Picking Colors

I showed photos of two new releases this week, and it's gotten me thinking about picking colors. Monochromes vs. fully dictated palettes.

Tapestry - in 13 colors of Gentle Arts Threads.

I absolutely love how this came out, and judging from your comments on Facebook you do, too. However, this is probably the only coloration most of us are going to see for this design. There might be a few of us who swap around colors for something else, but most people who stitch it are likely to pick up the Gentle Arts thread pack or grab the DMC or other substitutes. The gold will likely stay gold. The two blues will likely stay two blues. (See below for the color list.)

Flower Power - a monochrome

Flower Power, on the other hand, is presented to you in a monochrome. When you start stitching, we are going to see this on a wide range of hand-dyed fabrics. You are going to choose all sorts of different threads. Many of you will use multiple different threads - making different colored flowers, or even multicolored flowers. And because I didn't specifically tell you what color to put in what spot, you will be creative and you will make awesome things from this. And they will be unique; and they will be special.

When I tell you all the colors, I take this creativity away from you, or at least make it more unlikely that you reach for it. Will it blow your mind if I tell you that all of these mandalas started out as monochromes, and that you can add as much color as you like? I don't add color until the end. Make a photocopy of your chart and break out some colored pencils. Add as much color as you like. Or, pick one nice color and go to town, enjoying the shapes as the stitched take form. There is no right answer - just do what you like to do.

Tapestry before I added the colors
BTW - don't you love Moire patterns (the weird lines artifact)

You can choose from many ways. Unfortunately, I usually only get to show you one way on the cover. That is why we all get so excited when photos of different versions are shared on the social media. Let me know what you come up with. 

To make Tapestry with the colors I've shown, you will need these Gentle Arts Thread (5 yard skeins). A few were so close to the 1 skein mark, I've rounded up. The fabric used was Weeks Dye Works Parchment linen in 30 count. Size is 199 x 199.

Pine (2)

Mulberry (1)

Grecian Gold (2)

Cinnamon (2)

Soot (1)

Wood Smoke (1)

Dark Chocolate (1)

Barn Grey (2)

Brethren Blue (2)

Briar Rose (2)

Apple Cider (1)

Garden Gate (2)

Piney Woods (3)

It's not just for cross stitch any more

My biggest announcement of the year! I love coloring mandalas, and now YOU can color my mandalas too. I've been working on a coloring book, and now it is ready. It's got 20 different mandalas ready for you sit back, relax, and color.

Ink Circles is publishing a coloring book. This is what the cover looks like.

It's called Peace of Art, a little pun because you will be creating a piece of art and you will be enjoying the peace of this relaxing art form.  If you've been watching at all, you'll have noticed a stream of interviews/programs/studies in the social media that tout the benefits of coloring as an adult hobby.

In what may be either a brilliant or a foolish move, I have chosen to distribute through Amazon as my primary fulfilment vehicle. You'll get Prime 2-day shipping; you'll get their price breaks (if they discount it); you'll be able to write and read reviews; I'll get a huge potential audience.

If you're not seeing the link directly above because of Adblock or your firewall, you'll need to go to Amazon and search the old fashioned way. It says order, but technically it is "pre-order" until Nov 10th.

Some of the choices I made in putting this together that might set my book apart from others:

• Single-sided (8.5 x 11"), so you can cut out pages and frame (or hang on your fridge) without losing a second page.
• Cardstock pages, so you can use colored pencils OR marker, or maybe even watercolor pencils without the page bleeding through or rippling.
• Spiral wire binding, it folds back flat to whatever page you choose. No coloring in the binding area.
• Spiral at the top: both my kids are southpaws. That side spiral gets in the way, so this works great for right or left handed colorists.
• A color test area on each page so you can check if your shading works or that pink is as bright as you hoped. It's designed such that it can be cut out to make a bookmark afterwards.

One of the 20 pages. You can see the binding and the bookmark in this photo.

Pick the colors that make you smile. Relax, there is no wrong way to do it.

Complete with a real ISBN: 978-0-9969675-0-1
I feel so official!

I'll be adding this to the Ink Circles site for ordering, as well as my Etsy shop, in the interest of complete marketing options, but don't feel bad getting it from your cheapest easiest source. (Only feel bad if you are getting it illegally from a scanned pirated posted copy.)

Namaste!

Neglect

I've apparently not posted since January? That's a bit embarrassing, and not for want of content. Some mandalas to stitch... here are the monochromes.

A Holly Jolly Mandala

A Spirited Mandala

Wings and Things

Valentina

The Horse Latitudes

Picking an obscure grouping for the 2014 RYO series has been an interesting and educational exercise. I probably should have confirmed ahead of time that there even were seven named lines of latitude that would provide inspiration, but this way I have the opportunity each month to do a little research, a bit of digging, and some playing around.

The titular Horse Latitudes are actually a matched set, between 30 and 35 degrees both north and south of the equator. Rather than one specific latitude, each is a band of latitudes characterized by the type of air current. Wikipedia offers much maritime discussion and a few different possibilities on the origin of the name which involve sailors and dead horses (both literally dead and figuratively dead.) See - you learn things when you cross stitch.

