I have been inspired by a photo that I took while vacationing on Dauphine Island, AL of the pattern and texture left in the sand after a high tide. I wish I could post a picture, but the rules forbid publication before the show and I don’t want to take the chance of being disqualified. So, I will explain my process and the problem that I ran into.
First, I opened the digital and manipulated it using a filter in a photgraphic program. Then I enhanced the blues and sand colors in the picture. After, being settled with the way it looked, I started to print it onto fabric. It took 25 tiles of 8.5″ x 11″ of fabric.
Next, I began to enhance even further by using color pencils and sharpie markers and brought the waves, almost like marbilizatiion pattern in the sand and water. I loved the way it looked, and thought that this might be a Quilt National Candididate, a very prestigious show for quilters to be accepted into.
Well, after I was finished, I thought I should seal my work so the pencils don’t smear. I heat set the markers and thought they would be fine with the sealer. Well I was wrong. I had used a gloss gel medium mixed with water and started to brush on each tile. The blue and purple markers started to run. EKES! Some of it looks wlcomed, but there are some areas that I will have to try to cover using white paint. If that doesn’t work then I will have to reprint some of the tiles. Lesson learned: Sharpie markers and water don’t mix! I think I would have been better of using a spray sealer with a bit stiffer fabric.

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