New Cloth Goods

Here are some pictures of some of the new items my lovely reps have been showing:

The pillows are printed on linen and the button pouches are printed on hemp/cotton and have a little hand made button.  (buttons are so fun to make!)

new bags

My lovely sales rep in California, Ginger, was requesting some different types of bags, so here are some new ones that will be available in stores and in my etsy shop. I really like the square bag- such a nice size - don't know why it took this long to make one like this...!

well hi there!

So it's been awhile- what can I say--- Snowed IN- Flooded OUT- Holidays- 40th Birthday- woo hoo! I had to write to share this wonderful article to whoever is lovely enough to still keep up with my blog. "How to Procrastinate Like Leonardo Da Vinci" I can't seem to link to it, so go to this link- Arts & Letters then go down to where it says "Leonardo da Vinci, maybe a little like you, was a hopeless procrastinator...." then read the rest of the article- you'll like it- I promise.... For your viewing pleasure---Here is a new pattern that I made- some little suns- I was trying to make a little bag that would fit credit cards, but it's just the tiniest bit too small, so it just holds change... I'll try again later. Block printing with fabric ink on hemp/cotton canvas Also- I am going to a workshop this weekend on Licensing for artists and such- it's in SF- if you also want to attend the information can be found here I think it should be just what I'm looking for- info on doing Surtex (she has done the Surtex show in NY many times)- and also the who and what of licensing images. I'll report back on how it goes. In the meantime- read the article it's REALLY great!

thinking...

I am dreaming of "passive income" After days spent solely on printing on paper and cloth I find myself dreaming of someone else doing all the printing! Don't get me wrong- I am grateful and seriously overjoyed to be doing the job I do, but I think I need to branch out a bit and set my designs free into the world. So-I'm beginning to look into licensing some of my designs- do you know anything about licensing? who and what? How about this- anyone who gives me info on licensing in the "comments" section will receive a free gift (perhaps a lavender sachet, or a little bag...). Anyway I need to stay small and expand at the same time, if you know what I mean.

More houses

I made some new prints of little houses. Then a pillow-one side is a silkscreened big red house, and the other side is block printed little houses. I have also been thinking of new designs for sachets for my reps to sell, so I thought the little house would make a good one. I'm trying to make more household item- hence the pillows! I think I'll make a few other colors and then introduce them in my Etsy shop. I have a million ideas on this house thing (it all started with my barn carving from last year, remember? then continued with my "Italian village" a few months ago). So stay tuned! I think I have more ideas than I have time! I'm sure I am not alone!

enjoying summer

hi all! as you know, it's hard to be inside in front of the computer when it's beautiful and summery outside. Here is a bit of what I've been doing: -picking blueberries -trying to keep coyotes away -weeding -weeding -weeding (haha) -sewing -getting another (the 3rd!) card order from Anthropologie -woo hoo!

The sticks and stones project

Well, I'm not sure if my other project (lily aimes) wasn't working, or it just morphed into this... So for now-- my inspiration is sticks and stones and here is what I've done so far (and some pics of stones too!)

Testing....

I read about this new carving material- it's linoleum, but softer, so I thought I'd give it a try.... The one I tried is unmounted, but they also have mounted. It WAS easier to carve than the usual linoeum, but I still like the "safetykut" (in the bottom photo) for saving the wrists and for ease of printing on fabric.

Blockprinting on Fabric

I don't talk about it much, but blockprinting on fabric is pretty hard. I have been trying different methods of printing on fabric for years, and attempting to find "the secret" by scouring the net and the libraries. What ink is best? What printing material is best? What fabric is best? Does anyone know?

Here are a few blockprinters to check out and see what you think.

-Galbraith and Paul how in the world do they do such huge runs of fabric? and what the heck are they using for their block print? -Make It she talks about this difficult subject extensively on her wonderful blog-and has some beautiful examples.

-Tobias and the angel in england, does india style wood block printing on vintage fabrics (among other things) -Jesse Breytenbach-does beautiful blockprinting on fabric tape. (I think you mentioned her, Kylie, a few posts back) -Folly Cove Designers from the 50's I think- I have studied the website at length to see how they get such clean designs, I saw an old article that shows them stepping on linoleum (without the block attached), but now I guess the descendants use a giant press. -Art Goodies It seems that she does single images on cloth with a press, but definately worth looking at (beautiful). -Elle Deco mag did a nice little write-up on blockprinting last dec. with some helpful tidbits.

so this is what I do- I use screenprinting ink and with a little sponge brush I tap the ink onto my blocks (rubber carved blocks) I use linen, or hemp, or cotton on a hard surface (though I have read about using a soft surface, it may depend on the hardness of your block...) and I push, don't rock, the block onto the fabric, and there you have it my "secret" until I can figure out something that works better-- and can print a bigger area at a time!