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PUT BALBOA ON YOUR 2023 CALENDAR AND JOIN US:
Two Webinars each month, with Homework for each class that will unlock even more Answers for you, AND a Live exchange every other week will show you that you are not alone!
Your Webinars will teach techniques to make your Corporate Logos standout. Techniques that will make your Corporate Designs look better, and run better at lower stitch counts.
For those of you who are doing realistic designs, and need help in transferring art into stitches, you will find that the same techniques will work on your more creative designs as well. Just look at our Designs at our Site and see what you will be able to do…Easily!
If you cannot attend, all Webinars are recorded and will be added to your Balboa Video Library for your viewing and for your re-viewing!

2023 CALENDAR:

January 31st 9:30 AM Pacific Time:  New Year New You:  Mapping out our Year of Training.
We will review the Class Schedule to see if we have left anything out. Be sure to be there to give us your input.  NEW!  2023 Class will have Homework that will give you valuable lessons on the techniques in Each class!

February 7th 9:30 AM Pacific Time:  We will take a Design apart looking at the role the running stitch plays
and its construction.
HOMEWORK:  Valuable lessons on the length of the stitch, trims, tie-offs pathing and the placement of your stitches

February 21st 9:30 AM Pacific Time: We will take the same design apart looking at the role the Satin or Column Stitch plays and its construction.
HOMEWORK:  Valuable Lessons in the Length of the Stitch, the Density of the stitches, the forming of the Satin or Column Stitch, the role of the Underlay, as well as tie-offs and pathing, puckering and push-pull.

March 7th 9:30 AM Pacific Time: Taking the same Design, we will examine the role that the Fill or Tatami stitch plays in the design as well as its construction.
HOMEWORK:  Valuable lessons on the length of the stitch in the Fill, the density of the Fill, and the texture and pattern formed by the needle penetrations, as well as pathing and underlays, and push-pull.

March 21st 9:30 AM Pacific Time: Today we will look at lettering, first setting up stock lettering, then custom lettering.
HOMEWORK: Valuable Lessons on Density, Length of Stitch, Underlay, pathing, trims and tie-offs, as well as forming Tatami Lettering

April 4th 9:30 AM Pacific Time:  We will examine Small Lettering and unlock the Secret to clean crisp letters that do not get lost.
HOMEWORK:  Learn valuable lessons on density, length of stitch, underlays, pathing through your letters both running stitch letters AND Satin Stitch letters, tie-offs and trims

April 18th 9:30 AM Pacific Time: Pathing, a major part of any Design that makes the difference in how the Design looks, as well as your time on the machine.
HOMEWORK:  Valuable lessons on connecting each part of your design to the next, how to avoid extra trims and how to map out your Design.

May 2nd 9:30 AM Pacific Time: Color selection, the difference it can make.
HOMEWORK:  Valuable lessons on choosing your Colors, what pops, what blends and softens, what will appear fresh and what won’t.

May 16th 9:30 AM Pacific Time: Travelling through your Design using Color:
HOMEWORK:  Valuable lessons in placing your colors throughout the Design, pathing with color, use of texture and densities and the variation of stitch types as you lay down your colors.

May 30th 9:30 AM Pacific Time:  Blending your colors
HOMEWORK:  Valuable lessons on blending those Colors on your letters, and for Shading your designs.

June 13th 9:30 AM Pacific Time:  Using your Blends of color to Shade your Design and give it realism and depth.
HOMEWORK: Valuable lessons on placing your colors throughout your Design, using densities to enhance the colors or to soften them.

June 27th 9:30 AM Pacific Time: Creating a Design from a stitch out.  We’ve all had it happen.  The only art for you to use is a stitchout of the design…AND the reason the customer has come to you is that the stitchout is not good!  We will take the art, clean it up and make it better!
HOMEWORK: Valuable lessons in cleaning up your art, where to start, densities, stitch length, underlay, color, and push-pull.

July11th 9:30 AM Pacific Time: Using Auto Digitizing.  What to trash, what to tweak.  Learn to evaluate the auto-stitched design before running it.  Learn to delete or trash what does not work, learn to add your own digitizing to save time and learn to add your addition to the path of the design.
HOMEWORK:  Valuable lessons in density, length of stitches, push-pull, and pathing.

