New textile happiness

If you've been reading the Ink & Spindle blog you would have seen this already, but over the last couple of weeks we've been releasing a bunch of new prints & fabrics!

Firstly our 100% organic and Australian Made cotton jersey range:

Little Forest, Trams & Bicycles, Pirates & Sea Creatures and Seedling.

Secondly (I've been looking forward to this for ages), we released my Flowering Gum print:

Flowering Gum in Olive & Robins Egg

Flowering Gum in Red Orange & Stone

We're printing all the new prints on a woven basecloth too (some are still on the way):


Flowering Gum, Seedling & Little Forest cushions


Flowering Gum, Seedling & Little Forest cushions

It's been so much fun and so satisfying to see these designs come to life. We have lots more plans for them too.

In other exciting news, my flat was featured in the Herald Sun Home magazine today! Will post some pics soon once I have my camera with me :)

xx Lara.

Oooh...

Today I had to pop home briefly for a very exciting reason.

See if you can guess why.



Eeee! My current life goals are officially all complete.

Ink & Spindle Open Studio - THIS SATURDAY!

Hey everyone! We have an open studio this coming Saturday and we're VERY excited about it for a couple of reasons!

1) We will be launching our NEW JERSEY RANGE!! All new prints on all new fabrics, with a special focus on the little ones in your life. If you'd like a sneak peek of our new prints on jersey come visit us on Saturday!

2) Dana from Twiglet has moved into our studio - yay for a new studio buddy! Her wares will also be for sale PLUS she is having a garage sale of vintage fabrics and remnants!

As always there'll be printing demos and tea & bikkies too.

Saturday February 19th, from 10am-1pm at the Ink & Spindle studio.

Hope to see you here!

xx

A botanical study...

The cycle of a flowering gum

As you might have noticed, I've recently developed quite an interest in flowering gum trees. There are sooooo many varieties of Eucalypt and right now is the perfect time of year to study them :)

I went back to the local reserve where I originally gathered the branches for my flowering gum print, and managed to find examples of every single stage in the flowering process. I found it interesting that one single branch can exhibit many of the different growth stages at the same time. So it was easy to gather examples of each for a shoot!


The cycle of a flowering gum - from operculum to bud of stamen to gumnuts
(view the full sized version here!)

So here's how it works! In this variety, the flowering cycle starts with a cluster of "opercula" that begin quite small and grow to approx 2-3cm in length. Each operculum is essentially a little cap, and inside are clusters of stamen (This is where the Eucalypt gets its name - Eucalypt translates to "well covered").

Over time the stamen expand and force the caps off.* Some flowering gums just feature a single bud, whereas this species features a cluster of buds so the end result looks like a whole sphere of pretty stamen.

Once the flower begins to die, the stamen drop off, leaving beind just the cup shaped base - which lo and behold - become gumnuts!

*I remember when we were little we'd find those really long pointy ones on the ground that we'd put on the ends of our fingers and pretend to be witches with long fingernails ;)

So yeah, isn't that interesting??

And of course I couldn't leave you withour a sneak peak of the new Flowering Gum print finally on fabric :) It'll be in the shop soon!


Flowering Gum in Red Orange and Stone

A creative start

I know I'm not the only one who's seeing 2011 as an opportunity for a fresh start - a year with more focus on creativity and personal fulfillment, and time for the things that really matter.

And I'm so glad that 2011 has already started to feel different. The last two weeks in the studio have been spent planning the year ahead, keeping sight of our personal and professional goals (much the same, really), making the studio a more beautiful place to work, and most importantly... designing. I'm so excited to announce that we've got a whole suite of new designs about to be released, and ideas brewing for new ones - with a focus on pushing the boundaries a bit more.

Here's a sneak peak at a couple of new designs in the works, and how they came to life:


Flowering gum pencil sketches, drawn from some locally gathered specimens


Yellow flowering gum specimen, and the new print...


Little forest sketches and new print...

Can't wait to get these onto fabric!

-------------------------------------------
This week I am liking:

- The look of these ceramics classes. Going to sign up for one soon when finances allow!
- This photo from the floods.
- Quince Homewares who I visited today and had a lovely chat with Michelle.

xx

Flood Relief Auction at I&S!

Hey folks just a quick note to let you know that we're holding a litttle Flood Relief Auction over at the Ink & Spindle blog - one of our Allsorts Quilt Kits is up for auction. Please head over and bid!

xx

Vintage Australiana

I must say getting out of town is good.

