Holiday Club Screenprint Workshop

Holiday Club screenprinting bags with kids, originally uploaded by Helen Rawlinson.

A printathon, bags galore, then t-shirts the following week. Just something I've been doing over the hols! See them all on my Flickr

Sunday Sewing....from Tea Towel to Tote

From Tea Towel to Tote, originally uploaded by Helen Rawlinson.

So much happening but no time to post. A birthday present to a friend inspired these new tote bags, made from my tea towels no less! I've just dropped them in my Not On The High Street Shop and will be adding them to Etsy very soon. I think a little tutorial might be in order. Watch this space!

Holidays and time for chaos

My lovely boy has just finished his first reception year at school.  He seems to have had such a great time and we're lucky to have such a nice school so near to us.
Time for chaos and disorganisation but hopefully some good old fashioned play. I'm looking forward to blogging a few of our days out for a change!
I dashed to the studio this morning to continue my back log of printing/making etc. etc (Stan went off to the cinema with his dad).  This gorgeous little tray arrived in the post while I was mid print, so I had to take a pic, along with my new mugs we fired last week  (I broke one in the process, outdoor windy weather hazards!).  I also took a few new tea towel shots as the last lot looked a bit cold.
Anyway, enjoy your summer everyone.  I'll be back soon. x

I found this via a rather lovely Treasury I was featured in thanks to Barbara from vintage Etsy shop Look On My Treaures  It's by Vera Neumann for Mikasa (I already have a plate see here) and I'm becoming a big fan.  I bought the tray from Kelly at another great vintage shop Patch Happy Pauper.  Sadly due to my rather impulsive purchase it was removed from the treasury during the RESERVED process of organising UK Shipping.  Luckily Kelly was very happy with the sale and I'm now a very happy collector!

Another shot at the tea towels and my new mugs now on Etsy

Poppytalk Handmade - the table is laid!

Just a quick note to say I'm pleased to be On The Road this month over at Poppytalk Handmade.
You can find my table here
There are some lovely shops, so I'll be sure to report back on my finds when I get another minute!

Etsy Loves

I am a big voyeur on Etsy and am not shy of liking lots of things.  If I bought everything I wanted I'd be seriously out of pocket.  Occasionally, I do actually buy something because I just can't resist.  The above little brooch is one such thing and when it arrived I fell in love! Cute or what?  Character, detail, frivolity, patience..it's all there in this mini miaow.

But now I want this one!
The lovely thing about Adatinė ( a partnership of friends, Elena and Ieva from Lithuania) is that new things keep popping up all the time and they are all just as appealing as the next.  So I better not look for a while or I'll have a whole menagerie pinned to my cardi in no time at all!
The clothes are lovely too!


I'm pretty sure I found Adatinė originally through Debbie over at Kickcan and Conkers.  Always a good place to go, to point you in the direction of lovely, unusual finds!

I'd love to pull up all the gorgeous things I spy and shout about them here on my blog...but it all seems to take so much time.  It's not all just about me, me, me, honest!  So, bravo to those that do find the time, where would we be without them? 
Hooray for the rare occasion that I do write a post like this, but in the meantime I'll just keep on adding to my Etsy faves, or hop on over to Pinterest and you'll find me there - pin, pin, pinning...on my big, fat mood board of everything!

Right, I really am done for the weekend. x

Moroccan Tile goes Tea Towel Tastic!

So I'm a bit excited and my titles are getting rather corney...but I'm very happy to present my new tea towels.
As I never seem to have enough time in the day, I've gone down the production line and had a whole heap of these printed onto gorgeous organic cotton. Available in blue and red in my Etsy shop now!

The parade print tea towels are enjoying a little flurry of sales and treasury turns so lets hope these will do the same.
Sadly I can't get tea towel blanks in the organic cotton in the size I want for my studio printing, but I'm pleased to say that they are made up in the UK and I use good old waterbased inks for all my printing.
As always, biodegradable packaging is used throughout too, so I'm doing what I can to reduce the carbon footprint
My organic cotton for my fat quarters is soon to run out so I'm trying to source other eco fabrics that aren't at sky rocketing prices...not easy on this here British Island!  I'm working on it....

As for the mugs, the red ones go really nicely together with the new towels.  The darker blue one doesn't match so well unfortunately, as it ended up a bit on the mauve side, so I'll have to re work that one!
More block print mugs are going in the kiln tonight in Jo's studio, so let's hope they come out OK.

