Customer Reviews

Jane Davila's Surface Design Essentials: Explore Paints, Mediums, Inks and Pencils, 15 Techniques for Fabric and More

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Jane Davila's book "Surface Design Essentials" is a staging ground of creative exploration and the perfect primer for any timid soul. And it's a great refresher course, with updates about current products for the more experienced but out of touch mixed media artists! Jane's book demonstrates expert knowledge with kind encouragement that's easy paced, kind of like a ready-set-go as she graciously nudges you to a jumping off place.

One small thing that I appreciated was that she explains quite simply basic color mixing of paints; primary's, secondary's, tints and shades. Too often this information is bogged down into boring and complex color theory. Another item that got my creative juices flowing was her instruction to using gel medium to fuse fabrics! I also found most all of the various tips offered throughout the text to be "Ah ha" moments of what I referred to earlier as jumping off places.
Expert yet simple instructions for mixed media techniques - it's simply a must have book!

This is a wonderful book with step by step instructions. It is spiral bound, it lays flat so that the instructions are easy to read and follow without fighting to keep my place.. And it has this great finish, I can wipe off the page when I spill some paint on it. The photographs make each technique easy to follow. I am enjoying every lesson.. thank you Jane. Jane Davila's Surface Design Essentialls is a wonderful book for fiber/paint artists and crafts people. vivian

I'm all about the art and craft books. Seriously. I can't get enough of them. My bookcase is proof. I will admit to being surprised when this book showed up - familiar with Jane Davila and her work, the size just took me aback when I pulled it out of the box.

However...

After opening the book and paging through it, I quickly forgot about the size. (In this case, size really doesn't matter!) This is a fantastic book, bursting with awesomeness. The 6" x 9" size - with soft cover and spiral binding - is full of color photos, in-depth explanations, and A+ techniques. This is one of Davila's finest books.

There are 15 techniques - a wide variety of interesting ideas. Whether you have loads of "surface design" experience (you already frou-frou up everything within reach), or are just beginning, Davila will expertly guide you through the ins-and-outs of fun, unique ways to art up whatever surface you have in mind. Davila is well-known in the fiber and quilt worlds, so her techniques tend to focus on fiber (go figure!) - but almost all are adaptable to other surfaces. There is not one technique in Surface Design Essentials that you can't easily transfer to paper. Then again, I can see many of her fabulous techniques used on tons of surfaces - and I plan on spending a good portion of the summer playing with the techniques, then using my newly acquired skills on a variety of surfaces.

If you're at all artsy (or just a packrat), you probably already have most of the tools/products she discusses. The book is well laid out - Introduction to Surface Design, Surface Design Basics, Surface Design Techniques, Projects, Gallery, and finally, About the Author. To tempt you further, a few of the techniques she covers: Monoprinting - Additive, Monoprinting - Subtractive, Modifying Commercial Fabric, Making Image Transfers, Creating Background Washes, Using Acrylic Ink (in two parts)...yum!

It's easy to see why Davila is so well-regarded - she'll have you getting your art on with a simple flip of some pages! (The highest compliment I can give this book? Davila makes every technique in Surface Design Essentials seem as easy as turning the pages in the book. That's talent!)

This is the perfect book for those who want to jump in to the world of fiber arts. Jane doesn't try to teach you everything she knows at once, but treats you to the basics of the materials and techniques of surface design with lots of illustrations and seven doable projects. Love the size of the book and the spiral binding.

In the introduction to Jane Davila's Surface Design Essentials, Jane promises to expand my horizons. By page 24, my horizons were suitably expanded, and I wasn't even halfway through the book!

The book begins with basic and easy to understand instructions on surface design basics, from the very basic mixing colors to using a palette. From there, Jane devotes short chapters to all kinds of surface design techniques, all using acrylic paints, inks, and mediums, with surfaces ranging from regular cotton fabric to unusual surfaces like lutradur. No one chapter is exhaustive, but every chapter has all the basic information you need to jump in and try something, with a large number of actual projects in the back of the book that draw on one or more of the techniques covered in the book. There were a couple of instances where I didn't clearly understand Jane's references, but between emailing her with my questions, and google, I got all the answers I needed.

I have played around with dyeing fabric in the past, because I love the idea of having just the perfect shade or color for a project, but found it rather intensive as far as equipment, chemicals, preparation and cleanup is concerned. Jane's approach is far simpler, just as effective, uses much less complicated and toxic ingredients, and is as a result far less expensive and time consuming. Many of the supplies she uses in her book are ones I already had, and what I didn't have I could find easily enough at the local craft store. "THE MUST-HAVE REFERENCE TOOL FOR SURFACE DESIGN SUCCESS" is the text on the back cover. I totally agree - I will be referring to this book frequently in my mixed media and art quilting projects. I will also be re-visiting this book from time to time as a motivational tool - by the time I'd finished reading the book, I'd made several little projects from her instructions using techniques I was unfamiliar with, and enjoyed every second!

Find out all about different techniques and mediums that can be applied to fabric. Simple, easy to follow and very achievable projects that you can then take further on your own. Learn how to make fabric postcards, images, bags, books and more using many different methods. This review first appeared on [...]

This book provides a very good overview of a variety of surface design techniques, including some basics on color. There is not a ton of detail for each technique, but definitely enough to inspire you to jump in and experiment with something new! The project ideas and gallery are terrific.

The kindle version should come with a warning that it is in black and white. I would never have purchased it if i'd known that beforehand.

I love Jane Davila's work, including this book. I already own a copy in print but wanted to have the ebook since I keep several other art quilt books in my ipad as well. Imagine my surprise to discover that a book with sections about color mixing is being sold in BLACK AND WHITE. I highly recommend this publication but only if you buy it in print!! Very disappointing.

This book gives you the different techniques needed to design your own prints on fabrics and other mediums. The book also tells you which tools to use with different compounds. This book uses paints, inks and stamp pads to add color to your designs. It has sample projects you can do before venturing out on your own.