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Hi there, Artlings

Welcome to all the new subscribers! You've just tuned in to the 53rd issue of byhand! It's April, which means it's time to celebrate the anniversary of the byhand newsletter. So I'm announcing the

News on the Premium Subscriber Rubber! - it will be mailing out this week! Get ready to create!

To see all the new rubber stamps, click here!
There are a number of people who submitted suggestions for rubber stamps and the following people will be receiving their suggestion in rubber:

Judi Delgado
Linda Klauck
Joanne Ross
Sophia Rosenberg
Judi Kauffman

Thanks so much ladies! Great quotations! Your rubber will be on its way shortly.

Premium Subscribers may purchase the new rubber at sale prices. Wait for your email with all the information!

You'll notice some changes in the appearance of this newsletter. If you haven't already discovered it, you'll find there is a new menu at the top of the page. (And gee, I hope it's working correctly - I know I still need to tweak it!) In that menu you will find the galleries. One is the Project Gallery, which will have projects from past newsletters. I've already collected up four! The other new gallery is Suzanne's. It's just a few odds and sods that I've been creating lately. I though it might amuse you! I will be updating these galleries periodically.

If you know someone who would like to receive notice of byhand, just have them email me and I will put them on the list. Bye for now and thanks for visiting!

suzanne@quietfiredesign.com
(250) 723-0321 Quietfire Design

While you nourish your creative spirit by reading this newsletter, don't forget your creative body needs nourishment inside and out!
Join my new Yahoo Group
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/nourishment/

If you are an Amazon.com customer, please click on this link!

Nadine M. - Victoria, BC

If you wish to contact me, my email address is:
suzanne@quietfiredesign.com
Quietfire Design, Box 1231, Port Alberni, BC
V9Y 7M1  Canada

To unsubscribe: send me an email saying 'unsubscribe'. I'll live.... (sniff)
To change your email address: send me an email with both your new and old address. Thanks!

Site Siting

Martin Jackson Calligraphy

I've been lucky enough to know Martin Jackson for many years. He was a calligraphic superstar back then and nothing will ever change that! Each stroke he makes with pen and ink shows a devoted passion for creating excellent letterforms.
If you have a chance to take a class with him,
don't hesitate for a minute! Not only will you be educated and inspired, you'll be highly entertained. Perhaps the laughing is well calculated to ease tense shoulder and arm muscles after hours of creating!
On Martin's website, you can view his videos as well as lots of his lettering and graphic design work. Unfortunately, in these videos, he's very serious!

Below is an example of how Martin elegantly explains his sentiments for the holiday season!

If you love fine letters, you must visit
Martin Jackson's website.
After half an hour of perusing it, you'll feel the need to pick up a pen!

Suzanne is a member of the

Visit my little gallery page on the ISABA website!

Don't forget if you'd like to share some artwork that you have stamped with a Quietfire Rubber Stamp, please send me a copy and I'll be delighted to put in the Stamping Gallery.

Don't be shy!

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Quietfire 2006 Retreat

Westcoast Whisperings

Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday, July 21-23, 2006

Planning for this year's retreat are coming right along.

This year's project will be a book in a box, but not just any box. Read on......

We will be going on beach and forest walks to collect treasures to decorate a locally-made finely crafted cedar box. The same gentleman who creates my cedar book covers will create the boxes sized just for us. Not only will the box contain our collected treasures of twigs, shells, sea-glass and rocks, but it will also be home to a very special handbound leather journal!
In addition, on the Friday evening after the reception and registration, artist Nancy Quinn will be leading us in creating a little felted book which will be completed on Sunday (when it's dry!).

As last year, there will be a spa evening (at my house this year!) and maybe some artsy field trips! Each participant will receive a goody bag. I'll see what I can do about lining up some massages! The workshop and the accommodation are both at the Best Western Barclay which will make it really convenient and relaxing. There is a special conference room rate and you are responsible for booking your own accommodation Mention you're part of the Quietfire Retreat!

Continental Breakfast, all day coffee, tea and treats and lunches are included in the cost of the Retreat.
All class instruction and project materials are included in the price of the Retreat. There will be some supplies students will be required to bring.

To reserve your spot for this special weekend, the cost is $100 CAD which becomes nonrefundable after June 1, 2006. The balance of $120.00 is due at that time.

