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*frustrated*----design process not working like it should

*frustrated*----design process not working like it should

Old 03-08-2008, 11:47 PM
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I need to vent or otherwise I'll bang my head against the keyboard.

I haven't been in much of a quilting mood to construct my Flying Ninja Stars quilt with the fabric provided by bj (or construct something with the fabric Sue sent me, for that matter) so I've been putting forth my designing skills on other projects. My main focus is the Wind Waker sea map. And its not going too well.

First of all, doesn't help that I don't own a copy of the game. I used to, but it mysteriously disappeared (and the 20 minute demo on my Zelda collection disc doesn't help much). So without it I can't create the templates for the islands or find inspiration for designs. Not to mention if I ever want to create the stain glass windows in the Master Sword room I can't recreate the design for those.

Then, I asked someone on the board if they'd make an accurate layout of the map for me in EQ. I was able to download the version they put in their own colors, but not the colorless one so I could put it in my own colors. My Internet will stop sending information halfway through and then I have to hang up and reconnect and start over.

The main thing that's driving me nuts is this design I want to put in the outer border. Well, I don't have a design yet. I want a Celtic knot border to go in the corners, but not having much luck finding one. I've probably been through a thousand websites trying to look for one that I think would work well. I tried making my own...got a book and downloaded a free trial of a computer program to try and make one. I can re-create every single knot that can fit in a square or retangular space in this program (I did all the ones in the book and many more from the net). But when I try to branch out and do my own thing...just doesn't work or create medicore results.

Plus, I have this crazy idea of screen printing my islands and my Celtic knot design (if I ever get one I like) onto the fabric...which, of course, I've never screen printed before (seen a demostration done and looked at another 1000 websites researching the process). And I realized just how expensive screen printing will be if I do end up doing it...probably more than the rest of the quilt.

So this map has turned into this insane project that I'm not sure will ever get done. Arrrrrgh!


...I'm gonna go eat some chocolate and listen to Bjork.
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Old 03-09-2008, 06:41 AM
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I wonder if it is possible to do iron on transfers rather than screen printing? It would be a lot cheaper and easier. I hope you can pull this off, I would LOVE to see a Zelda quilt!
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Old 03-09-2008, 08:21 AM
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Maybe you could try printing on fabric? I saw a quilt that had a figure printed on fabric in the door of a house and it looked great. Would that be an option perhaps? I can't fault your methods of dealing with frustration--You hit that right on the money--isn't chocolate a great cure all! Wish it would have an effect on high blood pressure. Boy would I be healthy then!!
Good luck on your design process. You have a very creative mind. I am good at following patterns, but very seldom branch out on my own. Can't wait to see it, cause I know you are clever enough to work this through and come up with something.
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Old 03-09-2008, 08:40 AM
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Just keep on keepin' on, V. You'll work through it. Just make sure you keep plenty of chocolate on hand. Do you have Kinko's there? They might could help you out with printing you colorless map pattern. You might ask them if they could print your islands onto the fabric that's made to go through a printer. The kids at our Kinko's here are pretty clever and will try just about anything you ask them to.
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Old 03-09-2008, 07:40 PM
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Originally Posted by helenrhoades
I wonder if it is possible to do iron on transfers rather than screen printing? It would be a lot cheaper and easier. I hope you can pull this off, I would LOVE to see a Zelda quilt!
Two problems with that.

One: The printer isn't working so I couldn't print the islands onto the transfers

Two: Islands might be too small to cut out. ...still haven't figured out my sizing just yet. H***, I just might decide to make it exceedingly huge so it covers the entire wall and looks like that world map on the Pirates of the Carribean movie the map maker was inking...talk about putting new meaning to the term "wall hanging".


Originally Posted by vicki reno
Maybe you could try printing on fabric? I saw a quilt that had a figure printed on fabric in the door of a house and it looked great. Would that be an option perhaps? I can't fault your methods of dealing with frustration--You hit that right on the money--isn't chocolate a great cure all! Wish it would have an effect on high blood pressure. Boy would I be healthy then!!
Good luck on your design process. You have a very creative mind. I am good at following patterns, but very seldom branch out on my own. Can't wait to see it, cause I know you are clever enough to work this through and come up with something.
Ah, chocolate: life's little therepist. ...suddenly I got this weird thought of a White Mage from Final Fantasy constructed out of chocolate. Well, chocolate is a cure all and white mages have healing spells......anyways.

You mean like printing with a printer? Well, I don't have a printer that actually works. And if I understand correctly, I would need special fabric for it and I couldn't just print it onto whatever fabric I got. Like I couldn't take the fabric in the background color I want and print out the islands onto it. I'm thinking it would make it any cheaper if I have to use specially treated fabric for 49 blocks and a border to print out designs onto them. At least with the screen printing I can print on any fabric I want.


