Placement printing

Remember this little spikey bush? I tried making it into a full repeat pattern but wasn't happy with the results. Next best option: placement prints!



A more cost effective way of doing a yardage print, with less commitment required :)

Japanesey bag design

I'm loving the warmer weather of late. So good to roll out of bed and feel warm, not freezing. I tend to get very cold when I'm not moving about.

That said, I haven't had much opportunity to get out and about in this fine weather due to spending copious amounts of time at the studio. It's been very productive though, and I feel like everything is getting easier and going much more smoothly.

In preparation for the Melbourne Design Market (November 30th), I've been working on some new products. I've been wanting to design a nice, Japanesey style tote for awhile now, and when Bianca showed me this book, I was immediately inspired by the bag on the front cover. It definitely needed some modifications though, and my version is almost completely different. But that seed of inspiration was very handy:




(needs some internal pockets)



Here's the first prototype I made. I decided it needed interfacing in the top panel:





I think I'll get a bunch of these made for the design market, but am wondering if I should make & sell some kits as well? Then I can cater to everyone during this very budget conscious time. What do you think?

Random studio pics

I love the look of old paint splattered frames freshly stretched with new mesh and artwork:


A placement print that I'll use as a panel in cushions and other small items.


And showing off a little of my new skirt

More birch in Fuchsia

Ooh wow, the fuchsia birch went quick! Was that because of the price or the colour itself? Because I might do another run of it on a nice linen basecloth if people would like that?

I do still have some in stock on the calico, and have just restocked it in my shop, for those who missed out. I'm listing conservatively because I'm not 100% sure how much decent print area is on the roll. So if you find it sold out, check back again in a day or so and there might be more :)

In other news, Ink & Spindle has made it into the Melbourne Design Market this year! So we're busy stocking up. I must say, a year or so ago I wouldn't have even dreamed of getting a stall there. How things change :)

Oh also, just wanted to say a belated THANK YOU for everyone's lovely birthday wishes the other week! I totally forgot to say thanks :) And thanks in general for all your kind words and support about everything that's going on over here. It really does help in these exciting but somewhat scary new times.

Hand printed fabrics in the shop!

OMG so exciting, I've finally been able to update my shop with new fabrics. That we printed ourselves here in the Ink & Spindle studio - yay!


The new Birch in gold - note this print is MUCH LARGER SCALE than it used to be! And the gold is more 'sunny' than my previous gold colour.


Acacia in plum. Love this colourway. It's slightly discounted in price though due to the fact that it's printed on calico. Not that I mind calico in the least, it's a great colour & texture, just has a bad name for some reason.


Acacia in robins egg on organic cotton/hemp.


Birch in Fuchsia. This print is a bit patchy in places so it's discounted in price. But still good!!

New fabrics in production!

Down at the studio we're still traveling along the learning curve, fine tuning our processes and making things easier and smoother. We're still a little way off printing for other people but have done a bunch of test runs that are more than worthy of going in my shop! First they have to be heat-set though, so they wont appear in the shop for another week or so:


Acacia in plum on cream


New Birch test run on some white demin courtesy of Mattt


Printing the new Birch in gold - reach! (this is actually a lot easier than it looks)


Temporary drying solution (lucky we can offset our carbon emissions from this baby)


Acacia on natural, work in progress.

Tiny Decor

A little while ago I did a custom print run for Jackie of Tiny Decor Boutique, an online shop offering eco-friendly nursery decor for modern, eco-conscious parents.

And here's what they made from the fabrics!



New Organic Boudoir Pillows! They're available from Tiny Decor here for shipping in Continental US and here for shipping Worldwide.

Sprout Design samples!

I am soooooo belated in posting about this, but Bek from Sprout Design sent me printed samples of my designs that I supplied for the Sprout Designer Range! I'm really happy with how these turned out:


'My Little World' and complementary [thanks mum] prints for Sprout Design.

Learning curve like this --> /

Due to the two person requirements of our massive screens, printing times at I&S are restricted to after hours and weekends whilst the girls finish off their day jobs. We're still playing around with printing on sample fabrics, and it's going well.



The Acacia print in it's completed form. This is printed on a yellow/beige coloured Jersey that was donated to us so it's not worthy of sale as yardage methinks. But soon we'll print on 'proper' fabric I promise!


Mixing inks for the next test run. From this...


... to this. A familiar colour, anyone? Geez I love formulas.




Serious & stylish cleaning action from Teegs.

It's funny, the part of the process I was most concerned about was the actual act of printing, and being able to get a good result. So far that has probably been the smoothest and easiest part of all! Mixing the right amount of ink and cleaning screens without getting mess and water everywhere has been the hard part. But it's all part of the learning curve and we're learning heaps which is great.

Shearious Craftsperson

Okay that was officially the worst pun/dad joke ever, but I couldn't resist.

It was certainly not worthy of the subject matter which is this awesome pair of industrial shears I received for my birthday courtesy of the lovely Mattt and his partner Mel. Because now I am a 'serious craftsperson' hehe. I like that.

Here they are with my (wrong) hand for size context.



Mmmm. These will come very much in handy.

Our first print run

'OMG OMG OMG' - such was the soundtrack I provided to the girls during the last two hours we just spent in the studio. There's really nothing more exciting than screen printing one's own design onto fabric. By hand. In one's own studio. And the fact that our very first run of test prints was almost perfect - was just the icing on the cake.


My funny 'concentrating' facial expression


Tegan and Bianca at work

My excitement was only somewhat diminished by my inexperienced use of the high pressure water cleaner that left me (and everything else within the 'Dexter' curtain) covered head to toe in yellow ink whilst trying to clean the screen. But lessons were learnt, and all worked out in the end.


