I’ve got a post with a Blogtoberfest secret prize over on Busy Family Meals today! The prize-winner will be randomly selected tomorrow eveing, so hurry and leave a comment today!

I have always been a huge fan of Sakura pens, but they’ve managed to turn me into an even bigger believer :-)

One of my favorite black pens is the Sakura Pigma Micron…it’s one of those pens that you can write on acrylics with and not have it get all clogged up. I have also loved the Permapaque Dual Point Paint Markers, especially the one in WHITE! It’s amazing. And I’ve also played around with some of the Gelly Rolls from time to time. These pens I learned about from my daughter back when she and her friends were drawing on each others’ hands during recess!

So now I’ve been introduced to a whole new generation of Sakura pens to love, and I’ve fallen hard. The Gelly Rolls come in metallics, souffles, glazes, and glitters. There are more colors available now in the Permapaque line, and they’ve added IDenti-Pens, permanent markers that work on metal, glass, wood, and photos…shiny non-absorbent surfaces. They’re great.

I received some sticker kits to test out, and they are quite cute little things. They’re called Sticklers, and they have sheets of outline stickers and some pens that you’ll use to color them in. Since the pens are designed to work on slick surfaces, these are great for kids who want to decorate their notebooks or cell phone. There’s even a demo video at the link above!

Images: Sakura

Mary Boyd has written an excellent article - I can’t recommend it highly enough - on how to price your work. She examines the obvious as well as the hidden costs, and talks a good deal about what you want out of your business. Read this if you are serious about your art business.

Mary makes beautiful leather goods that she sells on her website, Oh! Boyd.

Technique Tuesday

I love to use my digital images in physical work! I never have to worry about copyright issues. I know that my images can be as mundane or as bizarre as the situation calls for. But mostly, after spending a lot of time at the computer, I like to step away and get my hands dirty, so to speak!

For this little art quilt collage, you’ll need to gather up some items, including the fabrics and interfacing that you want to use, the printed out image, some embellishments, and the tools: a cutting board and rotary cutter (or scissors), an iron, awl, hammer, eyelet setter, needles and threads, wire cutters, and chain nose pliers.

1. Print out the image that you wish to use on Ink jet T-shirt transfer paper. Cut it to size.



2. Cut out the interfacing (I used Timtex for this piece, a very heavy and stiff fabric), and cut your front fabric 4 inches longer and wider. Center the fabric on the front of the interfacing, and wrap it around to the back, creating mitered corners as shown above. Use a hot iron to crease the mitered folds sharply, but don’t adhere or stitch them down yet.



3. Iron the image onto muslin according to the directions on the package of transfer paper.



4. Use your awl, eyelet setter and hammer to insert eyelets into each corner and wherever else you’d like to attach embellishments. I use the top two for hanging the piece, and the ones across the bottom for hanging dangles.



5. Stitch on the surface embellishments. Bury the threads in the back under the fabric flaps as much as possible. This is why you don’t want to stitch them down in the beginning; the eyelets in the corners will hold the fabric from slipping while you work. Finish by stitching the mitered corners together and to the interfacing.



6. Decide what your piece needs for hanging embellishments.



7. Use your wire cutters and pliers to hang the dangles. You can also add fancier hooks to the top two holes, but I didn’t want to on this piece. Maybe I’ll go back later and add them once I know where the piece will hang.

Artist: Chris Blake
Website: Chris Blake Music

Chris writes:

Today I posted a new music video set to my song “Lullaby,” which I wrote for my son.

I set the song to some amazing vintage home movies I found of boys doing boy stuff. “Lullaby” is off my new album WAVE. Available on iTunes and CDBaby.