Archive for the ‘Book/DVD reviews’ Category

Fibreart Montage by Judith Baker Montano

Saturday, December 5th, 2009
Fibreart Montage by Judith Baker Montano

Fibreart Montage by Judith Baker Montano

We have a new book at Artistic Artifacts Annex and ArtisticArtifacts.com:

 FIBREART MONTAGE by  Judith Baker Montano.

Judith Baker Montano gives the following definition of her title at the beginning of her book:

She explains that FIBREART is the creation of beautiful or thought provoking fibre works. MONTAGE is a picture composed by assembling, overlaying and overlapping of many different materials.

I am a lover of books. Not only books to read a story but books that show you beauty. This book is a story on how to produce fibre art and it is done beautifully.

I have looked extensively through this book and I am sure I could follow her directions and suggestions and produce a piece of fibre art.

Chapter 4 is on photography, Judith’s photography and how she uses it in setting up a montage.

The overall photography in the book is fantastic and sets the book apart from many of the others we have in the Annex.

The book is bound to lay flat, which is a new idea we are seeing from the publishers. Very easy to deal with.

Buy your copy on line: http://www.artisticartifacts.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=A&Product_Code=886015&Category_Code=bok

For Annex hours check our calendar on the website: http://www.artisticartifacts.com/calendar.htm

or call: 703-823-0202 ext 213 (the phone will answer Electrodyne, just enter ext 213- you are in the right place!)

Book Review by Pat Vincentz, Virginia

Posted in Book/DVD reviews, The Annex | No Comments »

Fabric Embellishing The basics & beyond

Thursday, November 19th, 2009

 

Fabric Embellishing the basics and beyond

Fabric Embellishing the basics and beyond

This book is the team work of Ruth Chandler, Liz Kettle, Heather Thomas and Lauren Vlcek.  Lots of color photos, embellished gallary quilts and a spiral bound cover! Gotta love it! Instructions are easy to follow, inspiration right next door and even better is if you experiment with all the techniques they explain how to create a resource book. Our Altered Art group will start our books according to Liz- (one of our favorite Annex teachers) in January!!

The book is organized in layers, yes like a quilt sandwich. They begin with the first layer of the quilt sandwich including printing, images, discharge and rusting along with crazy quilt foundations and my favorite ” Fashion a Frame”. 

The next layer up from the foundation fabric is “soft embellishments” with instructions for hand and machine embroidery, needle felting, angelina, foiling and applique.

Then the final layer is Hard embellishments, beads (my all time favorite!)metal, paper, foam and plastics. Also included are Liz’s silk cocoon flowers which she taught at MIU in Houston.

This is a wonderful book. It provides a unique and creative way to use embellishment materials which is the focus of Artistic Artifacts.

Buy your copy  now, Fabric Embellishing The basics and beyond

Oh and the most important detail, Artistic Artifacts website is listed as a supplier of materials and products used in the book!!

Posted in Book/DVD reviews, Fiber, Judy's Altered Minds, The Annex | No Comments »

Digital Essentials by Gloria Hansen and Blending Photos with Fabric 2 by Mary Ellen Kranz

Tuesday, April 21st, 2009

At the time that Digital  Essentials came out, another photo book arrived on the market called Blending Photos with Fabric 2 by Mary Ellen Kranz. Both books are published by the Electric Quilt Company. Both books are a must have for anyone working with digial cameras, computer photos, and social networks. 

Digital Essentials by Gloria Hansen is a technical handbook, a step by step instructions for Photoshop, Photoshop elements and Paint shop Pro. Gloria speaks in English! and for anyone who has asked a computer question on many on lists Gloria is generous with her knowledge and information- that comes through in the book as well.   Personally, I have to do everything for my website (the computer is my friend….not!…. working on it).  And I have had to learn how to adjust photos to post on the web, creating and importing spreadsheets for my store data as I go- somedays my head feels like it will explode! And I have to run to my stash and pet fabric!! Gloria walks you through the different types of photo files advantages and disadvantages of each- information that is useful for anyone posting photos on power points, websites, blogs, or facebook.  I have not gotten to the section on layers, I want to do it when I can play with my computer- I think this will be interesting to create mixed media collage and improving photos.