Originally Posted by bj
Just keep on keepin' on, V. You'll work through it. Just make sure you keep plenty of chocolate on hand. Do you have Kinko's there? They might could help you out with printing you colorless map pattern. You might ask them if they could print your islands onto the fabric that's made to go through a printer. The kids at our Kinko's here are pretty clever and will try just about anything you ask them to.
Nope, no Kinko's around here. Maybe in La Crosse or Eau Claire, but both are an hour away from here.

Actually, I don't need to print out the map layout. I just needed it to see if my measurements for the map and borders would work out and I think everything looks fine. But she had put them in different colors so I asked her if she could post a colorless version so I could bring it up on Paint and put it in the colors I had in mind and see how that would look. But she posted both of them where you have to download the picture. The first one downloaded okay, but I can't get the colorless one to download. My Internet keeps on wanted to quit about halfway through and it takes me about 20 minutes to download a file like that.
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Old 03-09-2008, 08:45 PM
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There's a gif version here
http://www.unlimitedgamer.net/covera...eaChartMap.gif

Right-click and save picture as.... whatever, then you should be able to open in Paint.
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Old 03-09-2008, 08:52 PM
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I wonder if you could try using the batik method instead of silk screen printing?
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Old 03-10-2008, 06:23 PM
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Originally Posted by Pam Pollock
I wonder if you could try using the batik method instead of silk screen printing?
Resist dying? Well, I'm not sure. It could work, but it would require me to carve out 49 stamps plus one for the border. I know the one for the border might be a problem since it would be huge no matter what the size of the quilt is (I'm leaning towards 60.5"...I spent like three hours last night figuring out the sizes...so the border would get pretty big.) Plus, melted parafin and beeswax...I'm thinking that would get pretty messy. I remember trying to make candles once and that was a disaster. I can imagine dipping stamps into wax and then stamping onto fabric (not to mention dying the fabric) would turn into one giantic mess. Not that screen printing couldn't get messy, but ink seems a lot easier to clean up than wax.

On the other hand, the supplies for resist dying could be cheaper than screen printing. I'm not sure. I'd have to look into it first. I think something to melt the wax in and something to carve the stamps out of would be the things that cost the most. Wouldn't need to buy parafin wax. But I wouldn't know where to buy any of this. Possibly Hobby Lobby, but the cloest one is an hour away...
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Old 03-10-2008, 07:12 PM
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What about just plain painting on fabric using fabric paints. You could thin down like watercolors and they'd go pretty far. Then you could just use a big flat white sheet. Pencil your grid onto the sheet, cut the sheet to the size you want, and then just get after it. A lot of your detail could come from your quilting in the water areas and trapunto could add height to your islands. You're way more creative than I am, but it might work.
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Old 03-10-2008, 07:47 PM
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How many colors are you using in your design? If it's only 2 or 3 then it wouldn't be too much of a pain. You could practice on a large square of material to see if Batiking it would work for you. I wasn't thinking about carving blocks for block printing...I was thinking you could start by drawing your design (w/pencil) on a large square of the lightest color material you plan to use in your design. Stretch your material out by stapling edges to a wooden frame (at least 2 opposite sides). With assorted size artist paint brushes or Batiking tools you can paint the hot wax on the part of the design that you would want to remain the light color (be sure the wax penetrates thru the material for the best wax resist) & then dip the whole square into a cool dye bath of your next color. Always dye your lightest colors & graduate with each step to the next color in sequence from lightest to darkest. After the next color dries, then you could wax the part of the design that you want to stay the 2nd color & then dip into your final darkest color for the last dyebath. You can crinkle it a little while in dyebaths if you want a crackled look.
Make a double boiler (if you don't have one). I used to put beeswax in large metal cans or use an old cast iron coffee pots & stick the cans or coffee pot in a large cast iron frying pan & then pour water in the pan around the cans or iron pot (thrift stores usually have these items cheap. My mom never wanted me to use her good pans. :( Be sure to check your water level so that it doesn't run dry & cause the wax to get too hot. Beeswax is more expensive & works a little better but I have had good results with parafin wax also. You would want to use an old iron (from a thrift store?) also. I use news print on top of the batik to iron out the wax. Watch carefully so that the print from the news paper doesn't transfer. I always used black & white print & usually always around & available. This is just one idea but not sure what your design is. Someone else may have another idea for you that would work better. Good luck with your project. It is a challange & you will figure it out. :D
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