~~~~~
This month's Valuable Vendor is Shelly Stokes at Cedar Canyon Textiles. This creative vendor takes fabric art to a whole new level.
Cedar Canyon Textiles is built up around Shiva Artist's Paintstiks. The Paintstiks are oil paints in a crayon form that happen to have a very fabric-friendly formula. Cedar Canyon Textiles distribute the paintstiks into the fabric markets. They have also publish a "how-to" books related to the paint and manufacture stencils and rubbing plates for use with the paints.
 |
Shelly Stokes of Cedar Canyon
Textiles has a unique way of
"painting" the quilting industry
with beauty.
|
How did they discover that? Well, according to Shelly it was a fun journey.
"I left my corporate job in 1995 to spend time traveling with my (retired) husband," she said. "I needed ways to fill my time, so I took up quilting. Several years later, I started dying fabric, then selling it to quilters and teaching. In 2005, I published my Paintstiks on Fabric book and became the distributor for Shiva Artist's Paintstiks for the quilting and fabric art markets."
From there ... the possibilities are as endless as you're imagination because it doesn't require any special skills or knowledge!
"The only real skill you need to work with our Paintstiks, stencils and rubbing plates is a desire to try something new and a willingness to learn," Shelly said. "I like to call paintstiks one of the great "not rocket science" tools of surface design. Given the right tools and information – and a little bit of practice, I have yet to find anyone who can't product really nice images on fabric with our products."
The fun thing is that Paintstiks are not just for quilters! There is a project waiting for crafters of any age and craft preference.
Shiva Paintstiks arrived in the art world around 1960. They are used by fine artists – and were hugely popular in the craft world for stenciling images on walls (and lots of other surfaces) for several decades. Shelly said she has even heard from people who use the Paintstiks with their taxidermy work, for painting on unglazed ceramic and pottery objects, for adding images to mixed media projects and with encaustic painting progress.
"Our rubbing plates can be used for dozens of different applications. In fact, I chose 12 of my favorite ways to use these textured plastic plates and wrote a book about them, Shelly said. "Rubbing Plate Roundup gives instructions and inspiration for using rubbing plates as stamps, molds and (of course) rubbing plates with fabric, paper, clay, metal and paint. They're addictive!"
Shelly said that she was learned about Bear Thread Designs' Grip-n-Grip in 2005 and was hooked.
"I introduced my Paintstiks on Fabric book at the Minnesota Quilt Show in 2005. Veronica stopped over at my booth, watched my demonstration, and promptly pronounced that I needed a "grippy mat." She was right, of course, because these marvelous mats keep rubbing plates from slipping on the work table, and keep fabric from shifting when I'm stenciling," Shelly added.
"I've been recommending this fantastic tool to my customers ever since. The Grip-n-Grip mat allows me, my students and my customers to get great results with a lot less hassle – not to mention we save a ton of tape! These mats are one of my "secret weapons" for success – they simply make all my products easier to use."
Shelly is not limiting herself when it comes to art with Paintstiks. "Between sewing and quilting, I have been working with fabric for most of my life. I'm interested in branching out into encaustic and mixed-media art forms. Encaustic art is done with melted wax, and it holds a ton of possibilities for working with fabric, paper, found objects – and paintstiks!"
For more information on Cedar Canyon Textiles products and projects visit their website and tell them we sent you!
No comments:
Post a Comment