I also had a secondary goal.  These are both prints based off of photographs.  (Really!)  I have lots of pretty obvious photographic prints in my work and I wanted to push that a little bit to have some samples and show people that photos don’t have to look photographic or “photo real”.  These (to put it very simply) have been converted to black & white and recolored and had some filters applied to smooth and simplify the basic shapes.  You are seeing them at about 50% scale.  I think I am going to sell them in 1/2 yard pieces bundled together, so you get the two coordinating prints and then have some postcards with instructions for how to order larger yardage if you want it.

What do you think they started out as?  I want your guesses!  I will post the “answers” with starting photos tomorrow.

Two new Spoonflower-printed fabrics that are on their way to being knitting project bags for sale at Shepherd’s Harvest Festival.  The top “KnitDot” is based on the designs for my 1 inch knitter theme buttons.  Each dot has a knitting pun.  I need a tweak a few font sizes and colors, but I am loving it and you can get 1 inch buttons to match.

The second print is called “Mrs. Rogers”.  Did you know Mr Rogers’ mother knit all of the sweaters he wore on the show?  I saw an interview with him where he said that she knit 12 sweaters every year for her family members.  I did some photo research and these are all colors he wore on the show and the cable and ribbing details from several photos.  It is hand-drawn, scanned and digitally colored.

Both are printed on linen-cotton canvas and will be lined with plain colored canvas with bright colored zippers.

]]> http://www.beckarahn.com/?feed=rss2&p=1905 2 http://www.beckarahn.com/?p=1900 http://www.beckarahn.com/?p=1900#comments Fri, 01 Mar 2013 23:29:36 +0000 beckarahn http://www.beckarahn.com/?p=1900 I was walking to my car earlier and trying to figure out why I was so tired and started thinking back on my week.  I think I might just need to go to bed right now.

In the last week I have…

Gone to a baby shower, got a flat tire (not my car), seen a movie…

Listened to 2 concerts, watched the Oscars, done a little knitting…

Worked with a kindergarten field trip, wrote budgets for 6 programs for the next fiscal year, gave a lecture for the MN Contemporary Quilters…

Made some slides and some handouts, worked on some more budgets, taught a digital design class…

Welcomed some 3rd graders for a field trip and then taught a group of kindergarteners how to make felt,  finished more budgets, designed custom artwork for an Etsy order…

Checked up on a class or two, bought a bunch of materials for field trip groups, wrote up a new class proposal, started design work on a gallery piece…

Opened registration for summer camps, designed a postcard, updated a website, turned in a section of a big secret project, finished budgets, washed some towels (from kindergarteners)…

and somewhere in there was a little sleeping and dog walking.

How was your week?

The photo above is a version of a design for the class proposal/gallery exhibition.  Class project is learning about how to “preserve” a vintage or fragile textile by scanning it and using it as the basis for a new design.  This is a piece of tatted lace that I have scanned and colored.  I think I am going to print a different version, as this one is a little too large scale for the project I am thinking of, but I love it and will probably use it for something else.

You might be wondering about the grid that appeared on my blog last night.  I taught a class for the last 3 weeks all about intro to fabric design.  Last night we were tackling seamless repeat patterns and needed a grid to work with in order to place all of our objects and motifs so they would repeat.  We have been working in an elementary school computer lab and they have a lot of the features of the computers disabled (so the kids can’t mess things up) and we were having a jump drive issue.  So uploaded our practice grid to my blog because everyone could get there to download it easily.  It was a GREAT class – one of the best I have ever had and I really hope that they keep working on their designs.

Our very first night of class we did this design as a group.  I didn’t tell them why we were drawing on little squares, but since our first class was just before Valentines day, we did a love theme.

We then scanned and made a repeat from this and printed it, so we each had a swatch of collaborative fabric to take home last night.

Valentine Grid repeat at Spoonflower. Collaborative class project.

]]> http://www.beckarahn.com/?feed=rss2&p=1893 2 http://www.beckarahn.com/?p=1890 http://www.beckarahn.com/?p=1890#comments Tue, 26 Feb 2013 04:35:22 +0000 beckarahn http://www.beckarahn.com/?p=1890 Another one of those projects that I have had to keep under my hat for a little while.  My friend Jen is expecting a baby and we had a shower for her this past weekend.  Another friend and I who consider ourselves her honorary big sisters decided to be cheesy and make a whole coordinating theme.  I made these two:

Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf

And my co-conspirator made a sweet wrap shirt and corduroy pants with a reversible hooded cape – one side red and one side with wolf ears for Baby.  We shared fabric, so the pants have a cuff that matches Wolfie’s bow tie and the shirt is the same as Red’s cape lining and of course, the wolf cape matches the wolf.

I can’t take credit for the pattern on these.  It comes from this Etsy shop:  DollsandDaydreams.  Seriously stinking cute.  I modified a few tiny things and shrunk them down about 25% because I wanted them to be a bit more baby size.  I kind of love making doll clothes, so I think a few little girls in my life might be getting some like this.

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I took a fast flying trip to NC this week.  The weather was sublime (73 degrees compared to -6 at home!) and the people were lovely.  This was my second visit to Spoonflower and I am pretty sure that it is one of my very favorite “vacation” spots for a few days jam-packed with creativity.  (The reason for my visit is a blog post for another day.)

Here are a few snapshots of the office – views of the lobby, the gorgeous classroom/conference room space and the printers hard at work.  There is an energy and activity in the building that is hard to describe: friendly, focused, thoughtful, busy but not frantic, and above all a deep appreciation for the creative people that are all part of the community.

Stop reading right now and go back something up.  Don’t worry, I will wait.

