The only May Workshop is the Spring Workshop here on May 5th, 2007 starting
at 8:00 AM. Hope to see you here.
We will be doing a lot of small classes this time instead of one big one. I hope you can all come and join us and learn new things. There is also lots of good food, since everyone brings a dish to pass.
You will find the registration form for the Spring Workshop in this newsletter. Please, get it in right away. Thank you.
I'm putting in a new 'how to' page. I know that most of you know these things, but you can make copies and hand them out to your customers. It's nice to have things down on paper so you can look back on them. This is just starting to give you an idea on how to make things look more real when you paint. It's not hard. Just think ahead and figure out where the light source is coming from on your design and put in shadows and highlights with that in mind. We'll be working on this sort of thing at the Spring Workshop.
We will be using feather stroking to shade and highlight as well as just using the Fiber Blenders to blend (smear) the paint in the appropriate spots for the right reasons. Remember - when you feather stroke all you have to do is put the point of the tip down solidly on your material - then flip it in the direction that you want the stroke to go. I usually outline where I am going to put the feather stroke in - then set my tip on the outline to start my feather stroke. That way you have a nice solid line at the base of the feather strokes. As you feather in your color, don't get shook up when it doesn't look right to begin with. First of all, this takes practice. Second of all, as you continue filling in with the feather strokes, it will look better and better.
It�s hard to talk about the weather. It�s bad every where.
The orchards have been wiped out for this year, and do to the amount of pruning people are going to have to do; things may be bad for two to three more years after this.
Whole vineyards were frozen out. There goes the price of grape jelly, grape juice, and other things made from grapes.
There was a short article in the Ann Arbor News, our local paper, which said that if you don�t touch the daffodils, hyacinths and tulips, they will probably be okay.
I was talking to Rene in Florida and she said the old saying says, “There will be three more snows after the forsythias bloom.” I hate to say it, but my forsythias are in bloom and we’ve had snow, sleet and rain everyday for the last week. Maybe that means when the warm-up hits us this time it will keep going and we’ll get nice spring weather for a while.
Okay, let’s get the price increase out of the way first. I’ve been trying to hold down the price on shipping – but now I’m starting to lose money on it and prices are going up at the Post Office starting May 14th. (Prices at other shipping places have already gone up.) The increases they are talking about, on top of what I was already losing, means that starting May 1st, 2007 my shipping prices are going to go up.
Remember that shipping is figured on your retail total before your discount.
If you think I should give you a lower shipping amount on your order because it is a small order, you can call and we might be able to adjust it some. No promises though. I’m not in the business of making money on shipping, but sometimes the small orders are what off-set the big orders.
I’m enclosing several pages this month, so there won’t be a lot of writing in this part.
You will be getting a new page on the ‘monthly quilt blocks’ and the ‘April
Transfers’ since I messed up the Baby Quilt design (it should have been the little girl)
and I found the colored picture of T4732-Grandma’s Bunch. I have that one
corrected and have been sending it out in new catalogs that have been requested for
this month.
You will be getting a page on Feather Stroking. You can copy this and hand it out to all your friends and customers so they have it to refer to. This will make a nice class. You could order the “Sparkling Rose Throw” set (SRT) and iron them off as a class project. I would suggest $10.00 per person with them bringing their own paints. Once people see how easy this is they will all want to order this ‘set’ or the “Gift Set 1” (GS1) that includes everything to do their own. Your sales should be good at this class.
I’m enclosing a page on “Dimensional Techniques”. This is another one you might want to copy for your friends and customers. You can use this one as a class. This is one of the classes that I will be using at the Spring Workshop. I’ve enlarged each of the designs, then used my Heat Transfer Pen and made transfers to make up small class pieces on material for them to work on. Once you have folks actually do things at a class, they are surer of themselves and they will do it on their own.
Then you will get May’s transfers and quilt blocks of the month page.
