In my earlier post about my embroidered Bead Habitat, I referred to a slightly related rabbit hole. That rabbit hole is fabric design. For years I have cut and repeated elements to create kaleidoscope patterns, but it never seemed to be a particularly useful habit since the only printing I knew of was onto paper or canvas. Then I discovered Spoonflower where they can print on a wide variety of fabrics. Suddenly I could imagine designing my own fabrics, perhaps even some to use in making more bead habitats.
I find creating patterns pretty addictive. Don’t ask me how, but I went from this photograph of a pair of earrings…
Patchwork bead earrings by Cate van Alphen
to these patchwork and chevron patterns,
Pink patchwork pattern
Chevron pattern
via a few tiled kaleidoscope patterns.
Art Nouveau tile pattern
Art Deco tile pattern
That’s only some of the designs, from one photo, with one colour adjustment :o. That rabbit hole is starting to look pretty deep!
I still need to get some swatches printed to see if they live up to my imagination. I find the thought of using fabric I designed from an image of beads I made as a component in a necklace strangely fulfilling. It’s like making compost from kitchen scraps to grow better vegetables (even though I’m currently only growing some spectacular dandelions in the garden, I like the idea).
Fulgorine 
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