Experimenting with patterns

I've been wondering a long time how to make patterns, and in December I came across this post on Michelle's blog on how to do it. I was so happy and immediately set to work to make one...

Of course I should've started with a simple pattern, just to try it out.  Did I? Nooooo .... I didn't .... I started out with about the most complex pattern I could make: one of my doodles..... Needless to say it didn't really come out as it should ....

This is precision work, meaning you have to cut the paper exactly straight, and tape it back together exactly right. I don't know where I went wrong, but I was off by about 1 mm, and it showed clearly in the pattern. The lines in one part didn't match up, and it just looked bad.

This is the doodle I started out with:

 I then cut it in two and taped it together in the middle

And cut it in two again and taped it back together. Somewhere around that time something went wrong (but I didn't know it yet)...

Then I drew another figure in the middle, like this:

I saved it as a pattern in Photoshop and started playing, and then was all disappointed because, as I said, some lines didn't match up.

So, just to be clear on this, I did this about half a year ago. Tried fiddling with it in Photoshop but couldn't get it right, so I tossed it aside ....

Until last week... In my Society6-shop, it's now possible to sell duvet-covers, and my mind went into overdrive with all the patterns I could make. Luckily I had scanned every image on my computer before cutting it up, and I suddenly got the brilliant idea (if I say so myself ☺) to cut it in pieces using Photoshop. That was bound to be more precise than me taking the scissors in hand. And I wouldn't have to do the whole drawing again.

So I got to work, and the lines matched beautifully. So I printed it out and drew another figure in the middle, which was fairly easy to do since I already had an example. Scanned it all in, made a pattern and tadaaa! It worked!

Here it is:

I meant to colour it in, but that was way too much work with all the small patterns in there, so I chose to make two versions, one black & white, and one with a blue background.

Here's an example of a shower curtain in my Society6-shop:

And of a duvet-cover:

Not sure whether I should leave it like this or make the pattern a bit smaller. What do you think?

So much fun to do, and I'll sure be making more patterns in the future. Thank you Michelle, for pointing me in the right direction :-)

Just so you know: there's again a promo in my Society6-shop, with up to 30$ off depending on your total amount.

This week I didn't manage to paint one single brushstroke ..... We had a long weekend, Monday was a public holiday here in Queensland, and in the weekend we celebrated my son's 14th birthday. So the rest of the week went by in the blink of an eye. I did manage to make some more Christmascards though, to sell in my Etsyshop.

Yes, Christmascards.... Or New Year's cards, however you want to call it. If someone had told me last year I would be making Christmascards in August I would've declared them crazy. Usually I only start thinking about Christmas one week before. But, well, this year everything's a bit different, and since I'll have to close my Etsyshop somewhere in October, and won't open it again until the new year, I have to do it now. Here are some of the cards that are for sale now:

Okay, that's it for this week. Thanks so much for being here, I really appreciate your visits and comments. Linking this as usual to Paint Party Friday. Take a look over there to see many different artworks from talented artists all over the world.

Hope you're having a nice day and a wonderful relaxing weekend ahead of you. Take care, I'll be back next week! ♥ ♥ ♥