Man friend and I took a trip up to the north of the state, read books and napped on the banks of the Murray surrounded by river red gums and went to cute places like Swan Hill and Echuca. And a trip to country towns is never complete without an absolute score at one of the antique shops:


Vintage Australiana tins - set of 3 for $15!


Vintage Australiana tins

I found these at the antique shop in Kerang where one of my best girly friends has been posted for 6 months. I use the term vintage loosely - I have no idea how old they are but they're totally up my alley with all the native flora and fauna. And the lids are pistachio coloured! They fit right into my kitchen :)

In other news, the last few days have been spent designing. Would you believe it? Not just designing but preparing actual finished designs for screens. Excitement indeed! Will post a sneak peak soon :)

xx

2011 begins!

HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!!!

Hey I just wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who left comments on my last post. They were very sweet, supportive and insightful and I appreciated them a lot.

2011 is off to a good start. Watched the fireworks from the "eel trap" bridge (and relived my childhood by making sparkler bombs), beach volleyball and BBQ with friends the next day, and today sketching and reading in the sun whilst man friend provided delicious food and snacks all day long. Can't complain, really.

And because a post is not complete without a photo, here's a picture of my fridge, because who says fridges can't look pretty and inspiring? (all the "real fridge" mess is hidden below ;)


Things and places that I like ... oh and how awesome are those Ginkgo leaf post-its?? Thanks Yong!

Hope your 2011 is off to a great start :)

xx

2010 farewell - and some honest thoughts

Achillea, real and sketched

So. 2010 is coming to a close. And what a year it has been. So much has happened yet it seems to have passed in the blink of an eye. For me, the year has been one of a lot of personal and professional growth. Not as much as I would have liked (on both fronts) but growth all the same.

I've spent this last week doing a lot of reflecting whilst on holidays. And I think my thoughts on the year can be grouped under two themes:

Anxiety & Acceptance
Like most people, I have lots of different anxieties, that affect me to varying degrees both socially and in the workplace. 2010 has been a year of recogising these and learning ways to manage them - definitely still a work in progress! An important part of that is acceptance. Both accepting myself for who I am, but also surrounding myself with lovely people who accept me & my quirks and don't push and pull me to be something else. And of course, doing the same for them in return :)

Inspiration & Intimidation
The hardest thing about 2010 for me has been the lack of creative inspiration. Running Ink & Spindle so often feels like a machine that constantly needs feeding. Opportunities for creativity have been centrered around working with our existing designs (new products etc) rather than developing new ones.

I want to be inspired again but also inspire others again. I look back at my work from a few years ago and miss all of that random creative expression that wasn't related to my work. And I miss how that made others respond and connect with me and my blog. I also see all of the amazing creative development going on around me (eg our friends at Harvest) and feel so intimidated by it all. I know that might sound crazy given what we have achieved so far but moving forward is still really important - both commercially and personally.

Anyway, I really want to bring inspiration and creative expression back into my life, and I'm really hoping our 2 week break away from the studio (and some time out of Melbourne!) will faciltate that.

Anyway enough rambling, here's some sketches from the last few days :)


Top - I've been toying with the idea of getting into ceramics again, hmmmm
Bottom - flowering eucalypts...


Birds!

Lastly, I just want to say a huge thank you to anyone out there reading this blog and commenting. It really does mean a lot to me. I hope next year I'll have more interesting and exciting things to share :)

xx

Lara.

Xmas in pictures

Hello all, I hope you and your family had a great day yesterday doing whatever celebratory things you do!

Ours is typically a very small Christmas, this year just the 5 of us. Here's some pics :)


Presents under the tree (gift tags by spin spin!) and a Kindle cover for my mum


The Kindle cover for my mum - nice to sew something non-work-related for once, and I love how the Kindle screen is just like paper


Musical family - the most awesome xmas cracker contents ever, and some serious concentration at the piano as my bro and I *attempt* to play a duet


The Xmas Pav - with passionfruit AND kiwifruit (don't tell Margaret Fulton)


The Xmas Pav - reduced to very little, very quickly

xx!

downtime

Annnnnnd, it's break time, yay!!

The holidays have been very well received so far. I've done some non work related sewing (no really!), had a lovely lunch with my girls, loaded up the car with presents and clothes and bike and Kitchenaid and driven (all of 20 minutes) to my folks place where I'm going to stay for a few days.


