Featured Silhouette Artist Preview

* * * This post is the [incomplete] "preview format" for an upcoming

Silhouette America Featured Artist spotlight

that will be added to their social media for release

sometime early 2025. * * *

Jodi G. Warner’s paper crafting designs have been available in the Silhouette Design Store since 2013 when she was invited to join SnapDragon Snippets, the enterprise of talented daughter Kenzie Daley who is one of the initial group of Silhouette artists. Hearthsewn became a separate portfolio beginning in mid-2021, and includes more than 3300 designs, featuring cards, scrapbook elements, and 3D boxes and forms.

An internationally-recognized quilt artist and teacher, Warner’s quilt making project patterns and books under the Hearthsewn Patterns banner were available for purchase from 1985 through 2015 when that business was retired so she could focus solely on paper craft design.

Warner’s creative mother provided materials, time and working space for early and varied crafting exploration which was eventually narrowed to textiles and traditional fiber arts. Formal design training came next as she earned a four-year university degree. Following that, her gained understanding of design elements and principles led to success in professional fiber art applications, in her quilts and in teaching. As she discovered the fun and very different challenges of die cut paper design, additional digital tool training helped her transition from using graph paper, ruler and pencil to on-screen drafting and publishing.

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Her first foray into die cutter crafting was instantly delightful. “Kenzie asked if I would consider ‘styling’ some of her designs to demonstrate how they could be used as decor. I was instantly inspired by her dimensional letter boxes, imagining how to enlarge them using Silhouette's Designer Studio software tools to spell seasonal or holiday words. Wood cutout displays have been popular for years, but if they could be created from cardstock, crafters would not need a jig saw or power equipment. A fun new world opened, and that was very empowering! I was hooked.”

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Warner’s years working in the realm of traditional patchwork can be regularly seen in the Hearthsewn collection, including these traditional block cards and more contemporary monthly block series.

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Warner’s appreciation for another fiber craft is also featured in cross-stitch tags and cards, shown in this sampling.

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466824, 382639, 408532, 395163, 448434,

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When queried about her sources of inspiration, Warner repeats what other contributing artists mention, that ideas are encountered everywhere and there will never be enough time to execute even all the best ones. She shares one example of a dimensional paper design “3D Snowman Teacup” inspired from a ‘90s magazine cross-stitched pattern on Pinterest. See how elements from the chart influenced choices for the dimensional object.

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Many of the Hearthsewn 3D designs make it to Warner’s “drawing board” to become seasonal decor. She explains her approach. “Sometimes I am teased as the classic ‘over-thinker’. But I find the most compelling part of the design process is the intellectual chase of envisioning a project, developing a construction scheme, completing the digital drafting, then solving the challenges of paper shaping such as how to allow fingertip access for glue-up and assembly. My decoration boxes and forms are engineered to be sturdy enough for rotation between being displayed and being stored across many years. I consider durability a signature of my work.”

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Warner invites a “walk-through” of the creation of her 3D designs. “The first step often is an educated ‘guess’ regarding the geometric basis from which a design will grow. For instance, a round paper form is easier to build and sturdier if it has many sides with seams rather than just being a tube. Sometimes I begin by “draping” paper strips or paper tape over a similar real object, taping seams and marking guidelines with pencil. Other early decisions are made about how parts like lid and base will fit together, which elements are structure and which are decoration, where additional reinforcement within the form may be needed.”

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“Next, a digitized sketch becomes a ‘test cut’ version assembled with cello-taped seams and no tabs. Changes are penciled on the prototype, modifications made to digital sketch lines, then cut and test-assembled again. Sometimes with complex forms, the “old bones” pile can grow surprisingly.”  She shares an image of discarded test parts for the “Biblical Oil Lamp Form”.

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“Once the design reaches final draft stage, tabs for seams and fold perforations are added, plus guide marks or mini symbols to aid with assembly. Then the finished design is cut out and photographed through each step of construction, since a 3D project often needs a tutorial.”

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Explore the Hearthsewn portfolio of regular and dimensional designs while it is featured this week, and try your hand at the “Box Snowflake Petals Dome” design offered as the free pattern this week.

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