I have a great email question hit my inbox this morning and thought I would share my answer here.
“What brand of assorted color selection of permanent marking pens & fine point black permanent marking pens did you use. I need pens that do not bleed on quilting cotton, specifically a black pen. I am want to do a Dalmatian Puppy Quilt and need to permanently colour the black spots on to a white quilting cotton.”
Memory Quilt Project
A Memory Quilt is a fantastic way to record special events, special dates, and special loves that are important to you. They are easy, and quick to create using permanent marking pens!
Memory Quilts can become a project for your entire family or friends by holding a Quilting Party. Make up the large white squares with the pattern and doodle fills completed. Then put the squares out of your table with a pack of assorted fine point pens so that everyone can add their own drawings, signatures, or little sayings. After the event, simply finish the quilt, memorializing the event.
My Memory Quilt came about because my son ask me what the name of one of our past cats was … “the one that was marmalade colored with three white paws?” That started the ‘how many pets have we had in our 42 years of marriage’ naming contest that evening. The list became so long that I finally had to write the names down so that we didn’t miss any of our beloved friends and didn’t start repeating names.
(While you may know me as a pyrographer and wood carver, my neighbors know me as ‘that cat lady!’ But I plead not guilty as a cat hoarder as all of our friends through all of our marriage have been spayed, neutered, and had their regular vetting and pet vaccinations! Besides, the biggest pride I ever had at one time was 21, as we somehow ended up with three stray Mommas that wandered onto the back porch, which, of course, came pregnant!!! And THAT wasn’t my fault.)
So, in answer to the email question, I personally use Sharpies! They come in both fine point and wide point with a nice variety of colors. The pens are very reasonably priced and available just about everywhere.
This marking pen quilt is a new creation for the Great Book of Floral Patterns that is in the process of being revised – and which sadly appears to be currently out of print from the publisher.
The quilt is worked on 12 1/2″ white cotton squares. I printed my patterns, from our Wood Flowers Circle pattern pack, onto regular computer paper.
Next, I taped the printed pattern to my light box and over the pattern positioned my quilt square. The quilt square was also taped to my light box using blue or green painter’s tape, which does not damage the seam allowance of the fabric. When I turned on my light box, the pattern was extremely clear and visible through the fabric so that I could easily trace the outlines of the pattern with a fine point black Sharpie.
And … as I just wanted this quilt to a fun project I used some of my pyrography fill and texture patterns to fill in each area of my design with the same marking pen. See our project, Pyrography Doodles, for fill ideas or you may want our Pyrography Doodles pattern package that has over 300 texture and fill patterns, plus 29 pattern designs.
If your white cotton fabric is thin or heavily starched you may have some slight bleeding. Generally, that bleeding is some minimal that it is not really noticeable once the entire quilt is finished.
When I had all of the large quilt squares completed, I set the marking pen with a hot steam iron. Next, I used my assorted color pack of fine point Sharpies to write the names of all of our furry friends over the years onto the blank areas of each square. Since I know that we will have new friends join our family in the coming years, I have plenty of space to add their names too!
Next, I cut 2 1/2″ squares from a series of black and white fabric to become my small quilt squares. Right now my quilt is waiting for the batting, backing, and free motion quilt stitching.
T-shirts are wonderful for marking pens too! This is an extra-large, 100% cotton t-shirt that has been colored using fine point Sharpies. The pattern comes from our Celtic Dragons pattern pack.
For this section of our summer, free, online cross-crafting seminar we will be cutting out a wooden spoon blank on the scroll saw. Please refer to Cross-Crafting Seminar Free Patterns for a copy of the spoon patterns that we will be using.
Scroll Saw with a 15 tooth, regular cutting blade 1 – 3″ x 12″ x 3/8″ piece of basswood for each spoon 220-grit sandpaper, tack cloth graphite tracing paper safety glasses
Step 1: Choosing how to rough-cut your spoon blank
There are many ways to remove the waste wood from any wood carving blank. For our seminar I am using my Ryobi Scroll Saw and a 15 tooth per inch, regular cutting blade.
The most simple option is to use your bench knife in either a push or paring stroke to slowly cut away long slivers of wood from the blank. A coping saw or hand-held, u-shaped framed saw and a vise or clamps can also be used. If you plan to make a series of wooden spoons you might want to purchase a small 5″ curved-blade draw knife or 3″ straight-blade draw knife will make the rough-put work quick and easy, especially on thicker blanks.
Step 2: Preparations
Lightly sand your basswood board, both front and back side, using 220-grit sandpaper, remove any sanding dust with a dry, clean cloth. A smooth surface on the wood allows your blank to move easily through the scroll saw cuts. Trace your pattern to the basswood using graphite paper.
