The Magazine of the Computer Textile Design Group

The Magazine of the Computer Textile Design Group 

Issue 62 October 2007 

Landscape 

Squared 

page 4 

A Figurative 

Challenge 

page 6 

Cover illustration from A Figurative Challenge 

by Sian Kilbblewhite 

Stealing Circles 

page 14 

Software Review: 

Studio Artist 

page 17

Dear Members 

When you receive this issue of Design-IT we will have exhibited 

at both the NEC in Birmingham and at Alexandra Palace. 

Many thanks to all those members who volunteered to 

steward at these events - we could not manage without you. 

Special thanks to Sandra Bingham who has co-ordinated all 

aspects of the exhibitions. 

This is Marlene Allinson’s second issue of the Magazine and 

we hope you enjoy it as much as the last one for which we 

received many favourable comments. Keep sending your 

articles and comments to Marlene. 

Please take time to read about the Workshops we are planning 

to run in August 2008. This may seem a long time ahead but 

venues and Tutors are booked well in advance. To encourage 

the Committee to continue working on this project it would 

help if you could indicate an interest to me at 

chairman@ctdg.org.uk or on the Forum. 

Biographies 

Shirley Sherris is a retired teacher 

who uses the computer for much of 

her designing in many fields: 

embroidery and textiles, mixed 

media, photography and digital 

collage imaging, and is continually 

experimenting with new techniques. 

Sian Kibblewhite is a semi-retired 

teacher who works for Worcestershire 

LEA as a ‘Hands-on Support’ 

teacher trainer specializing in Art and 

ICT. She is a keen promoter of using 

computers in the school curriculum 

as a means of getting more children 

involved in the creative process as 

well as supporting and enriching 

classroom learning. 

Sarah Brownie studied at Camberwell 

School of Art followed by a 

PGCE in Manchester and a solo 

exhibition of etchings. The acid baths 

used in the etching process did not 

mix well with children so Sarah 

moved into Adult Education, teaching 

a range of levels in digital and 

2 Design-IT Issue 62 

Judith Butt, Chairman 

traditional media. Sarah has written 

two CTDG workbooks and is 

President of the Group. 

Janice Hay used to teach City & 

Guilds embroidery and has had 

articles accepted in Embroidery, 

Stitch and Design-IT. Some of her 

work has been illustrated in books on 

embroidery and design and she is 

now a freelance embroiderer, 

working to commission. 

Rosemary Hufton studied maths and 

design before becoming involved 

with textiles. Rosemary has 

completed City & Guilds courses in 

fashion, machine knitting, 

embroidery and machine embroidery 

and received a Certificate of 

Excellence for her C&G diploma 

embroidery in 2002. After three 

years studying with BCUC at Windsor 

for the H.E.Diploma in Stitched 

Textiles she graduated with 

distinction in 2005, and is a mixed 

media artist whose work has a 

Contents 

CTDG News 2 - 3 

Landscape Squared 4 - 5 

A Figurative Challenge 6 - 7 

Screen Printing from 

‘Found Objects’ 8 -1 3 

Stealing Circles 14 - 16 

Software Reviews 

Studio Artist 3.5 17 -20 

SnagIt 8.2.3 21 - 22 

CTDG New Website 22 

Book Review 

Fallert’s Guide to 

Images on Fabric 23 

CTDG Publications 24 - 25 

Advertisements 26 - 27 

strong dimensional element and 

often incorporates unusual 

materials, bold colours, dyeing, 

shibori and screen printing. 

Marlene Allinson ran a graphic 

design company before completing a 

City & Guilds in soft furnishings 

followed by a PGCE. She began 

teaching adults a range of subjects 

including soft furnishings, machine 

embroidery, Photoshop, creative 

computing and ECDL. Marlene has 

regularly contributed to Design-IT 

and is now the publication’s editor. 

Judith Butt was a teacher and 

latterly a lecturer in Higher Education 

in Design and Technology. She 

studied Part II City & Guilds Creative 

Embroidery with Val Campbell 

Harding and later joined the 

Urchfont Manor Masterclass. She is 

currently studying Part III City & 

Guilds Advanced Embroidery at 

Urchfont Manor.

Advance Notice CTDG Workshops 

August 2008 

The Committee are hoping to set up Workshops in 

August 2008. A provisional booking has been made for 

Aug 18th /19th at Christleton High School, Chester, 

where a complete IT studio together with technician is 

available to us. There is also a large area where an Art 

Workshop can take place and an area 

where we can stitch. 

It is thought that Tutors will work together 

in Art, Design and Stitch rather than having 

separate Workshops. 

Christleton is a pretty village three miles from the 

centre of Chester. Bed and Breakfast is available within 

walking distance or short driving distance from the 

school. There is a pool and gym to which we would 

have access. 

We aim to keep the cost to a minimum. 

More details of this will appear in the next Design-IT 

but, in order to assess interest and to progress, it 

would be most helpful if you could e-mail 

chairman@ctdg.org.uk if you think you might be 

interested in these Workshops. Husbands and offspring 

would find plenty to do and see in Chester 

if they came with you!! 

You are not committing yourself to anything at this 

stage, but we would like to know whether to go ahead 

with the plans 

Judith Butt 

DISCLAIMER FOR VIEWS & INFORMATION IN THE MAGAZINE 

Whilst every effort is made to ensure that the information contained in the magazine is 

accurate, the CTDG cannot be held responsible for changes which occur after the magazine 

has gone to print. 

CONTENTS OF THE ARTICLES 

The views expressed in articles submitted to Design-IT are those of the authors and not 

necessarily the views of the CTDG. 

COPYRIGHT 

All the illustrations in this magazine are the property of the authors and should not be used 

for any other purpose without their permission. 

CTDG Announcements 

October 2007 Design-IT 3

Landscape Squared 

After a visit to the beautiful coastline of 

Northumberland I used many of the 

photographs taken as design sources for a lot of 

textile and embroidery pieces. To create 

Landscape Squared a photograph of rocks with 

the castle in the distance was used. (Fig 1) 

1 


The photograph was 

imported into the 

computer and I used 

Adobe Photoshop to 

manipulate it. Firstly 

I selected a square of 

the image, cropped 

and resized it to the 

largest size possible 

which would print 

within A4. I intended to 

cut the image into 

small squares and mix 

them up, but wanted to 

do this before printing 

to avoid having to join pieces back together. The 

size, therefore, was also determined by the 

number of squares into which I wanted to cut 

the image. This meant that the photo would 

need to be 20 x 20cm so that I could cut the 

image into 5x5cm squares (Fig 2). 

