tinting embroidery with colored pencils

Yesterday I showed you a bit of crayon tinting, and today I have a similar technique, but with colored pencils. What I like about the pencils is that you can sharpen them for more detailed coloring, and they blend really well (especially with smooth fabric). You can use any kind of colored pencils for this, but I thought it was a good time to pull out some supplies I've had tucked away for a couple years.



My dad and I went to an art show sponsored by Blick, where they had all kinds of vendors and lots of demonstrations. Prismacolor was there and they showed off these Art Stix. Essentially, they are the inside of a pencil, but in stick form. The representative showed all of their wonderful uses, and my dad and I were drooling. This is not a cheap set of supplies. And then...they did a drawing, and we won!




We brought the box home, played a bit with a few Art Stix, and then my dad told me to keep it with my supplies. And so they sat until I decided to try them out with some tinting. It's not the same as working with a pencil, but having a larger area to color with was nice!



Like with the crayon tinting, start by tracing your pattern onto fabric, then place the fabric in a hoop.




Color gently, layering in the color. Try to keep the color smooth.

One of the fancy features of Art Stix, which also applies to Prismacolor pencils, is that when you get them wet, they color differently. Darker. This is really nice for adding some shading, while using the same color.




After ironing it, stitch the outline around your coloring!

I rather like how this Fast Food Bag came out! He's from my Take Me Out set, which is one of my favorites. Now, I just need to decide what he'll become...

Tinting with pencils as I've shown here is most suitable for wall art and pieces that won't be washed. If you want to make your work more permanent, I've read that textile medium does the trick. Just paint it on before your embroidery, let it thoroughly dry, then stitch. There's a good tutorial on Giggleface Studios. I haven't tried it yet, but I will soon!

Pull out your pencils and start coloring, but get ready to play with watercolor tinting tomorrow! (It's really cool!)