...and amethysts, and emeralds, and garnets, and sapphires...
Meet MJ Kinman. This former project manager turned full-time
textile artist transforms quilting cotton (like our Painter’s Palette Solids!)
into dynamic, faceted gemstones that look so real, you’ll want to reach out and
touch them. She used Painter’s Palette Solids in the Elizabeth Diamond (shown below), as well as in her Birthstone Series, which we'll be featuring later this week.
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| The Elizabeth Diamond |
We asked MJ to share her story with us.
Q. Why gemstones?
MJ: I love sparkling gemstones. When
I was a little girl, my mom bought me a Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs record.
On the cover was a cart of gemstones (and seven dwarfs). I still remember it.
In the early 90s, I received a mailer with a 12-facet
diamond on it. I was intrigued—it was all straight lines—and I thought that
there had to be a way to make this into a quilt. I started researching facted
gemstones and different quilting techniques.
Q. How did you find your
technique?
MJ: I looked at
work by Ruth McDowell, Cynthia England, Jane Hall and Dixie Haywood and started
using freezer paper to make foundation pieced work. I was hooked! I made my
first diamond quilt about seven years after receiving the mailer with the gem
on it.
Q. What is it that makes
these gemstone quilts so realistic?
MJ: When you’re
looking at gemstones, the important thing is the value contrast. That’s what
creates the sparkle. With my gemstones, I really wanted to achieve the high
value contrast because it allows the drama to come out.
Q. How do you choose the
gemstones that you create in fabric?
MJ: I’m always on
the lookout for images of dramatic stones. I study the image, and try to figure
out what the cut is. Within the facets, I try to see how light is refracted and
selected. I draft to scale. I have a small mock-up and then translate it into a
larger one. I identify the key fabrics that will allow the stone to sparkle
without breaking the bank (by having so many different fabrics).
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| "Jewel Box" featuring the Birthstone Series |
Q. Tell us about the
Elizabeth diamond.
MJ: It’s done in
all blues. I’m also going to make it in yellows, like the citrine, and a pink
diamond as well.
If you look closely, it’s nothing more than a four-patch—it
has four quadrants and each quadrant is made up of sections. It has about 16
fabrics in it.
Q. How do you decide
which fabrics to place where in your gemstones?
MJ: It’s partly
based on the photo of the gemstone, partly based on my gut, and partly based on
20 years of making these. I study the gemstone very closely, and try to pick
exactly the right colors for the right places, and sometimes I get it right.
Sometimes it doesn’t sparkle like you want it to, so you try again. The first
diamond I did laid there like a lump of coal. I revamped it and tried again
until it sparkled like I wanted it to.
MJ: Every single
one of them was picked for a purpose—for its glow, its relationship to the
others around it; of course you have to have the light lights and dark darks. I
would say the go-to color in every single one is ebony. It’s the background
that makes the gemstones pop.