Clean screen behind the 'Dexter' curtain


Birch Forest screen ready to go (a little larger scale than before)

You can not imagine how much of a burden has been lifted from my shoulders to have that first run turn out so well. There have been so many fretful moments over the last few months. We've had some great guidance from yardage printing gurus around Australia ... but the end result was a sort of mish mash of everyone's advice which I just had to cross my fingers was going to be okay. And it was!


One test repeat of the wattle - looking good!!

We'll start printing on some proper fabric soon, and once it's printed and heat set I'll have some new stock for the shop :)

One more year

Peeking at Jhoanna's window display at Hudson - Photo by Kristen Doran

There's something different about the age 27, in my mind. 27 seems a lot older than 26. It's officially late 20s. By 27 you expect people to be well on their way to accomplishing things. Uni days left far behind and getting into their careers. My brothers were married and buying houses by this age. Not that I don't feel that I've accomplished enough but there's a certain extra level of self expectation now.

Anyway... that's my round-about way of saying that today is my birthday :) Just like any ordinary work day (I was spoilt by having my birthday always fall on school holidays) but I'm looking forward to Mum & Dad's this evening and my favourite 'hotpot' for dinner :)


Jhoanna's peg bears and other cuties Hudson - Photo by Kristen Doran

Surprise in the mail

I recently sent a bunch of fabric scraps to Sherrin from Starashan to make into badges, and look what she sent me in the post!



Gorgeous button badges, zipper pouch and gocco printed card. I love the way her labels are gocco prints onto bits of old dictionaries (I think) - classic! Hollabee recently received a similar parcel and I was coveting hers at the studio before arriving home to find my own :)



Thanks Sherrin!!

We've just spent two solid days down at the studio working on our table. Getting that surface right has possibly been the hardest and most stressful part of the whole operation but I'm happy to say it's gone completely smoothly! Now for the first test prints :)

Kristen Doran has come to stay for a couple of nights so we're off to see her work in an exhibition and then dinner at Movida which Deanna was kind enough to us a table for! Yay for busy, exciting days.

Birch revisited

Birch Forest has always been the most popular print in my collection, and I have to admit it's my favorite too. Most of my sewing projects have been made with this fabric.

However, there's always been a couple of things that slightly bother me about this print:

1) If I'm making something small, I can't always get enough birds or branches in the section of fabric I'm using.

2) The texture on the tree trunks isn't quite right.

Soooo, as I plan to reimage this design anyway at the new studio (full width, no less!), I'm taking the opportunity to change some things. But thought it might be wise to run them past you first!


Note that this is a particularly bird heavy section - there aren't always that many birds!

So... what do you think? *Nail biting ensues*

Lara Cameron flickr pool!

Thanks to a very insightful suggestion by the lovely Susan of Spin Spin - I've created a flickr pool for crafty projects made with my fabric!

http://flickr.com/groups/lara_cameron/pool/

A little indulgent I know - but so excited to see what appears there :)

Please go add stuff!

Ink & Spindle progress update

Things always seem to take longer than expected. Every time I find myself thinking 'we'll do our first print run in about two weeks', I invariably find myself thinking the very same thing again two weeks later.

Still, progress down at the studio might be slow but things are surely happening:

-We have a kitchenette and wash down area almost complete.
-The table is almost perfectly level and ready to have the printing surface applied.
-Screen frames are being made, ready for stretching.
-Ink & squeegees have been delivered.
-We've signed up for Naked broadband which could take up to 20 working days to activate (!?!)

I've also moved my work essentials down to the space and plan to spend tomorrow morning doing real work down there for the first time. Here's how my little corner is looking:



Loving it. Floorboards. Feature wall. A colour scheme. A renter's dream, really :)

Bird Softie Kits - Australian Homespun

Just a quick note to let you know that the bird softie kits for the Australian Homespun tutorial are up in my shop :)

Unfortunately they do not contain the actual instructions as those are exclusive to the magazine - so you'll have to go out and buy it :)


Australian Homespun bird softie kits

Australian Homespun project

Whilst I was totally distracted by the very Melbourne-esque turn of the seasons with the weather suddenly being all spring and sunshine like somebody clicked their fingers, it slipped my mind that it's now September and my article in Homespun magazine is out!



The article includes instructions I submitted for a softie bird project. And I had planned to have fabric kits available in my shop to go with it!!


A little interview


Instructions for making the birdie

I'll get onto the fabric kits today! So please pop by my shop in a day or two if you'd like to buy one. The fabrics will be the very same as used in the photos :)

a brief respite

We are getting so close to having the studio up and running and I am feeling almost giddy with excitement. There's still a lot of things to do - but we have all the pieces of the puzzle in sight and now it's a matter of waiting for them to arrive and then putting them all together.

This week Pete is home on Staycation (a concept that I love, and am starting to see pop up elsewhere on blogland), and I've taken the opportunity to chill out a little myself. I read a book for the first time in ages, and actually did some pattern designing!

I had told myself "no I can't do a wattle design because Tim Growcott has already done one", but it's funny how when you do something in your own style it turns out completely different!


Acacia © Lara Cameron


Acacia © Lara Cameron

I loooove how this print turned out and I hope you do too. I think it will be the first design I print in the new studio.

Mix pack love

I had a little spike in sales in the shop in the last few days, which I think is to do with a lovely mention from Loobylu! Thanks Claire!

I noticed that my shop is looking rather empty, so have hastened to put up a bunch more mix packs that I made the other day:


Fabric mix packs for the shop

I still have so much fun putting these little packs together.