The image was to be printed onto silk which was 

prepared for printing using Bubble jet set liquid. 

It would have also worked by printing onto a 

commercial ready prepared silk sheet. I always 

enhance the colours of the image by increasing 

the brightness and contrast and sometimes a 

little increased colour saturation. This provides a 

much punchier image to print onto fabric. I find 

that when printing onto fabrics prepared with 

Bubble jet set, the resulting image is usually 

much paler and duller so increasing the 

brightness, contrast and some saturation 

counters this effect. Not having used 

commercially-produced silk papers, I do not 

know how the colours print so you would have to 

test this out for yourself if you are using them. 

Shirley Sherris 

Cutting the image into squares and mixing them 

up is easy to do on the computer screen. First I 

used the guide lines to mark the squares on the 

image. This was done by moving the cursor onto 

the rulers (if they are not visible use View Menu 

> Rulers r or Ctrl +R) on the left and top edges 

of the window. While holding the right hand 

mouse key, I dragged the cursor off the ruler 

and a blue guide line followed the cursor. I 

dragged it to the first dividing position and 

released. I repeated this for each dividing line 

needed – horizontally and vertically (Fig 3). 

Next I opened a new window the same size and 

dpi as the cropped and squared image and 

using the guide lines again, marked out the 

same size grid as on the image (Fig 4). 

2 

3

At this point, I made sure 

that the ‘Auto select 

layer’ box was checked 

on the top toolbar. For 

the next stage I used the 

two top tools in the tools 

palette – the rectangle 

select tool and the move 

tool (Fig 5). 

With the rectangle tool selected, I dragged it 

from corner to corner of the first box on the 

image window. I then selected the ‘Move’ tool 

and ‘dragged and dropped’ a copy of the 

selected square over to the new empty window 

and set it into one of the squares. This created 

Layer 1. In other software, there may not be a 

‘drag and drop’ facility. If there isn’t, you will 

have to use copy and paste and move it into 

position. I reselected the rectangle tool and on 

the image window, moved the selection onto the 

next square. Using the ‘Move’ tool again, 

I dragged and dropped a copy of the second 

square onto the new window but into a different 

position on the grid. This created Layer 2. 

I repeated this process (Fig 6) until all the 

squares had been copied and mixed up on the 

new window (Fig 7). It is at this point that 

squares can be moved around until you are 

happy with the balance of the new mixed-up 

image. Simply click on any square to select it 

and drag to move it. 

The new mixed up image was ready to print. The 

silk was adhered to a carrier (a sheet of A4 

paper will do) with a temporary spray adhesive 

and printed or print onto a commercially 

prepared silk A4 sheet. Once printed, I ironed 

the silk onto a medium weight iron-on Vilene. 

4 

5 

7 

I stitched fancy machine patterns to cover the 

join lines of the small squares which were then 

embellished with free machining, hand 

embroidery and beads. The finished embroidery 

was then laid over a piece of white fleece and 

onto a craft Vilene. Single lines of machining 

along the centre of the fancy machine stitches 

gave the piece a gentle quilted effect I used 

textured threads to plait the border. A landscape 

with a difference (Fig 8). 

8 

October 2007 Design-IT 5 

6

A Figurative Challenge 

I have always admired people who can draw the 

human figure and create in just a few strokes 

the feeling of movement. 

I had been to Life Drawing classes many years 

ago and since being retired from full-time 

teaching now had the time to pursue the 

subject again. 

The tutor had an interesting approach and, at 

the start of each session, gave us approximately 

ten minutes to sketch the main elements of 

the model. This was followed by a longer period 

to draw the full figure in charcoal or any 

preferred medium. 

At this time I had just completed a project on 

Matisse for my Creative Computing course at 

Westhope College with Marie Roper and had 

spent lots of time researching his work on 

human figures. What intrigued me was the 

simplicity of the paper-cut figure and how 

effective it was in creating movement. 

At this stage I wondered whether it would be 

possible to use the computer in conjunction with 

the scanned images of my drawings to create a 

simple form similar to what Matisse had 

achieved (Fig 1). 


1 

Sian Kibblewhite 

I returned to Matisse’s paper cuts and took 

special note of where he split the body up into 

sections since this was the key to the success of 

the work. My first attempt involved opening up a 

scanned image of one of my drawings and using 

it as a background layer, using a thin brush and 

drawing over the main lines of the body then 

saving it as a second layer and filling the parts 

of layer two with a blue fill. 

The images showing the development from 

scan to paper-cut shape are shown as Figs 2, 

3 and 4). 

This exercise, despite the help of modern 

technology, made me realize what a great 

artist Matisse was! However, I decided to 

continue to use this method to see if there 

was any future potential. 

The following figures show some of the 

developments from this technique. 

Fig 5 shows the simplified scanned drawing, 

Fig 6 includes the blue fill and Fig 7 is a 

layered composition of selections of Fig 6 

copied and pasted. 

2

Figure 7 was then manipulated using various 

effects, including blending modes and altering 

the opacity of some of the layers to create a 

more pleasing image (Figs 8 and 9). 

Not being totally satisfied with the images so far, 

I went on to experiment with the tonal changes 

in the charcoal drawings and created lacy 

patterns from scanned material collages, which 

emulated the three main tones of light, medium 

and dark. The custom brushes which resulted 

3 4 

5 6 

7 8 

9 10 

were useful in painting in the tones from the 

original drawing (Figs 10, 11 and 12). 

Article continues on back cover 


Screen Printing from 

‘Found Objects’ 

This article describes in detail a simple 

technique for using the computer as a tool to 

enable images of a solid object to be transferred 

by screen printing onto almost any fabric. 

Whilst walking on holiday recently, I picked up 

an old horseshoe which still had nails in the 

holes. I wanted to use such a ‘lucky’ find as a 

starting point for various textiles, some of which 

could be used in the celebrations of our 

youngest son’s wedding in September. 

I didn’t sketch the horseshoe, but decided 

instead to make a computer generated ‘clear 

line drawing’ of it. My aim was to make a 

thermoplastic screen from this line drawing, and 

thereby print the horseshoe image onto fabric in 

various ways. 

