...

This bag just about sums up my week. Not very productive. A little bit blank. Lots of things ending up on the scrap heap. This is a mock-up (boring white cotton=cheap) of new bag shape I am working on. The top band could be a bit narrower and the corners a little rounder... I've been thinking about experimenting with leather for this one but haven't as yet found a good local supplier. Have a good weekend!

dipped.

It would never happen in Australia but I really like getting the mail delivered on a Saturday – especially when something lovely like this arrives. My new 'dipped' tea towel sent over from Lorraine at grijs. I think it's too beautiful to wipe the dishes with...



(Image above taken from grijs.blogspot.com)

black + white + grey all over

After walking many miles, covering a good deal of Eindhoven - I made it to the Designers Market yesterday which was held as part of Dutch Design Week. I did quite well and bought one of these gorgeous little ceramic pieces by dutch artists Rens. (I got the the little guy at the front with the bonnet.)



I also managed to finally visit the M.C. Escher museum here in The Hague today (as it was teeming with rain outside and not a great day for riding around town) and was totally blown away by all of his early work that I had never seen before. What a master! I loved this particular print - 'Phosphorescent Sea' (1933).

Change of season.

The leaves are falling here in The Hague and it's getting chilly around the ears. Some inspiration...


Some new notebooks and also some new blank greeting cards printed using the gocco. I was really happy with these cards. This time I printed them on a smoother stock which gave a better print than the previous trial I did on a textured paper.

I was a bit annoyed with the notebooks as on both prints I had a little bit of ink on the underside of the screen which made a smudge on each book. Arghh - very frustrating. But I the overall detail and the nice grey/brown colour I mixed came up well.



I was planning on printing a second tree over the first in a different colour but liked the single tree so much I ditched it.

for Tessa.

Skype is an amazing thing. I'm still getting used to it. This morning I was chatting to my friend Tessa across the other side of the world. By coincidence, she was telling me about this really nice denim tote bag she saw in a Melbourne shop but was super expensive while at the same time, I had started making this variation on the linen 'bucket bags' (still need to get a better name) I had previously been working on. I used the same spreading paint effect on the white linen lining. This one is for you Tessa!

Gocco - I missed you.

Ahh, my gocco. It seems totally wrong to waste all those carbon credits by having my Mum post my gocco printer all the way to the Netherlands but it's so much fun having it here. Thanks Mum!

Once I got going it was hard to stop so I just kept experimenting on different surfaces. This notebook is probably my favourite! I found a shop that sells plain books with no logos on them for quite a good price so I'm thinking of buying a couple to print on and popping them up in my etsy shop. I was really happy with the quality of the print.



I also got quite excited about how well the prints worked out on this white linen fabric.



And while I had the screen all inked-up I thought I would print some simple greeting cards on some nice textured cream stock. The prints were a little patchy but I think that's part of the hand-printed charm. I hope to put these in my etsy shop as well.



The gocco hard at work.



Phew! Had a productive day.

Memories...

Firstly, no, I didn't make this. But I love it. I got a bit carried away in online shopping/blog land this morning and found this awesome laptop bag on rare device by snap design. So cool.

Also decided to put some of that cloth testing I did the other day to use and made this little zipped pouch. I think it was a bit of a flop... linen is just not sturdy enough for this sort of thing. I think it would be better as some sort of lining for a bag or pouch. However, I do like how the spreading paint reminded me of my childhood and having my textas leak in my pencil case....

Making a mess.

Something new for me. I have been really inspired by Loraine's beautiful dipped tea towels seen on her blog grijs and so frustrated at the lack on interesting fabric available -- I decided to get out my old silk painting supplies and experiment a little. I ended up making quite a mess but I got really excited by the results and the amazing abstract shapes you can create by mixing the paint with lots of water.



I had this idea of creating moon-like/eclips shapes so started off by painting circular shapes with water directly on the fabric and then used the silk paint to paint around the edges. By adding even more water I could create interesting spreading effects.



What started all this was, in a moment of desperation a couple of days before my brother came to stay, we bought this disgusting old futon (below) from the second hand shop for him to sleep on. In order not to frighten him away from staying at our house, I made a new cover for it. It looked a little plain so I got carried away and made some extra cushions as well! Hence the need for some interesting fabric.



before



after

final cushion

Etsy

I set the Tolka etsy shop up in February this year but it has taken me all this time to finally upload something to sell! I was umm-ing and arghh-ing about whether to put these pencil cases in the shop as they are not quite what I had in mind in terms of products I wanted to produce for Tolka but I guess you've got to start somewhere...

In any case, I've been working on a few other projects which hopefully I will be able to put in the shop (and post about) in the next week. Yea! Check out the shop here.





p.s. do you think $15 is an okay price for a handmade pencil case ? I'm open to suggestions.

Come home!

I picked up this magazine, Come Home! while traveling in Japan and have fallen in love. As I can’t read a word it’s really all about the eye candy. Lots of odd and beautiful collectibles jumbled together to create a warm space with great photography. I also love the way the Japanese read magazines from back to front, so the cover actually opens out from left to right – crazy! Does that happen anywhere in the world? Unfortunately I can't find any links to their website... the pics will just have to do.

Thoughts for the day.

I love these woodblock letterpress printed posters from designer Anthony Burrill - these are from his Popular Aphorisms series.