These pages are now part of the “Catalog and Instructions” book that I send out when you order a catalog. The price of this book is $3.00 and you can order it under “Catalog”. No discount on this item.
 |
T4734-Painted Cross Stitch
and a
White tote bag (P1492).Bag does not include image shown
This retails for $11.60 and the special price for May 2007 is just $10.00. |
On the transfers for the monthly quilt blocks there is a big picture and a little picture. Obviously the big picture is for the actual quilt block. The smaller pictures can be used for matching little t-shirts or sweat shirts. They can be used for making matching pillows, curtains, dust ruffles, sheets, body pillow covers or maybe even matching towels and wash cloths for a connecting bath room.
Remind your customers that they don't have to make quilts with these transfers. They can use them on shirts and other things. They would make a cute outfit (according to which ones you used) for a little onesy for a baby or a matching sweat suit for a child or adult. How about making a western shirt for someone in your life using the Southwest quilt block transfers? How about putting a south west transfer on your horse blanket?
If any of you travel - these transfers are a good size to go on your luggage. For some luggage, you might have to put the transfer on the quilt block - then put Fabric Glue on the back - let it dry - then cut it out to put on your suitcase. (You might need to cut in multiple pieces to get the look that you want.) After you get it cut out - use the Fabric Glue to put it on the luggage. If you want it to last a long time - after that Fabric Glue is totally dry - put another coat of the Fabric Glue over the top of the whole design. This will, hopefully, keep it safer and make it last longer. When you do something like this it will make it much easier to spot your luggage on the luggage carousel at the airport. It might, also, get you some new customers. There's nothing like advertising to get people to notice what you sell.
|
BQ1-04 Baby Quilt Block Pak |
DQB05 Dinosaur Quilt Block Pak |
|
PQ05 Pony Quilt Block Pak |
RQ05 Rose Quilt Block Pak |
|
FFQ2-05 Flower Face 2 Quilt Block Pak |
SWQ05 Southwest Quilt Block Pak |
Let�s talk about the transfers coming out this month.
T0658 - Balloons For Sale |
T0658 - Balloons For Sale - this is an old transfer that is just getting put into the catalog in color. |
T4729-Golden Pig: It’s the year of the Golden Pig. It comes every 60 years. |
|
|
T4734-Painted Cross Stitch: This is great for a dresser scarf (P326/P329) or a tote bag (P1492) or around any of the table cloths (P1220/P1221/P1222/P1223) or do Holiday colors around a tree skirt (P1224/P1225). |
|
T4735-One Day at A Time: This is just a great transfer for a shirt for that overly stressed-out person in your life, especially Moms and Dads. |
|
T4736 Fabulous Father & T4737-Star Dad are going to make GREAT Father�s Day gifts for the father figures in life. |
|
T4737-Star Dad are going to make GREAT Father’s Day gifts for the father figures in life. |
|
T4738-Smile: A great design for just about everyone in your life or anyone |
Remember this hint: if you need to put on multiple coats of paint, you can always iron your design dry in between coats so you can finish up a design in one class. Also, when you use your Dual Point Pens, the paint that you use them on must be dry or you will clog up your nib and it won�t work anymore. If you are doing faces, for instance, paint the entire face and put any shading on that you need to do � then iron the piece dry � then go back and detail with your C388 � Brown Dual Point Pen. |
|
The only May Workshop is the Spring Workshop here on May 5th, 2007 starting
at 8:00 AM. Hope to see you here.
We will be doing a lot of small classes this time instead of one big one. I hope you can all come and join us and learn new things. There is also lots of good food, since everyone brings a dish to pass.
You will find the registration form for the Spring Workshop in this newsletter. Please, get it in right away. Thank you.
I'm putting in a new 'how to' page. I know that most of you know these things, but you can make copies and hand them out to your customers. It's nice to have things down on paper so you can look back on them. This is just starting to give you an idea on how to make things look more real when you paint. It's not hard. Just think ahead and figure out where the light source is coming from on your design and put in shadows and highlights with that in mind. We'll be working on this sort of thing at the Spring Workshop.