The first step was to scan the actual horseshoe, 

using PaintShopPro9 (PSP9) to give a computer 

image. The horseshoe was put onto the glass of 

the flatbed scanner, in the centre with its nails 

sticking up. This meant that the scanner lid had 

to be partly open, allowing some light to get into 

the background. 

The sequence of instructions for scanning is: 

File > Import > TWAIN > Acquire. I chose to use 

my default settings of ‘Output Resolution’ = 200 

and Output Type’ = True Colour 100% 

It is tempting at this point to choose ‘Black and 

White’ as the output type, but the resulting 

scanned image wouldn’t have the clear lines 

that are necessary for making a good 

thermoplastic screen. 

After the lamp has warmed up, a pre-scan 

‘horseshoe’ image is shown on the screen 

version of the scanner glass. 

I ‘enclosed’ part of this image in a ‘box’ of 

dotted lines. This is done by left-clicking on the 

required top left-hand corner and dragging with 

the mouse to the bottom right corner before 


Rosemary Hufton 

releasing the button. It is better to include a 

decent border around the object being scanned. 

The need for this becomes apparent at a later 

stage, when printing with the resultant 

thermoplastic screen. 

The next instruction sequence, to actually 

perform the scan is: Scan > Return to PSP. 

Fig 1 shows the scan of the lucky horseshoe. 

The scan is saved and named. The instruction 

sequence is: File > Save As (or use the keyboard 

shortcut for these two steps which is F12). 

A folder must be chosen to save the images into. 

I usually use an empty USB memory stick for a 

project, saving everything I may possibly need 

onto it, including failed experiments, and then 

editing later to burn onto a permanent CD. 

In the ‘Save as Type’ box, choose ‘Paint Shop 

Pro Image’, as this will be necessary when doing 

manipulations further down the line. 

The open scanner lid gives a graduated 

background with shadows, all of which must be 

removed to concentrate on the actual image 

details. This is done by selection using the 

‘lasso’ tool to isolate the horseshoe and ‘paste it 

as a new image’ onto a background. 

Choose the ‘selection’ tool from the column of 

icons down the left side of the screen. This will 

1

show as either a dotted rectangle, a ‘lasso’ 

which looks like a lollipop, or a ‘magic wand’ 

which looks like a sparkler firework. The middle 

of these options is the one required. If one of 

the others is showing, click on the tiny black 

arrow beside the icon to give the choice of all 

three, and pick the lasso. 

The only other necessary choice is ‘selection 

type’ in the lower menu bar across the top of the 

screen (towards the left side). Pick ‘point to 

point’ and leave all the other parameters at their 

default settings. 

The selection is actually carried out by outlining 

the horseshoe shape in short steps. Left click at 

any starting point on the edge of the horseshoe 

image, drag the mouse a little distance away to 

another position on the edge and left click 

again. Keep doing this all the way round the 

horseshoe image and finish back at the starting 

point with a double left click. 

The selection shows up as a series of flashing 

dashes (marching ants) around the horseshoe. 

This selection must be copied onto the clipboard, 

as follows: Edit > Copy (shortcut Ctrl+C). 

We want to paste the horseshoe image onto a 

background of the same size as the original 

shadowy one. This is because, to make a 

satisfactory thermoplastic screen from the line 

image we eventually get, there needs to be 

some empty space all around. Because of this 

fact, the easy option of ‘pasting as a new image’ 

is not the best choice, since it removes all the 

extra background. Instead, paste the image as a 

new layer by the following: Edit > Paste > Paste 

as a New Layer (shortcut Ctrl+L). 

Next, click on the blue bar of the ‘layers palette’ 

which should be showing on-screen. Clicking the 

word ‘background’ beneath will turn it blue. The 

background needs to be deleted, leaving the 

horseshoe image floating against a transparent 

space the same size as the original background. 

This deletion is done by clicking the ‘delete’ 

icon, which looks like two pages with a cross 

through the front one. There will be a query box 

asking you to confirm that you really want to 

delete the background layer. 

The transparency of the background for this new 

image is indicated by grey and white checks. 

This is just a device to get over the impossibility 

of depicting transparency on-screen; the 

checkerboard pattern isn’t actually there. 

The ‘marching ants’ of selection are still visible 

and must be removed. Use the ‘selections’ 

menu at the top of the screen as follows, and 

they will disappear: Selections > Select None. 

To get rid of the checkerboard and make a plain 

white background, first go into the materials 

palette by clicking on the word ‘materials’ in the 

pale blue on-screen bar. Then pick white as a 

foreground colour by left-clicking on the white 

box within it. Choose the ‘flood-fill tool’ from the 

list down the left side of the screen by clicking 

on the icon which looks like a tipping paint pot 

with a drip. Flood fill the transparent 

background white by left clicking anywhere 

within it. The checkerboard transparency pattern 

will go, replaced by a plain white background 

(Fig 2). 

The image needs to be saved now, with the 

name ‘LuckyShoe2’, in the same format and 

place as the first scanned image, and by the 

same method. 

The next stage in simplifying the image is to 

soften the horseshoe outline a little with one of 

the ‘artistic effects’ filters, and to reduce the 

number of colours with another. 

Before using effects filters, it is good practice to 

duplicate the image and to work on this copy 

only, not the original. It is really easy to make a 

duplicate of an open image in PSP, just key in 

shift+D and it appears immediately. 

The ‘Coloured Foil’ filter is the first to use, with 

very low settings as follows: Effects > Artistic 

Effects > Coloured Foil (Blur 1, Detail 20, Colour 

Black, Angle 90º). 

2 


Then, without saving in between, use the 

‘Posterize’ filter at the lowest level to drastically 

reduce the number of colours, by clicking on: 

Effects > Artistic Effects > Posterize (level 2). 

The horseshoe image now has clearly defined 

areas of single colours, which manage to 

indicate the rust and other imperfections, but 

perhaps still in too much detail (Fig 3). 

This interim image should be saved, with the 

name ‘LuckyShoe3’, in the same format and 

place as the first scanned image, and by the 

same method. 

