Fiber Art of Loretta Alvarado
  • Home
  • About
  • Artwork
    • Thread Paintings >
      • Cobblestone Pathway
      • North Main Beach
      • Sailing Lessons
      • Dreaming of Faraway Places
      • Point Loma Lighthouse
      • Red Boat
      • Perfect Day
      • California Poppies
    • Fiber Sculptures >
      • California Seascape
      • California Dreamin
      • Pacific Seahorse
      • Piano Piece
      • The Red Violin
    • Art Quilts
    • Bags, Scarves, and other stuff
  • Freebies
    • Tutorials >
      • Christmas Wreath Greeting Card Tutorial
      • Tips for Using Metallic Thread
      • Easy Quilt Binding Tutorial
    • Calendars
  • Contact
  • Blog
  • Shop
  • NFTs

New stuff in the works!

2/23/2022

0 Comments

 
I've been really bad about this whole blogging thing. No promises about being better in the future, I know myself too well. So, the occasional blog post will just have to suffice.

So, here's what I've been working on. NFTs! Yup, I'm getting back into the whole technology thing. I never would have thought that my engineering degree was going to come in handy for my art career.

For my first collection of NFTs I am starting from one of my existing thread paintings, California Poppies, and modifying it in various ways. If you're not familiar with NFT's it stands for Non-Fungible Tokens. Simplified, it means that you can buy one of my digital pieces of artwork using cryptocurrency.  You can then have it printed on canvas, or a t-shirt, or whatever. You could also display it on a digital frame. Or you can just keep it and hope that it increases in value so you can sell it later for a nice profit. (No promises there either.)

So here's the original Poppies artwork:
Picture


And here are a few of my digitally manipulated images:
The bottom three are repeated patterns from a small chunk of one of the images. I've even got some videos in the works. More on that later. Now I need to get back to creating the rest of the collection. I plan on having 31 NFTs in this collection: 10 digitally manipulated, 10 patterns from the digitally manipulated images, 10 videos of the patterns, and 1 digital image of the original artwork.

You can view the collection here:
https://solsea.io/collection/620e0d8b58140b5aff35df8e
There's nothing in it yet. I need to get a few more pieces of artwork finished before I put them into the collection.
0 Comments

It was a lovely summer!

9/8/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
Thank you to everyone who came out to Laguna Beach to see my work at the Laguna Art-A-Fair Festival. I am grateful for each and every one of you!
0 Comments

This is one of the things I've been up to lately

5/27/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
SEWER IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Loretta Alvarado
by Vickie Yahn Bieniak
Loretta, a fiber artist, can usually be found working on her art, bags, scarves and various other artistic endeavors. Lately however she has been keeping her sewing machine busy with making masks for HMC. She has donated over 100 yards of fabric and has made over 360 masks.
Interestingly enough, Loretta was an engineer at JPL until 1992 before becoming a professional artist. She never thought herself to be an artist when she started participating in craft shows but her artwork was so well received, she transitioned to art shows. Loretta said the shift from working with engineers to artists was very interesting. She had to go from facts to feelings!
Loretta had her own art gallery in Laguna Beach with a very successful exhibit called “In the Toilet – An Exhibit of Art Meets Function”. She also is an author, lecturer and teacher helping artists grow, develop and market not only their art but themselves. You can find her series of books “The Shy Artist Guide” on her website: LorettaAlvarado.artor on Amazon.
Today, Loretta displays and sells her work at art shows spanning from Arizona, Northern California, Las Vegas and San Diego. This year would have been her 20th year at Art-A -Fair in Laguna Beach where she is on the Board of Directors but they had to make the hard call of postponing this year’s show. If you would like to see or purchase her artwork please go to: Rettacat.art
Loretta has made three instructional videos on mask making that she has posted on our HMC page and is currently thinking about creating a 4th video regarding children’s masks.
Loretta has been a champion for artists and now we are fortunate to have her champion for the Healthcare Mask Collaborative. Thank you, Loretta for your generous donation of time, masks, fabric and information.
0 Comments

I've got a brand new bag!

