NATURE + ART workshop

Join me in this hands-on workshop to inspire and teach you basic and advanced techniques to enrich your artwork with natural objects and images, including flowers and plants, and animals and wildlife.

I’m limiting enrollment in this workshop, and molding it to the interests of the participants. We can cover topics such as improving your nature photography, using nature in mixed media art, how to find natural subjects or attract them to your garden, and much more.

Masdevallia orchid box

No equipment is required, but if you have them, bring along your digital camera and/or laptop computer (including iphone or tablet).  Or bring your favorite paints, pencils, pastels, etc.

Sunday June 19, 2011, noon to 4:00 p.m., $60 plus materials. At the El Cerrito Canyon Trail Park Art Center.  Pre-registration is required. If you have questions, or to register, please email me at heidirand@gmail.com

And click here for the complete list of my upcoming classes.

Photo Art : Altered Imagery Workshop

Do you have folders-full of photographs on your computer that are okay, but you want to transform them into art that you’re really proud of, that you can print and frame — for yourself, for gifts, or to sell?

Cattleya orchid

Ready to take the next steps with your photos, to stretch your creativity and artistic imagination?   If you’re in the San Francisco Bay Area, I’ve got just the workshop for you!  Sunday April 10, 2011 from noon to 3:30 p.m., at the Canyon Trail Park & Art Center, 6757 Gatto Ave., El Cerrito, I’ll be teaching you the magic that you can find within your own photographs.

Egret allium blended collage

We’ll explore how to enhance your original photos to achieve unique and artistic effects using Adobe Photoshop Elements. Elements is a very powerful, but affordable, image processing program.  The techniques that I teach you, though, can be accomplished with other programs, and we’ll discuss those other programs, including GIMP, a free image processing software that you can download from the internet.

Making a kaleidoscope

Space is limited, and we’ll work on your images at the workshop, so pre-registration is required.  For more information, or to pre-register, email me at heidirand@gmail.com.  The cost is $50. If you can’t make the workshop, email me for other options, including private classes and ebooks.  And here’s a list of my other art and craft workshops.

Dorian and Lars

Garden Design Fabric Bowties!

I have gone bowtie crazy!  George has been after me for years to make him a bowtie.  Evidently they are really hard to find and good ones are quite expensive.  Then recently an old friend asked me whether I would make her some neckties from my fabric designs. I got a McCalls pattern that had both a necktie and a bowtie.  Sad to say, I quickly realized that making the necktie was going to take more time than I had .. .  But the bowtie — now that was a different story.  It was far less complicated than the necktie, and took much less fabric.  So here’s my first effort … what do you think?  The fabric is one of my favorites, a design I made by kaleidoscoping my photograph of a purple laelia orchid.

Bowtie number one

Here’s the bowtie on the proud model, George.

George wearing bowtie number 1

Bowtie number two is also from the McCalls pattern.  I used another of my favorite fabric designs, a kaleidoscope pattern from my photograph of a butterfly’s wing.

Bowtie number 2

How do you like it on George?   For this one I used the standard bowtie hardware, a hook and clasp and adjustable slider.  I had to order the hardware online because none of the local fabric stores carry it.  Contact me if you want information about where I got the hardware.

George wearing bowtie number 2

Here’s my third bowtie.  I found great instructions on a blog for boys’ bowties, and just made it a bit larger for a man-sized bowtie.  This is a double fold tie.  I haven’t had a chance to make the strap, so I’m using one of the bowtie clip-ons that I got when I ordered the other hardware sets.

Larger bowtie

This is the back, showing the clip-on hardware.  You just slip the gizmo through the tube at the back and clip it onto each side of the shirt collar.

Back of bowtie showing clip-on

George was too tired to put on the shirt to model it, but I got some shots of him holding it up to his t-shirt. Here’s one:

Mr. Bowtie

And another … !  I figured out how to print the fabric for this design using letter-sized sheets of fabric, so I can whip up the bowties rather than waiting for yardage to be printed for me.

