It's been awhile since I've posted. There have been a lot of changes for me. I've been an Island Batik Ambassador for the past 12 years. I was fortunate to be accepted into the program when it began and it has been an amazing experience. At the end of the year, after a lot of thought I decided it was time to resign from the program for various reasons.
Surprisingly this year the Island Batik Ambassador program has gone on hold or been discontinued. What was once just Island Batik has now become Lumin Fabrics with three new fabric companies along with Island Batik. The new companies are White Owl, Ecco Cotton and Tide & Loom. It is now a very large company and has even moved to a new and larger location. They are very busy getting this all started, so the Ambassador program has taken a back seat at least at this time.
*It's inspiring to surround yourself with other creative persons. I didn't count, but there have been many different persons involved as Ambassadors over the years. Each month there was a new challenge and it was always amazing to see how creatively all the Ambassadors interpreted the challenges and what amazing projects they came up with. I miss this community and the continual inspiration already.
*I learned to start and FINISH a project each month. Having to make a project and post it each month was incentive and helped to create this drive in me. Often I would still be working on several projects, but at least one would get completed and posted. I do NOT like unfinished projects and now try to always finish anything I start.
I now am making my own monthly challenges to keep me inspired. So far this is going well and I already have more than a years worth of challenges I want to do. I've already made many projects that I will be posting soon.
*It is inspiring for me to actually see fabrics to create designs. The Island Batik Ambassador program was exactly what I needed. The fabrics they sent were beautiful and new on the market or even fabrics before they hit the market. This was a great help in designing and also in getting projects published. Batiks have been and will always be my favorite fabrics to work with.
*It is easier to design with a limited pallet. One of the challenges of being an Ambassador was we were often sent a whole collection of a fabric line- often 20 fabrics to work with. They wanted us to use as many fabrics as we could in our project. This was a great way to promote their fabric lines, but it was often a challenge to include that many fabrics in one project. Working with a complete fabric line was AMAZING and I loved it, even though it was often challenging. While the projects were lovely to view, I doubt many persons really want to purchase up to 20 fabrics to make a project unless they can be made with precuts.
While this was fun and a challenge, I enjoy now working with more limited pallets. I have a lovely fabric stash that I can draw from and pick as many fabrics as needed. And of course there is my scrap stash that is always available! Island Batik was so generous with their fabrics that I couldn't use them all in the monthly challenges, so you will still be seeing many projects with them in the future.
Keep watching my posts as I will be showing projects that I create from my own monthly challenges!
