just a little something fresh

Just popping in quickly to add a bit of colour and brush off some cobwebs. I only have two more weeks left of Uni and then I am a free lady to blog as much as I would like to.

Until then - back to the books!!

white on oatmeal

Yes! A twiggy tea towel. Was nice to be back in the studio today and to print a new design. Am really loving the texture of these oatmeal tea towels and am rather pleased with how they turned out.

quilted cuff

What began as a quick little gift idea for a friend - this afternoons cuff making turned into such a great way to use up small scrap pieces of fabric lying around in my studio that I ended up not just making the one, for my friends birthday, but a whole heap of them. Perhaps they may just have to come along with me to the next handmade market...

twiggy

This is a new pattern that I have been working on - inspired by a little arrangement of twigs that I was playing around with. I think it still needs a little tweaking but am pretty happy with it so far.

handmade living

Am very excited to be able to share with you all, a sneak peak of the gorgeous new creation of the handmade market and shop handmade team. In support of both these highly successful ventures - is a publication that features many talented designers and inspiring ideas, how-to's and much more.

I may even have a little something to share with you all in there too - but you will just have to wait to find out what!! Luckily we don't have to wait too long - it is due to be released early December...just in time for Chrissy!! You can even pre-order a copy here!!

Formosa Design

Pictures by Formosa

One of the great things about being a resident at Megalo Print Studio is getting the opportunity to meet other designers such as the lovely Jennifer Berney of Formosa Design .

Formosa, which is Latin for 'beautiful', is true to its name. The hand-printed textile range which is inspired by Australian nature is beautifully printed on high quality 100% organic cotton hemp fabric - using water based inks. This wonderful blend of natural design and process is brought together to create a gorgeous hand crafted range - including cushions, t-shirts, bags, tea towels and more.

You can read more about Formosa and her gorgeous collection here!

Buckles

Ha! Found it, finally! Having just retrieved this image from the buried file, full of disregarded pattern ideas and random experimentation - I am inspired to dust it off and reconsider its potential as a fabric print. With the new range that I have in mind - well, I think so. Stay tuned!

Line

Maija Louekari

Miina Äkkijyrk

Gosia Wlodarczak

Gosia Wlodarczak

I have been preoccupied with line imagery lately and thinking about a new direction for my work. Not that I plan on moving away from the organic shapes and textures that I have become comfortable with - but more a way of complementing and exploring these elements.

Last year, in exploring ideas in my honours work, I experimented briefly with a bind contour drawing of suitcase buckles in my collections and put this drawing into a repeat design. I remember being really intrigued by the finished pattern (which I am desperately trying to find in my poorly organised hard drive) and thinking about exploring this idea further. Blind contour drawing is a process I really enjoy and often a starting point for my design process.

Above are some artists who instantly spring to mind when I think about line and design. Marimekko designers; Maija Louekari and Miina Äkkijyrk and Gosia Wlodarczak's work are examples of the energy and freedom that I am interested in exploring - combined with bold areas of colour! My mind is already full of ideas!

Nami Yamamoto

Radiant Flux (detail), 2008,
handmade paper: abaca with phosphorescent powder

Miniature Garden, 2006, cut paperMiniature Garden, 2006, cut paper

So, I may have let my little weekly 'pocket collection' series slide, for now, but may have just come accross the inspiration to kick me in the bum and begin collecting and arranging again. Yamamoto uses her disparate collection of natural and man-made ephemera to inspire her beautiful paper-cut series. Her arrangements are simply stunning!

New Shop Handmade display

I have borrowed these images off the gorgeous Shop Handmade blog which captures their new shop display featuring loads of my products. Very exciting, indeed! Can you spot the chickens? These were a creation of my mother (aka, second bird) using off-cuts of my hand printed fabric. Thank you, Handmade ladies! You're wonderful :)

making up for lost time | happy things and sharing the love

To get my blog rolling again after my long absence, I aim to honor a blog award I was given by the lovely Jo, over at Joe Bloggs. Admittedly, I am usually rather lazy when it comes to things like this and often guiltily let them slide.

