Karen Weighs In

I have been very quiet this month, I know.  I have been reading the other posts and nodding to myself, yes, yes, I use that.  And yes, those are some of my favorite tools.  But I didn't want to just rehash the other posts.  My favorite thing is putting color on fabric --  I use paints, dyes, inks, and thread.  So I decided that my favorite tool is my stash -- not just the fabric, but all the stuff I use to make it colorful.  I am not particularly keen on sharing my personal space with the cyber-world; however, I am going to show a tiny bit of my solutions for storage of said stash.

I keep most of my fabrics on racks of wire shelves that I purchased at Costco and assembled myself.  I didn't put the wheels on them, but I saved them so if I move someplace where there isn't carpet on the basement floor I can attach them and roll them around -- wouldn't that be fun?!

I like plastic boxes for separating paints, dyes, inks, and all the other apparatus that I use to put color on fabric.  I store the boxes on the same kind of racks as my fabric.  I know this looks like a mess in the photo -- it's not.  Every box is labeled and while the arrangement isn't optimal because of space shortages, I know where everything is and it's all easily accessible.

 I'm not crazy about my thread storage.  I have these boxes that hold large spools neatly along side of smaller ones and they're all arranged by color.  But I keep running out of space and having to purchase more boxes.  And then (soon) I'm going to run out of space for the boxes.  I like these because they keep the dust off and they're clear, so I can see what's in them.  So they're fine for now.  But if anyone has a better solution -- I'd love to hear it.

MY Favorite Tools/Aids

I thought I'd take this opportunity to weigh in on the favorite tools discussion. I have a few tools (besides those already mentioned) I use all the time. I'm not sure I really consider all of these to be tools; some I would consider to be aids.

As I've gotten older, I have more problems with my eyesight. I find that the light I have available is never enough. I really depend on the extra light provided by my “Bendable Bright Light” I have attached to my sewing machine.

The “Bendable Bright Light” is a small LED light that attaches to the side of my sewing machine with double-sided 3M adhesive. It puts out a bright light that can be directed exactly where it is needed. It eliminates the need to bring an additional lighting source when I go to a retreat or workshop. It is advertised that the product will last for 100,000 hours. No batteries are involved; you plug it in. When I first saw the “Bright Light” advertised, I thought it was too pricey. (You will pay anywhere from $30-$50 for this product.) I haven’t regretted the purchase a minute, though; I have trouble sewing without one now. An additional mounting kit that enables the “Bendable Bright Light” to be moved from machine to machine (if you use more than one) is available for purchase. The kit will cost somewhere between $8-$10.

I also would have a hard time doing without my Tutto luggage. I own the large-sized Tutto for use with my Janome 6500. (My Bernina 1260 will fit in it too.) I LOVE this bag. I had previously purchased a bag to transport my machine, but I wasn’t very happy with it. It was hard to pull and hard to maneuver through doors and around objects. The Tutto is a different story. It is very easy to pull (even when loaded down with a heavy machine).

For transporting a sewing machine, I like the Tutto for the following reasons:

1. four wheels make the bag easier to maneuver and cause less stress on my back and arms

2. the padded U-shaped pull bar (which is attached to both sides of the luggage’s metal frame) and the location of the wheels make the bag more stable when moving it

3. it is light weight

4. there is ample storage space for the machine’s knee lift, foot pedal, power cords, extension cords, and a book or two

5. it folds to about 3” in width for easy storage when not in use

6. there are extra pockets on every side of the bag for carrying miscellaneous items

7. there is an “accessory” bag (I think they may call it a serger bag.) available that can be strapped to this bag providing all the space needed for the “stuff” necessary for a weekend retreat

The “accessory” bag can be attached to the Tutto luggage. This bag can hold a tremendous amount of quilting-related “stuff.” Before I had my Tutto, I had boxes and bags of retreat supplies; it took many trips to unload my car. With the Tutto and the accessory bag, I make one trip. Everything I need will fit into these two pieces of luggage.

When I want to mark quilting designs (or any other temporary mark) on my fabric, I absolutely LOVE the Bohin mechanical marking pencil.

The “lead” available for the pencil is made of a waxy chalk. It adheres to the fabric long enough to quilt the design, but it is easy to remove when I am finished quilting. The mechanical pencil includes an eraser which actually works to remove the chalk if you make a mistake or change your mind. The chalk refills come in several colors; I know these colors are available—white, gray, green, and yellow (there may be more). This pencil is very easy to mark with making a nice thin (0.9 mm), smooth line on the fabric. The Bohin mechanical pencil costs around $12 with refills costing around $6. The only con I have found is that when the lead gets to be about 1/2 inch long, the pencil won't mark. You can't keep the lead from pushing back up into the barrel when you try to make a mark. I think this is a big waste of lead, and it is very annoying. I'm hoping new models will correct this problem.

 

Last, but not least, is a porcupine quill. I use the quill to hold my fabrics in place when I am piecing. I don't do a lot of pinning because I find that the quill does a fabulous job of holding the pieces together.

As you can see, there is a VERY sharp end. That is the end I use to "pin" my fabrics together as they go under the presser foot of my machine. These quills are not real easy to find, so I buy one or two whenever I see them.

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BSR ( Bernina Stich Regulator)

The tools I used the most during the creating process, computer and camera, have been discussed already.There is however one item that also gives me a lot of pleasure: the BSR on the Bernina 410 quilter edition.

