More reasons to visit Textile Center in Minneapolis

As of this week, you can find my wares in the retail shop at Textile Center on University Avenue in Minneapolis. If you've never been, it's a unique treasure we are lucky enough to have in the Twin Cities. Textile Center is a national center for all kinds of fiber art, and features an extensive library, gallery, dye lab, classroom studio space (and classes!), and a gift shop with outstanding, unique pieces from artists in wide-ranging textile arts. I'm honored to be part of such a cool collection. Find out more about Textile Center here.

Studio peek

Happy 2009! You'd think by now --with a blog that advertises going behind the scenes-- that I'd have actually shared a tour of my studio. Sadly enough, I have yet to share any true behind-the-scenes looks. I'm fixing that now! Here are some starter shots of my studio space at rest.



1) Part of my ink stash. I often mix new ink every time I print, and I usually have some left over. If I'm lucky, I can use a color again up to a few months later as long as it's kept sealed tightly.




2) My very gritty looking washout station. This is our basement utility sink, which has been taken over with screen rinsing supplies and a curtain. Having water in studio is critical to not having ink dry in a screen.




3) A special screen hinge (holding a screen). This hinge is one of two mounted directly on my printing table, which allows me to clamp my screen into a fixed position, but also be able to lift it up between prints.




4) What's cool about these hinges is that they have a thickness on the underside, shown here, that keeps the screen's mesh off the printing surface until the squeegee forces it down.

And that's today's ten-cent tour; stay tuned for a look at printing in progress.

I hope your new year is going well so far!

We're back... at Etsy!

Happy days are here again: our online store is back online! Things are a bit different, though: I'm trying out Etsy.com as the store's home. I think it will provide a lot of flexibility for introducing new designs, as well as a great shopping experience. Not all of my wares are at the Etsy store just yet, but some brand new pillows are starting things out. The placemats and table runners will be migrating over day by day. If you're looking for something specific that's not there yet, just ask. And keep an eye out, since more will be showing up every week. Click here to visit, and happy shopping!

The Newest Developments

Our very own baby boy arrived in March. Hellooo, parent-hood!!

As you may have noticed, the online store is temporarily closed. We are taking it easy this spring and summer as we get to know our baby. He's a great boy: very cute, at least two chins. He's not into screenprinting yet, but he smiles often (never for the camera) and is really into rolling over onto his tummy right now. Which makes him cry. Until I rescue him and place him on his back. And then he does it again. Fun times.

I will be stealing time here and there for creating some brand-new patterns to introduce not too far in the future. Though, it's amazing how much time a little one takes. Thanks for bearing with us as we get geared up for our next design season. I promise we'll be back before too long with new offerings. For now, get over to Cooks of Crocus Hill in Saint Paul and Edina, where we have a fresh batch of cool placemats!

Fun with Design*Sponge!

Today is an especially fun day, because a recent project is getting some love on one of my favorite online destinations, Design*Sponge! It was nice enough to be mentioned in the D*S Twin Cities Design Guide mere weeks ago, and now this:

Jen at Painted Fish Studio contacted me about rehabbing a family heirloom, a really cool barrel-backed chair. Jen is a talented designer in her own right, and we had a great collaboration together deciding what the best print, fabric and ink color would be for her chair. We are both thrilled with the end product, and thanks to Jen, Grace at Design*Sponge has featured it in today's Before and After segment. Check it out right here! Thanks, Jen and Grace!

PS: Jen has a brand-new Etsy shop, stocked with lots of cool goodies right here.

Postcards from the jungle

It's the end of July, and that means one thing: peak garden season. Since I have so many botanical designs going on right now, I thought I'd share a few snapshots of one of my favorite sources of inspiration, my backyard garden. Most if not all of my current botanical patterns were plucked quite literally out of this postage-stamp-sized, city lot of green. Truth be told, I haven't spent much time out here lately maintaining things. The plants are kind of jumbled at the moment and taking over, but perhaps we'll just call the look "cottage" and it will seem intentional?

On another note, the online store is officially launched and out of "beta" mode. Woo hoo!

Sweet!

That's the feeling at having finally finished building my online store. It took way too much time in front of a computer screen and way too much time re-learning HTML (and even a little java), so that means my "dork subscription" is now fully renewed. (Never fear; I may be going for high style, but I will always be the girl who longed to wear eyeglasses just to look smarter.) The store "beta" launched today (to go public a bit later), and has a small collection of items that are ready to ship. I'll be adding some of my newest designs very soon. Now that I am done with all that coding, I can get back to the fun part.