http://ejje.weblio.jp/
http://takoboto.jp/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Takoboto/257922567700189
。。。を 使って これから 書きます!
Not even sure I should call this one a tangent, since I’ve been doing a lot more tech reading than drawing and designing lately. I thought I could turn my art into a side gig, eventually growing into a licensing income stream, but that hasn’t been working out. So maybe my other hobby, techie reading, will play out eventually…
With such an interest in tech in general, I decided to try learning Python again (I learned a few basic operations a few years back but not much beyond “hello world”.) Let’s see how long it will hold my interest this time!
Udemy had a $9.99 sale this week, so I bought the course “Complete Python Boot Camp: Go From Zero to Hero in Python”.
I decided, as I am wont to do, to go all in: try to complete the course on Linux instead of Windows. Getting stuck at jump, (“Course materials installation guide,”) prompted this blog post! The course uses Jupyter notebooks, and they recommend that newbies use something called Anaconda to install both Python and Jupyter. So I had to visit Jupyter.org on my laptop. After downloading the file Anaconda2-4.4.0-Linux-x86.sh , I of course tried to double-click it, and got this:
The text editor is tryna open it! So a web search brought me to StackExchange, where I learned that you have to manually run the .sh file from inside the correct directory in Terminal. Success!
So I entered ‘jupyter notebook’ into a new terminal window, it was very anticlimactic to just see a new browser tab opened with …a list of my local folders. But glad it’s finally done!!
It’s pretty easy to write commands in Python and then immediately run them by pressing Shift-Enter. And saving is easy as well. On to the next course module, I hope it doesn’t take as long as the installation took!
So “vents” are apparently slits. By process of elimination and also by process of tearing out my hair for hours, I’ve deciphered my first garment pattern.
Special thanks to YouTube and the rest of the interwebs for helping me unlock the jargon of “Simplicity” New Look 6312.
Ok, I admit, I chose the wrong pattern for my first project, what a newbie, indeed! But it came out not too shabbily!
Next I made not one, but TWO little zipper pouches. Again, YouTube gets my gratitude and praise: The Crafty Gemini has some great tutorials.
What to make next? I have a few precious swatches of my own Spoonflower designs, but they are on the smallish side. The tutorial hunt begins anew!
Taniku shokubutsu, or “spoiled child”, according to Weblio‘s definition of the word “succulents” in Japanese:
I guess a spoiled child would probably be ta-niku (have plenty of meat)!
I had absolutely no IDEA about the succulent-verse online until I photographed the adorable little things as I was walking one day. Peeps are real serious about these plump plants! Using the PRISMA app, I made a colorful fabric pattern out of some little succies I photographed while walking near Date Street in Honolulu, HI.
Then using the Prisma app on my phone, I applied different filters to the photo:
Then I took a screenshot of my phone and opened it in Photoshop (CS5, version 12.0). You can also save the photo or e-mail it to yourself. (Prisma cropped my photo so I had to run it twice, once on each side of the photo.)
After cropping out the phone stuff and the app, I aligned and joined the 2 halves of the photo together into 1 layer. Then I made a backup, duplicate of the entire layer and turned it off, just in case I messed up later.
Next I used the Lasso tool to duplicate a few flowers. I just traced around the edges of a flower and Copied as New Layer a few times, until I had a few extra flowers to be used later as ‘filler’.
Then I used the Offset filter (select menu Filter>Other>Offset) to turn the picture into a repeat with four corners.
Using my new flower copies, I filled in the blank space in the center where the four corners meet. Then I used the Smudge tool to blend the four corners together.
I think it came out pretty well, don’t you?
I grew a few gray hairs creating this Cosmic Damask fabric pattern, but it was way worth it! From pencil sketches, scanning, and then repeat process. You’ll need some tracing paper for this, unless you prefer using a drawing app with a digital stylus.
First, I scoured the web for a nice old damask pattern. Here’s what a quick search might turn up — almost any of these will do the trick:
Now print out the damask pattern you just found. Print on regular paper, in a size that is easy for tracing.
Lay the tracing paper over the damask printout. Now this is where your artistic vision and skill come in! Think of a theme and start filling in the damask area with your own doodles, like mine below:
You can scan the tracing paper and continue to work on it in your photo editor software.
Or, you can do a repeat pattern by hand on paper, old school style. (madamchino on Instagram)
Enter code JOUST20 at checkout for 20% my items at Redbubble ! I don’t know how long the RB sale will last, so check it out.
See below for the most unique gifts!
UPDATE 7 June 2019: I’ve closed my Zazzle store due to their April 2019 change of policy. My Redbubble store is still open here: https://www.redbubble.com/people/studiozandra/portfolio/recent
Original baby wear by Zandra, fresh out now.
Don’t have a baby? Shop ALL the Moto Kitty STUFF: http://www.zazzle.com/collections/moto_kitty-119152128200030669
Shop ALL the Kitty FABRIC: http://www.spoonflower.com/collections/162257-all-teh-kittehs-by-zantoka
