Sunday, May 22, 2011

Handmade Parade: Mini Portraits


Two years ago, I made mini portraits of my sister- and brother-in-law's menagerie. These sweet keepsakes are on 6 x 6-inch framed cradled panel.


I used a Chartpak blender marker, black, grey, and white coloured pencils, graphite pencil, acrylic paint, and a matte gloss medium.


It's a techinique that I've also used to make people portraits for other family (because as previously reported everyone needs some art with their own face on it!).


They can be hung on the wall and are also deep enough that they can stand up freely on a bookshelf or mantle...

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Material Girls: Kitschy Knots

We at Five Corners have been lucky enough to have two separate coworkers gift us with giant bags of fabric in the last few months (Thanks, ladies!). We tend to be attracted to cute, vintage, or just plain weird patterns, and now that we have so much, we are starting to wonder what the heck to do with it all...



So we're introducing a new feature called Material Girls, where we pick a wild pattern and challenge ourselves to make something great out of it!


I started it off with a challenging fabric - a cool, but very busy, pattern of knots in primary colours. I actually think it's wonderfully kitschy and fun, but it's so... MUCH.


So I took the route of isolating some of the details, backing them with interfacing to stiffen the fabric, and giving them more breathing room for their new life appliquéd onto a snazzy navy v-neck shirt...