Honeybee design bowtie

This is a closeup of the center loop

Honeybee design bowtie center loop

This is the original file I used – my photograph of honeybees in a hive, kaleidoscoped into this design:

Honeybee kaleidoscope design

Tired of bowties yet?  Okay, just one more.  My latest is made of fabric I designed from my photograph of a swallowtail butterfly wing.  I kaleidoscoped a small part of the photograph using the Kaleider software program (see my other blog posts about Kaleider).  I love how brightly colored the fabric turned out –

Swallowtail bright bowtie

I just started showing the bowties in my Etsy store.  Click here for my first listing. I can also make them to order from any of my fabric designs, so contact me if you want to special order one.

Photo art : altered imagery. One-day workshop

Sunday August 29, 2010.  Noon to 3:30 pm at Canyon Trail Park & Art Center, 6757 Gatto Ave., El Cerrito.  $50

Egret swirl

Learn to transform your photographs into works of art with software programs and techniques.  We will explore how to enhance your original photos to achieve unique and artistic effects.  We will use Adobe Photoshop Elements at the workshop, but will explore techniques that other image processing programs use.

Angel trumpet

Pre-registration required.  For more information, or to pre-register, email me at heidirand@gmail.com.  If you can’t make the workshop, email me for other options, including private classes.

Inkjet Transfer Techniques Workshop

One-day workshop :  Saturday July 17, 2010

Noon to 4:00 pm at Canyon Trail Park & Art Center, 6757 Gatto Ave., El Cerrito.  $45 plus materials

Butterfly window hanging, Transfer Artist Paper

We will explore using inkjet transfers to enhance your artwork and to create mixed media, collage and other works.  Learn several techniques to transfer images and text to a variety of surfaces.  Transfers are ideal to get your images and designs onto surfaces that you can’t fit through your printer.  We will experiment with many different products, including a new heat transfer polymer material, Transfer Artist Paper.  You will complete at least two transfers at the workshop.

Double exposure on canvas, heat transfer

Pre-registration required.  For more information, or to pre-register, email me at heidirand@gmail.com.  If you can’t make the workshop, email me for other options, including private classes.

Lisianthus box lazertran heat transfer

Art Quilts & Fabric Hangings : One-day workshop

Workshop taught by Heidi Rand

Canyon Trail Art Center, El Cerrito California

Saturday June 19, 2010 – noon to 4:00 p.m.
$50 + materials

Lars quilt

Further adventures in the exciting new world of fabric printing!  Offered for the first time — a hands-on workshop where we will explore printing your fabric and designing a small art quilt or hanging.  Even if you’ve never made a quilt before, this workshop will teach you basic art quilt construction.  We go beyond quilts used for bedding, by adding embellishments and mixed media elements, and framing or hanging options.   Basic inkjet printing and sewing knowledge is helpful, but not required.

Golden butterfly art quilt on canvas

I’ll show you many examples of the kinds of art quilts and hangings you can make using your inkjet printer and sewing machine. You’ll get lots of new ideas about what to do with your images and designs, and the knowledge to go home and start making your own personal fabric-art piece!

Lavender rust quilt

Bring a flash drive with your images, or letter-sized images to scan.   If you want to begin sewing your piece at the workshop, bring your sewing machine and some possible backing fabric.  Pre-registration required.   Please email me at HeidiRand@gmail.com

Upcoming workshops:

Saturday July 17, 2010 noon to 4:00 p.m.  Inkjet transfer techniques. El Cerrito Canyon Trail Art Center

Sunday August 29, 2010, noon to 3:30 p.m. Photo Art : Altered Imagery. El Cerrito Canyon Trail Art Center

Sunday September 19, 2010, noon to 4 p.m. Beyond paper : inkjet printing on alternative surfaces.  El Cerrito Canyon Trail Art Center