Pick anything.  Your email, your photos, your phone, your jumpdrive, your whole computer.  Don’t know how to do it?  Google is your friend.  Go see a genius at Apple.  I highly recommend Crashplan.  Use Dropbox.  Burn it to a CD if you have to.  Just make sure you have a copy.

I have spent the last two weeks picking up pieces from several spectacular hardware failures.  Motherboards that literally burned out, hard drives that have failed, updates that didn’t update.  And all of them could have been made relatively painless if only there was a backup to restore to.  But there’s not.  So this is your new New Years resolution.  Look at what’s important to you and make sure that you can’t lose it completely.  You will thank me.  (Trust me, you don’t want to live this week.)

(For the record, I am a little paranoid about backups.  I have things backed up in several places.  I am not a “do what I say, not what I do” kind of girl.  These failures are all things that effect me but I am not directly responsible for.  I am making sure they are backed up from now on.)

First a bat puzzle from Puzzimals.  Beautifully made, lightning fast shipping, super detailed.  I also got a great dane for my friend Danielle from this same shop.

I also adore this artist trading card from OniOniOniArt.  It is even more charming in person.

Finally a hand carved stamp from SweetSpotStampShop.

So none of that here.  I am sorry that I haven’t been posting much.  Not so much sorry for you, although I enormously appreciate all of you that read and lurk and comment, but really for myself.  This blog over the years has become a journal (hence the name) of all of my projects and I look back and reference things here all the time.  I love the idea of keeping a beautiful journal but the reality is, I am not a journal kind of girl.  But this blog works for me and I love it.  The last few months have been a challenge.  It’s been nothing earth shattering.  The people I love are safe and well.  I am safe and well, but I have been creatively and professionally challenged in ways that have squeezed a lot of what I am willing or able to share here in to a trickle.  It’s been stressful in good and bad ways and it has made me re-prioritize some things and totally drop the ball on a few things (which makes me crazy) and just plain let some things go.

But, I think we are heading towards the end of the drought and in that spirit, I have some Christmas presents that I am really proud of to share with you.  The handmade gifts were very carefully planned this year and although they didn’t arrive quite on time, they turned out beautifully and I am happy with them (and I believe the recipients were too.)

Mom got a handwoven camera strap (or maybe it is for binoculars).  She is a major birdwatcher and wildlife photographer, so she will use this, I think.  It is a pick up pattern on an inkle loom, made with 5/2 perle cotton, a few scraps of ultra suede, and some webbing/buckles I found on Etsy.  A pick up pattern is similar to brocade fabric, you choose threads out of the pattern and pick them up to float on top of the regular weave.  That is what is making the zig-zag/diamond pattern you can see.

Next, my youngest niece and nephew (ages 2 and 4) got a “Map to Uncle Andy & Auntie Becky’s House”.  I took a google map of our neighborhood, traced/simplified it in Illustrator and printed a fabric “map” of our neighborhood. (Thank you Spoonflower!)  I didn’t think it was too smart to post a map to my house for the whole internet to see, so you get a section of it so you get the idea.  We added all of the best parts of our neighborhood, like the pool down the street and the very important location of the coffee shop and the pizza place.  I filled in between the streets with photos of textures – grass, gravel, sand.  I found the little tiny cars and was really thrilled to get a set with a police car, fire truck, garbage truck and parking enforcement.  Then finally three big dice with different locations on each face so you can roll the dice and drive to each location, making a very simple game for them to play.  Mommy has to read the words right now, but I think after not too long they will start to recognize the words on their own.  This niece and nephew live out in very rural farm country and so the city is a pretty fun thing to play pretend about.

My youngest sister got the (hopefully) ultra cool accessory of the season.  A giant cowl made from baby alpaca with a tiny bit of sparkle.  This thing is seriously decadent.  Seed stitch with a half twist before I seamed it up, so it has a little mobius shape happening.

Mom got the poker chip silk scarf.  I hosted a “dye day” just before Christmas for my new co-workers to make gifts for their family members and I did this one and knew that my mom had to have it.  It is a technique called itajime shibori and is folded and then clamped with poker chips (top and bottom of the folded scarf) held in place with clothespins.  Then you add the dye and the poker chips mostly keep the dye out and leave polkadots.  (You can get fancier tighter clamps and make the resist shapes very distinct, but I like this more organic look better.)

Finally, it was the year of the bat for my dad.  He is an architect and one of his projects this year involved some renovation on some historic buildings.  Historic buildings that happen to be home to an endangered species of bat.  (Which means you have to remove the bats before you can renovate and you just can’t even imagine what that involves.)  So the bat jokes and puns have been a thing this year.  I found a great collection of other batty items for him on Etsy (which I will show off tomorrow), but this ornament was my contribution.  A snoozing bat for the Christmas tree.  (He’s about 3 inches long.)

Hoping you all had a creative and peaceful holiday with your loved ones.  Cheers to the new year!

Lichen 1

October 2012, 8 x 8 inches

Digitally printed cotton, hand embroidery

I created this piece for the annual art auction at the art center in my hometown.  I donate a piece to their annual fundraiser every year.  There are not many fiber artists in the area that participate (many painters & photographers) so I am very proud to represent fiber art.  This started with a photo Andy or I took in Wyoming this summer when we were there for a wedding.  This beautiful stone was covered in many shades and shapes of lichens.  I printed it on sateen fabric, which really lets the details show up very sharply.  I then stitched my own clusters of lichens with about 6 shades of green threads and the chinese knot stitch to add some dimension.  I love this one and so I titled it “Lichen 1″, with the anticipation that I will do a few more from the other parts of the photo.