Gorgeous Sweater Coats by KLA Originals

We really enjoy collaborating with other local artists.  Our recent one was with costume designer and artist, Kirsten Atkins of KLA Originals who creates fabulous upcycled sweater coats and jackets.

Kirsten was in need of just the right buttons for her latest project -- a sweater coat that would be entered into the Kamloops "Art Exposed" show.  The show is over so I am now allowed to share the photos with you.  Kirsten entered two sweater coats.  One was titled "Fire" and the other "Ice" and when you see them together you can see how the titles are so fitting.  As soon as I saw the beautiful textures and colors in the "Ice" sweater coat, I immediately thought of our Color Wheel buttons which seemed to go so well with the piece.  Rather than going with just one color, we did them up in several shades of blue, turquoise and teal.

So here are a few photos of the sweater coats that Kirsten created.  While they do look great, they look even more awesome in person as you can see up close all the detail and work that went into them!  Every square inch has been carefully arranged and pieced together which took many hours to create.

"Ice" by Kirsten of KLA Originals

"Ice" by Kirsten of KLA Originals

"Fire" and "Ice" by Kirsten of KLA Originals

"Fire" by Kirsten of KLA Originals

"Fire" by Kirsten of KLA Originals

Kirsten sells her original sweaters at local art shows and festivals but also has them available on her website if you would like to check out more of her awesome work.

New Items Now at Intwined Fibre Arts

We are finally almost caught up with our fall orders for the yarn and quilt shops.  Some new items we added this year were our stitch markers and covered crochet hook handles.

Intwined Fibre Arts is one of the stores in our area to have these items for sale along with a nice selection of our buttons and other novelty gift items for the knitter.  They have been busy creating some new and fun projects.  I love this family of owls made from sock yarn and how they used our "Color Wheel" buttons for the eyes!  Aren't they adorable?!

We love seeing how our work is used in unique and different ways like this.

Slouchy Cable Hat Tutorial

Carla at Grace and Favour has now finished the tutorial for her gorgeous "Slouchy Cable Hat".   (see my previous blog post here.)  You will find all the instructions to knit one for yourself over at Imagine Gnats.

The button Carla used on the hat is one of our Color Wheel designs.

They are sold in several local yarn and quilt shops.  If you do not live in our area, we now have these available in our Etsy shop. 

Color Wheel Button and a Gorgeous Hat

We have been busy working on several projects this past week.  Time seems to keep slipping by  and I suddenly realized I hadn't blogged in a few days.  I was trying to decide what to share with you until I read the blog post at Grace and Favour.  Carla is a talented knitter as well as quilter.

This is a hat that she knit in a beautiful teal blue and that is one of our Color Wheel buttons on it.

Carla is writing a tutorial for the hat which she should have done soon.  I will keep you posted when it is available.  If quilting or knitting interest you, you will want to follow her blog for some real eye candy.

Color Wheel Buttons

I have been experimenting with various forms of the mica shift technique which is also referred to as "ghost imaging".  When you impress or stamp polymer clay that contains a large amount of metallic (or pearl) particles, it leaves that image behind.  After baking, the piece is then sanded smooth to bring out the image even more.

Here are the new "Color Wheel" buttons we have created using a mica shift based on a stacked clay technique by Dan Cormier and Tracy Holmes called "Holes and Lines".  Their special peeler works beautifully and is fun to use. Now with their new wider  peeler, we are able to make even larger (2 inch) buttons which are a popular item at the quilt and yarn shops that sell our work.

We make the buttons in several sizes (1-3/8", 1-5/8" and 2") in a round concave shape as well as a smaller "football" shape.

Kato clay has several metallic colors that can be used for this technique which are the pearl, gold, silver and copper.  I have been experimenting with some new recipes to create a range of brighter mica shift colors. As some of these brighter colors are difficult to mix up with using only Kato clay, I've had to combine it with other products (other clay / inks, etc.) in order to get the shades I wanted as in the buttons shown here:

And zipper charms in some of the matching colors as well:

Blog Debris - Color Scheme Designer

Here is a fun site that you can play with and explore the color wheel and color combining.  It is called the Color Scheme Designer and you can drag your mouse to select the colors in the wheel as well as all other kinds of settings.

If you are really into Pantone colors like I am, check the tab at the top that says "color space" and click on "Pantone colors".  The colors adjust to the pantone shades and when you hover your mouse over all the colors it will give the Pantone color swatch numbers that match. 

My New Color Tutorial is Available

I am happy to announce that my Color Tutorial, "Carolyn's Clay Color System" is now available!  It is for sale in our ArtFire Studio as well as our Etsy Shop.

In this tutorial you will learn:
* how to mix clay color recipes and organize them with your own "color library system"
* how to mix up new colors by making your own "Custom Color Wheel Charts"
* how to make a Six-Step Color Blend
* a fun technique for testing color combinations I call my "Mini-Mokume"
* how to make some beads from your "mokume"

Through this lesson you will:
* have more confidence in mixing and combining colors
* have a more organized clay area
* have more time and clay to get right into your projects

Included with this lesson are:
* cards to print out with more than 50 of my favorite color recipes using Kato polyclay to get you started.
   (Note: some of these recipes can be adapted to other clay brands and separate cards are provided.)
* some of the recipes are my own "base mixes" used to create various tints, shades or hues.
* printable worksheets for mixing clay blends and your own "custom color wheels"
* printable cards to record and save your own color blends and mixes.
* 23 pages of instruction and photos
* 38 pages of printable worksheets, charts and recipe cards

Creating Your Own Custom Color Wheels

Do you find color theory complicated?  Do you have a difficult time finding the right color combinations?   I love mixing up new colors and below is a sample of one of my own rainbow-type blends.  I like to call them my own "Custom Color Wheels".  They are fun to make and and open up so many possibilities for mixing and combining colors.

Here are some pieces I made with the colors from the above chart:

In my color tutorial I will show you how to create your own Custom Color Wheels where you will find mixing up new colors and creating color blends not only fun but inspiring.

I will also teach you how to create a step blend -- like this:

And turn it into canes like so:

Then record it for later reference

These color charts take very little clay and are so quick and easy to make, you will have more time to get right into your projects.

All this (and more) will be available very soon!