T-shirt with Stretchy Noodle Binding on Cotton Jersey

I finished sewing a T-shirt for my sweetie for his holiday present. It’s hard to buy him gifts, but he always wears the T-shirts I make him. This shirt is entirely hand stitched in cotton jersey, using techniques I learned from the books by Alabama Chanin.

My sweetie like AV equipment and electronics. So I made this stencil just for him. I appliquéd the design with backstitch.

Here, I used my original binding technique with a jersey noodle. This is the second shirt I’ve made with this edge treatment, and I really like it.

I cut the strips of cotton jersey 1.25” wide before stretching them into noodles. Then I appliquéd the noodle to the edges in two passes as I show in the drawings here.

It’s easy to do this binding on the neckline because you don’t have to ease it like you do with Alabama Chanin’s folded binding, which I find to be a particularly difficult task to do on curved necklines. The fold-over step with the noodle automatically makes the noodle shorter than the finished neckline, making it just the right tightness. Here you can see the fold-over step half done.

So the finished neckline is taught and stretchy. Next time, on the sleeve ends, I’ll ease the noodle a little (with a shorter noodle) because I think it belled a little, and a little taper there at the ends of the sleeves would have been better and could have been solved with some easing.

Thanks for looking. Happy holidays!

Doodle No. 37 Three Cats of Dr. Caligari

Never be afraid to go full rainbow. 

Prismacolor black ink, Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils, Finetec and other mica watercolor paint on Stonehenge 250 GSM 100% cotton paper

4”square

See the flash of the mica.

Sold

Doodle No. 36 Calling Sector 7

This doodle has more mica paint than the others. 

5” square

I thought you might like to see how I layered the colors. The finished piece is bottom right. 

Drawn with archival Prismacolor black ink, Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils, Finetec and other mica watercolor paint on Arches 300 GSM 100% cotton paper. 

Original available: https://www.etsy.com/listing/708956750/

Thanks for looking. 

Doodle No. 35 Rooftop Conversation

Remember Cat Planet? This is different planet that also has cats. Sure, you can only see one cat here, but there are more cats on the dark side of the planet. The scale in the right should give you a sense of how big everything is. 

I did something different with the colors on this one. I had a cognitive shift in how layering colors works. I layered colors on the opposite sides of the color wheel, and I’m telling you, it was pretty dicey there for a while because when you mix pink and green, you get brown. Half way through the coloring, I thought it was almost certainly past the point of no return, a total color failure,  At that moment, I took my Kepler dog for a walk to get away from it for a while. When I returned to this drawing, I decided it was salvageable. In the end, I got it right where I hoped it would be when I decided that mixing pink and green was a good idea. 

5” square. 

Drawn with archival Prismacolor black ink, Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils, Finetec and other mica watercolor paint on Aquarelle Arches hot-pressed 100% cotton 140 lb paper. 

Sold

Doodle No. 34 In one hole and out the other

This shows another version of the Poincaré model of hyperbolic space with microbes, space junk, aliens, and a few plants. 

Some are real. 

Some imagined. 

Some are totally unbelievable. 

I’ve worked in these colors before. 

I suspect I’ll use them again because they match the furniture. 

5.75” diameter circle.

Drawn with archival Prismacolor black ink, Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils, mica watercolor paint on Stonehenge 250 GSM 100% cotton paper. 

Sold

Doodle No. 33 Tribert Makes Thymine

The design of this is based upon the Poincaré model of hyperbolic space. Ask a mathematician about it. It’s probably their favorite model of hyperbolic space. 

5.75” circle

A lot of people photograph their oakk in brings of flowers with real flowers. I don’t paint flowers. So I thought these Polyhedra seemed appropriate. 

NFS 

Thanks for looking. 

Doodle No. 32 Adam Explains How Holes Work

These weren’t the colors I thought I would get, but in the end I’m happy with how they turned out. It took a lot of layers of colored pencil to get there

. 

This piece is for someone who likes old wooden furniture and modern art.  It would look nice in a fancy guilded frame.

6.5” by 9.5” oval 

Not for sale

Doodle No. 31 Adam Makes an Atom

This is what happens when I let Melanie Schrader pick the colors.

