Blurred Granny

It is amazing to me how much this resembles an actual knitted granny square!

Spin Granny Story

It suddenly occurred to me that I did not have to wait to see fabric swatches to see a test of the granny. I printed it out on a piece of "dijon" colored Southworth Textured Weave Paper to tone it down.

Then I scanned it, posterized it, twirled it, radial blurred it and replaced colors.

This combination on black reminds me of Japanese fabric:

This next group has been blurred and posterized to various degrees:

Amazing how much you can change something you hate into something interesting. Tomorrow I will put the ones I still like onto my Tumblr to decide which to make fabric. There is a definite process developing that makes sense to me.

Crazy Granny - Cross No. 10

I probably would not wear clothing made from this fabric unless I could wear a sweater over it. For the right application, it's a humdinger, though. (I'd never make it in advertising.) I had fun with the colors--but in two days I could hate it.

I may even hate it now. I just went to post it on my Tumblr but could not bear the thought of it sitting at the top of the page.

More Stuff On Slate

I got sidetracked with this little cross. Once I started repeating it I lost control which was the smart way to go with it.

Sun Happy Cross

I'm glad I resisted the urge to color in this little array of happy crosses because I had so much fun with just the lines and the spiral brush. The "Slate" is nice too, I think. Note to self: Collage this one.

Slowing It Down A Little

I've really been pushing myself today, and it has been worth it for this one. I can't wait to see it printed as a swatch. You can check it out as yardage at Spoonflower: Mirror Spin in Turquoise--part of the Checker Graph Collection.

I keep coming back to look at this one blown up. I want this big to hang on my wall as a meditation piece. So random and so amazingly beautiful to me--to contemplate it is almost to produce a sound.

Achieving Maximum Velocity

Here's another color combination of my Checker Graph cross design at maximum "Spin." This one has made the cut for fabric Sampler No. 3.

Amazing to think that all of this started with a two-minute marker sketch on a scrap of graph paper!

Radial Blur Spin Cycle

Clockwise starting top left: Spin 12; Spin 25, Zoom 50, Spin 50.

Blur, Baby, Blur!

I'm still not done messing with my Graph Paper Crosses I guess. I decided to try 16-inch square pillow tops printed on fat quarters. For the life of me I could not remember what I did to achieve the lovely concentric circle distortion.

I kept applying all the different "Distort" filters but nothing worked. Just to keep things really interesting I started changing colors and came up with a few new combinations. Here's another filter application that I should have written down. These remind me of the effects you get when using a stencil to do enameling on copper

Finally I found "Radial Blur" and all is well. I need to start taking better notes here.

Twirling and Swirling

I got a little side-tracked with my log cabin design, working up two new color combinations and then applying some distortions in photoshop. With all the variations I think I will be well over the 30 swatches that I need to place my next Spoonflower sampler order, so I will be able to place the order tonight.

The more I look at these the more I like them. I did them fast, almost without thinking. Never agonized. Peak art experience.

Moving On

I've done enough with my Cross Cross. It's time to move on to something new. I did some more manipulation to get away from the annoying diagonal drop drift that resulted in my previous post. I really like the reds on fawn or whatever you would call that lovely tanned gray in the background. Time will tell if it makes the final cut for fabric swatches.

Doing the Tango: Cross Cross Repeat

I took the last combination on Tangerine Tango from yesterday and selected it off it's background and rearranged multiples on a new document. It's amazing how nicely the units interlocked!

The inversion resulted in a yellow which I did not care for. So I shifted the cobalt blue to turquoise, flipped and rotated the original block so the corners all lined up and connected at the center of four:

Now when it is inverted the yellow has shifted to a lovely Tangerine Tango!

Upon evaluation, I've decided this design is not appropriate for fabric. There is a slight diagonal drift to the whole design which becomes really apparent when you view the design as yardage. Hemming or even sewing straight seams would be disconcerting to say the least as nothing seems squared. Hung as curtains it would probably make the room look tilted!

Cross Cross Cross

Here's another cross design I've played with extensively before. I have it in a square configuration at Spoonflower. Now I can't leave the color alone. Hard to pick a favorite, but you can't go wrong with Tangerine Tango! OK, this is it for today, at least for a few hours.

Lost in Tangerine Tango

Here's an old digital collage that inspired two versions.

The plain "houndstooth" version above, and this "tilted diamond with dots" version. Booth in Sampler No. 2 at Spoonflower.

At the right distance, this one looks like beads on a net. I'm probably tired.

Graph Paper Crosses

I'm back to playing with my graph paper crosses, applying a few of my new photoshop tricks and messing about changing the colors. The originals are done in marker on graph paper. I made a bunch a while ago to collage onto canvas. (Note to self: locate and finish.)

Some of these are in the process of becoming fabric. I'm still all over the place with color but eventually I hope to create things that match up--large, medium and small scale prints. Something smallish to cut and sew that could be stuffed and then embellished with beads and then worn on a kumihimo cord like a pendant

This orange one amazes me, and I should try it inverted.

I need to remember to re-visit this graph paper design for fabric application as well.

The problem is after I work on this for a while I go on overload with all of the ways I can manipulate my original image. I don't see stuff right away. I've learned not to dismiss anything until I give it a second look with fresh eyes.

Look at this one. I think the above would make an amazing pillow. Reducing the scale is nice, too.