We will be using feather stroking to shade and highlight as well as just using the Fiber Blenders to blend (smear) the paint in the appropriate spots for the right reasons. Remember - when you feather stroke all you have to do is put the point of the tip down solidly on your material - then flip it in the direction that you want the stroke to go. I usually outline where I am going to put the feather stroke in - then set my tip on the outline to start my feather stroke. That way you have a nice solid line at the base of the feather strokes. As you feather in your color, don't get shook up when it doesn't look right to begin with. First of all, this takes practice. Second of all, as you continue filling in with the feather strokes, it will look better and better.
Brooklyn, Michigan - Lori Bartlett has started having classes at her house on the first Sunday of the month in the afternoon. She takes the techniques that she learns here and passes them on to her friends. It has been working out very well for her as she starts to make money in her new business - "Rae's Country Corner". Contact her on her cell phone at 517-392-7477 if you're interested in attending.
Blue Earth, Wisconsin � Sharon Pausewang will be glad to teach you how to use your paints. If you would be interested in taking classes with her contact her at (507-525-1037).
Millersport, Ohio � Phyl Phillips is there for you. If you would like to take classes with her contact her at (740-928-3117).
Linden, Michigan � Halleen Fisk has lots to teach you. I try not to keep her so busy that she doesn�t have time to have classes. If you would like to take classes with her contact her at (810-735-0100).
Florida - Rene McDonough gives classes twice a week in the Venice Area. Call her if you are interested in taking classes with her. (941-497-4242)
Florida - Sandy Wadelton is giving classes is the Leesburg Area. Call her if you are interested in taking classes with her. (352-787-4950)
Colorado - Rachel Fry has a good group going in Grand Junction. Give her a call if you are interested in joining them. (970-242-6091)
Alberta, Canada - Beverly Craig - This is a very nice lady, which has been helping people to learn about Cameo for a while. If you are in that area, you can give her a call at 403-224-3565. She will be glad to share her expertise with you and fill any orders that you have. She works with a wide variety of folks and would love to work with more.
Where: At the Ginger's Cameo facility in Manchester, MI
Stay Tuned for more Information
When you're ironing off transfers, make sure that you don't iron off too many ahead. The transfer ink fades with time and you may have trouble seeing the transfer lines. If you do iron off a few ahead you should keep them covered up so the light doesn't get to them. This does not mean that if you iron a transfer on wrong that you can wait for it to fade away then put it back on. It does not fade all the way away, it just fades to the point that you can't see to paint it.
When you are painting a transfer that has two parts that are the same color right next to each other, try putting a line of a darker color between them to bring out the design. On the new T4689-Cave Nativity, Joseph's robes could use a streak of 111 Wine to delineate where one part stops and the other part ends. If you look on the picture around his shoulders you will see what I mean.
Sometimes, like on T4696 or T4486, you have two sections right next to each other that are charted 116-Black. If you leave a little line of unpainted material show between the sections, it will make them show up as different parts of the transfer. The other thing that you can do is to make a line of a lighter color between the two sections.
Most of the time any mistake that you make in this craft can be fixed: You can add shadows to cover up the fact that you got double lines when you ironed a transfer on - or you can add a little flower or leaf to cover up where you went out of the lines or got some paint in the wrong place. I know there are a lot of perfectionists out there - but believe me when I say that you should not throw away something just because you think you made a mistake. You can fix it and it will look fine. It may not look just like what you see in the transfer picture - but you just remember that 'artistic license' means that it is your painting and it will look different than anyone else's. This is a good thing. You don't want your painting to look just like everyone else's, you want to make it your own with your own ideas and personality.
Now get out there and have FUN painting!!!
Lori Bartlett has been keeping very busy with her paints. One of her latest works below are an Irish Table Cloth done using the new sparkle paints.
We would love to show our readers what you've done with Cameo Paints. Send us [email protected] or [email protected] some of your pictures and be sure to tell us about them and yourself.
See some of our past reader submissions in the Gallery
Well, I guess that's all for this month. Keep that those suggestions coming. I need every one of them. See you at a meeting.
|
Copyright Gingers Cameo 2003 © |
Page Updated 4-29-2007 |