Sunday October 24, 2010, noon to 3:30 p.m.  Exploring lutradur.  El Cerrito Canyon Trail Art Center

Sunday November 21, 2010, noon – 3:30 p.m.  Handmade gifts with your inkjet printer. El Cerrito Canyon Trail Art Center

Have questions? Interested in registering?  Please email me

If you can’t make the workshop, I also have an ebook to teach you to print on fabric and online classes at CraftEdu

Saturday June 19, 2010, noon to 4. Art quilts and fabric hangings. El Cerrito Canyon Trail Art Center

Printing on wood veneer

I’ve written before about transferring my inkjet images and designs to wood.  I’ve done some printing directly onto wood that I treated with Golden Paint’s Digital Grounds, but not much because I haven’t had great success finding veneer that’s flat enough to print.  I ordered some veneer online from Rockler, great price – but it was too warped to send safely through the printer, and although I found directions to flatten veneer, I just didn’t have the interest in doing that step on top of all of the others needed to get a good inkjet print.

I have been using small flat pieces of the Rockler veneer to make wooden postcards using Transfer Artist Paper (TAP), more about that another day.  Oh, okay, here’s a photo of those wooden postcards – I will write a whole post about my process to make those soon.

Wood veneer postcards using TAP

So anyway, I had great hopes for the first inkjet-treated veneer that I’ve found, available through Cards of Wood, called SMartGRAIN™.  I was excited that it could go through the normal feed of my small printer.  Thicker wood veneer has to go through the straight path of my larger printer.  This veneer is thin enough to curl through the normal feed.   I got the starter kit from Cards of Wood.  Their price for the kit is $25 for 6 letter-sized sheets.  After that, you buy them by the sheet, and they’re $5.25 each.  They also paid the shipping for the sample kit, which was nice.

For my first test, I chose an image that I thought would look good on wood, and one that I had printed on veneer that I coated with Digital Grounds, for comparison.  This is the original file for my Koi and Wisteria blended collage.

Koi and wisteria blend

The image is abstract, but there are sharp elements, and I wanted to see whether the inkjet coating was of good enough quality to reproduce the sharpness.  This is the result on the new inkjet-treated product from Cards of Wood:

Koi wisteria collage on wood veneer

This is the same image printed on veneer that I coated with the clear gloss Digital Ground.

Koi wisteria collage on wood veneer treated with Digital Ground

I much prefer the print that I made on the veneer that I treated with Digital Ground.  The detail is much better – part of the collage is a garland of wisteria blooms, and the Cards of Wood print is blurry, with no sharp detail.  The color of the Cards of Wood print is a bit brighter, and it’s close to the original image file, so that’s good.  I’m very finicky about detail and resolution in my prints, though — it’s very  important to me, and it shows how good the quality of the inkjet coating is. I should emphasize that I’ve printed on many unusual surfaces, and I never expect that a print on things other than paper will look the same as on good inkjet paper.  I do know that the color and grain of the wood will affect the quality of the print.  That’s why I did the comparison between the Digital Ground-treated print and the one on SMartGRAIN™ wood.   I’m not convinced that the Cards of Wood product is worth the money.  I will print the rest of the four sheets and let you know my final verdict.

CraftEdu goes live!

Finally – after months of working on classes, taking photographs, writing scripts, narrating, annotating, editing, polishing …  CraftEdu goes live in beta today! I’m so honored to be part of this wonderful group of talented teachers, artists and crafters.  We’re a diverse group, with something for everyone: lots of jewelry artists of all stripes (Donna Kato, the polymer queen, is our fearless leader), but you can also find classes on digital art, fiber and textiles, encaustic, rubber stamping, mixed media, and much more!   Click here to visit CraftEdu.

I have two free classes up: Inkjet Inks, What You Need to Know for Your Arts & Crafts; and Introduction to Lutradur.   I also have two on demand classes up so far: Inkjet Printing on Fabric and Inkjet Printing on Lutradur. I’m busy working on more.  Join my group to ask questions, share ideas, or get information!

