Being Coy with Koi

What a coy way to a Valentine's heart--through his hobby--Koi! Our wonderful blog friend, Laurie, shared this intricately painted project with me and I admire it--on so many levels. For one, what a clever use for a Gallery Glass Cling and secondly--her technique is terrific. Read what she says about it.
"I just finished a cling for my husband, Jay, for Valentine's Day....he is a Koi pond keeper so I've learned a bit about, not only building and maintaining a pond, but about the Koi, too. An important part of a Koi is it's scale definition. I found this pattern on the Internet (it's actually a tattoo). I knew that to a Koi keeper seeing the scales would be important, but at the same time, leading the scales would make them too "heavy". Since I finally figured out your tape tip (see the step by step post under Leading Tips) I decided if that tip worked for leading, it would work for the paint, too. So I fashioned a very small tape tip and slowly applied paint to my pattern on the scale lines (after leading). Because the paint is thinner than leading, it did "run" a little, but because I used the tape tip it was so thin it didn't matter. I outlined the scales and then let it set for several days, then painted, as normal. I gave it to Jay this morning ( I couldn't wait) and to my DELIGHT, the first thing he said was "you can see the scales and veins in the fins".

What excites me about the Koi is that Laurie took a tip from the blog and applies it to the projects she is currently working on--and very creatively, I might add. Although I have used it for paint on intricate projects, I had not yet mentioned that technique on my blog, but she is thinking and applying the information on her own. Good job, Laurie. We can all learn from the beautiful Koi fish. I also love that you took a tattoo design and adapted it. There are so many sources for closed segment designs--coloring books, needlework patterns and my favorite--clip art. Keep an eyes open--designs are everywhere.