I've worked a team of horses into this mandala. They are subtle, and in fact are winged, as in the immortal (thus very not dead) Pegasus. I figure they can keep Draco company. As always with these RYO charts, any of the existing color palettes can be plugged in with an extremely high success rate.


The topmost version in blues and greens is called Door: 3750/931/3752, 3847/3849/472, 561/562/564, 500/502/3813. (Inspired by this Design Seeds Photo.) The second one down is in Geode: 347/3712/761, 3834/3041/3743, 413/414/415, 312/334/3841, inspired by this Design Seed photo.

Here is Horse Latitudes in Victorian (600/602/605, 349/351/743, 3842/3760/3761, 911/913/955.)

And of course, it's still fun to make new palettes. Here is a short example of how you do it.

1) Find a photo, a fabric, a flower - something that you like the look of. This example was suggested by a friend on facebook. I tried to find the original poster to give credit, but it has been share a ton through Tumbl and such and I gave up pulling the thread. It brought a smile to see the Facebook share had come to my friend by way of Patricia Polacco's page - she was one of the kids' favorite author/illustrators when they were young. I also particularly like the message in this photo. The news media seems to be a constant stream of bad things happening due to racism and intolerance. (Be good to each other!)

2) Find four distinct colors in the photo. You do not have to pick every color you see, just four dominant ones.

3) Now find a dark, a medium, and a light for each of those four colors. You do NOT need to see them in the photo, and the four you picked above can be the dark, the medium, or the light of their respective families. Access to a DMC color card or a drawer/wall of threads makes this easier.

4) Plug and Play.

Here are the six Merry Go Round mandalas in the "Human" palette: 355/356/754, 938/400/3776, 3340/3341/967, 838/840/842.

Here is another example, starting with a photo from the website Design Seeds. You might notice that I like that site and use it for color inspiration often: 

Bonus Bits that come with this chart!

Horse Latitudes in Carrots:
3340/725/727, 349/350/351, 895/3346/3348, 915/3607/3609.

I really like Carrots!

One more round to go with this series. 

RYO charts are now available only in printed form from your favorite shop or directly from my webshop.

Monthly Mandala: August 2014

As summer zips by and we flip another calendar page, I roll out the next installment of the Merry Go Round series. Stitchers are still welcome to join us, although the "mystery" part of things is 71% out of the bag (i.e., 5 of 7 revealed.) It costs $35 to join, or $25 if you do/did the 2013 series, for 7 of these color customizable charts.

August's offering is "Tropic of Cancer," being named after the latitudinal line as all of the other circles in this series. You may think I missed the boat because the zodiacal calendar has Cancer ending not in August but on July 22nd, but perhaps I was deferring to the Sidereal calendar which puts August 1st smack in the middle of the sign. Whatever your opinion on my astronomical and geographical ramblings, I hope find that the chart speaks well enough for itself.

Tropic of Cancer: number 5 in the 2014 Roll Your Own series
New colorway: Cancer -  817/350/352, 935/469/471, 3834/3835/3836, 632/407/950

This one seemed to look great in every palette I tried on it. Here are 15 of our established combinations to get you started (or to hopelessly bog you down in equally wonderful choices.)

Too many options? I think not!
Row 1: Candy Ducks, Long Jacket, Floral Hues
Row 2: Owl Optimizer, Solas, Poiple
Row 3: Garand, Honey Bee, Anchor Moss Rose
Row 4: Revenge, Emerging Hues, Halloween
Row 5: Buried Jewels, Darkside Duck, Orchids

Your stitching horoscope: I see all of your x's crossing in the same direction and little pieces of colored thread everywhere. You are having trouble locating a particular skein of floss that you bought. You will clean half of the house looking for it, then decide to go the the LNS and buy a duplicate. While there, you will decide to reward yourself with a few other goodies as a reward for doing that housework.

Merry Go Round

Introducing... a new series of Roll Your Own Mandalas. Join me for a ride on the RYO Merry Go Round. This series will feature round stained glass style mandalas. Most will be the same diameter as the previous group of square ones (115) but I'll be sure to sprinkle in some smaller rounds, as well as some corner chips to play with.

The first installment in Buried Jewels colorway

Pick a color, any color (actually you need 4)

We have a Yahoo group and a FaceBook group to share color ideas, progress shots, and wild hairs.

Details:

• You do not have to be part of the original RYO group to join. (Pick the $35 option below.)
• Patterns and instructions will be delivered in PDF format via your email. I will use your PayPal email by default, so tell me if you want them sent somewhere else.
• These will use the same palette as the first group, so all of our 100+ fabulous previous combos will work.
• There will be 7 total installments. You're looking at the first package. The other six will come out monthly at the first of the month starting in MAY.
• Price to join the series is $35 for all 7 patterns (some of which, like this one, have more than one mandala.) Patterns will not be available individually - it's all 7 or none.
• Bonus discount - if you did the RYO 2013 full series, I will give you $10 off - pick the $25 option below for seasoned RYO'ers.
• If you've just discovered this RYO thread and need them ALL, you can pick the $60 option and get all 7 square installments and be signed up for all 7 round installments.
• As always, buying in gives you access to the full library of color combinations, as well as my assistance in generating custom combos. In fact, custom work is encouraged. As we work together, I will generate and post photos of the mandalas colored with the new palette. And, within reason, am happy to adjust/tweak combos to get just the look you want.