CraftEdu

Online art classes at CraftEdu — coming soon!

I’m always amazed to find that even as I reach out over the internet to people all over the world in places I’ll never be lucky enough to visit .. that it really all comes down to personal relationships.  Grace Taormina, a talented mixed media, collage and fiber artist, and author of  The Complete Guide to Rubber Stamping and The Complete Guide to Decorative Stamping is a wonderful friend I made through our local arts group, the Pinole Artisans.

Now follow me here — Grace is friends with Donna Kato, an amazing polymer clay artist, author, teacher, and product developer.  They met in the craft industry, and would catch up when they were both doing appearances on Carol Duvall’s TV shows.  When Donna began dreaming of teaching online, rather than travelling the world and spending so much time in airports, one of the first people she contacted to take part was her friend “Gracie”.  And I’m very honored that Grace recommended me to Donna.

So, what’s it all about?  Donna describes her dream, CraftEdu, as a creative powerhouse of talent covering many art and craft media.  She selected the faculty based on expertise and ability to instruct and inspire their students, and boasts of a team of the best and the brightest the art and craft world have to offer.

After much searching, Donna found the perfect platform to offer online classes.  Created and designed by Faculte, it provides a unique alternative to conventional pdf based class presentations and creates a near in person teaching environment.   CraftEdu will launch in beta in March 2010 and anticipates an official launch in April 2010.

I’ll be teaching inkjet printing on fabric, using lutradur in your art and printing on lutradur, inkjet transfer techniques, and much more! My CraftEdu gallery is a short introduction to my artwork and the kinds of classes I will be offering.

Sign up for updates for classes with CraftEdu.com

Follow the CraftEdu blog and learn more about faculty members and events at the CraftEdu facebook page!

Inkjet Printing on Fabric Workshop

Inkjet Printing on Fabric

Workshop taught by Heidi Rand

Canyon Trail Art Center, El Cerrito California

Saturday May 22, 2010 – noon to 3:30 p.m.
$35 + materials

Lavender rust quilt

Welcome to the exciting world of fabric printing!  Learn to print your artwork, images and designs on fabric using your home inkjet printer.  This exciting technique opens the door to endless possibilities for creating original fabric to use in quilts, art pieces, gifts, home decor, and much more.

Fabric vases

I take you step-by-step through the entire process, from preparing your files to print, to choosing the right fabric and getting it ready to go through the printer, to post-printing treatment, and much more.  I will discuss the importance of knowing what kinds of inks your printer uses, and give you tips to get fabric through even the most finicky printer.

Fabric cuff bracelet

With many examples of printed fabric and fabric artwork and crafts, you’ll get new ideas about what to do with your images and designs, and the knowledge to go home and start printing your own!

Pre-registration required.  Please email me at HeidiRand@gmail.com

Upcoming workshops:

Saturday June 19, 2010, noon to 4. Art quilts and fabric hangings. El Cerrito Canyon Trail Art Center

Saturday July 17, 2010 noon to 4:00 p.m.  Inkjet transfer techniques. El Cerrito Canyon Trail Art Center

Sunday August 29, 2010, noon to 3:30 p.m. Photo Art : Altered Imagery. El Cerrito Canyon Trail Art Center

Sunday September 19, 2010, noon to 4 p.m. Beyond paper : inkjet printing on alternative surfaces.  El Cerrito Canyon Trail Art Center

Sunday October 24, 2010, noon to 3:30 p.m.  Exploring lutradur.  El Cerrito Canyon Trail Art Center

Sunday November 21, 2010, noon – 3:30 p.m.  Handmade gifts with your inkjet printer. El Cerrito Canyon Trail Art Center

Have questions? Interested in registering?  Please email me

If you can’t make the workshop, I also have an ebook to teach you to print on fabric and online classes at CraftEdu