Mum's kitchen (+ my kitchenaid, which FYI I didn't buy)

Mum and I have been busy in the kitchen this morn. We've made the xmas Pav (somehow it took us 25 years to realise that nobody in our family actually likes pudding) which the Kitchenaid whipped into satiny peaks in a matter of seconds. So impressed! Proof will be in the eating though I guess.

I've got plenty more end-of-year thoughts to write but will do that soon... in the meantime, Merry Christmas for tomorrow!

xxxxxx

a weekend of xmas markets

Helllooooo! I'm back from an epic and thoroughly exhausting weekend.

Sunday saw Mikaela and I leaving town at 6am to head up to Ballarat for the day to attend The Design Exchange market. I'd left an xmas party and gone to bed early the night before but as irony would have it I couldn't get to sleep till 2am. Bah! Needless to say I was a bit vague all day.

But this is how our market stall looked at the start of the day, and how gorgeous is this building!? The market was held in the Mining Exchange building and it was such a great venue:


Ink & Spindle at The Design Exchange market

Our soon-to-be-studio-buddy Dana from Twiglet was also at the market - her stall was located in one of the many little alcove rooms that lined the central space:


Twiglet at The Design Exchange market

On Saturday I also managed to pop into the Harvest Xmas Market which was awesome! So many familiar faces and some new ones too, and so many people making amazing things!

It's funny, it's been ages since I've been inspired to actually buy anything at a Design Market, but these two markets had some great fresh stuff and I bought heaps. All for myself though, oops!


My xmas market loot. From left to right:
- Top by Sunday Morning Designs
- Screen printed Tshirt by Unit
- Porcelain bowl by Clay Body
- Hand painted bowl by Jedda Robaaard
- Screen printed card and gift tags by Spin Spin

All in all a great & inspiring weekend. I'm looking forward to having a couple of weeks off over Christmas so I can find time & space to create again. Soon, soon.

The Design Exchange - Ballarat

Just a quick reminder that Ink & Spindle will be at The Design Exchange market this coming Sunday in Ballarat! The market is going to be held in the gorgeous Mining Exchange building which I'm very excited about. Should be heaps of great designers there so if you live nearby please come visit!

The Design Exchange market, Ballarat - Sunday 19th December

xx Lara.

Open Studio tomorrow!

Wow I am terrible at remembering to blog about things like this! We mentioned it over at Ink & Spindle but I should have blogged it over here at the same time!

Nevermind, hopefully it's not too late and you still might be able to come join us for our very last Open Studio for the year! There'll be a printing demo and wares for sale and of course lots of bikkies and cups of tea and lollies.

Saturday 11th December 2010

10:00am - 1:00pm (printing demo at 11:00ish!)

206/10 Elizabeth St, Kensington

Hope you can make it!

xx

Lara.

P.S. - I really, REALLY can't believe it's December already. What happened to 2010?? It's been a very good year though :)

MARTit - tomorrow!

MARKit @ Fed Square - Sunday 28th November

Hey just a reminder that the MARKit Design Market is on tomorrow at Fed Square! I know it's going to be a pretty miserable rainy day tomorrow but don't let that stop you! The market is in the lovely Atrium area - just a short walk from Flinders St Station or there's parking at Fed Square.

Anyway I really hope you can make it along. I'm very excited about this market, more so than usual. Partly because we have an awesome new display setup and also because we have some great new products and kits. Excited to see how they go.

See you there! xx

Saturday

I think it says a lot about me that can get so very excited at the prospect of spending my Saturday afternoon taking photos of teatowels.

Granted, it partly involved being outside on a gorgeous sunny day, and also involved eating banana cake fresh from the oven, plus I got to spend some more quality time with my camera. Not to mention the fact that I'm excited about the teatowels themselves (a little side project we're working on).



I know teatowels aren't exceptionally innovative, but I like these a lot because:

1) It's nice to have just a little bit of finished product on our market stalls
2) They're made completely from scratch using a fancy hemming foot (by the talented Miki!)
3) Some of them are made from the very ends of our print runs, so the print only covers 2/3 of the teatowel and the rest is blank. I love this look! Sometimes I just get bored with seeing all-over prints every day and these feel a bit more like placement prints which is really refreshing. Am I sounding like a textile geek? I think so :)

Anyway here's some more random photos - I first tried taking the photos outside but like the indoor ones more.




Mmmmmmm banana cake (made by the man-friend, yay!)