Note: If you will be making more than one spoon, trace the pattern to the inside surface of an empty cereal box. Cut the spoon pattern out with scissor and use the cardboard cut-out as a template, tracing along the edges of the cardboard. Save the cardboard template, it can be used over and over again.
Release the Drop Foot and slide your basswood blank under the foot. Reset the Drop Foot knob.
Step 3: Cutting the basic outline
Begin by cutting along the basic outline of your spoon pattern.
Work one side of the spoon at a time, fully releasing and freeing that side of waste wood.
Step 4: Cut the second side of your spoon
Continue your scroll saw cutting to completely remove the waste wood on the second side of your spoon blank.
Step 5: Cutting the fork tines
The fork tines are cut in two strokes, each worked from the end of the fork into the opening between the tines. Stop the first cut when you reach the center point of the opening.
Back the saw blade out of the wood and cut the second side of the opening. This two-cut step will free the waste wood between the tines.
Step 6: The completed scroll saw cut spoon blank
This wooden fork blank took about 15 minutes to cut out on the scroll saw – quick, easy, and super fast!
Step 7: Drilling the holes for a slotted spoon
Using a 1/4″ or 3/8″ drill bit drill the holes into your slotted spoon before you do the scroll saw steps. I prefer to drill from the back of the spoon towards the spoon’s front face. Because I will be carving the front face of the spoon into a bowl shape, if I chip-out any of the holes during the drilling process, those chip-outs will be carved away later in the work.
Basswood chips easily because it is a soft wood. To avoid excessive chip-outs use a new, sharp drill bit and an even medium speed with your drill. Clamp your spoon blank to a piece of scrap wood. This clamps and secures the back grain fibers and reduces chipping. You can also use masking tape on the bottom of your spoon to help hold the grain fibers in place.
Step 8: Sand the drilled holes before you do the scroll saw cutting
Remove any loose or chipped-out wood from your drilled holes, on both sides of the wood blank, before you move onto the scroll saw with sand paper. Those chip-outs can cause your blank to drag, or hang-up on the scroll saw cutting table.
Step 9: Cutting a slotted spoon blank
The slotted spoon is now ready for scroll sawing.
Step 10: Finished wooden spoon blanks
Now that the three wooden spoon blanks have cut out we are ready to move into the wood carving steps of our project. See ya’ there!
Let’s do something just a little different this year for our summer, free, online wood carving seminar. Usually I pick one craft on which to focus – wood carving, wood burning, or chip carving. This year I want show you how easy it is to cross-craft, to incorporate several of your favorite hobbies into creating your art. So grab a cup of coffee, pull up a chair to my seminar table, and let’s look at the basics to scroll sawing, wood carving, wood burning, and colored pencil work as we put these all together into one craft project.
This year’s project came about because I have a new toy – a Ryobi 16″ Variable Speed Scroll Saw. My Ryobi has a 16″ long throat, and can handle wood up to 2″ thick. The saw blades can be either pinned or non-pinned, something that we will look at during this class session. It is variable speed and has a tilt table that can be moved 45 degrees, plus it is equipped with a dust blower to keep your cutting area free and easy to see. And this little sweet power tool has an iron base that keeps the scroll saw steady on my work table.
My Ryobi cost me around $100. plus I purchased an assorted pack of 36 Ryobi blades at about $5.00. So for under $125. with s/h I now have the ability to quickly, easily, and efficiently create my own basswood, birch, and poplar cut-outs for my wood carving and pyrography projects.
Long background story – which you can skip if you want …
Over my 30 years as a wood crafter, wood carver, and pyrographer I have owned three other scroll saws and I hated everyone of them! I don’t do that much scroll sawing to make it worth the investment of several hundred dollars ($500 – $800) for one of the ‘high end’ machines. I don’t know how often I have commented that I must be the world’s worst scroll sawer because every project just drove me bonkers, crazy, irritable, and someone you just didn’t want to be near when I was working. I thought my problems with scroll sawing was me and unfortunately in my line of work there are times that I must do some scroll sawing.
My experience, to this point, with scroll sawing was fighting broken blades, fussing with tension springs that don’t stay put, and with the entire machine wobbling or walking across that table unless it is bolted down. Changing blades with an Allen wrench deep inside the metal case of the blade is just a nightmare for me. I had one scroll saw, long ago, that literally made me sea sick (car sick) because of the triple vibrations between the blade, moving arm, and wobbling base. Because all of my previous saws were light-weight they did need to be bolted to my work table in the workshop, which meant that just to make a couple of quick cuts was a trip out of the studio to go down to the shop to work.
