Making hair for your fabric collage portrait does not involve cutting thousands of skinny strips of fabric and laying them next to each other on your subject’s head. Such an approach might work for a porcupine but not a person.
Hair, just like skin or fur or feathers, is best approached by creating areas of light and dark values. Look at the highlight in front of my son Sam’s ear (above) in my quilt “Kissin’ Cousins.” It reads as a patch of hair even though it is one piece of fabric.
Read more about how to make realistic hair in this week’s Throwback Thursday, “What’s on Top?: Fabric Collage Hair.” I’m sure I’ll assign it as pre-class reading for my upcoming “Portraits Only” class at the end of March. (To submit your expression of interest contact Tom via email [email protected].)
While there are certainly differences to creating hair (fur) for my lace polar bear “Winfrieda,” the basic idea is the same: identify light and dark areas of value and try to define them. You can watch me make these decisions, and ask questions, during my next Fly on the Wall: Susan Carlson Studio Watch. In this new four-part Thursday-night series, I plan to finish the first draft construction of my polar bear. See this link and the details below for more information.
Register for Fly on the Wall: Susan Carlson Studio Watch 2022-2023
Registration is now open for two upcoming Fly on the Wall: Susan Carlson Studio Watch series.
• December: Winfrieda the Lace Polar Bear #2
December 1, 8, 15, 22, 2022
$78
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
All those who sign up for this December Fly on the Wall series will be given access to an hour-long video combining the four opening slideshow presentations from the October Winfrieda series #1 (see beginning and end photos above). This will allow those who may have missed the first series to easily catch up to where the second series will begin.
• January: Sunshine Oma
January 5, 12, 19, 26, 2023
$98
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
Watch—and work along with me—as I create a collage portrait of my lovely mama (a.k.a. Oma) as a radiant sun face—to have ready for her 90th birthday at the end of January.
For those who wish to try their hand at a sunface portrait, in addition to the slideshow, demo, Q&A, and full recordings of the four presentations, registrants will also receive all of the following:
• A free PDF of my Sun Portrait pattern.
• Free access to the Thursday Night in My Studio Live! recorded presentation (see preview below) that explains how to adapt my Sun Face pattern to a photo of a particular person.
• And a $20 discount for a one-on-one coaching session scheduled for January or February 2023—in case you’re interested in specialized help with your own work-along creation.
Fabric Collage Master Class
For instructions on the entire fabric collage process, you can purchase the Susan Carlson Fabric Collage Online Master Class Manual. Using video, photos, and text I take you from soup to nuts, beginning to end in creating your own fabric collage masterpiece.
Susan Carlson Fabric Collage: Spiral eWorkshop
Wondering if fabric collage is for you? This eWorkshop is intended for beginners in fabric collage. The spiral project is simple, low stress, but still teaches the basic techniques of fabric collage. It also serves as a handy refresher course for those with more experience.
Susan Carlson Fabric Collage: Sea Turtle eWorkshop
Learn fabric collage with Susan Carlson. Each step is clearly written, illustrated with photos, and demonstrated with video. Learn with a Sea Turtle then launch into any fabric collage project you wish.
Serendipity Quilts for Sale
$29.95 plus shipping. Full color throughout. Four complete projects, start to finish, of increasing complexity. Learn fabric collage with this book.