red and green things

I've still been in a bit of a funk this week. Not my usual chirpy self, instead being emotional and swearing at things. My design work is coming along nicely though so maybe it fits with that old adage about artists doing their best work when they're feeling down ;)

In lighter news, here's some red and green things that are making me happy:


Some freshly potted herbs and Cyclamen for the balcony. I always love that european red-flowers-in-planter-box thing, and these Cyclamen weren't too expensive and apparently love the cold. Perfect!


A gorgeous handbound book sent to me by Nicole of Freshly Blended. Sooo cute, and so well made! It's related to a little collaboration we've got in the works :)

Aaand...


... a new shoulderbag from Mattt! This one features the limited edition ginkgo print on natural hemp canvas. It was a custom job for Mattt, which is why I had a bit of the print on cream available last week. He also has this print in Pumpkin, and you buy them online here.

I've got more Ginkgo on the way actually, in another new colourway. Exciting :)

Paperiaarre

I am always taken aback by how many really lovely people there are out in blog land. Today I received a parcel in the mail from Kaija, a Finland based bookbinder and maker of lovely things. Kaija, having grown up in Finland, has experienced somewhat of a Marimekko overdose. So she sent me this little parcel of Marimekko scraps!


The envelope in the foreground was hand stencilled by Kaija - really lovely.

I've been admiring Kaija's work for a little while now and have been meaning to post about it for ages, so what better time than now. Here are just a few examples of her lovely work:



Find more at her blog Paperiaarre, and her etsy shop here. Thanks again Kaija :)

Thankyouse

Firstly, I just want to thank everyone for the overwhelming amount of feedback on the pattern decision. And it was definately overwhelming! I spent so long struggling and stressing over which patterns to print and it kept me awake with racing thoughts for a couple of nights. But I've finally made my decision and am just waiting (somewhat frustratedly) on the fabric. I am SO itching to get moving on this!!

Meanwhile I got the coolest package in the mail today. This is Nicole upholding her part of the patterns-for-handmade-book bargain, and my god did she uphold it. I had a giggly old time unwrapping each part of the package she put together for me. Soooo gorgeous, every bit of it. And check out that wrapping paper!


In the forgeound is the beautiful handmade book she made me. It features different patterned papers front and back, fabric lining, a velcro buttoned pocket at the front containing a Certificate of Authenticity (with a familiar pattern on it, hehe), and pages and pages of different found papers waiting to be drawn all over.


Thanks again, Nicole :)

Freshly Blended Patterns

I just completed my first ever commissioned pattern design job! It was heaps of fun. Nicole from freshly blended needed some patterns to compliment her new brand, site and packaging, and in return she's making me one of her beautiful hand bound books. I'm very excited.





What is it about collaborating with someone from the craft world that feels so much more satisfying and enjoyable than collaborating with someone from the graphic design world? The reason struck me when I was writing an email to Nicole about this very topic, and I wonder why I never conciously registered it before. The graphic design world is male dominated. The craft world is female dominated. I'm making some massive generalisations here I know, but to me the graphic design world often has a hard edge and can be quite competitive. The fact that there is so much ephasis amongst 'top' design studios on winning design awards is a testament to this. On the flip side the craft world is soft and nurturing and encouraging, and has helped me to flourish creatively.

Thinking back on the contract jobs I've done in studios around Melbourne (admittedly not that many), only one place had another female creative. Crazy.

Anyway ... /rant. Hope everyone has a great weekend and doesn't become a puddle in the heat or an icecube in the snow.

P.S. - thanks to Jem from Imagescience for mentioning my blog and website in his newsletter!!

2007 ahoy

Happy new year everybody!! It's 6:30pm here and it amazes me to think that some of you in the States are just about to reach midnight now! Our celebrations already feel like forever ago.

I'm on holidays for a couple of weeks so have heaps of stuff to blog about. One of my favourite pre-christmas projects was this book I made for Pete's mum, which I can finally put up here now that she's seen it in real life.





The idea for the cover came when I was getting a design printed at imagescience onto canvas. It struck me that the canvas was tough yet flexible enough to use as bookcloth. This method opens up heaps of design possibilities - I'm no longer limited to thoughts of 1 or 2 colour screen prints, I can print anything.