This is what the original series RYO2013 ended up being. And remember any mandala can be redone in any color combo.

RYO charts are now available only in printed form from your favorite shop or directly from my webshop. 

Roll, Roll, Roll Your Boat

Hey, I've just rolled out the final Roll Your Own 2013 Sequel installment (RYO Rematch - top right in the picture below.) There were 7 total, or more accurate to say 6 and three thirds. I'd like to point out that this was a fantastic deal for these charts in pdf form at $35 for the lot, with custom colorization assistance and bonus WIPpy drooling and cheering. Woot!

All of the RYO 2013 mandalas

What a lot of fun it has been in the group, and will continue to be for the next 6 months or so as we continue to stitch and mashup colors. If you've somehow missed out on joining up to now, the group is still open to new members. If you're waiting for some sort of printed version - that will be next year sometime (and won't include the 100+ color combos we've test driven.) Big thank yous to everyone who's been a part of this project.

RYO charts are now available only in printed form from your favorite shop or directly from my webshop.

RYO, Back with a Vengeance

Today I'm releasing the 4th of 6 sequels to the Roll Your Own Mandala design, Revenge of RYO. Ordering info is at the bottom if you'd like to join the fun.

Revenge of RYO (September)

Here is the same color scheme and a recap of past sequels.

RYO (original - May)

Reloaded (July)

Bride of RYO (June)

Spawn of RYO (August)

This chart and the variations are being managed via a Yahoo Group. Group member pay $15 to get in, and get the original chart (plus the middle of the three Spawn charts that was a bonus.)  People already in the group can pay an additional $20 to get all six of the sequels, this being the fourth, or $5 to get just this one sequel. You can read more about the group here:

RYO charts are now available only in printed form from your favorite shop or directly from my webshop.

And here is the new chart in a few different schemes...

Bridal colors

Emerging Hues

Halloween

Long Jacket

Spawn of Roll Your Own

Happy August! Time for the next RYO installment. This month I chose to make little baby mandalas.  I call them the Spawn of RYO, and named them after the three scariest siblings I could think of: Cindy, Jan, and Marcia.

Spawn of RYO: Cindy (left), Jan (center), and Marcia (right) in Halloween colors

For those who didn't get the name thing for these, there was a really lousy sitcom in the 70's called the Brady Bunch. Unlike today, where we  have a thousand different choices of junk to waste our time watching, back then it was really limited. In a way, it gives all of those in my generation a common denominator. In any case, the three girls in the family were named Cindy, Jan, and Marcia, and they squabbled about typical things and learned wholesome family value lessons. Jan, the middle girl always complained her older sister Marcia got the better shake in life. (You can just hear Jan chanting: "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia.")

Spawn of RYO in Heated Stare

I ran a little poll to select which of the three would be offered to everyone in the base RYO group. The other two minis are offered to the people who are opting in for sequels.  I appreciate everyone who took the poll as to which chart to offer to the group, but I must say I rigged it in Jan's favor so she would finally win. Well, I couldn't say for certain she would, but I gave her owls. :-)  Jan got 62% of the vote. Go, Jan!

Spawn of RYO in Candyduck

If you're new to my RYO concept and you'd like to learn a bit more, you can see the group description here.

RYO charts are now available only in printed form from your favorite shop or directly from my webshop.

Here Comes the Bride

June being the big month for weddings, I've decided to call this first add-on chart in the Roll Your Own Group "Bride of RYO."  For every cheesy movie, there is a cheesy sequel and so often they are titled "Bride of...," "Revenge of ...," etc, so I'm taking my titling cues from them.

For those of you who joined the group and get (and read) the message postings, I determined there was enough interest to bring out some companion charts that would use the same color schemes.  We have over 60 color combos previewed in the group, prompting several stitchers to pick more than one in that "must do" category, or wanting to make companion pieces.

These charts will be available to RYO2013 group members for $5 each, or for $20 for all six follow-on packets to be released on an approximately monthly schedule. If you are not a group member yet, you'll need to pay the original $15 first to join the group. You can do so here.

Bride of RYO shown in "Bridal" colorway

Star Fleet and Nature Tones

Merry Christmas and Wheat Hues

Tropical Ocean and Solas

RYO charts are now available only in printed form from your favorite shop or directly from my webshop. Bride of RYO is the same size as the original RYO2013 chart, and uses all of the same color picking schemes, chart symbols, etc.

For those that missed it, the original RYO2013 mandala looks like this, shown here in the "Bridal" colorway.  You can see more colorways for this chart in this blog entry.

Original RYO Mandala in the Bridal colorway