The rules of the award are:

1. Thank the award giver (done!)

2. List 10 things that make you happy.

3. Pass this award on to 5 others.

10 things that make me happy

1. The number one happiest of all is, of course, my beloved pooch Xena! She is an endless source of entertainment and after almost 7 years of snoring loudly at my feet, I really can't imagine life without her goofyness.

Xena boating

2. Brooches! I have accumulated quite a collection over the years and really don't believe an outfit is complete without one.

3. Cardigans. What better place to put a brooch then on one of these classic pieces of clothing.

4. Orange things. Another rather obsessive compulsion.

5. Op-shops and flea markets. Great places to find orange things.

6. Long baths. A few bubbles and a good book and I can quite happily kiss a few hours goodbye.

7. Pattern and colour. Well, it wouldn't really be very textiles student of me not to have a happy place in my heart for these.

8. Art journals. My handbag would feel naked without a moleskin, a glue stick and scissors. You never know when that inspiring idea may come along that you need to document straight away.

9. My studio. It is in boxes at the moment until I move into my new house (which has a spa bath!! oh, happy place) and I feel really weird not having all my bits and pieces around. Here is a pic of my old studio space at art school last year. I love to surround my creative space with inspiration.

10. Blogging. An endless of source inspiration and happy connections and conversations with friendly, creative like minded people.

Now to share the love

Am passing the happy baton onto the following:

1. To a lovely new blogger, Jiah. Also a student at the ANU, School of Art. We were students together and Jiah is now in her final year and is very much a watch-this-space designer. Her patterns are gorgeous and I encourage everyone to visit her gorgeous blog!

2. Handmade romance. Her beardy brooches make me smile!

3. Betty Jo of Lino Forest. I happen to have three of her brooches and I think you all should too!

4. Colour and Sound. Because her turquoise collection is to die for.

5. And finally, Nicole of freshly blended. Her beautiful blog is consistently gorgeous and this girl has one amazing eye for great design!

blog infidelity

It has been way too long between posts!

I am ashamed to admit that I have been cheating on this blog with another and it was a painful experience, indeed. The "other" one was part of an assessment item in the full-time course that I have committed myself to this year. Full-time being an understatement!! Between all the essays, pracs, presentations and..ahem...blogs, I haven't really had much time, let alone head space for this blog. But things are about to change as I am moving into my winter break and a new exciting few months ahead.

At the end of last year at the ANU grad show, I was awarded a three month residency at Megalo Print Studio in Canberra which was part of the School of Art's Emerging Artist's Support Scheme. I will be embracing this opportunity to develop new patterns and colours, followed by a new range of wares to showcase them. Ideas are already in process so stay tuned!

Some very exciting news! The shop handmade, GRAND OPENING! Friday 16 April at 9am!

Shop Handmade is the extension of the very successful Handmade Market and will showcase a huge selection of talented designers and handmade goodness. Head on over to their blog where you can get updates and sneak peaks of whats in store at this exciting and stylish new addition to Canberra's city centre.

happy easter everyone!!!

canberra handmade market

What a weekend!

My very first Canberra Handmade Market was a huge success and went off without a hitch. I had loads of positive feedback and clever suggestions which has left me brimming with new ideas.

The new location at the Kamberra Wine Company had a really great atmosphere and the friendliness of the other stall holders and the super amazing organisers made the whole day a really enjoyable experience!

and the winner is...

...Lucky ( or sometimes not) number 13. Congratulations Phill!! Thanks to random.org, you are the proud new owner of this here lovely, hand printed tea towel. And thanks to Phill's awesome suggestion - this series now has the new name of spin cycle!!

Thank you to all the lovely comments and ideas. It would have been so hard to choose a name myself. Hooray for computer generated randomness!

partly cloudy

As previously mentioned, I have been decorating some cute little vintage plates with cloudy shapes. This is for a group exhibition that I am part of, called Partly Cloudy.

Partly Cloudy is a group show which will invoke a variety of interpretation of one of the most beautiful and fleeting, natural formations - the cloud. A group of Canberra based artists will assemble their work throughout the exhibition space creating a quirky, beautiful and billowing experience that will leave you wanting to lie down and watch the clouds go by.

