Have a Good'un!

Seriously?!

Here's to a little extra romance this weekend...

 

Being surrounded by kiddie-mess isn't always a drawback, the boy's Ikea felt-tips made perfect droplet shapes on this Bird Bath illustration last week!

 

Sometimes I get so busy trying to flog things that I actually forget to blog things! Here are some of the new styles of drum shades we've been making recently. Huge gratitude to Jane Warren who invented the humble lampshade… okay, maybe that's a slight overstatement, but she certainly gave us the idea after crafting a super-cute shade from our Forest gift wrap.

As the roof rises on our home, so does the budget. Gulp!

Jump for Joy!

Old friend Matthew Bickley made the resurgence of our clubbing days even less likely with the birth of his gorgeous son, Cassius. Even when sending congratulations I kept one eye on business, making sure I took snaps of their card. Who knows, this kangaroo may just jump its way right into our range!

Spent the new year visiting much missed friends in the nation's capital and took in the Sigmar Polke retrospective at Tate Modern on a particularly quiet Sunday. It was every bit as good as I hoped. Odd to see the originals of works you've known so well in reproduction.

Extra pleased that these arrived from Melt Chocolates in good time for Christmas. The reindeer box is the latest in a string of fuss-free collaborations. A pity it got a teensy bit damaged in the mail, but it's nothing compared to the carnage we'll make of the contents tomorrow.

Season's greetings y'all!

Ply Guy

One "great" thing about having your house turned into a building site is that you can go in at the weekend, make a right old mess and not even bother to clear up! What used to be our living space made and excellent place to drip-dry 100 dip-dyed robin's breasts. Laser cut from 3mm ply, they're this year's Christmas send out.

I don't get to read as much as I'd like so sometimes a graphic novel can be pretty handy (let's face it, they're not as demanding as their wordy counterparts). I love Brecht Evens' sumptuous and inky gorgeousness, but lately I've had a craving for content that only women's work will satisfy!

Roz Chast's "Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant?" and Vanessa Davis' "Make Me a Woman" both had their moments, but "Probably Nothing" by Matilda Tristram is simply wonderful throughout. Now I'm a full-on fan, I'd recommend it to anyone… loudly!

As the season gets into its full festive stride, it's been nice walking past our local Paperchase and seeing some of our commissioned designs in the window. None of Paperchase's in-house styles credit the artists though (I should hang around in-store, telling people 'til I get turfed-out).

The Sledging Penguin's still looking strong and the Resplendent Reindeer's survived a bit of extra bling to the baubles, but my favourites are these four woodcut designs for the cube packs… I mean, 24 cards, what a bargain!

Shady Characters

We're planning a couple of more styles of these drum shades and hoping to streamline the assembly stage (i.e. get a bit quicker at making 'em). Edward made the zig-zag base prototypes by hand and, even by his own admission, they took ages. First job for the new year: cost their properly mechanised manufacture!