Anyway - tea towels to go......have a nice weekend everyone!
I'm at The Make Lounge tomorrow doing a screenprint hen party! Let's hope all the girls aren't too dressed up...it can get a little messy!

Having Fun on the River

 

 

We stepped out of our Hackney zone at the weekend and ventured into Essex for a spot of pedalling on the River Lee.  Stanley enjoyed getting his hands wet and out pedalo was called Happy. That just about sums it up.

Friday already?

This week has just flown by and I have to say I've not been very productive.  An off week, it a happens to us all once in a while doesn't it?

I did manage to list my first lot of tea towels this morning though...now in my Etsy shop.  I normally only make these for Open Studio Sales, but since I did a few extras I thought I'd pop some in the shop.

More coming soon and some lovely organic Moroccan Tiles ones are on their way.

 

I've just got one left of the parade mug in Mulberry to match and will be making more of the orange soon.  Think they might make nice Christmas sets?

Gift Tags

Gift Tags, originally uploaded by Helen Rawlinson.

Something from my to do list, finally done. Why didn't I do this earlier? Quick and fun and now every customer will get one with any purchase from any of my online shops! Happy tagging.

Phew!

Well I'm glad that's all over!
I've taken it easy today, despite the fact that I have lamp and cushion orders to go out.
Back in full swing tomorrow I promise.

I made a few of these, thinking they could end up in my shop, but I've none left!

The red one went out to a customer before Open Studios. I managed to snap this before the green one was gone too.

All in all it was a good weekend.  It was lovely to see everyone else's work and have a mooch about.  (Kerry, that's probably where I was when you popped in, so sorry!)
Yesterday was the best day in terms of foot fall and sales, but the summer open is always more quiet than the Christmas one, so I'm thankful that anyone actually turned up!

 

 

The box house went down very well with the little people, so yesterday I added an ice cream shop in the yard.  With a few cardboard ice creams, lollies and biscuits, and a box of colouring in things, I gave it up to the kids to make merry.  Amazing to see how much entertainment you can get out of a bit of cardboard that once housed a mountain of lampshades!

My tea towel printing frenzy paid off, even though I have lots left, I never would have done so many if I hadn't had a goal to work towards.  So I'll be uploading them in my Etsy shop shortly.  I've got a new range of the Moroccan Tile ones coming out soon in organic cotton and I'll be working on the 'Just Married' theme over the next few weeks.

 

As for the mugs, I almost sold out (OK I only made 25! and had to keep the samples back)  but it was interesting to see which were the favourites. (Block and Parade equal first, then Moroccan Tile, which is the opposite to what I expected!) Plus lots of promises for Christmas purchases.
I actually managed to paint my boards this time (left over from trade show days) which I now use to cover the print table.  I've been itching to paint one of the walls in our living room a turquoise blue, so this was a good way to try out the colour. It made a nice back drop for the mug shots too!

Parade and a little ric rac

Block

Moroccan Tile - it was supposed to be red, royal blue and bright turquoise!

Make your mind up time. With ric rac or without?

I'd love to hear anyone's opinion on the above.  I was going to do the one on the right, like my lampshade print, but decided it was too busy.  I tried it out anyway and put it to the test over the weekend.  The majority vote was for the one on the left.  I made a rik rak one with the strips I'd got left, as a last minute what if?  It seemed a shame to waste it.
My friend Becky Baur pushed me down the mug making path and I'm so grateful as I've been wanting to do it for years! (Her fox in the city series are gorgeous!)  We had digital transfers made up and hand applied them ourselves one sunny Friday morning.  Then Jo from downstairs fired them for us in her kiln.  None of the colours (apart from the red/orange) came out like I expected  and they are working out to be quite expensive if I ever want to wholesale them.  But for now, I'm enjoying a new product and the chance to play around. So the rest will be up in my shop as soon as.....

I always find it interesting how sales are so dependant on the way you display things and where you put them in the room.  The mini tote display was definitely better than last time, plus it covered up all my studio crap (well not all!)

Oh and the lampshades! The lovely lampshades.....still got tons left, sold many an ex display item and a few of the new.  Look out for updates in my Lighting Shop soon.

Thanks to everyone who came along and made me smile! x

Tidy studio for now....let's see how long it lasts this time.