In this particular case, using a horseshoe, the 

shapes defined by the colours are still too small 

and bitty. A second passage through the 

‘Coloured Foil’ filter with higher settings for more 

drastic changes gives the effect we require after 

a bit of experimentation. Every individual ‘found 

object’ image will respond to different settings, 

but the basic method of proceeding with the 

exploration remains the same. Whilst 

experimenting with possibilities, you will need to 

have clicked on the ’autoproof’ button in the 

effect window. This looks like an eye with a 

padlock under it. Also it is fun to select the 

‘random’ button (dice icon) for completely 

unexpected parameter choices. Serendipity 

operates here and you can come up with 

wonderful results. 

After exploring possibilities on a duplicate of 

LuckyShoe3.psp, I decided to use the following 

settings: Effects > Artistic Effects > Coloured Foil 

(Blur 35, Detail 15, Colour Grey, Angle 104º). 

This result was saved with the name 

‘LuckyShoe4’, in the same format and place as 

the others (Fig 4). 


3 

To turn this latest horseshoe into a line drawing, 

the contrast threshold was explored until I 

achieved a sufficiently accurate black and white 

outline image. To do this, left click on the 

‘Adjust’ button on the top menu bar on-screen 

and select ‘Brightness and Contrast’ followed by 

‘Threshold.’ The number indicating the threshold 

level can be continually changed until the line 

drawing proof looks right. In this case, a suitable 

drawing was reached at level 80, and so the 

‘apply’ button was clicked at that figure: Fig 5. 

This final image needs to be saved, with the 

name ‘LuckyShoe5’, as with previous images. 

Now that we have a suitable line drawing, it 

must be either laser printed or photocopied from 

an inkjet print. This is because the making of 

the printing screen uses a thermofax machine 

which relies on a heat process to do its magic. 

The heat must be applied through a toner-based 

image, and in effect it melts the image into a 

specialized plastic coated polyester mesh. This 

action reproduces the image as lines of melted 

plastic in the mesh. When the mesh is enclosed 

in a rigid frame it can be used for screen 

printing by allowing ink or dye to be forced 

through the mesh holes where the plastic has 

been melted, using a squeegee. 

5 

4

Fig 6 shows the Thermoplastic screen. 

To make a thermoplastic screen, an original 

thermofax machine must be used, also sheets 

of special mesh and rigid frames. There is an 

agency which provides this screen making 

service; we only have to send them the right sort 

of image. Fig 7 is a scan of the agency’s 

publicity card, which shows the web address and 

some details. The service isn’t expensive, prices 

start at £7.50 for an A5 sized screen. 

I made a series of samples using my horseshoe 

screen, to give an indication of the wide variety 

of ways it can be used. Screen printing can be 

done on almost any fabric. I chose to use an old 

tablecloth which I had previously dyed to give 

strong colour all over in an uneven block 

pattern. This was actually achieved using a 

traditional wooden screen which was blank – 

had no pattern at all in it. I used procion dyes 

thickened with manutex to the consistency of 

thick cream, in shades of gold and green. This 

was forced through the mesh of a blank screen 

with a squeegee, in different positions all over 

the cloth. I also sprayed with a plum-coloured 

thin dye in a bottle. This was done while the 

blank screen printing was still wet, to add 

spotty marks around and between the blocks of 

strong colour. The result provided an interesting, 

colour-textured cloth with a lot of variety – 

perfect for a background (Fig 8). 

The background cloth described above was used 

damp first, so that when screen printing on it 

6 7 

with dye paint, the colour would run a little, and 

soften the lines in the design. Thick, black dye 

paint was used in the horseshoe screen for the 

first printing. When this had dried, been heat 

set, rinsed, washed and ironed, it was ready for 

the second stage. It sounds like a lot to do for 

one small sample, but of course I did more. 

I covered a large piece of my background fabric 

as well, as the first stage towards making a 

celebration cloth. 

The second screen printing on this sample was 

carried out with silver coloured screen printing 

ink. It gives a sharp, well-defined image which 

I slightly offset relative to the blurry black 


8

horseshoe screen printed first. This emphasises 

the effect of a shadow. This screen ink image 

also needs to be heat set after it has dried. It 

will survive hand washing, but the colours and 

fibres should be left to settle for a week or so 

before trying to wash it (Fig 9). 

The second screen printing on this 

celebration cloth was different from the sample 

above. This is because it will need to be washed 

more frequently, and the silver ink image is 

rather fragile. The fragility arises from the fact 

that the ink sits on top of the fibres rather than 

being absorbed into them like dye. As an 

alternative to silver ink, I screen printed with 

Jacquard discharge paste. This removes the 

procion dye from both the background and the 

first horseshoe screen printing. It gives an 

interesting shadowy look, very similar to that of 

the first sample. The discharge paste is a bit 

runnier than ink, so spreads a little and gives a 

slightly softer image. It’s rather hard to see 

whilst working, because the paste is clear and 

the screen printing simply looks wet at this 

stage. It must be allowed to dry and then steam 


9 

10 

ironed to remove the colour. This process makes 

rather smelly fumes, but the excitement of 

watching the images change before you 

eyes is worth it. 

This panel is just a fancier, more worked version 

of the previous two. The background was altered 

by ironing on a couple of rectangles of fabric 

using Bondaweb. The fabric was very thin cotton 

turban cloth, which can be obtained in a lovely 

variety of colours. It is a quick and easy way to 

alter a background without adding too much 

thickness. I then sponged some discharge paste 

on the background surface, to remove bits of 

colour and relieve the ‘block’ look. 

The horseshoe on the left is screen printed in 

two stages exactly like the first shadowed 

sample. The one on the right is a single screen 

print in silver ink. They are both embellished 

with some very plain and simple stitching 

(french knots and running stitch). 

The text is screen printed in ink, using two 

more thermoplastic screens. I manipulated the 

text on the computer in PSP9 to make it sit on a 

wavy line, and then made a laser print of it to 

use for a screen in exactly the same way as 

with the horseshoe (Fig 10). 

11 

This little panel (Fig 11) is similar to the previous 

one, but uses no dye at all, which makes it 

much simpler to achieve. The background is a 

piece of old sheeting with three colours of silk 

paint sprayed on it randomly. It colours are 

rather dull in comparison to procion dye. 

However, the background is brightened up again

with squares of turban cotton ironed on with 

Bondaweb as in the previous sample. 

The screen printing is simply done with inks, 

silver for the horseshoes with white and 

red text. Again here is a little simple 

stitch embellishment. 