Do you already have the book? Please add your review to the comments section. Thank you.

Digial Essentials is on sale in Artistic Artifacts website at 10% off cover price:

http://www.artisticartifacts.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=A&Product_Code=640&Category_Code=

Digital Essentials by Gloria Hansen

 guess I need to get to the “sharpen your image section” also!!

The other book, Blending Photos with Fabric 2 by Mary Ellen Kranz presents easy to follow instructions also.  Right away I learned several useful tips about my digital camera. Ellen talks about taking photos to use as artwork, recommending several angles to take of the same viewpoints. Also included are several quilt projects to walk you through using photos- projects both traditional in technique and basic art quilt ideas.

Do you have this book? Please add your book review to the comments section! Thank you.

 This book is on sale 10% on Artistic Artifacts website:

http://www.artisticartifacts.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=A&Product_Code=632&Category_Code=

Blending Photos with Fabric 2 by Mary Ellen Kranz

Also available from Artistic Artifacts are EQ pretreated cotton lawn fabrics to print photos on: http://www.artisticartifacts.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=A&Product_Code=7955E&Category_Code=im

Check out the quilts and photos on this blog: http://www.miamithreads.blogspot.com/

artist Judy Momenzadeh does fantastic work!! Elizabeth forwarded her blog to me, thank you Elizabeth!

Posted in Book/DVD reviews, Photos, Quilts | 1 Comment »

Journal Bliss by Violette

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

My comfort zone is with fiber, but I love the idea of collaging with paint, paper and fiber. The creation of an altered book, journal, or painting using ever popular drawing and painting techniques just sucks me in and when I see a book that might help me further my knowledge or loosen up my editing button,  with these techniques I BUY IT! I have gotten to the point that I enjoy putting color on paper, the Stewart Gill Paints have done that for me, but adding drawings, words, photos, etc and I just don’t think I have what it takes.

While visiting Sue Bleiweiss’s blog http://suebleiweiss.typepad.com/sueb/ she had posted a review on this book: Journal Bliss by Violette.

So I ordered it. And it just arrived, A copy of for me and several for you to purchase on the Artistic Artifacts website:

http://www.artisticartifacts.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=A&Product_Code=2784&Category_Code=

The book is pretty cool.  Lots of great photos, diagrams and examples of journal techniques, including background paint techniques using the most wonderful tool there is ……. a plastic credit card!!! She includes borders, faces, writing styles, doodling, words and even how to construct and embellishing a mailing envelope!! It is light and easy inspiration.

There is a quote that I especially like and is appropriate for me at this time:

“When my daughter was about seven years old, she asked me one day what I did at work. I told her I worked at the college- that my job was to teach people how to draw.  She stared back at me, incredulous, and said, “you mean they forget?”

 Yup, I have forgotten how to draw and paint and I want it back!! I think Violette is going to help me! and you! Hurry while inventory is in stock!

Journal Bliss, creative journal, Stewart Gill Paints

 I have a little addition to this post. Yesterday, I picked up my niece, Celia from School (she is 5)  and she came to my house until her parents arrived home from work.  Her favorite place is my studio, usually to play with fabric scraps, but yesterday she was in a drawing mood. She grabed paper and colored pencils and started drawing. When I asked her what she was working on, I was told: “random things, just drawing”. Random?! Where did that come from? (did I say she is smart? LOL!). She asked me to join her in drawing “random” things, so I did. I tried for a little while to keep up with her without great success, so I ran to get Violette’s book….. Celia couldn’t believe that there was a book like this!! she looked at every page 2 and 3 times and we used it to get ideas for our random drawings and I introduced her to a new word: doodling!!

Posted in Book/DVD reviews | 1 Comment »