Of course, real quilters prefer the use of the darning foot, I am aware of that, because the BSR tends to skip stitches from time to time. But to me , he gives me a kind of freedom.
I only use quilting when it is really necessary. This work ( 2008) is quilted a bit to much for me.

Most of the time, the fabric is too beautiful to add anything else. Putting on some accents is usually more than enough.( to give dept etc.)

Other works consists of quilting on " vanishing fleece". With this procedure I really can let go in drawing with the machine.

This are " window quilten"                    House in oure street.

                                                   Vieuw of my room in Marrakesh

Thumbs up tools

My turn for 'thumbs up' tools. As we are in cold lowland, most of the time we need some warmth to get those brilliant reactive dye colours. I use a cheap rice warmer for this purpose:

And I love regular sandwich bags to batch my dyed fabrics:

Recently, Drimarene-K, a fiber-reactive dye (as Procion-MX) reached the Netherlands as well, in a granulated form, so much less powder to fly around:

Love the deepness of the colours as well!

Also, a +1 to these dye tools, one can be used with those fragile stencils, the other two are  made of nylon synthetic fibre, so the dye-solution does not stick to the brush:

 

Finally, and this will definetely confirm the assumption that dutch people are tidy, it's my brandnew hand vacuum cleaner, to keep my workplace clean.

I love the ease and light weight of this brilliant, cordless, cleaner. So, enough 'likes' generated. What are your favourite tools?

Pencils, Papers, Prints and Pictures to See

I wouldn’t like to appear as a parrot, but pencil and computer happen to be my favourite tools as well. So I just thought to pick up a few aspects and tell, how I use them – apart the obvious.

 Never has any idea come to me just like that, ready-made. It takes time and consideration until the „first flash“ becomes visually ripe. My numerous sketchbooks are the witnesses of it. So pencils, especially soft pencils are my absolute favourite tools. Always I have a few with me, ready to use. One exercise I like to do, when the idea is still very new, just like a tiny flash on my mind: I take a piece of paper, big enough, and several pencils, mostly soft ones, and a charcoal as well, close my eyes and try to see inside, where the new idea is still hidden away, and draw … I change my pencils, draw as I feel like and take my time before opening my eyes again, because I would like to let some hidden ideas come to the surface, if possible. Surely I don’t expect to see any artwork before me afterwards, but I examine the quality of my lines, my marks because they might give me an new clue, where I’m heading. Half of the time I might discard the whole paper and repeat it another time again. But I have realized, even without producing anything “useful”, this kind of exercise just calms me down and helps me focus on my goal.

Now I have to admit, that I spend more time at my computer than I do at my sewing machine or at my drawing table...

Is it a bad thing? Not really, because computer has so many advantages, none of us would like to be without. I don’t want to list them, because so many of them are too obvious. But I would like to point out two things I use the computer for.

Have you ever wanted to visit the Louvre in Paris, the Tate Modern in London, the MoMA in New York, or whichever great museum comes to your mind? Even if you have visited them, haven’t you wanted to go again, just to check out something on whim? Most museums have their collections accessible on the web, often with additional information about the painting and the painter. So why not use them? Why not spend some time browsing through these great collections? I used to collect pictures of inspirations in my notebooks. Now I just collect URLs of the pictures I like. It’s easy, it’s free and it is fun.

The second is a simple way to convert your photos into screen patterns for a thermofax machine without using Photoshop. Even though I have Photoshop, I still use this method, because it is much faster and easier to work with. For a thermofax screen you need to have a black and white print, without any grey hues, because you never know if the greys will be burned out or not.

If you have a photo with strong contrasts in it, than that is already enough.
Like this one of a tree trunk. 

I Insert Picture into a word document, right click on the photo to get short menu and select Format Picture; here select Picture tab; under Image Control change Colour from Automatic to Black and White, print it on a laser printer and it is ready to use with the Thermofax.

Another example, a timber floor board.

And converted into black and white.

Time to time I would like to use a photo without strong contrasts. I use the same steps as last time but at Image Control I can also increase the contrast of the photo - this time I used 70 %. Usually 60-70 % works well but experiment with it.

Sometimes I have a photo which - turned into black and white - gives me the impression of a negative picture. This happens for example, because of the light is on the leaves and the background is dark, like on these bamboo leaves.

The black and white screen pattern gives the impression of being a negative. So I put the image in whatever picture editor program I have, turn it into a negative and this negative is the one I copy into the word document and proceed with it as written above.

Often I even use both the positive and the negative image for printing.

My #1 favorite tool

My computer. My life would be devastatingly diminished without my computer and my internet connection. I have always been a curious person and the computer has the answer to almost all of the things I want to know. I can learn from a multitude on Youtube or spend some time on DMTV with the Kemshalls or visit any artist and click on images of their work. On my browser (address bar) I can type in a question and Time/Warner will electronically whisk me to the answer. In fact I can make art with a stick in sand but answers, oh my, are all it for me.

I love color and I use dye and wax to to create colors and images on fiber along with  my 4' X 8" printing table and silk screens. I also love the Dollar Tree and can find all the cheap tools I want there.

This will sound like heresy on this blog but I could live the rest of my life quite happily with my watercolors, pens , pencils and sketchbook.

Surgical Tweezers

I haven't decided my favorite tools but while I was blog hopping I found this post by Denise Russell at Pieced Brain.  It made me think of Kathy Loomis's comment about her tweezers!