July 25th 9:30 AM Pacific Time: Stock Lettering.  Learn how to get the most out of your stock letters, no matter what size.  Then learn to use a stock Alphabet and Customize it for your customer’s needs.
HOMEWORK: Valuable lessons in density, length of stitches, editing, and creating a custom letter or Font.

August 8th 9:30 AM Pacific Time: Turning a Bad Design into a good one.  This is your chance to send in a design that looks good on the screen, but runs badly.  We will adjust densities, the length of stitches, address push-pull and pathing and turn the Bad Designs into a Dream.
HOMEWORK: Valuable lessons in densities, length of stitches, push-pull, puckering, and pathing.

August 22nd 9:30 AM Pacific Time: Faces, Small and Large!  We will start with the basic face, its shape, and the shapes within that shape.  We will build those shapes with blended fills, and then with the use of the column stitch, and the natural shading it produces, build our smaller images.
HOMEWORK:  Valuable lessons in shading with your fills and your Satin or Column Stitches.

September 12th 9:30 AM Pacific Time: Eyes…Small and Large.  Even if the eye takes only two or three stitches, placement of those stitches will dictate the expression.  Learn to place those stitches perfectly.  Learn to make sure your other stitches do not move those stitches.  Learn to build the eye with all the color in you face and hair for your larger realistic designs.
HOMEWORK: Valuable lessons in the placement of your stitches, tie-ins and tie-offs as well as trims.  Also density, and color as well as pathing.

September 26th 9:30 AM Pacific Time: Mouths, Small and Large.  We will build the mouth with color, subtle on the human face, and more vivid on the animals. Learn to build your shapes with your darks and light and feather them into the face.  Using pathing make it natural.
HOMEWORK:  Learn to work with the intensity of colors to build your shapes.  Valuable lessons in densities and stitch length and pathing.

October 10th, 9:30 AM Pacific Time: Noses, Human and Animal. Here shading is the key. We will look at “Building” the nose using what we have learned about shading.  Light comes forward, dark recedes.  Then how it fits into the rest of the face.
HOMEWORK: Learn to work with the intensity of colors to build your shapes, see how this works in a nose, and in other objects.  Valuable lessons densities and stitch length and pathing.

October 24th 9:30 AM Pacific Time: Working with non-native Designs.  We will address the fixes needed for each of the stitch types, the Fill, the Column Stitch, and the Running stitch. Look at the angle of the fill, was it changed when the formats were changed?, Look at the Satin Stitch, should it be a Fill?  Then the Running stitch.  Was it changed to Manual? AND…were your Fills changed to Manual Stitches.  We will change those manual stitches back to running stitches for control and scaling.
HOMEWORK:  You will have a Non-Native design to work the new “Magic” you have learned!  See what your limits are, and what may still need to be trashed to allow for complete controle.

November 7th 9:30 AM Pacific Time: Appliques!  Not just a substitute for stitches!  Learn to use the applique to add beauty to your Design!  Learn to use this technique to add function and Effect.  Learn to use “Trapunto”as a tool for texture. (appliqueing an embroidered piece to the background adding running stitches to define the design)
HOMEWORK:  Valuable lessons in using automatic applique programs, use of fill rather than Satin Stitches to finish off your applique, use of auto-applique for Athletic Designs, and creating movement before stitching down the material.

November 21st and December 5th, each at 9:30 AM Pacific Time: Our Christmas Cleanup.  We all have that Design that we run year after year for a valued customer.  One that you say you will edit before using it this year.  One that gets put off and you battle through too much density and multiple threadbreaks, making the design take way too long to run.  We will take 4 designs that are sent in, one could be yours, and we will clean that up and get it ready for the Rush!
HOMEWORK:  Take Your Design and do our step-by-step Clean-up, and Enjoy your Holiday.

Be ready to submit your Design, if it is chosen for demonstration, you will have Your work done for you.  If not, you will see how to do it.  This is what one customer had to say:

I’m sorry this is so late. I can’t thank you enough for the improvements made to this design.  It sews like butter, and the artistic touches are amazing. It looks like actual rows of shingles on the roof and not just a flat fill.  Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Join us for the 2023 Webinars:
Do your Homework after each class and learn to enjoy Digitizing!