2/3/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
Stained Glass Bags

I don't quite know why, but I love making bags. I have been thinking about it and I wonder if it is because of the 3-D aspect. Maybe it lets me exercise the spacial area of my brain.

Or maybe it's because I can create something that is both artistic and functional.

Well, whatever the reason, these are my five latest creations.

All of them except the red and gold one were created using chunks of fabrics off of other projects. For example, the blue silk one on the bottom left was from the excess fabric cut off when I made a jacket. The floral one was the leftovers from a vest.

I just love it when I can use up stuff that I would normally have thrown away. Especially when it results it something gorgeous!
0 Comments

Award Winning Artwork!

10/8/2018

0 Comments

 
*|MC_PREVIEW_TEXT|*
Fiber Art of Loretta Alvarado
View this email in your browser

Thank you!!!

I am so thrilled to announce that I received the Third Place Best in Show award at the Costa Mesa Art Venture 2018! My California Seascape sculpture was one of three winning entries at last Friday night's awards ceremony. I feel very honored to received such an award. And it even came with cash, even better!
Upcoming Show Information
Irvine Holiday Faire
Irvine Fine Arts Center
14321 Yale Ave.
Irvine, CA
November 2-3

Art of the Holiday
Fallbrook Art Center
103 S. Main Ave
Fallbrook, CA 92028
Daily November 3 through December 24, 2018

Christmas Boutique
Presbyterian Church of the Master
26051 Marguerite Parkway
Mission Viejo, CA 92692
December 1
Fiber Art of Loretta Alvarado
Facebook
Facebook
Website
Website
Email
Email
Share
Tweet
Forward
Copyright © *|CURRENT_YEAR|* *|LIST:COMPANY|*, All rights reserved.
*|IFNOT:ARCHIVE_PAGE|* *|LIST:DESCRIPTION|*

Our mailing address is:
*|HTML:LIST_ADDRESS_HTML|* *|END:IF|*

unsubscribe from this list update subscription preferences

*|IF:REWARDS|* *|HTML:REWARDS|* *|END:IF|*
0 Comments

It's been way to long!

9/28/2018

0 Comments

 
I haven't blogged in a long time. I have a good excuse, really, I do! (Okay, I've been dealing with a bad case of the shingles since February. I'm just now starting to get my life back together.)

So, I have actually been able to do some work. And to prove it, here are some photos of the first two prototypes of a new bag I'm working on. It's a wine bottle carrier bag. This is prototype number 2.
Picture

Here are completed prototypes #1 and #2:
Picture

There's even a pocket for a corkscrew. And two bottles fit comfortably inside.
There are still improvements to be made. I'll share version #3 later.
0 Comments

I made a logo!

11/12/2017

2 Comments

 
Picture
To go with the new bag design that I am making, I had to make new hangtags. Then I decided that if I was going to make new hangtags, I'd better create a logo.

As I was going through some possibilities, nothing was really resonating. Originally I thought I would just do a cleaned up version of my artist signature. But then I remembered that I had recently purchased the domain name RettaCat.Art. That's when it struck me, I needed to somehow add a cat to my Retta signature.

So, I found a cat silhouette clip art and played around with it to make the cat part of the "R". I really like the way it turned out.
2 Comments

New Bag Design

11/7/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
I've been getting ready for the Sawdust Winter Fantasy show. While my tote bags have been a big hit, many people have been asking for a small size hand bag. So, here's what I came up with. It's a three-compartment bag with a zipper and a long detachable strap. The middle compartment is perfect for a smart phone.

Just like the tote bags, these have my artwork reproduced on them. And just like the totes, I sew every single one of these.

Here's the first three that I've made. I still need to make the straps. These and several other designs will be available at the Sawdust show starting on November 18th.
Picture
0 Comments

7 tips for buying a sewing machine

11/1/2017

2 Comments

 
What kind of machine do you use?
 