Mike Ryan pointed out that the atom has three electrons, so it must be lithium. He cares for bipolar. Here is a detail of Adam and his lithium atom and the flash of the mica paint. 

4” square

Prismacolor black ink, Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils, Finetec mica watercolor paint on Stonehenge 250 GSM 100% cotton paper

 NFS

Doodle No. 30 Too Many Holes

In Doodle No. 24 Six Holes, I asked, “How many holes are too many?” The answer I was given was infinitely many. So then I spent the next several days trying to figure out how to draw infinitely many holes. The answer lied in the Poincare model of hyperbolic space. Here, I present “Too Many Holes.”

5.75” diameter circle.

Drawn with archival Prismacolor black ink, Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils, Finetec mica watercolor paint on Stonehenge 250 GSM 100% cotton paper. 

Sold

thanks for looking. 

Doodle No. 29 Green Hole with Shrimp

If you ever visit a green hole, be sure to get a souvenir while you’re there. 

Someone challenged me to draw a black hole using a tiling other than the regular square one. That’s why there are triangles. Plankton and 2D RNA structures decorate the surface. The gold planet and most of the little dots shimmers in the light with mica paint. 

4” square

Prismacolor black ink, Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils, Finetec mica watercolor paint on Stonehenge 250 GSM 100% cotton paper. 

Original available: https://www.etsy.com/listing/704139530/

Doodle No. 27 Bunny in a Triangle

Bunny spends some time in a Sierpinski triangle thinking about lunch.

3.5” by 5.5”

Prismacolor black ink, Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils, and mica watercolor paint on Stonehenge 250 GSM 100% cotton paper.

Original available: https://www.etsy.com/listing/716925693/

Doodle No. 28 Moth Fractal

3.5” by 5.5”

Moths and a few copies of my dog, Kepler, inhabit a #fractal. The lizards and other doodles along the sides and top are very much in the style of Marty Kenney. 

The last several pieces I’ve done have a lot of coloring, a lot of pigment. This time I tried to use light colors with a lot of white, in part, to see if it would take less time to color, and it did! I’m sure I’ll go back to my saturated colors though. I love color, but this pink is nice for a change.

Drawn with archival #Prismacolor black ink and Faber-Castell #Polychromos pencils on #Stonehenge 250 GSM 100% cotton paper. 

Original available: https://www.etsy.com/listing/717151343/

Baroque Cube Earrings tutorial

Itty bitty beaded cubes to hang from your ears. 

Make your own. 

https://www.etsy.com/listing/250952884/

Doodle No. 26 Rainbow Alternating Steps

The rainbows came back. They always come back if you wait long enough. 

The image is 3.4” by 5.6” 

set it in a 5” by 7” black mat.

Prismacolor black ink and Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils on Stonehenge 250 GSM 100% cotton paper with a bit of mica paint for metallic details.

 

Original available: https://www.etsy.com/listing/701553350/

Doodle No. 25 The Devil’s Staircase

The young cashier at the paper store convinced me that I really needed to open an Instagram account. And so I did. I’m planning to use it to share my artwork. So, now you can follow me there, if that’s you’re thing. https://www.instagram.com/gwenbeads/

The Devil’s Staircase (AKA, the Cantor Function) is a weird fractal function that I studied in graduate school. What I seem to remember the most about it is how to draw it. 

The colors were inspired by a Vincent Van Gogh painting “Bedroom at Arles” from 1888.

The image is 3” by 5”. 

Prismacolor black ink and Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils on Stonehenge 250 GSM 100% cotton paper. 

Original Available: https://www.etsy.com/listing/714190667/original-art-illustration-devils

Yip yip!

Doodle No. 24 Six Holes

How many black holes is too many black holes?

This is one of the largest pieces in the series so far. It certainly took me the longest. The image is 7” by 8.8”. 

Here you can see how the details of silver mica shimmer in the light. I quite like the effect. 

Original Available: https://www.etsy.com/listing/713983113/original-art-illustration-six-holes-ink

Doodle No. 23 Pythagorean Tree and Me

Image size: 3.8” by 3.8”

Drawn with archival Prismacolor black ink, Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils, 23.5 karat gold paint on Stonehenge 250 GSM 100% cotton paper. 