So a new, large project has hit my work table which will require a fair bit of scroll saw work. After much fussing, much cussing, and a lot of consternation I decides that I really had to purchase a new scroll saw which wouldn’t drive me to exasperation – this is scroll saw number 4! I had just purchased a Ryobi 40v battery-operated chain saw and have been delighted with its performance, so I decided to look at Ryobi’s scroll saw.
For under $125 my Ryobi arrived about three days after I ordered. I am glad I ordered several packs of extra blades because the scroll saw comes with just one blade installed. I set up on the back porch … while the Ryobi is a heavy-weight it is not so heavy that I can’t move it to the work area, do my cutting, and then store it in its box. Instead of a petite portable, the Ryobi is a Lovable Lug-able!
So … two hours later … I had read the instructions, looked the scroll saw over closely, and cut out 12 wood spoon rough-outs from 1″ thick basswood stock, two hand comb rough-outs from 3/8″ basswood stock, and the three spoons that we will be using in this seminar as our sample projects which are also 3/8″ stock. Not once did I break a blade! Not once did the Ryobi vibrate! Not once did I get hung-up inside the cut because the machine didn’t have the power to pull through the curve! I did change the blade once and it was a less than two minute job because of the screw knob system the Ryobi uses! I reset the tension without any fuss and was back in business immediately! When I came back into the studio, searching for more basswood blanks or birch plywood that I could cut-out on my new Ryobi, my beloved hubby asked with great concern, “Are you having problems with that new saw?” I stopped and wondered why he would ask that question. He answered, “I didn’t hear any cussing coming in from the porch, so I thought you hadn’t gotten it started yet!” That’s when I realized I am NOT the world’s worst scroll sawer, I had just always used the world’s worst scroll saws. With my Ryobi I can now proclaim myself, with great pride and satisfaction, a scroll sawer who enjoys the craft.
I am going to take a little break here and go get our supply list ready to post. See you in just a bit!
We will start this projects with the three wooden spoons, shown left in the photo. We will work through the steps of cutting the basswood blanks using the scroll saw, then with a basic set of wood carving tools shape the spoon’s bowl and handle area. Our third section will focus on getting the spoon bowl absolutely smooth and finally we will do a simple wood burning of a henna flower design. So … back soon!
Trapped inside because of the heat? Bored with too much time of your hands? Well, grab your carving tools, leather strop, and some basswood blanks and join me in a little carving fun. If you don’t find something below that interests you, check out our Wood Carving Project page for more ideas and for basic instructions to the craft of wood carving.
Learn the easy and fun technique of chip carving with Lora Irish’s free online seminar. Ten full pages, lots of free patterns, step-by-step instructions.
Ready to carve your first walking stick. This ten page, step-by-step free carving project by Lora Irish will teach you everything you need to create your own Snake and Twistie Stick cane.
This indepth step-by-step free relief carving project by Lora Irish includes how to work a relief wood carving, how to use your pyrogrpahy and wood burning in your carvings, and how to add color to your relief carvings.
Fish decoys are fast, easy, and fun. A few hours, a couple of basic carving tools, and a little imagination is all it takes to complete this free online wood carving project by L. S. Irish.
**********
Visit Lora Irish’ craft, wood carving, and pyrography pattern and e-projects website. ArtDesignsStudio.com
The link above is a Freebie Pattern Package which you can use to learn how to download, extract, and print our patterns.
Click on the link above.
A Window will pop up titled: Opening Irish-Free-2015-Pattern-Pack.zip. In that window select “Save File”, not “Open With”. In the bottom right hand area of the Window select “Save”.
A new Window will pop up that has the directory to your computer. That window will want to save the file in “Your Downloads”. You can select another area in your computer to save the file. In the left nav area of the window, scroll up and click on “My Desktop”. Chose where In the bottom right of the window select “Save”.
Minimize your browser by clicking the line button in the upper right hand corner of the screen. This will drop the browser window down so that you can check your Desktop to see if the zip file is there. Sometimes the icon for a zip file or downloaded PDF file does not show up on your Desktop even though your computer downloaded the file. If you don’t see your zip file move your cursor into any empty space on your Desktop and right-hand click. This will open a small menu Window. From that menu select “Refresh”. This will reload your Desktop view and your icon should appear. If you still don’t see your zip icon then go check “My Downloads” as it may be there.
Place your cursor on the zip icon and right-hand click. A Window will pop up, select “Extract All”.
A new Window will pop up which allows you to decide where to extract the file, I usually chose to extract it as the file tells me in the location portion of this window. Select “Extract”.