I am very excited and can't wait to see all the other ideas and interpretations at the opening night. Will take lots of photos!

turbine cushion

From the kitchen to the couch, the turbine print has found a new home. I was quite excited about getting away from the books yesterday and playing around on the sewing machine and was rather pleased with how these cushions turned out. Can't wait to so some more!

pocket arrangement | week 8

With assignments coming out my ears and exhibitions and markets to prepare for, my little arrangement series has been put on hold. In fact, nice long walks with the dog have become quick throws of the ball and then back to the books, which has meant less collecting. This afternoon I made the effort and took the time to look around and find some new objects. There were lots of cute curly gum leaves that were catching my attention today!



Have crammed two weeks into one to catch up so excuse the rushed arrangements. Will try and find some time to draw some inspiration from them soon!

pocket arrangement | week 7

sneak peek

Have been busy decorating some cute little vintage plates for an upcoming exhibition. More info soon!

GIVEAWAY!!!

Lucky I looked in my diary just now otherwise I would have completely forgotten that today is my blogaversary! That's right, one whole year of blogging!

To celebrate, I have decided to have a giveaway of my most recent printing excitement...the wind turbine tea towel!

To enter, just leave a comment with perhaps a suggestion of a more exciting name for this series. Wind turbine tea towel just sounds so drab but is the best that my poor, stressed out brain can think of right now. For an extra chance to win, perhaps a little blog post to spread the love!

Winner will be announced on March 14. Good luck!

turbine tea towel

Was so nice to get back into printing again today. I haven't had my hands on a squeegee since the end of Honours and was really beginning to miss the process.

I had the chance to print the Wind Turbine pattern which I designed for the wind wash exhibition, organised by Megalo Print Studio/Galley for next month. Am really happy with how it turned out and can't wait to experiment with different colours.

moving house

The last few weeks for me has been absolutely nuts! Have committed myself to an extra year of full-time study and was completely unprepared for how intense the work load is. It has only been two weeks and all the reading is making me feel dizzy!

On top of this I have been moving house, which is always a huge ordeal for me as I am a ridiculous hoarder, with a 'compulsive collecting disorder' as I am now calling it after realising just how many suitcases I actually own. They had been pretty spread out at my previous house, hidden in cupboards, stacked in the garage and arranged in my studio. It wasn't until I piled them all together and needed to make an extra trip just for them that I realised it's probably time to stop purchasing them!

Not the best photo, but you can get the general idea!

canberra handmade market

Some very exciting news that I have to share is my acceptance to participate in the very lovely Canberra handmade market (and being included in their very stylish advertising above!!). This is a quarterly market that showcases some very crafty and talented folk with a focus on handmade goodness.

This will be my very first market experience and I am currently busy working away making things from my previous designs and developing some new ones which will have their debut at the market.

pocket arrangement | week 6

pocket arrangement | week 5

There really is something about flat, rusted bottle tops. They always catch my attention and I go through phases of collecting them and then chucking them out. Am happy to have finally given them a purpose by including them in my arrangements. I love the organic, circular shapes of them, which is a shape that I am constantly drawn to and appears in quite a lot of my designs.

This weeks arrangement is loaded with pattern inspiration. Especially the acorn shapes. Lovely!

wind turbines

Another pattern idea for "windwash". I think I'm liking this one better for a tea towel print, I think?

pocket arrangement | week 4

My walk yesterday was amongst lots of gum trees as you can tell by these arrangements. Very gum nutty, indeed!

wind turbines

This is a (very rough) repeat pattern idea that I am working on for an upcoming group exhibition that I am going to be a part of.

The theme is "winds of change" and will consist of printed tea towels that will be hung around certain locations in country NSW. It sounds like it will be really lovely. Will post more information about it soon.

digital drawing

pocket arrangement | week 3

Its exciting that this arrangement series will also act as a tangible reminder of road trips and places I visit, as well as walks with my dog. This particular arrangement has a number of coastal treats from our drive home from Bellingen yesterday. Its nice to observe the different colour variations from different areas.