About 6 months or so ago, Sumiko introduced me to printing on t-shirts with freezer paper. Basically, it's an easy way to create a stencil to then print on fabric (this is a great tutorial if you are interested).
Since I've been wanting to experiment with different ways of printing on fabric, I recently thought I'd try the freezer paper method again to see how realistic it is to make more detailed stencils.
I quickly found that it can be done, but it's terribly time consuming to trace and then cut out each letter (with an x-acto knife). I definitely think freezer paper stencils work best for more simple designs.
However, I did have a lot of fun making these t-shirts for our super good friends, Noa and Julie (to celebrate their 8th anniversary).
I love my new camera (that Herman got me for my birthday), but the thing I was NOT loving was the giant neck strap that it came with. That neck strap would look big on an SLR, let alone this little guy. And since I'm sort of a klutz, and I tend to drop things...I figured that I was going to need something to secure the camera to me.
I found Lilybug on Etsy and was immediately smitten with her hand made wrist straps. I emailed her to see if she had any other fabric choices (she did!) and I chose this cute little Japanese apple fabric.
I love it, it stays securely where it should, and it came with a secret added feature: husband repellent! Herman says he just can't be seen carrying around a camera with such a girly wrist strap. ha!
I also want to thank you all for letting me know your thoughts on our big kitchen wall art decision. It's so much fun! While choice number one is clearly the favorite (and with good reason!), we're leaning more towards choice number 2 and I'm totally fine with that (although I did purchase this little guy to go with on our living room wall...I think he'll fit in quite nicely there). One we make a final decision and get the prints framed and hung, I'll definitely come back with photos.
We've lived in our town house for over a year and so far, haven't done anything with this wall in the kitchen:
So we've been thinking, thinking, thinking and have narrowed in down to three (um...pretty great) options. We can't decide, so I'm calling on all of you to weigh in. Seriously. Even if you weigh in anonymously, I'm really interested in all of your opinions. Because that's the way we roll around here.
Alright, option number 1: This set of four prints by the immensely talented Blanca Gomez. They are 8.5"x11" and I'd probably hang them in a row.
Option number two: We already have the polar bear print by Jay Ryan, and could add to the collection with one or both of these. They are 20"x26".
Option number 3: We could purchase these old movie posters which were designed by my all time favorite graphic designer, Saul Bass. It'd be one of the only ways to have some of his work displayed in our house. They'd be the standard poster size, 24"x36".
I spent Friday afternoon in the City with my new friends Jess and Jenn (of Vista Bella Photography!). We started with coffee/tea/hot chocolate at Tartine Bakery in the Mission, then hit some of my favorite shops on 16th Street (Jess found a great shirt at Sunhee Moon) before heading over to the Haight for a bit more shopping (Doe!).
I found some super cute things at Doe: this little doe pin and this magnetic Decole Red Riding Hood hook (I'd recently seen it on someone's blog and was super excited to actually find it!). Then we hit another great store (which I'm totally blanking on the name) where I found replacement juice glasses for ones I'd found years ago and broke (I seriously never dreamed that I'd ever see those again). Lastly we went into a little vintage store where I found these owl salt and pepper shakers...which make me ridiculously happy. Yup.
Thanks for spending the afternoon with me Jess and Jenn!
In other staying busy news, I'm currently printing the wedding invites I designed for our friends Bryan and Jen. I'll post photos when they're all done!
While I was at RISD, Herman and I were lucky enough to catch a screening of the documentary "Helvetica" followed by a Q&A with the director, Gary Hustwit. It's an incredible film, full of the fun, geeky things that we graphic designers love, great interviews with some of the top graphic designers (a couple who I was lucky enough to see/listen to at RISD), a beautiful homage to one of the most ubiquitous typefaces, and in general a great description of what graphic designers do. Seriously, if you haven't seen it, you should definitely check it out.
And just this weekend I read about his new film, "Objectified", a documentary about industrial design and our relationship with manufactured objects. This is now on my must see list (see both trailers below).
This is such old news that it's almost embarrassing.
Back in January, when Target announced that they would be releasing a line of Orla Kiely goods, I, along with the rest of the design blogosphere people, was incredibly excited. But when they actually released the line, I was in Australia...so I had my friend Wendy on the lookout for the one thing that I really wanted: a set of the pear canisters.
Unfortunately, at least here in CA, her stuff went really fast and reduced me and my friends to a bit of a crazed state where we visited every Target within reasonable driving distance (multiple times a week) trying to get our hands on something Orla Kiely. Some stores had stuff. Others didn't. It was crazy (And I have to say a huge thanks to both Wendy and Susan who at different times managed to grab me some really great stuff...just not the ellusive pear canisters).
Since I couldn't find the canisters, I decided to just order them online, knowing it would take a bit longer, but at least I'd get them. Um. That was on February 15th. Yeah.
Last week I called them and was told that, hey, look at that! They're shipping tomorrow. Tomorrow came and I still didn't get a shipping notice from them.
So then (yes, this story has an ending) yesterday, I needed to run to Target and since I didn't want to drive all the way to Cupertino or San Mateo to hit the good Targets, I ran to the one close to our house. The dreaded dark cave Target that lives in some other dimension and rarely has a good selection of anything. And guess what they had. Yup, and entire display of Orla goods...including numerous sets of the canisters! Even stranger was the fact that other Targets had been clearancing this stuff for the past few weeks.
So finally! I am a proud and happy owner of a set of Orla Kiely pear canisters.
Now I just have to figure out what I want to actually do with them.
I'm a graphic designer living in the San Francisco Bay Area with my amazing husband and our needy cat. This blog is a place for me to talk about life, design, and the things that inspire me.