After the package is extracted you should have a new Window that shows the opened file folder. You can click on that folder, open the file and begin printing your patterns. You should also have two files on your Desktop now, one is the original zip file, and the other the extracted, open folder. Save the zip file to “My Downloads” or “My Documents”, you can open this file over and over again. Save the opened folder to whatever folder system you use for your craft projects and patterns.
Note – If you double left-hand click on an un-extracted zip file you will see a folder window and you can see the patterns inside that folder. But since the file has not been extracted you can not print. So, if you can’t print you probably have not extracted the zip.
Email me, Contact Us in the top nav bar, and I will help you through the process!
Lenore, made a great post on the Pyrography Board at Facebook concerning copyright. Its a common question I get here in the studio and so I want to address your questions and concerns.
Before I begin I note that I am not a copyright specialist. If you need specific information concerning Copyright Law you should contact a Copyright Attorney!
I know this is one of those long, long, long posts but after reading through this information you can use our patterns and instructions worry free!
The short answer –
YES, you can sell your finished project that use my pattern art or instructions given here on LSIrish.com and ArtDesignsStudio.com. NO, you can not sell, distribute, or post my pattern art or instructions, or distribute them in any manner even if you give me and my sites credit. My copyright give you the USE of the patterns in your work, not for the DISTRIBUTION of the patterns and instructions in and of themselves.
The definition of a finished project is: the basswood board, the burned leather purse, the pen and ink t-shirt, the quilted fabric square, the stitched thread and cloth embroidered patch – a tangible, hard item.
The long answer –
Lenore in her post is so right about Copyright being a ‘sticky issue’ in pyrography, wood carving, and crafts – something we all need to address. If, as she used in her example, you work from someone’s photograph you are creating what is legally called a ‘translation’. Translations do not give the crafter copyright to the image, photo, or finished design. Just as if you translated a book from the German language into English the story line is not yours but belongs to the original author. It is the story line of a book that is copyrighted, not the language in which the book was written.
Translations of Original Work
Doing an exact copy of a photo into a sepia burning is simple changing the method – camera to hot pen tip, you are not changing the original image. The copyright of the image still remains with the original work, not with your translation and you can be in violation by claiming it as your own.
Just giving the original copyright owner credit does not mean that you have avoided copyright issues or protected you from violating their copyright to the work. As my beloved hubbie once noted … if you steal a hammer from Ace Hardware, telling everyone where you stole it from does not clear you of petty theft! So, yes, if you really, really, really have to use someone’s original photo please protect yourself by getting written permission first from the photographer or original artist.
One more thought on photography is that just because a photo is old or a common icon image – a photo you have seen over and over again – does not put that photo into public domain. A copyright is good for around 75 years, or for the life of the artist, and can be part of an artist’s will, passed onto the their inheritors. So, just because you see it everywhere does not mean it is free to take and use.
Now, saying that, the copyright for the patterns that you can find freely given with tutorials or purchased from pattern makers is different from that of photographs. Patterns are created specifically to be used – traced – in your craft.
In the case of patterns and written step-by-step instructions it is the line art/shaded patterns and text that are copyrighted. But both of those are specifically created for you to use in your art! The pattern and instructions become two parts of the whole that you use in your burning – just as you use a specific burning tool, a wood or leather blanks, and a painting media.
Not everyone wants to spend hours searching the net for images of a white tail deer, a fallen log, a thick forest background, and a split rail fence. Nor does everyone want to spend several more hours combining, adjusting, and refining those images to create one new, original composition. Most pyrographers and carvers have not studied composition, line flow, balance, perspective, or other art techniques for creating a design. What many of us just want to do is to sit down at our craft table and burn or carve!!!! That is where using patterns and instructions comes into our crafts.
OK … so what does that mean for my copyright to both LSIrish.com and ArtDesignsStudio.com. It means the patterns and instructions are for “Personal Use Only”. You get to use my patterns and instructions in your craft. You get to burn them, carve them, paint them, and even cut them out for your scrap booking! The key word here is USE.
Distribution of Patterns and Instructions
You do not have ownership of the pattern images or of the written instructions. You can’t post my patterns to your blog, print them and put them in a kit you sell, or copy and paste my instructions to your selling website. You can not ‘snatch’ these and create an e-book that you sell on Amazon. Changing the digital format – say from a .jpeg to a vector art format – is simply a copyright translation and does not give you copyright over the Work. The patterns and instructions belong to me under copyright law.
Your finished project belongs to you! You get to share your burning or carving anywhere you want. You get to sell as many as you can at art shows, craft fairs, and even on the net – up to 25 works from one pattern!!!! This is your work and it belongs to you. You do not get to make up a kit that includes a board, a printed copy of my step-by-step instructions, and a printed copy of my pattern art and either sell it or give it away.