Please check with me for availability at the retreat before you book your room!

To register email suzanne@quietfiredesign.com

Here is a sample of the book in its basic form. You can do more decoration! This is a split strap binding. You will be copy transferring onto leather, copy transferring onto wood, decorating the text pages, setting copper rivets, just to name a few fun things. I'm collecting up ocean and seaside quotations - and bring yours to share, too!

Stolen Moments

Colour Blending - Calligraphic Style

I learned this technique from Martin Jackson many years ago. It seems simple enough, but good products are the key! The photos below show you how I do it now.
If you want the full meal deal, make sure you take a class with Martin! He is the colour blending guru!

Here is what you will need:

• a broad broad-edged nib - I used a Plakat nib (5mm) - or a Brause 5 mm Try what you have on hand. If you use a small nib, the blending just won't show up!
• Magic Color inks
• a piece of hot press watercolour paper (you can use cold press if you're comfortable lettering on rough surfaces). I used Arches 140 Hot Press for this demo.
• Several small pointed brushes (not your good watercolour brushes!!) I keep a different brush for each colour that I blend.
• a water can
• a Rinkydink
• shorty pipettes
• Removable Tape
• some paper towels
• Good timing
• Your experimental spirit!

Set yourself up with lots of elbow room and all the tools you will need. I find often that if I dilute the ink 1:1, I get a better product. There is a dropper inside the lid of the Magic Colors, so I did 5 drops of colour and 5 drops of water with a pipette into one of the Rinky Dink vials. I use the Removable tape to attach my watercolour paper to my liner.

The colours I worked with for this project were Lagoon Blue (the base colour), Gamma Green and Delta Violet (the blended colours). This gives some of my favourite combinations for an "oceany" look.

For the diluted colour, I just dipped into the Rinky Dink, but if you're using full strength ink, you can use the dropper in the bottle to load your pen. For this demo I used the 5 mm Plakat nib. Looking back, I wished I'd used the Brause 5mm for better hairlines and thicks and thins.

Here is another letter (sorry it's a bit out of focus - another left handed upside down photo). I had diluted the Delta Violet by this time and it was blending much more subtly than before.

Here is the completed word, still wet.

Timing is very important for this technique and only a bit of practice will allow you achieve the results you want. Any rhythm you might normally have when you are lettering goes out the window as you must blend each letter when it's wet. Sometimes if I'm particularly bold, I'll get a couple done at a time. Stopping to take photos is not recommended!! The letterforms and spacing go down the tube!

This is a great technique! Try it!

You can use just one blending colour or more that 2 - it's up to you!

Suzanne's Schedule

2006 Current Schedule

To see a complete list (more or less!) of the classes Suzanne teaches, click here!

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Green ATC swap

Beth Ann continues to hostess a 3 for 3 swap of Artist's Trading Cards! Our recent challenges were Red, Orange and Yellow (and you can see those ATC in the previous issues of byhand). Beth Ann says she is going to put us through the whole rainbow of colours!

Thanks Beth Ann for being a wonderful hostess - and thanks to everyone who played.

(ATCs are Artist's Trading Cards which measure 3 1/2" x 2 1/2")

Click on each on to see the larger version.

To see all the new items, click here!

Join the List!

Would you like to hear about the latest additions to the
Quietfire byhand Products pages?

This way you'll know when the new products arrive and won't have to wait for the newsletter. This includes the bookbinding supplies, calligraphy supplies and of course, the rubber stamps and all the wonderful accessories to make your "arting" lots of fun!
(Don't worry, this won't be a lot of emails!)

The new rubber stamp images are here!
To get more info, click here!

The Sale continues!

The Scor-it Board

Don't miss out on this great opportunity! Click the link to read about it.

New products.................................................

Rubicoil Binder

The incredible Rubicoil Binder. At last it's affordable to do at home. The look is incredibly professional. Any of you who have ordered my bookbinding kits will have a sample of what the Rubicoil can do. I'm absolutely delighted to add the Rubicoil to the Quietfire collection of tools. I look forward to seeing what you can do with your Rubicoil!

The Rubicoil punches round holes, four to the inch, which you can then twist spiral coils through.

If you make presentations, are a teacher, or want to make books like the incomparable Michelle Ward, this is your baby!!

Leaf Bails

Use these little babies instead of soldering microscope slides!

To see all the new items, click here!

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