I carried on playing with horseshoe shapes, 

whilst still in the mood. I had an old, tatty plastic 

tablecloth, and I cut a section of it to fit inside 

my wooden blank screen. The horseshoe shape 

was then cut out of this section. The paper 

template used to cut the shape was one of the 

trial screen prints which had been done on 

paper, testing out the screen before using it on 

fabric. These trials, by the way, are ideal for 

making into greetings cards (Fig 12). 

12 

The flowery plastic horseshoe screen was then 

used to print a large piece of silk organza with a 

range of golden browns and chestnut colours. 

This was done by fixing the plastic, with its cutout 

horseshoe shape, to the bottom of the 

screen with masking tape. Printing was carried 

out with the screen adapted in this way, all over 

the fabric in exactly the same manner as the 

original background fabric was printed with a 

blank screen. Extra lines from the edge of the 

squeegee and spotty marks from spraying dye 

were also incorporated.The resulting textile 

would make a very good wrapping for an 

awkwardly shaped gift, or could be incorporated 

into a garment or a large decorative hanging. 

The two illustrations show a detail of the 

finished printed organza, and of the work in 

progress on the fabric (Figs 13 and 14). 

13 

14 

These notes on dyeing and screen printing are 

necessarily brief. Extra information can easily be 

obtained from the large number of 

books available. 

An excellent book list can be obtained from 

Committed to Cloth on 01737 - 844228. They 

also run a variety of courses and can often give 

advice or information. 

www.committedtocloth.com 

Blank screens, dyes, screen printing inks and 

discharge paste can be obtained from 

Fibrecrafts and George Weil, 01483 - 565800 

The address is Old Portsmouth Road, 

Peasmarsh, Guildford, Surrey GU3 1LZ. 


Stealing Circles 

Having had a glorious month the weather has 

turned aggressively wet forcing me into my study 

to play. Once started, it is difficult to shift me 

from my revolving chair and rotating gaily 

I began to create some circular designs. This 

article describes a design exercise that uses the 

minimum of tools (the Gradient Tool and the 

Magic Wand). However, those who wish to follow 

it through will need an understanding of Layers 

or a helpful manual. 

I happened to use Adobe Elements but for some 

who are irritated by step-by-step instructions or 

just have different software and need to adapt, 

this experiment depends on a gradient that has 

a translucent surround and a selection tool for 

stealing distorted circles from one layer and 

colours from another. 

Method 

Open a new RGB file (A4) with a decent 

resolution of 300ppi. Most home printers use 

this resolution so it is sensible to begin with this 

at the outset. 

1 

Toolbar with Gradient Options labelled. 


Sarah Brownie 

Select the Gradient Tool and, from the Tool 

Option Bar, choose a multiple colour range, one 

that has an outer transparent ring for best effect 

(mine was called Spectrum and is shown in 

Fig 1 with a black ring around it. Also select the 

Radial Option; Multiply Mode; 50% Opacity; 

Dither and Transparency as shown in Fig 1. 

When personalizing an exercise it is sometimes 

fun to wander from the instructions so any 

gradient will do, but ticking that transparency 

box is a must. 

Figs 2 and 3 shows the difference between a 

ticked or not ticked transparent box working with 

the partly transparent colour range. At this point 

you may wish to discover how the other options 

affect the outcome but if not they can be seen 

in Fig 4 to 6. 

4 

Without the 

multiply mode 

(but with the 

transparent 

option). 

3 

2 

Without the 

transparent option. 

With the 

transparent 

option.

Once all the relevant options are chosen, click 

and drag your mouse in any direction for about 

two centimeters in your file. A multi- coloured 

circle should appear. Repeat this click and drag 

process beginning from another starting point 

and dragging for a different length; say 1cm. 

Continue to build up with further circles 

overlapping, each one making use of the 

Transparent Option and Multiple Mode chosen 

earlier. Fig 6 shows the Diamond Gradient 

Option with Opacity option altered for each 

diamond. Fig 6: Making use of the opacity 

option with the diamond gradient option. 

6 

When you have produced a satisfactory design 

(I had about 5 circles) copy the layer, then invert 

and rotate or flip it: this is a quick way of 

increasing the number of circles. 

There are a number of different ways to use the 

next tool, the Magic Wand, and many depend on 

the tool options chosen and the layer 

highlighted. I used all the methods described 

below at some stage in my design. 

5 

With both multiple 

mode and 

transparent option. 

To select from all Layers: use the Magic Wand 

Tool and the following Tool Options: Add to 

Selection; Tolerance of your choice (perhaps 

50); Add all Layers. Click in a part of your image 

to select an area, if you are not happy with this 

selection use Ctrl Z to undo and click 

somewhere else. Repeatedly click in different 

parts to build up a series of shapes. At this 

stage it is an interesting shape you are 

searching for as the colours can be changed at 

any time. I preferred selections that included 

part circles or circles with bits hacked off as 

shown in Fig 7. 

If your circles are too complete or include 

unwanted areas, undo the selection and check 

the Contiguous Option is ticked and alter the 

Tolerance value. Then copy and paste your 

selection onto a new layer. 

To select shape from one layer and colour from 

another: Untick the All Layers option in the 

Magic Wand Tool Option Bar and select from 

one layer only, then change layers in the Layer 

Palette (those marching ants will stay marching). 

Then copy and paste to a new layer. The shapes 

selected from the first layer will pick up colours 

from your second choice layer and copy onto a 

third layer. 

To build up a shape from different layers: 

Choose New Selection in the Tool Option Bar 

and make a selection from one layer only, 

change layers and choose Add to Selection (or 

Subtract from Selection) to build up a shape 

from different layers. For those totally new to 

this field look under ‘Selection’ title in the menu 

bar for further options. 


7 

Magic 

Wand 

Selections 

from all 

layers.

Fig 8: Selecting colour from more than one layer. 


9 

8 

Fig 9 shows the 

Layer Palette 

with many layers 

in use. 

Selecting from many specific layers: I turned off 

some of the layers and ticked the All Layers 

option to find colour from more than one but not 

all the layers: Fig 8. 

In the Layer Palette alter the Blend Mode of all 

these layers and make further selections if you 

wish. Turn on and off the layers until you are 

happy with your choices. Of course any layer, 

once chosen in the Layer Palette (with Select > 

Select All can be inverted, rotated or flipped as 

before), see Fig 10. 