It was also a great opportunity to put one of my patterns to good use. Pattern designs look so much better and more profesh when shown in a proper context :)



So yeah, that was fun to work on. And she really liked it, which is the best part of all :)

to do:

I have to-do's coming out of my ears at the moment:

- Go to the dentist (first time in 6 years)
- Take the car to get tuned
- Go see an allergist (I'm sneezing and have a runny nose every day)
- Make more jewellery for Etsy and Modamuse
- Send jewellery and bio off to Modamuse
- Find a financial advisor
- Do my BAS
- Go see accountant and do tax return
- Get some patterns screen printed
- Make a "how to do pattern repeat" tutorial

All whist juggling two huge web jobs due at the start of December! I did however manage to knock one big thing off my list, which was the pattern design submission to Rag & Bone. I ended up going all out and spent Sunday 'making mockups' - by which i mean photoshopping the patterns onto photos of my notebooks. They turned out pretty alright I think!



That said, the fairly brief reply I got this morn makes me think a) they're overwhelmed with submissions and/or b) it didn't really knock their socks off at all. They said they're meeting to decide next Wednesday, so fingers crossed for Shannon (who also submitted some lovely stuff) and I.

Bookbinding with a sea view

Back in Melbourne today! Pete and I just got back from a short trip to Ballarat (to visit his folks) and then on to Fairhaven near the beach where we stayed a few nights and did bookbinding.

And what crazy weather we had. The first two evenings in Fairhaven were spent huddled round a roaring fire heater, and I could barely sleep for the cold. Then the next two days the temperature hit 30 and 36 C (86 and 97 F). 'Hottest October day in 90 years' they said on the news. We tried to cool down with a swim at the beach, but there was a very strong wind that whipped sand on our legs and the water was still freezing from winter which made our feet numb. We had fun anyway.

Anyway, our bookbinding project was a complete success! Photos and more details below:


My first book :)


I stuck a little envelope on the back enpaper for storing little bits and pieces (and to cover up a bubble, hehe).


I made three books all up - one A6 size and the other two about A7 - tiny but so fun to construct! And they only need about 5 sheets of A3 paper to make :)

Pete found a whole bunch of great tutorials online about how to do bookbinding. The ones that I followed (kind of mish-mashed their processes together) are:

Dave's bookbinding tutorial - easy to follow, good pictures
'Binding books' - lots of details photos
'How to make a simple hardcover book' - good diagram on binding signatures together
The Evilrooster Bookweb - heaps of info on different techniques and handy equipment you can make


The Evilrooster site had instructions on how to make a book press and stitching frame in one unit. You don't really need either of these, but they make life heaps easier. Here's the one we made, with me half way through stitiching my signatures together (note: the 'sea view' is in the background - it got washed out in the photo but it's there, honest!)


Signatures all stitched together, aka the 'book block'.


Petey stitching his signatures together by lamplight :)

bookbinding

Thanks for the lovely birthday wishes :) Pete and I are spending the first week of our holidays just grounding ourselves before we head down to the beach. This means hanging out in the city, enjoying the art & craft supplies that Melbourne has to offer, and Pete getting ahead on a little bit of freelance. It might sound a little bit too 'worky' for a holiday, but sitting on the floor doing crafty stuff is what we love doing when we actually have spare time.

This holiday's project is bookbinding. Pete's found some awesome online tutorials on various bookbinding methods, and some vintagey book covers at a secondhand book shop to rebind with blank paper.

We weren't sure where to go for bookbinding supplies (none of the stores actively advertised it), but we found some great stuff at Melbourne Etching Supplies (go figure) and Melbourne Artist's Supplies (Little LaTrobe St). Here's what we got:


From left to right: headbanding (the decorative stripy stuff you see when you look down at the binding from above), a bone folder, binding needles, binding thread, a nice new stanley knife, binding ribbon, an awl (for making clean holes through which the binding thread goes), flexible binding glue.

If we get good at it I might post a simple tute if anyone's interested. A lot of the things above are nice-to-haves rather than must-haves.