Tools of the Trade Tuesday: Cutting Tools

Everyone needs scissors, but, if you are doing lots and lots of strip piecing, a rotary cutter is your best friend!
The art of improvisational quilt piecing may not have developed if the rotary cutter hadn't been invented!
What kind do you prefer? A small one for cutting curves, a big one for slicing through several layers of cotton at a time, or an ergonomically friendly one with a safety feature, like the one shown here?
Bring your cutting tools to QSDS and use them in classes such as the ones taught by Rosale Dace and Judy Hooworth.  Pat Pauly's classes even have the word "improv" in the titles!
Check the classes out here: http://www.qsds.com/classesbysession2017.html

Teacher Spotlight: Susan Shie

Drawing is a fundamental tool of any artist. Do you draw regularly? Do you WISH you did?
Susan Shie can take care of that! Bring a sketchbook and a few simple art supplies and you will be ready to spend five days or a weekend discovering how simple and freeing it can be to draw without worrying if you are doing it "the right way."
Susan has an MFA in painting and is known for her drawn and painted quilts. Her students love her freewheeling, encouraging approach. She stresses that everyone will find their own style, which will not necessarily be like her style of drawing.

Art journaling can be a great way to record the happenings in your life, as well as a way to develop ideas for your art.  Susan is a master of this.  Here she is working on a drawing about the DC Women's March in January:

And here are the finished pages:

This isn't just a way to learn a skill you'll use for the rest of your life, it's FUN!! Check our Susan's classes here:

http://www.qsds.com/classesbysession2017.html

Tools of the Trade: Brushes!

Who doesn't love using brushes?  We use them for paint or thickened dye, to do shading. You can draw curving graceful lines, stencil, daub and splatter!

Do you keep your brushes clean or do you forget and then find them, rock-hard, on your work table?  

Are your brushes standing in containers, ready to go, or are they scattered somewhere under piles of papers and fabrics? 

You and your brushes would have a fine time at QSDS this summer in classes with Esterita Austin, Betty Busby or Kevin Womack! Check out their classes here:http://www.qsds.com/classesbysession2017.html

Try Something Completely Different!!

Are you into mixed Media? Have you been thinking about branching out and working with more than just fabric? Then we have a great class for you! During Sessions 1 and 2 of QSDS, Jiyoung Chung will teach two classes in the traditional Korean art of Joomchi. But the results are far from traditional! Transform mulberry paper into a strong, flexible, fabric-like surface.  How did Jiyoung get those lovely, lacy holes in this sample?

Joomchi can be stitched by hand or machine or molded and coaxed into three-dimensional shapes! You can add yarns or trims to the surface, similarly to the way you do in felting.  Spend five days with Jiyoung or come for the weekend.  It is fun and inspiring, guaranteed to get you thinking about your art in a different way.  Check out Jiyoung's classes here:

http://www.qsds.com/classesbysession2017.html