Bamboo Fun

It's interesting how Bamboo has become such a part of our daily lives. From the Bamboo forest in Thailand to the floors in our homes to batting in our quilts. That is just a few of the ways we use Bamboo.

This is Wacom's version of bamboo. The Bamboo Fun tablet. I'm not entirely sure what it has to do with Bamboo. However, it certainly is fun! It can free you from the paper and pencils we normally use to draw with, and open a new realm of possibilities for drawing, painting, digitizing and photo editing. My primary interest in learning to use a graphics tablet like the Bamboo Fun is to practice drawing quilting designs, and overlay those drawn designs onto photos of my quilts and to see how how the designs will look on the quilt block, or on the quilt sashing and borders.


The Bamboo rests near my computer and I practice drawing most days for about 30 mins. Here is some doodling of some meander. It's a bit of a challenge to get used to the how the pen draws and how to best control it. But, that is getting better with practice, and I'm learning about several things at once. How the Bamboo pen operates. How the photo editing program works, and how to draw quilt designs with the Bamboo pen.



I've been watching and practicing Lisa Calle's "Feathers of a New Generation" and drawing on this photo of one of the quilt tops from The Martha Quilts we completed.

I've had the Bamboo Fun for quite awhile, but only became interested in using it more after I took Carla Barrett's recent Quilt Whispering class online.

This is how Carla used her tablet to whisper a design on my quilt top! I love what she suggested as quilting designs. I just hope I can stitch the designs as well as she has drawn them out.


There are many types of graphics tablets. Some are more expensive than others, or offer additional features. So, if you think you want to try one, shop around. I found Amazon.com has a large selection of these tablets and it's interesting to read the reviews before you decide on which one suits your needs & budget.