...

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.

A case of obsession.

I got a little over excited about making these new pencil cases and made a few more over the weekend. I think these might be the first item that will go into my Etsy shop because really, how many pencil cases does a girl need! The top one is my favourite, using the beautiful linen fabric from Australian textile designer Lara Cameron. The bottom case used more of the cute fabric I bought in Japan.

A case of tension.

So the 'Huma' wasn't quite as smooth as expected – I can't quite figure out how the tension works... Anyone? A bit of a false start trying to remember how to put a zip in but I was pretty happy with the outcome. I'm off to make a few more pencil cases now I'm on a roll!

The Huma?

Here it is. It's old, it's heavy and it may just pre-date my Grandma but it seems to go okay taking into account the weird clacking noise it makes every time the needle goes up and down. It's my new-ish 'Huma' (is that even a real brand?) sewing machine I bought from the second hand shop for just 20 euro which I 'think' was a bargain. The knobs and the instructions are all a little foreign but the 'Huma' seems to sew a treat. The best part is the retro suitcase it comes in!



Some cute fabric I bought in Japan. I'm thinking my first project will be some pencil cases made with the little flower pot fabric.

Dutch reflections

Images I recently took around my new home. Left is the view from the window of my apartment (on an unusually sunny day) and right is looking through a window of an antique bookstore in Amsterdam. I love the little broken letters and also how you can only just see the shelves of books through the window...

Tea for one.

So when I was traveling I became a little obsessed by finding the perfect tea cup as drinking cups of tea is one of my favourite things to do. The top two I found at a flea market in Delft - the little figures on the cups all wear traditional outfits depending on which region they come from. (I started a great debate at the market between two old dutch ladies arguing about which region my cups were from.) The middle two I found at Toji Market in Kyoto - so lovely to hold. Lastly, the bottom mug is from my favourite store in Japan, Muji. The whole thing comes apart with a built in tea strainer and lid to catch the drips. Their stationary department is also amazing!

Now I just need to find someone to share a cup with...

Softies

She came up with the idea for the books, she designed the them, and now there's a website! My very talented friend Claire (from Penguin books) has been working on these Softies books for the past couple of years and has now launched a great new website. You can download pictures, check out links to the softies creators and even download patterns. Check out the website here!



Below is my first attempt at a Softie. This is Polly from the first book. I donated her to the Meet Me at Mikes Mirabel Christmas Appeal last year - so hopefully someone is giving her some love (wonky arms and all)!

Holland

Hallo from The Netherlands. I know it's been a 'long' while since my last post however I have an excuse. For the past few months I have been working, saving, traveling and shifting my life to the other side of the world. But I'm back. And now that I have finally settled into some sort of normality, I'm really ready to get my hands moving again!

I've got lots of new ideas - just got to get started now.

I spent two weeks in amazing Japan so thought I'd post this very serene image from my favourite Japanese artist, Yoshimoto Nara.

Bibs & Bobs.

As scary as it is, it seems I'm getting to an age where many of my friends are starting their own little families. Each time there's a new arrival, I've tried to make something personal as a present to give. I'll be honest, my baby beanies were a bit of a disaster and my cross stitch efforts were, well, let's just say you could hardly tell the difference between my owl and my lady bug...

Anyway, this weekend I started making bibs which are super easy and really cute, if I do say so myself. They also make nice, simple presents. I made each bib with a combination of cotton and linen with a little press stud to hold the bib on.

I got a little carried away with the sewing, so I'm hoping to put some in my new etsy shop which I will hopefully have up and running by the end of this week. If anyone has any ideas about a reasonable price for bib I would love to hear it!



Flower and green polka dot bibs with linen backing.



Close up of the patterns.



How cool is this colour by number fabric with the little bird!



More unfinished bibs waiting to be sewn.

Have a great Monday!

'snot just about the hanky

I had this sudden thought last week... actually maybe it wasn't that sudden... but I had a realisation that being a graphic designer isn't really doing much to help the world out. (Or at least not in the ways I would like.)

I have a friend who recently left to be a doctor in Cambodia for year (that's you Chris) and another who has just spent a couple of months in Sri Lanka planning ways to build communities (and you, Jacqui)... In the last couple of weeks I've done two logos, a style guide and thrown in a couple of brochures and a newsletter for good measure. Sure it's made someone happy to have a good looking business card but it's just not the same thing.

One of the things that concerns me most at the moment about the environment is excessive packaging and the way we are so dependent on consumable items. Check out The Story of Stuff below if you want to know a bit more about the life cycle of products (scary stuff!).



So, I thought I'd start small and give myself a little project...

The humble tissue. There's millions of the buggers out there that get one use and then tossed. (Not to mention the shear annoyance when one manages to turn a load of washing into a snow storm). So I thought I would design a set of hankies, complete with days of the week, to combat (or help a little) with this problem.

I wanted to keep them pretty graphic and simple, using typefaces that relate to how one might feel on a particular day of the week. Below are the typefaces I have chosen so far.







My eventual plan is to screen print these on to hankies that I would sew up. Potentially on an organic cotton... I was thinking maybe some subtle colours as well.

I'd love to hear if you think the days suit their typeface or if there's something else you might suggest. (I'm trying to avoid Comic Sans so don't even go there :)

A pinny and a pleat.

Aprons, pinnies, smocks – whatever. You can never have enough. Especially when they're 50's style, linen, with a cute pocket and tea towel loop. I made this one last weekend with my ever dwindling supply of linen. I think I need to stock up again! (fabric-store.com here I come).



I got the pattern from Amy Butler's 'Stitches ' book. To be honest, I wasn't a fan of the fabrics used and some of the excessive frills, but if you can see past all that, the basic patterns are really simple and easy! Some of the projects even come with paper pattern pieces in the front of the book (unfortunately not the apron.)



The other book in this series that is REALLY great is 'Simple Sewing' by Lotta Jansdotta - the Scandinavian textile designer. The colours and fabric used are beautiful... Lotta's website is also quite inspiring.



On a totally unrelated note - I just started listening to 'The Cave Singers' new album. Amazing!

It's all Japanese to me...

Easter this year means Lindt chocolate bunnies (with the cute bell) and gocco printing! I finally opened my predictably neat little package from Japan to find an assort of supplies... Now, as I haven't actually used a gocco before, I had to do some research... (clearly all instructions being in Japanese was going to be of absolutely no help.) After a combination of Google and You tube I made my first print.

As it was all a bit of an experiment I wasn't too precious about the final product.



Gocco supplies: ink, cleaner, print lamps & screens.



My original drawing which I scanned and then printed on a laser printer. To expose a screen your artwork needs to be carbon based. Hence, photocopies and lasers prints work really well.



Gocco with inked screen in place and final print on the foam pad below.





I did a couple of experiments printing on to thick brown card and also red paper. In traditional offset printing white ink is never used so I was pretty excited about printing onto some different paper stocks.

The awesome thing about the gocco is that once it is all inked up and ready to go, you can do about 50 prints in a row without losing quality and without having to add ink! I really need to get one of those nifty print holders to stack my prints when they are wet – for the moment my toast holder will have do.

For anyone interested in all the details of the gocco printing process from exposing screens to printing, below it a funny little film put together by the team at etsy as a demonstration.