Sold

Doodle No. 22 Bunny and Owl

The image is 3” by 3”. 

The paper is 4.5" by 4.5". 

Drawn with archival Prismacolor black ink and Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils on Stonehenge 250 GSM 100% cotton paper. 

Sold

Doodle No. 21 Alien on Picot Fence

Doodle No. 21

Alien on Picot Fence

Get off my lawn!

Some color schemes come easily to me. This was not one of them. I colored until I could color no more. Then I added 23.5 karat gold paint. 

The image is 3” by 3”.

Drawn with archival Prismacolor black ink, Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils, and 23.5 K gold paint on Stonehenge 250 GSM 100% cotton paper. 

Original available: https://www.etsy.com/listing/697178098/

Doodle No. 20 Tribert’s Network

Tribert got a new antenna for his network in hopes of picking up owls. So far, so good. 

Some color schemes come easily to me. This was not one of them. All of that red didn’t help. 

Image size 2.7” by 2.7”

Prismacolor black ink and Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils on Stonehenge 250 GSM 100% cotton paper

Sold. 

Doodle No. 19 Cat Planet

The colors are very 2019, including by Pantone’s 2019 Color of the Year, Living Coral. 

8” by 10” 

Faber-Castell Polychromos colored pencils and Prismacolor black ink on Stonehenge paper

This piece is sold, but you can buy swag if you want!  I made stickers you can find in my Etsy shop here https://www.etsy.com/listing/713103849/doodle-sticker-collection

Also, I designed this piece specifically to be printed on shirts, stickers, mugs, etc., which you can find here. Www.gwenbeads.threadless.com I just ordered a shirt for myself in blue. It’s quite nice for twenty bucks. Sadly, the ladies fitted large is too big for me. So I have it to my sweetie. 


I’m not sure what this contraption does, but it obviously has a lot of functionality. 

Forgive the bit of reflection on the cat’s face. I have it temporarily sealed in plastic to keep it safe. 

Doodle No. 18 SP Controls TP7

Staedtler black ink and Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils

Borden & Riley 108 lb paper

5.5” in diameter

This piece is a commission to be printed on coasters and stickers to hand out at a tech show. Since it’s mostly for men, I resisted the temptation to add any rainbows. The stickers and coaster look pretty good. 

Thanks for looking. 

Doodle No. 17 Nandor’s Network

Nandor’s network includes a few rainbows and a couple of friends. Overall, Nandor is pretty satisfied with his network. 

The image is 3” by 3”.

Drawn with archival Prismacolor black ink and Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils on Stonehenge 250 GSM 100% cotton paper. 

This piece is sold.

Doodle No 16 Triple Black Hole with DNA

The image size is 5” by 7”. 

Prismacolor black ink and Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils on archival, acid free 80 lb paper

This piece is sold.
Thanks for looking. 

Doodle No. 15 Pitchfork Bifurcation

Doodle No. 15

Pitchfork Bifurcation

Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils

Neenah acid free paper, 80 lb

5” by 7” image on 7” by 9” paper

I have a complicated relationship with yellow. I’m pretty sure it has something to do with the yellow and orange bedroom I had as a child. Everything was covered in a print of orange and yellow California poppies, and all of the furniture was painted yellow. Tying it altogether was a huge carpet in a perfect shade of yellow mustard. After the yellow experience, I had more than my fair share for years, and I didn’t like orange much either. I eventually brought orange back into my pallet a number of years ago after a friend successfully convinced me that bright orange is the color of happiness. Yet, that yellow carpet haunted me. With this piece I decided to put my biases aside and go full yellow mango on the background. 

Overall, this color palette is very 2019. Search for “color pallet 2019.” And you’ll find these colors. So if you don’t like them yet, you should reconsider.

The pitchfork bifurcation was the kind of thing I studied in my graduate abstract algebra course. The class had something to do with resolving “bad” points in the solution set for an equation by introducing another variable and changing your point of view. I didn’t really understand the symbolic representations and manipulations very well, but I could reproduce the kinds of pictures in the textbook in great detail. My professor seemed to think that showed enough understanding of the material for me to pass the class. It seems the biggest change between then and now is the cat. 

And yellow. 

And a lizard for Marty. 

This original is sold.

Thanks for looking.