I am often asked this question, especially when I am selling my artwork at a show and I have my sewing machine with me. My usual answer is, “It is a 34 year old, non-computerized Pfaff. It does what I need it to do, straight stitch and zigzag.”
 
Now, let’s look at this question a bit deeper. If you were talking to a writer, would you ask, “What kind of computer do you use?” Highly unlikely. A computer is just a tool. Having the most advanced computer available will not make you a great writer. More RAM, faster processor speed, blah blah blah, these are all nice things to have, and they contribute to the ease of the writing process, but they do nothing to generate the ideas. The creativity, the style, the plot, these all need to come from the mind of the writer.
 
The same idea applies to sewing machines. Like the computer, it is just a tool. Having the most advanced sewing machine on the market will not make you a great artist. While it might be nice to have a sewing machine that will do all those fancy stitches automatically, it is the human heart, mind, and hand that create a piece of artwork.
 
So, with all that said, here are my 7 tips for buying a sewing machine:
 
  1. When you visit your machine dealer, take samples of whatever fabrics you normally sew.
  2. Try out the machine using those samples, not just the perfectly starched fabric samples the dealer uses.
  3. County fairs, sewing expos, and quilt shows are good places to see lots of different makes and models of machines all in one place. And they will often offer show discounts.
  4. Make a list of the types of sewing you do, for example: buttonholes, zippers, free motion, stitch-in-the-ditch, heavy denim, slippery silks, etc. This list will help the dealer to direct you to an appropriate machine.
  5. Make sure you are comfortable with the technology. Many of the machines nowadays have so many options that you need to take classes just to learn how to use them. If the machine is so complicated that you are afraid to use it, find a machine that does what you need that you are comfortable with.
  6. Get to know your sewing machine dealer. You should be taking your machine in for service once a year. Like your car, a sewing machine has moving parts that need to be checked for wear and lubricated.
  7. When you get your new machine, take it out of the box and use it!
2 Comments

So that's what that's for!

10/26/2017

1 Comment

 
Picture
I was teasing a fellow seamstress friend of mine for not knowing the purpose of the strawberry part of a tomato pincushion. (It's filled with sand. You push your pins into it to clean off any burrs.) Well, here's one of those things I should have learned a long time ago. (Hmmm, how many years have I been sewing... Never mind!)

I was looking at the instruction manual for one of my sewing machines that I don't use very often. I happened to look at the page on how to wind the bobbin. Wow, I never knew that you're supposed to thread the thread through that little slot before winding. All this time I've been carefully trying to pre-wind some thread onto the bobbin to keep it from sliding out, especially with rayon threads.

Threading through the slot first works so much better. You just hold onto that tail as it starts to wind. Once started, clip off the tail and you're good to sew!
1 Comment
<<Previous

    Author

    Fiber Artist and Author, Loretta Alvarado

    Categories

    All
    Newsletters
    Work In Progress

    Archives

    February 2022
    September 2021
    May 2020
    February 2020
    October 2018
    September 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016

    RSS Feed


If you'd like to learn more about my work and my process, subscribe to my (sort of) monthly newsletter. I'll send you information about what I am working on and where you can view and purchase my latest creations. I promise I won't send you too many emails and I won't use your information for any other purpose.
Picture

Subscribe to my newsletter

* indicates required
Email Format
  • Home
  • About
  • Artwork
    • Thread Paintings >
      • Cobblestone Pathway
      • North Main Beach
      • Sailing Lessons
      • Dreaming of Faraway Places
      • Point Loma Lighthouse
      • Red Boat
      • Perfect Day
      • California Poppies
    • Fiber Sculptures >
      • California Seascape
      • California Dreamin
      • Pacific Seahorse
      • Piano Piece
      • The Red Violin
    • Art Quilts
    • Bags, Scarves, and other stuff
  • Freebies
    • Tutorials >
      • Christmas Wreath Greeting Card Tutorial
      • Tips for Using Metallic Thread
      • Easy Quilt Binding Tutorial
    • Calendars
  • Contact
  • Blog
  • Shop
  • NFTs