, I have been trying to pin down an answer for an interesting question – what exactly is a Whole Cloth Collage? According to our friends at the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a collage is A) an artistic composition made of…
As we begin our tour of Rubbing Plate Roundup, I just couldn’t resist showing you a super-sized rubbing I made from a patio table in Chapala, Mexico. It’s slightly off topic, but Paintstik Rubbings are the first chapter in the book. (Wink, wink!) You’ll just have to pretend along with me that I’m working from…
In last week’s tutorial, I told you about my process for creating overlapping rubbings from the new Kaleidoscope plates. (Click here to read that article if you missed it.) This week, I am happy to show you my beautiful new handbag. I love making handbags from fabric I create. They are one-of-a-kind bags that do…
by Shelly Stokes, Founder and Creative Mentor The new Kaleidoscope Rubbing Plates received warm welcome at the Minnesota Quilt Show and the International Quilt Festival in Chicago. Many thanks if you were one of the select group of people who snapped one up at the shows or placed your order during our promotion. I know…
by Shelly Stokes, Founder and Creative Mentor A couple of years ago, I got bit by the hand-stitching bug. Hard. I am not saying it was a bad thing – just that it totally changed the way I think about painted fabric. It started with just a little bit of embellishment for a handbag. Then…
Whenever I do paintstik demos, someone inevitably asks “how do I clean up?” After playing with these paints for 10 years, I’ve gone through a lot of different cleaning products. Here are my favorites. Cleaning Brushes My favorite cleaning for cleaning brushes depends on how long they sit before I clean them. If I clean…