I Can't Wait!

2 More Days 'til Renegade

I'm pretty prepared for the craft fair, but will try to squeeze in a couple more new prints before Saturday. Here is the Layout of the fair, and I'm not too far away from the entrance, yay! I am so thankful that I am sharing the booth with Kimberly of Chez Sucre Chez (aka Ms. Thread of Thread and Butter), she is the queen of D.I.Y. and has a lot of good ideas on setting up our booth, AND she's a lot of fun to hang out with. I'm so excited for my very first craft fair!

p.s. I made this banner out of heavy weight canvas (I didn't realize how heavy it is, but it looks really nice!). My CW logo in this pic is just a digital mock-up, it will be made with felt. Kimberly's logo will go on the left.

Print of the Day

If I were a candy maker I would make taffies that look like color pencils. And they would come in these flavors- blueberry, green apple, strawberry, and lemon. This print will be available at Renegade Craft Fair and my Etsy shop.

Amy has done it again!

The very talented Amy Ruppel has a show at Grassy Knoll Gallery in Portland and I am so thrilled to share with you some of the highlights from the show. For this show, Amy did some textiles with block printing and rubber stamping, she said she can alter the colors as she goes along, and she likes how the repeats don't line up and not fully linked (I do too!!!). And look at the curtain, how adorable is that?!!! Amy has also made some ceramic bird houses and wooden houses that I absolutely heart! If you are in Portland or planning to go there within the next 3 months, make sure you go see this show.photos: Amy, thanks!

Busy Shooting

Earlier this morning I was busy shooting all the new prints, here are some of my faves. Some of them are available at my Etsy shop now, I will add more everyday for the rest of the week. And you will see all of them if you can make it to Renegade Craft Fair this Saturday and Sunday, I'm at Booth 81!

Mina Perhonen

Occasionally I buy Japanese fashion magazines and would see beautiful clothes by this designer and I've always thought it's a Scandinavian designer who happens to be very popular in Japan. Today after reading a wonderful post on Bloesem, I found out that Mina Perhonen is actually the creation of a Japanese guy called Akira Minagawa. I love everything about this label, from the simple and easy to wear silhouettes of the clothing, the vintage Scandinavian and Japanese-inspired textiles, and the iconic mid-century chairs upholstered with Mina Perhonen fabrics. I also love the decor of the stores, how cute is that balloon chandelier?!photos: Mina Perhonen

A Couple of Re-Prints

I've been so busy making prints that I haven't had the time to stock up my Etsy shop... my bad! I will add some of the new prints to my shop by tomorrow, I promise.
The original version of these 2 prints are almost sold out on Etsy, so it's the perfect time to re-print a second version for Renegade Craft Fair! I love the Gocco navy blue ink so much that I used it on both of these prints. Another thing I learned this morning about Gocco is to avoid printing on a hot and humid day (it is 93 degrees and so humid in NYC today!!!). The orange dots on the goldfish prints was a total disaster, it was bleeding like mad and was printing inconsistently, so I killed the dots and I'm so glad that the print turned out much cuter and subdued w/o that bright orange!

5 More Days to Gocco

Here are some prints that I did over the weekend. I wish I could have done more, I'm still learning how to make fail-proof Gocco prints. This weekend I learned that I should let a print-out sit for a few hours before exposing a screen, and have extra batteries available at home in case they die, the life-span of the C batteries are so unpredictable and you want to make sure they have enough power to properly expose the screen.

Some New Stuff

I printed on the covers of these moleskine mini note books. They're pretty cute, I'll see if people will be into them...

Late Post Today

I'm meeting my good friend Miki this morning, and running lots of errands after that, but I'll try to upload some photos of my latest prints this afternoon!

Rachel Joode

From afar you see a geometric pattern in pretty colors, but if you look a little closer you would see feminine silhouettes within the pattern, and if you look at the close-up you would see that it's actual a model in an angular pose. Rachel Joode is a fashion photographer who created these op-art wallpapers with fashion models. In her work she wants show more than the common "Strike the Pose" fashion shoot, she wants to use the collective memory of her generation and finds inspiration in everyday life. She makes her models act, like in a surrealistic, absurd play, without neglecting the glamor and symbolism of fashion photography. Truly beautiful and innovative!photos: soonsalon.com

This Week at Squirrel Park

Our park right outside of our building should really be called the Squirrel Park. We have lots of very friendly and tamed squirrels that would sit on the park bench with you! Of course they wouldn't mind getting some nutty treats from you as well. I Goccoed some note cards in honor of these furry-tailed friends! I made them for Renegade Craft Fair, but will also be available on Etsy in mid June.

Portable Silk Screen Machine

Don't get me wrong, I love my Gocco, but I find this Elshopo portable silk screen machine very intriguing, it uses the same screen-printing supplies that you could find at your local art store. Like a Gocco, this machine also exposes screens (using sun light), makes prints, and it has a foam pad to keep the paper or T-shirt from sliding. The unit is shaped to perfectly fit your t-shirt for silk-screening. I also like the packaging- a box with casters and cute graphic, how convenient! It is a special edition with a Japanese design crew Loworks. Now I just wish that it is not 1200 Euro (whoa that is steep!), guess I'll stick with Gocco.photos: computer love, elshopo

Five What Happened???

In case you wonder what happened to Five Whats, I've been busy preparing for Renegade Craft Fair which is less than 2 weeks away. But I promise it will be back in a couple of weeks!

THE Scarf to have

Strath of Pacific Standard wrote a good piece on Sunshine and Shadow yesterday, and since I mentioned scarves earlier, I should write about THE scarf that you MUST have. My dear friend Lily's tie-dye scarves are made of 100% silk and each one is hand-dyed with love and care, how special is that?! I love all the super bright neon colors, they are the perfect way to dress up a plain dark outfit! Lily's summer collection is available at these stores.

p.s. I hope that the 3 posts today will make up for the light postings this week, and I was such a downer yesterday, my bad!
photo: pacific-standard

Vera Scarves on Etsy

I subscribe to the daily Etsy Finds, and today I'm thrilled to see that there are some beautiful vintage Vera scarves for sale, here are some of them. Vera Naumann was a textile designer whose scarves were very popular in the 50's and 60's. Another great place to look for Vera scarves is Ebay.photos: Etsy

The Best Shopping Tote

I love carrying tote bags and I usually use a plain black canvas one because I have a hard time finding a good looking one. A couple weeks ago we went to MoMA shop's Destination Japan reception and saw this Roo Shopper Jellybean bag and I thought it is the perfect tote! Not only the graphic is so cool but the shape of the tote is perfect, the wider handles support the heavy content in your bag and are easy on your arm. It's made of sturdy polyester and has an outer zip pocket for your wallet or cell phone. Seems like a lot of people love this high-quality bag with a reasonable price tag, it is currently back-ordered at the MoMA online store! There are a lot more designs and styles if you go on Roo Shopper's Japanese website, I don't care for those Andy Warhol bags that are sold in the US but I heart this Campbell soup tote and the shoes shopper! Wonder if there are stores in the US that sell these bags other than MoMA?photos: moma shop, and roo shopper