Derwent Pencils LOVE stitcheries....and some winners to announce

Lets announce the winners first!

Thank you to everyone for joining in on my most recent giveaway!!! You girls are amazing with your rose stories. In fact it inspired me to garden a lot this week (oh so thats where the days went!!!)  and you made my mouth water with your tea varieties. In fact I have a tea in front of my right now - which is saying something - as I am a coffee girl - ok I admit it - the coffee has ran out  :-{  arghhh not that happy....gotta have coffee

The winners as selected by random gadget selection are:  9  22 33 and 46.

Congratulations to   Jeanette G, Maria Munoz, Narelle and Anita.

I know I said I would choose 3 but its hard to stop - and 4 is my favourite number.

I really loved reading all of your comments - but there was a very special one that stood out in particular and made me WISH I was there having tea on the veranda too. When I was little we lived in a very old house with wide verandas - and we sometimes had morning or afternoon tea on the veranda (us kids had cordial) - with home made cake and biscuits....

so I would love to send patterns to "Sandy on the cattle property with the billy tea" as well - for the "mmmmm" factor.

                      THE DERWENT WATERCOLOUR PENCIL TUTORIAL

I have been using Derwent Watercolour pencils on some of my stitcheries for over a year - and just love the effect.

Here are some of the reasons:

1. Easy to use and forgiving too. No art skills required

2. GORGEOUS colours

3. Beautiful blending ability.

4. Soft lead that doesn't create "colouring in" lines - as regular pencils do

5. Won't wreck the appearance of your stitches if you colour over them by mistake

6. Can be sharpened to a fine point to reach into small corners

7. Can be made hand washable when lightly painted with Jo Sonja Textile Medium. (See special notes at the end of this post).

When I did Folk Art painting at Wood N Pots several years ago we were taught to give objects LIFE by adding highlight and shadow. This turns a boring flat 2D object into a more interesting 3D one.

When using these pencils our background fabric left uncoloured will act as the highlight - and we add the shadow with the pencils. If you just colour in the whole shape it remains 2D.

If your background fabric is dark - your pencils can become the highlighters. I used this technique in several areas to colour my Poire Sampler - which has a darker background.

The first step is to imagine where your light source is coming from. Above , below, left, or right - or even frontal. This will influence where to place your shadows. If you mix up your shadow orientations too much it loses its "reality" and becomes confusing....

Here is a stitchery I completed a while ago. (Some of you will have this one because it was one of the designs in my FAST 20 OFFER. First 20 comments were guaranteed winners. Wasn't that fun! We had 4 rounds of them. My Post Office loved me.

Here is a step by step demo....

Always complete the stitchery first otherwise you will add too much pencil colour.

Now I have add some tan to the sides of the vase, under the rims and above the scallops. These pencils have a soft tip and so blending out to no colour is easy. Water is not involved at any stage.

Next we add some colour to the tulips.

(Q.   Have you picked my main "light source direction" yet?      A.   Its from the front).
Its starting to come to life.

Now for some colour on those leaves.

And here it is finished....I only used 3 colours and it makes quite a difference.

I usually don't add anything more to make my design washable/waterproof.  But I am often asked about this. So I have experimented a bit...and can share what I have learnt so far.

To make the design washable, you can paint it after colouring it with Jo Sonja Textile Medium. It can then be lightly hand washed. Only paint the areas coloured with pencil and only use a small amount. The more strokes you do the more you smudge the colour - and this can become a problem on small shapes - because you can end up with no plain coloured background. Use a small brush and definately don't paint outside the stitching. The biggest disadvantage I've found is that it enhances the colours a LOT - they become much much brighter and it makes the fabric slightly stiff. There is no tell tale shine though, which is a good feature.

xo Catherine. Enjoy colouring your weekend.

P.S. thanks again for your comments - I really really appreciate every single one of them. I have responded to you ALL and have had bounce back from just 4. If you haven't heard from me please know that I did try.

Comments

[maria munoz]

hi cath
postman just deliveried my prize is just wonderful , thank you so much I feel so lucky.
so did I got myself some derwent .
thank cath
maria

[Joy]

Congratulations to the winners!!!
I've bought myself some Derwent watercolours and I'm ready to play :o)!!! Thanks Cath for a terrific tutorial!!
Hugs
Joy :o)

[Helen Yann]

Hi Catherine, You should try the Derwent Inktense pencils...now they are really cool. Cheers
Helen

[Sharon]

Cathy do you think that we have those colored pencils here? That is so pretty. I love what you do with them.
Congrats to all of your winners!!!
Sharon

Hi Sharon - Derwent watercolour pencils are available online in the US from www.artsuppliesonline.com
They are a readily available artist product so most good stockists should have them available in several sized tins or even singularly.
Best wishes Cath

[Karen Reid]

thanks for the lesson, I bought a set of pencils some time ago and have been very hesitant to give them a go - I am now inspired

[Lynn S.]

Thanks so much on the watercolor pencils instructions! I'm ready to try this now!!

[Stina]

Congratulations to the winners...
Thanks for the tutorial...guess what I found Derwent pencils at my local store...lol... ;o)
Missed a lot of your posts...hmmmm of some reason the rss feed havent worked...and this will learn me to check manual... :o)

[Sandy]

Cathy...thankyou so much for deciding to send me your lovely patterns...I wish I could "beam" you here for a cuppa on our verandah ! You would be welcome any time, and your family etc too. In fact today after our cup of tea, we were so hot we headed to the dam for a swim...that trip was followed by another cup of tea? no....a beer on the verandah...we can cater for all styles of beverages!! I shall email you next with my address...I am so excited to be expecting your design..thankyou heaps...Sandy on the cattle property.

[Julie]

Hi Cath, What a great tutorial and the photo's show your work so clearly. Thank you very much - I just love it.