Love how this idea for the labels turned out


Random photo (Someone needs to do some weeding)

Oh, if you actually want to buy some teatowels they'll be for sale at the MARKit design market NEXT SUNDAY 28th at Fed Square! Should be awesome. Hope to see you there!

xx

November

I've been veeeeery quiet on this here blog of late. It's been a weird kind of month full of dance practice and birthdays and illnesses and general lack of routine. Feeling a bit out of sorts and creatively frustrated, and in need of inspiration.

That said, we have been doing some fun things at the studio and making some new product, which is keeping me happy. Can't wait to photograph them :)

Speaking of photos, here's some vintage goodies I've picked up recently!


Vintage finds - wooden crate and little stool

I have always ALWAYS wanted one of these "vacuum oil company" crates with their awesome lettering. But they were always stupidly expensive if I found them. But thanks to a little second hand shop in Lorne, I stumbled across one at a reasonable price. Yay!

I found the little stool at a little organic food/second hand market in Sydney - thank you to my friend Dan who drove it back to Melbourne for me a few months later. I might recover the top or just leave it as is.


Vintage wooden crate (and ceramic by Christopher Plumridge)


Other things that I'm liking at the moment:

- This interview with Loobylu over on the Design Files blog - testament to the fact that creative inspiration is ever changing and life can be full of a myriad of creative pursuits

- Sharing our studio space with lots of lovely ladies - Katrina, Mikaela and Stina are our extras this month :)

- damnyouautocorrect.com - many tears of laughter to be shed

-Letters and Numbers - only the best gameshow-for-nerds (and Aspy's) ever. With a hot hot hot maths genius chick on it. SBS weeknights 6:00pm!

xx

Hello Monday

Hello! Just popping in with a quick post about random bits and bobs. It's amazing how a new camera makes it MUCH easier to capture little day to day things that make me happy and blog about them.

Here's some things from my Monday that made it a good start to the working week :)



We finally listed our new Allsorts Quilt Kit in the shop! Available in Pink, Red & Charcoal (pictured above) or Blue, Green & Charcoal (pictured below)


The Allsorts Quilt - kits available here.


Miki posing with one of our Sling Bags so I could update the pics in our shop (kit here!)


Our studio garden grows

I've been wanting to get a bit more greenery in the studio and finally bought these gorgeous little succulents for the windowsill. I have a Jade tree at home but I really like this variety with the smaller leaves! Very cute and bonsai-esque. I'm going to find some interesting tins and objects to use as pots. (and check out the cute little basket that Miki made for home!)

That's all for now. Fingers crossed for a smooth and productive week :)

xx

You Are Invited

Photography and styling by Gabriella Moxey

Who would have thought that it was over two years ago now that Ink & Spindle was born. Time has absolutely flown by and we've loved (almost) every minute of it!

Teegs and I would love, love LOVE you to come by and help us celebrate our 2nd birthday NEXT SATURDAY!

Everyone is invited, even if we've never met you before! Just rock up and enjoy the company of some lovely ladies and gentlemen, and we'll have plenty of drinks and snacks on hand.

RSVP to info@inkandspindle.com.au or leave a comment on this post.

Hope to see you there!!

Twiglet

Dawwwh Twiglet, you make such gorgeous things!!

Twiglet's Eartha Dress in Acacia

Had to share xx

Hrmmm

My god. I fail at quiet time. Teegs and I have taken yesterday and today off as a substitute weekend and my head has really struggled with it. I'm so used to being busy busy busy.

Yesterday I visited Shanny & Tom at their new Elevenses Espresso Bar, and had a delicious roo toastie, pear danish and coffee. Mmmmmm. Today I've just pottered and cleaned and entertained the neighbourhood cat who decided to come upstairs to my flat.

I also took a trip to Poyntons which is my favourite plant nursery, and bought some new parsley seedlings and some Begonias because I like red flowers in planter boxes. I would have bought Geraniums but apparently they're not so partial to growing indoors.


planter boxes by www.boxmygarden.com.au



cute ceramic garden label by Little Jane Street

Back to work tomorrow, and another epic few weeks ahead it seems!

xx

Flora

Exhausted after Finders Keepers so taking a couple of days off. I've written more about the market over here on the Ink & Spindle blog :)

Meanwhile, a pretty photo of some native flora that I put together for the market stall - just using the branches that were still good from an old bunch of natives.




Native flora in bottles (couldn't decide which photo I liked more)

I think I'm going to do this random bottle thing again every time I buy a bunch of flowers! I like how it makes you appreciate each one.