Educational Institutions
There is a clause in Copyright Law that allows educational institutions to use Works that are copyrighted for teaching. Posting someone’s Copyrighted patterns or instructions to your own blog does not fall under this clause. If you think that your site might qualify as a teaching or educational institution, please contact your Copyright Attorney before you post to insure that you are within your legal rights.
Mass Production and Licensing Agreements
Our copyright covers personal use, it is not meant for mass production usage. If you intend to create multiple units of any LSIrish.com or ArtDesignsStudio.com pattern, over 25 units, then you need to contact us to discuss a licensing agreement. Example, if you want to trace and paint 25 glazed coffee cups for sale at the craft shows using one of our patterns you are covered under our ‘for personal use’ copyright. If you want to create a fired decal that can easily be applied to a thousand or more coffee cups through mass production, you need a licensing agreement. Please write us through our Contact the Studio link in the nav bar.
Pattern Catalogs for Finished Project Sales
Many of our craftsmen that sell finished projects purchase the Complete Pattern Collection, either by download or on thumb drive. This is the best price value for our customers and gives you all of our original Lora S. Irish patterns and designs at the time of your purchase. Currently we have 140 pattern packages, sorted by theme or topic, and are approaching the 3000 mark for individual patterns.
To increase your sales and stay within Copyright law, you can link directly to my pattern website, ArtDesignsStudio.com, and advertise to your customers that you can create any project for the patterns shown and offered there. This saves your tons of printed paper, and tons of bandwidth, while increasing the chances of making the sale. Your customers are just a click away from finding that specific pattern they want you to create!
Copyright conclusion
So … have fun sharing your finished projects on Facebook if they were created using one of my patterns. If you are selling finished items work using my patterns I truly hope you sell everyone and make a mint of money!
And if you really want to share my work, please share the link to my websites – LSIrish.com and ArtDesignsStudio.com – or share the posts from my Facebook page. You get the “Ohs and Ahhhs” for sharing the link and I get the “Ohhs and Ahhs” for creating the work.
Please remember the finished work is yours, the pattern art and instructions are mine – an easy line of ownership, use, and copyright … 🙂 Thanks everyone !
Craftsmen and Hobbyists: Reaffirmation of Our Policy With Respect to Use of Our Designs
Dear Friends, Craftsmen, Hobbyists and Users of our Patterns.
Those of you who are familiar with our products know that for many years we have been creating and supplying patterns for use by hobbyists and craftsmen . We have from time to time received offers to license our designs to commercial distributors.
All of our designs have been registered with the United States Copyright Office and the unauthorized copying, distribution or sale of our patterns to third parties is a violation of the copyright laws of the United States.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
When you purchase a pattern from ArtDesignsStudio.com and LSIrish.com, or receive one of our “Freebies”, the pattern is subject to certain restrictions reserved under our copyright. You have the right to use the pattern for your own personal use to make finished products for sale or personal use. A “finished product” is an article of manufacture on which the pattern is embodied. For example, it may be a laser engraved wall plaque, computer routed door panel, wood carved bread board, a stitched out cloth quilt, or any other tangible hard goods project enhanced by our pattern design. A “finished product” is NOT a copy of the original pattern made for further distribution. You may display and sell your finished products on your web site to show how they have been enhanced. You may personally digitize or alter the computer file format of the pattern to assist you in personally making multiple copies of finished products.
WHAT YOU CANNOT DO
You cannot copy, reproduce, publish, distribute, redistribute, sell, barter, transfer or otherwise make available the pattern which you received from us or duplicates thereof to third parties. You cannot publish our patterns on your website (other than as embodied in a finished product) and represent them as your own. You cannot distribute or include copies of the patterns as part of a kit or instruction package, whether as computer files or as paper copies, to be distributed and used by a Third Party. You cannot offer the patterns which you received from us for sale to third parties. You cannot sell or distribute digitized versions or altered computer file format versions of our patterns to third parties, nor can you request third parties to digitize or alter the computer file format of the patterns for you.
SUMMARY
All patterns distributed by ArtDesignsStudio.com and LSIrish.com have been copyrighted under the copyright laws of the United States and are published with a copyright notice. These patterns are for the personal use of hobbyists and craftsman. When you receive a pattern from either ArtDesignsStudio.com or LSIrish.com and open the package, you receive a limited license to use it personally to make one or more finished products enhanced by the design which you may sell. You may not copy, publish, sell, distribute, redistribute or otherwise make the pattern you received from ArtDesignsStudio.com to any third party and you may not publish or advertise the pattern on your web site as your own.