10 

Blended 

design. 

11 

Inverted 

design. 

12 

The 

final 

design. 

To save a final design I chose Select > Select All 

then Copy Merge and Pasted into a New File. 

This merged copy can be filtered, inverted or 

distorted at whim to produce a design that is 

personal. My favourite is shown in Fig 12.

Studio Artist version 3.5 

Free Demo: 20.7Mb download www.synthetik.com 

System Requirements: Power Mac 8.6 (or higher); 

Quicktime 6.0 (or higher) 

PC USERS leave e-mail address on 

the website (Under Free Demo on the 

home page) to be informed when a 

Windows-compatible version 

becomes available. 

This is a demo well worth installing. 

Although there is a 40 minute 

restriction each time you open it, 

there is no time out (30 days with 

many demos). There is limited 

functionality, however, but there are 

plenty of things to play with and 

these are hard to stop using. The 

program doesn’t allow you to save or 

print, but this can be got around by 

taking screen shots of any of your 

results. (Apple + Shift+ 3 ) and 

saving them in another program, then 

reopening in Studio Artist or opening 

and printing in another application. 

After the 40 minutes, just close down 

and reopen. The price for the 

complete program is currently $395, 

plus shipping from the USA, but when 

you consider that there are over 

4000 paint presets, it’s well worth it, 

especially if the exchange rate is 

favourable. The package comes with 

tutorial CDs.The Demo has a 

downloadable tutorial which is well 

worth having,and by visiting the 

website you can also view the latest 

tutorials under Support. 

On opening the application a visual 

box appears (Fig 1), mouse-click on it 

and a “Select a Source Image” box 

appears which is in fact a browser. 

On choosing an image, a size box 

appears, click OK. (I find it useful to 

reduce the size to 50% as this 

quickens up the processes). 

You are now presented with a white 

page with the image at top left. Also 

on the left-hand side you will see one 

of two Presets pull-down menus 

giving a large selection (Fig 2). 

1 

2 

Software Review 


I’ll refer to them as Upper and Lower Presets for 

the methods used in this article. Also note that 

each and every time an option is selected, a 

whole new set appears to choose from. 

I began by leaving the page at “White” (see top 

right for pull-down list) with “Source Image” and 

“Paint” at the top left and chose the Lower Paint 

Synthesizer preset, with the Thread Category 

and Directional Threads Patch selected (Fig 3). 

Also shown is a list of some of the Patch Paint 

Options. I used a mouse to do this, but the 

demo does support a graphics tablet. 


3 

4 

I then moved from “White” to “Source Image” 

(top right) to bring up the image on the page, 

and repeated my action again to give a subtle 

effect (Fig 4). This gives a different result to 

filters in other applications, as you can stop at 

any point. 

A word of warning though, when using any of the 

operations that need an “Action” button, clicking 

the mouse will halt the operations. (This is of 

course useful if you feel the process has gone 

far enough.) 

After using the “Action” button it’s fascinating to 

watch the changes taking place. 

Some operations can be undone (Edit > Undo), 

but others can’t. If you don’t like the result and 

can’t undo the action, go to the Pull-down menu 

on the top right and click on another option and 

then back to “Source Image” again to get back 

to the beginning. In Fig 5 I chose “Image B/W 

Threshold”. Don’t worry if, after clicking the 

Action button, the page goes black, just wait and 

the operation will begin. 

Studio Artist 3.5 also uses Layers. To open the 

Layer window go Canvas > Layer Window . Click 

on the New button to make a new Layer. If 

“Source Image” is still chosen at the top right, 

this will make a copy of the first Layer, and can 

also be selected from an option at the top. 

My third Layer was made by changing to 

“White”. I used an Action on this Layer 

(Fragmented Clone) and changed all the Layer 

modes by clicking on the Replace button (Fig 6). 

5

The option is available to change the Layer 

mode on all the layers, again this in different 

from other applications. 

I particularly like the Lower Preset Vectorizer and 

chose this close-up as an example (Fig 7), 

picking Orient Regionizer from the Patch list. 

This suggests a cartoon for weaving, knitting, 

canvaswork, felting or blocks for printing. 

By far the most exciting results came from using 

the Upper Presets Warp option, and scrolling the 

Type box to one of the Kaleidoscope choices. 

Instructions are given on-screen and quite easy 

to follow. I began with my Source Image and 

Fig 8 is the result of repeating and changing the 

6 

7 

start position four times. I took a screenshot of 

this, and re-opened it again (40 minutes had 

soon gone) to develop the pattern. I also tried 

changing the Kaleidoscope choice each time 

and here is one of my designs (Fig 9). 

Some of the actions are quite gimmicky, but 

mostly these can be left unused, or tried 

and rejected. 

The one I decided to work in textiles was not too 

far removed from the original image, but I really 


8 

9

like the effect of the moth-like shapes (Fig 10). 

I increased the saturation of some of the colours 

to give more vibrancy as printing onto fabric 

usually dulls them. 

The translated textile piece was worked using 

layers. The background was printed onto fabric 

and three more prints made using water-soluble 

paper. These were treated in different ways, 

ending with putting the third print into a hoop 

and using free machine embroidery and 

dissolving the paper to produce the yellow 

and purple “eyelashes” (Fig 11) and close-up 

(Fig 12). 


10 

I haven’t slavishly followed my design, preferring 

to adapt the shapes as I worked and to stay 

open-minded right up until the last stitch 

is in place, 

Consider using the best results as Layers in 

other programs. Other textile methods that come 

to mind are Patchwork, Quilting and Applique. 

When it comes to closing the application, go to 

Studio Artist Demo at top left , scroll to Quit 

Studio Artist and the original visual box appears, 

mouse-click on that and it will shut down. 

I’ve only touched on a few ways of working in 

this Review, but hope the examples will inspire 

you to download the software. I know I shall 

continue to enjoy the Demo which should keep 

me busy for some time to come. 

12 

11 

Janice Hay 

Articles for Design-IT are 

welcomed by the editor and a 

small fee is paid for those 

printed. Please send your 

ideas or articles to Marlene 

Allinson: editor@ctdg.co.uk 

Membership enquires to 

Carol: memsec@ctdg.co.uk

SnagIT version 8.2.3 

Screen Capture & Image Editing Program 

TechSmith for PC only £27 for a single 

user licence (multiple user licences 

available as are German and French versions) 

Free 30-day Trial version available for download 

from www.techsmith.com 

SnagIt is a wonderful and invaluable 

program for all who write and/or 

teach and is “Drop-Dead Useful” as 

stated in PC magazine’s review. 

