Typographical solutions

 I've been working on a print based on all the things I superstitiously wish on, and I finished inking it this afternoon.  I was working on it in the cafe by my work the other day on my lunch break...when the waiter brought me my coffee he asked me if I was working on "typographical solutions."  Um, yes, I guess I am.  Sounds better than sitting around drawing!

Feathering my nest

My workmate was given two mysterious bags full of feathers the other day, and I borrowed a few of them to draw over the weekend.  Here they are in pencil and in pen...I'm going to hopefully turn them into a gocco print in the next couple of days. 

 

I think they once belonged to a hawk, a pheasant, a kereru and a mallard. 

Lime and passionfruit

I've been trying to do some screen printing troubleshooting lately and I've been finding that putting a towel under the screen as one book suggested is helping the lines to come out a bit clearer.  I thought I'd treat myself to some cheery lime green ink and I've been printing up a storm - I think I'll turn these prints into brooches.  The lime's a pretty good match for the leaves of this passionfruit flower that's sitting on my desk, waiting to be drawn too!

New prints on Felt

 I picked up my new digital bird prints from the printers last week and here they are in the flesh:

And framed...

They're on my Felt shop now here and here.  

My creative space: pouches

 

I've been meaning to make my camera a new case for aaaages, it deserves better than being schlepped around in the makeshift flimsy leopard print bag that has been its temporary home.  Now that I've finally learned how to make zippered pouches I've made it two.  To start with I made a canvas case with one of my huia patches on it.  It turned out too small but it'll be handy for keeping little trinkets in.  Then I used the canvas I had been printing with my stamps and made this one:

Here's the starry lining:

 I'm hoping to make cases for lots more things - I think it'd be a great project to use up all the pretty scraps I can't bear to throw out.  And I might even need to buy a rotary cutter!

 

How about you, what have you been making?  To see lots more creative spaces head on over to the "our creative spaces" blog.

Happy Thursday!

Spotty

 I bought a brand new blank silk screen the other day to replace my borer-ridden one and its first task was to make me some green polka dots.  I cut a stencil for these and printed them on canvas...they're going to become a bag (with spotty dotty handles too).  I do believe I have some sheer fabric in my stash that could make a matching top!

 I've also been printing onto canvas with my stamps and fabric ink.  The stamps came out a bit uneven on the textured fabric but I think they'd come out better on calico or something a bit lighter.  Stay tuned to see what became of this stamped fabric!

My creative space

In my creative space this week I've got a plethora of brooches that I've been printing and sewing frantically for the Auckland Art & Craft Fair this Saturday. This is the selection I'm going to be bringing along:

Here are the ones I've finished, all jumbled up on my pin board:

And here are some huia brooches, looking a bit more tidy:

There are plenty more still waiting for brooch backs!

Speaking of craft fairs, if you're in the Wairarapa or Wellington you should head along to Craft Country in Greytown this Saturday! I had a stall last year and it was a great day. You can find details, including profiles of the sellers here.

To see lots of other creative spaces head on over here, to the "our creative spaces" blog.

Happy Thursday!

Toasty

"You're going to be making a lot of toast" said the man in the Sallies as I left with three toast racks under my arm. Little did he know I had two more at home. Having your toast sitting in a rack getting cold has never seemed that appealing to me, but it turns out toast racks are perfect for drying gocco prints. They can sit neatly like this:

Instead of like this, risking muddy paw prints:Oh and this is my new print of my seedpod collection, hot off the gocco. I'm calling it "Treasures."

My creative space

The other day I fired up the gocco:

Printed and printed and printed:

Printed some more:
And made these:

The colours remind me a bit of willow pattern

The lounge floor was so covered in prints that I had to make a little pathway for the cat to get through! How about you, what have you been making? Got any crazy production lines going on at your place?

To see lots of other people's creative spaces pop on over to the "our creative spaces" blog.

Hope you're having a good Thursday.

Offcuts

 I've been rescuing some of my cardboard offcuts by making these little stamped cards, I'm always in need of little cards to send out with things.  I've also been printing up a storm, trying to distract myself from my sadness at the election result...more on that printing soon. 

And the mountain of huia soon-to-be brooches continues to grow.  I've got many evenings of sewing on brooch backs ahead of me! 

My creative space

In my creative space today I've got a few updates. Remember this drawing? The other night I turned it into a multicoloured gocco print:
It was my first go at gocco printing using more than one colour at once...after 10 or so prints the colours started blending together a bit so I think next time I'd put some sellotape or dureaseal between the images to keep them separate. I think it'd be fun to have pyjamas with this print on them!

And remember these owls? I've turned one of them into a brooch, which I think Mr. Millicent Crow is road-testing today. I printed the owl onto calico then sewed it onto some wool from a scrappy old blanket. I put a couple of layers of interfacing in the middle to strengthen it.

Here's another picture of it just because I love that old "Flight luggage" logo.

And remember this feather skirt I was making? I completely stuffed it up. But hopefully I'll make another one soon.

What have you been making? Pop on over to the "our creative spaces" blog to see lots of other people's creative spaces.

Happy first day of Spring (or Autumn if it's Autumn where you are)!

Feather brooches in the shops

Just a note to say I've listed some of my feather brooches in my Felt and Etsy shops.

I'm hoping to print a giant version of that feather on a skirt for myself this weekend...maybe it'll have to be a reward for when I've cleaned up all the sewing bits and pieces I've strewn over the house this week!

My creative space

My Creative Space today is a bit of a his and hers effort. For some reason (I think because I was being scatty and not getting round to doing the drawing on time) Mr. Millicent Crow and I decided we would both draw covers for his new single, which you can listen to here. They're a limited edition of gocco prints - 50 of mine and 50 of his. We've been having fun getting people to guess who drew which one. Spoiler alert - I drew this one:

And Mr. Millicent Crow drew this one:
But I've been told that my one looks very masculine!

To see other people's creative spaces take a look over here.

Happy Thursday!

At long last...

After years and years and years of talking about it, I've finally had a silk screen made up with all the images I like to print on it, so I can print much more precise images than I could with handcut stencils.

It's hard to get a good photo of it, but you get the idea!

So now there's going to be much more of this going on at my house:

Owlcatraz*

I was mucking around the other night drawing an owl in the back of the scrapbook where I keep my inspiration pictures and I came up with this fellow:
I didn't really want to cut up my scrapbook cover to transfer him to a gocco screen, so I tried to redraw him on white paper, but it didn't work out, so I sacrificed the back of my scrapbook and cut it up.

Then I printed him in silver on some cream-coloured cards:

And some nubbly-textured red ones:

And I still had some ink left over so I made myself some owl envelopes for posting the prints I sell in my shop.

*Yes Owlcatraz is a real place! It's a bird sancturary in Shannon where they have owls with really bad pun names. Like Owl Capone. And Owlfalfa. And Owlvis Presley. I really want to go there, it'd be a hoot!