Category Archives: Abstract

Sea Sheath for Spoonflowers Weekly Design Challenge

Sea Sheath Curtains.© 2023 Sheila Delgado.

Abstracted animal prints for curtains, our challenge this week. I decided to keep it minimal. I started with inspiration from the coral snake.

Their coloring is very eye catching. The US has only three species of coral snakes: the eastern coral snake, the Texas coral snake, and the Arizona coral snake. But there are dozens of different types. You can take a look at this chart, if you are not totally creeped out by snakes. As far as design goes, there are very pretty, brightly patterned styles.

I have a cousin who is deathly afraid of snakes. I admit, I would not want to find myself in close proximity to a large snake. But I can look at them without the skin shivering disgust I get from looking at spiders. 😱🤣

I started with a stripe. Added filters to alter the stripe shape, for an organic feel. Essentially, I had two repeating patterns. The stripe, and the skin. Well, maybe it was just my brain on toast, but I could not get the two repeats to match up.

It’s math. And if you are a creative, you know what that means.
I just couldn’t get the equation figured out.
P(Y-X=m | Y > X) &= \sum_{k} P(Y-X=m, X=k | Y > X) \\ &= \sum_{k} P(Y-X=m | X=k, Y > X)
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Sea Sheath Pillow.© 2023 Sheila Delgado.

Sea Sheath Wallpaper.© 2023 Sheila Delgado. — Sea Sheath Pillow.© 2023 Sheila Delgado.

Click image to see slideshow view.

Once I stepped away from that idea, and started working with colors, I really liked the pattern much better. It’s true. Sometimes less is better.

I know this design will most likely be passed by in the voting. It will be shown on a curtain. And as you can see in the first image, the design is barely visible. But I have a working repeat. It can be used for costumes, pajamas, or a cuddly blanket for nap time.

Sea Sheath Pillows.© 2023 Sheila Delgado.

Sea Sheath Collection.© 2023 Sheila Delgado.

Sea Sheath Sample.© 2023 Sheila Delgado.

Voting is open until the 11th. I’d love to have your vote. 🙂

Tumblers & Treats sample. © 2023 Sheila Delgado.

Tumblers & Treats placed at 1514 of 2151 entries with 24 votes. You can see the top 73, here. I would have needed 155 votes to make the top 73.

I am grateful to those who voted! Thank you, for taking the time! 🙂 🥰 🙂 🥰 🙂 🥰

Spoonflower is making changes in the next few weeks. Many of them to make it easier to vote in the challenges. You will be able to scroll through two rows, instead of one, on your phone. They will also be curating the entries, to verify that they meet the specific requirements, and that the designs are in fact, repeating patterns.

It’s warming up around here. And the trees are in bloom. Woo Who! Hope the weather is treating you well, in your neck of the woods.

Wishing you JOY!

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Dawn Floret On Spoonflower

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Dawn Floret Wallpaper. © 2023 Sheila Delgado.

Well color me confused. I had the wrong idea in my head. What this challenge was about. I was confident enough, that I did not bother to reread the design brief. Not until after I had completed my entry. Bam! You thought what?

Our assignment, per Spoonflower: Over the last year we’ve traveled to the 1800’s, 1920’s, 1970’s and early 2000’s through Design Challenges. This week you’re in the driver’s seat. Take us on a journey to your favorite time period, even if it hasn’t actually happened yet!

My foggy brain was thinking time. Thinking abstract. Thinking how Covid has altered our perception of time. Thinking of how the pandemic imposed limits should have freed up time for us. But yet we are all feeling like we have even less time in the day, than we did before.

Well, yeah. I knew I was not going to get all of that into one repeating pattern. So I simplified. Abstract, clock. Begin. I chose the palette, and only later realized that my colors were too literal. Day and night. Yeah. Real clever there. 😏🤪

Voting is open until the 7th.

Dawn Floret Pillow & Throw. © 2023 Sheila Delgado.

Dawn Floret Napkin. © 2023 Sheila Delgado. — Dawn Floret Pillow & Throw. © 2023 Sheila Delgado.

Dawn Floret Collection. © 2023 Sheila Delgado.

Working on last weeks challenge made me crave sunny colors. I’m sure our consistently cold weather has something to do with it as well.

This is the third version. I had to work out a few details, and minimize along the way. It is often interesting, how the original idea can seem splendid. And yet, sometimes, doesn’t quite work in the end. So you try again. And somewhere along the way, everything just clicks.

I had that moment, with this design. Suddenly, it just felt right. So here is to failure. And how it can sometimes be, exactly what was needed.

Earthy Blooms Placemats. © 2023 Sheila Delgado.

Earthy Blooms placed at 1218 of 1774 entries with 37 votes. (It has 49 ” favorites”.) You can see the top 69, here. That was a heck of a lot of entries! Thanks so much for taking the time to vote! I am grateful for your support. 🙏

Gosh, this seems so dark to me. I am going to take this design, and create new colorways for it. In March. LOL. After the Gathering. I’m happy to hear your suggestions and ideas!

Happy February everyone!

Dieffenbachia For Spoonflower

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Numb Tongue Wall Paper. © 2023 Sheila Delgado.

The Spoonflower challenge this round was for poisonous plants. Hmm. It had me wishing, once again, that I was better at drawing. I decided to go semi-abstract. Semi-mod. I don’t think I was successful. But I had a working, repeating pattern.

Dieffenbachia is also known as dumb cane. Dumb cane gets its name from the temporary speechlessness that can occur after chewing a piece of the stem. The cells of the plant are armed with stinging crystals, raphides, that are composed of calcium oxalate. If chewed or ingested, the raphides and sap of the plant can irritate the mucous membranes and cause swelling and inflammation of the tongue and throat. The plant is considered to be toxic to cats and children, though ingestion is not usually deadly.

The design name came to me after reading the plant description. It comes from a funny scene in one of the Star Trek movies. Captain Kirk has numb tongue and no one can understand what he is saying. Obscure, I know. But the movie made me giggle.