SnagIt allows the user to capture 

anything on the computer screen and 

is much more flexible than the 

Windows’ PrintScreen facility. 

Anything on the screen can be 

selected: an area, image, text, error 

message, dialog box, you can even 

scroll down and capture a full web 

page. The resulting capture can be 

saved as a bmp, tif, jpg, gif, swf, png, 

web page with image, windows 

cursor, windows icon or SnagIt’s own 

native format. Screen captures can 

be spooled to a virtual printer to be 

printed later. 

Basic input capture options are 

Region, Window, Full Screen, Scrolling 

Window (web page) or Web Page with 

fully working links; other profiles 

include capturing a scrolling window 

to pdf, a menu with time delay, image 

from a web page and text from a 

window, or a screen video of your 

actions can be made as a record for 

yourself or as a video for teaching. 

When the PrintScreen button is 

pressed (or SnagIt is started from the 

program or via a shortcut) the utility 

opens with the last input option used, 

but this can be changed at any time. 

For example, I have my SnagIt set up 

to capture a Region: 

I press the PrintScreen button and an 

instruction dialog box opens in the 

top left corner of the screen.To 

capture, I click the left mouse button, 

hold it down and drag a marquee 

around the region of the screen 

I want to capture and then let go: the 

capture is taken into the SnagIt 

Editor (this option can be changed: 

you can save direct to your favourite 

program, for example Photoshop, 

Word or Powerpoint). You then save 

the capture in your chosen format, 

send it to print, direct it to 

e-mail or to the SnagIt Catalog. 

SnagIt’s built-in Editor can be used 

for cropping, adding edge effects, 

stamps, highlight areas, captions, 

annotations and more. Extra 

catalogues of stamps are available as 

free downloads to add to those which 

come as standard. The keyboard 

letters and symbols are especially 

useful for writing teaching handouts. 

Software Review 

Fig 1 shows a number stamp saved 

along with the image and Fig 2 a 

stamp and annotation added to an 

open dialog box (the callouts, 

annotations and stamps are saved as 

part of the captured image, not as 

separate items). The captured 

screenshots can be taken into 

Photoshop, Paint or any other 

painting, drawing or layout program 

which supports the format in which 


1 

the capture was saved and further annotated or 

amended there. 

The user can create and save his own capture 

profiles, for example you might always save a 

fixed area as a tiff and always want to capture 

the cursor in with your screenshot and save the 

CTDG’s New Website 


2 

image into Photoshop: it is easy to set up this 

profile and give it your chosen name: you can 

then select your input profile from the pop-up 

SnagIt window which sits down at the bottom 

right of your screen in the System Tray: or you 

can turn on the One Click option which means 

that the SnagIt window will appear when you 

hover over part of your computer screen: even 

this option is customisable! If required you can 

still keep the Windows PrintScreen utility, SnagIt 

does not have to replace it. SnagIt comes with 

its own comprehensive Help and Video Tutorials 

and an e-mail newsletter is available which 

suggests different uses for SnagIt as well as 

support and other useful documentation. This 

utility is a real timesaver and worth its weight in 

gold: once you have it I guarantee you will 

wonder how you ever managed without it. After 

the 30-day free trial the program can be 

registered and paid for: an unlock code is sent 

to you by e-mail. It could not be simpler. 

Marlene Allinson 

Hopefully, you, as members, will all have seen the new website by now. 

The first thing that needs to be made clear is that this new site is totally separate from the original one, 

and no previous passwords will work on it. It is made up of three sections: The Website, The Shop and 

The Forum. 

The website is available to anyone to look at, and is intended to be your ‘window to the world’, 

detailing what the group is about, what you all do, and how to join in. 

The shop is also available to anyone who follows the link. In here, you can renew your membership 

on-line and buy CTDG publications. When you first try to buy something from the shop, you will be 

asked for various personal details – remember, it does not know who you are! When you go back 

again, it will remember you. We hope to have more products available in the shop over the 

coming months. 

The forum is the section available ONLY to members. When you first enter the forum, you will be 

asked to sign up with a user name and password. Again, remember this new forum does not know 

you! Please keep a record of your user name and password. Once you have registered, either myself 

or CTDG’s forum moderator, Dorothy Gibbs, will check you are a CTDG member. You will then be 

authorised to enter, and join in with other members. Over time, we expect the forum to be a hugely 

valuable resource to you all. 

New Ideas, Events & Show Notices, Help and Tips on Design-IT Articles, Help with Technical Issues, 

Reviews of Courses: these are just some ideas, please take a look and keep building up the forum. 

We already have some regular users – a big thank you! 

New members, and renewing members, please note that there are three steps to take full advantage 

of CTDG: 1) Complete the membership form on the website 2) Pay via the shop 3) Join the forum. 

Beverley Miles CTDG Webmaster Webmaster@ctdg.org.uk www.ctdg.org.uk

Fallert's Guide 

to Images 

on Fabric 

by Caryl Bryer Fallert 

Published by The American Quilters' 

Society ISBN 1-57432-842-5 

At first sight this looks a small book for 

the money as it is in a half A4 vertical 

format, but it is a magical book if you want 

to manipulate designs and transfer them 

to fabric. 

Directed mainly at quilters, it has so much 

information which is useful to all textile 

artists. You are shown how to print your 

own images directly on to fabric from 

scanned or copied photographs and 

everyday objects. 

At the end of each part here is a question and answer section. These 

questions range from the simplest such as “what is the difference 

between copying and scanning?” to more complicated such as “what 

is the difference 

between a vector object 

and a bitmap?” 

There are wonderfully 

inspiring coloured 

photographs to illustrate 

each example. 

As this book is published 

in America the list of 

suppliers is not very 

useful to UK readers, but 

there are UK suppliers 

with the same materials 

on the internet. 

This book can be 

obtained from 

Amazon and other 

good booksellers. 

Judith Butt 

Book Review 


CTDG Publications 

Workbooks 

The CTDG workbooks are useful to beginners 

and the more experienced. They are designed to 

be used individually, in groups, or in a Workshop 

and will help students understand how to use a 

computer to develop different design methods 

for a variety of textile skills. They are designed to 

take the reader through various techniques by 

using worked examples, which can be worked 

using most paint or draw programs, on either 

AppleMac or Windows. 

1 Colour & Design 

This workbook covers computer design for 

textiles: including mark making, colour theory, 

and designing with pattern. 

2 Screen to Fabric 

A colour printer is an important tool for 

transferring designs and the choice of paper or 

fabric used for printing depends to a large extent 

on the textile technique to be used. 

3 Fabulous Filters 

What are filters: Black and White filters: 

Simplifying designs: Reducing the detail: 

Stylising Images: Changing the colours: Altering 

the settings: Making filters transparent: The 

theory of blending modes. 

4 All About Selections 

This workbook guides the student through the 

main selection tools found in most paint 

programs and will clarify the fundamentals of 

each selection tool and show different results 

that can be achieved. 

5 Draw programs and pattern making 

How to get the best out of draw or vector 

programs, so that you will feel confident in using 

them for a variety of design applications. 

6 Scan, Scanners, Scan 

What is a scanner?, How does a scanner work?, 

What you Might Want to Know, Twain Drivers, 

Scanner Dialogue Screens, How to take a 

Screen shot. Projects include: The First Scan; a 

torn or cut collage, Settings, Folds and Creases, 

Textured Backgrounds, Assorted Grids, 

Translucent Papers, Wrappings, Multiple Views 

and Reflections. 


7 Using Your Digital Camera 

Lighting & Weather, Exposure Compensation, 

Through the Viewfinder, Framing, Using a Grid, 

Diagonals & Triangles, Using Flash, From 

Camera to Computer, Contacts & Filing, 

Cropping, Simplifying & Combining Photos. 

8 Designing on Your Computer 

To help you get to grips with a paint program 

and develop digital designs, demystifying some 

of the most useful paint program features. 

Selections 

There are five booklets published so far, each 

containing a number of Back Issue Design-IT 

articles on a theme. 

Something for everybody, includes articles on 

Layers, Blending, pieces for free machine 

quilting, embroidery, computerised sewing 

machines, computer designs to fabric, digital 

camera and scanners. 

1 Fractals 

This publication in the Selections series includes 

three articles on the generation and potential 

uses of fractal patterns. 

2 Ideas Made Easy 


five articles written around various paint and 

sewing machine programs and design to fabric 

techniques. 

3 Inspiration from Nature 


three articles on Textile designs created from 

photos or scanned images of flowers leaves and 

sea shells. 

4 Women of Letters 


four articles on the theme of Textile Designs 

based on patterns generated from the alphabet. 

5 Working With Bernina 


three articles devoted to Computerised Sewing 

Machines. 

Additional information is available on our 

website www.ctdg.co.uk

Title Author Quantity Price inc. VAT 

WORKBOOKS 

Members Non-Members 

1 Colour and Design Valerie Campbell-Harding £10.00 £12.50 

2 Screen to Fabric Hazel Credland £10.00 £12.50 

3 Fabulous Filters Valerie Campbell-Harding £10.00 £12.50 

4 All About Selections Maggie Grey £10.00 £12.50 

5 Draw Programs & Pattern 

Making 

Rosemary Muntus £10.00 £12.50 

6 Scanners, Scanning, Scans Sarah Brownie £10.00 £12.50 

7 Using your Digital Camera Valerie Campbell-Harding £10.00 £12.50 

8 Designing on Your Computer Sarah Brownie £10.00 £12.99 

Workbooks Post & Packing 

one book 

For each subsequent 

book add 

SELECTIONS 

ORDER FORM 

UK 

£1.50 

£1.00 

1 Fractals £3.00 

2 Ideas Made Easy £3.00 

3 Inspiration from Nature £3.00 

4 Women of Letters £3.00 

5 Working with Bernina £3.00 

All 5 Selections £12.50 

Selections Post & Packing 

Please make 

each one 

cheques payable 

UK 

to CTDG 

£1.00 

Name Tel no 

Address 

Post/Zip Code County/State 

Country 

e-mail 

Membership No for discount 

Overseas 

£3.50 

£2.00 

Overseas 

£1.50 

Photocopy this form if you do not want to damage your 

Design-It or download it from our website and post with your 

cheque to: Gilly Beton, 110A Selbourne Road, 

Southgate, London N14 7DG 


Please mention CTDG when replying to advertisements October 2007 

26 Design-IT Issue 62

Suppliers to 

Textile Artists Worldwide 

Lutradur, Thermogauze, Soluble Paper 

Chiffon Scarves, Sheer Heaven, Grilon 

Sassa Lynne range of hand threads, 

fibres and fabrics 

A good selection of quality machine 

embroidery threads 

Colinette yarns 

These are just some of the items we stock. 

For further details email for a full price 

list or send an sae (large letter) 

www.winifredcottage.co.uk 

www.sassalynne.com 

email: sales@winifredcottage.co.uk 

17 Elms Road, Fleet, 

Hampshire, GU51 3EG 

01252 617667 

A Quarterly web-based textile review featuring 

Workshops with the 

very best tutors. 

Interviews with 

international artists 

New product roundup 

Gallery feature 

Book Reviews 

Traders’ Mall 

News, letters and much more 

All for £15.50 for a year’s subscription. 

www.workshopontheweb.com 


There were some aspects of this new image 

which I liked, especially the texture created 

within the figure. I realized that I had 

strayed from the original focus but felt the 

experimentation was worth it. I returned to 

Fig 10, the tonal painting, which I had done 

previously and played with copying and pasting 

selections of the body, going on to layering using 

blending modes and adding my custom brush 

textures. The resulting image is shown as Fig 13. 

Fig 14 (front cover image) shows the resulting 

image when Fig 10 was combined with this 

new image which was printed and transferred 

on to silk. 

12 

Article continued from page 7 

Congratulations to Sian who, earlier this year, was awarded a 

City & Guilds Medal for Excellence in relation to her 

Creative Computing course at Westhope College. 

Design-IT is printed and distributed by Words & Pictures Ltd, 25-27 Westow Street, London SE19 3RY. 

Design and Artwork by Marlene P Allinson 

11 

13

The Magazine of the Computer Textile Design Group

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