almost time to relax

A couple of days ago I decided that this week is going to be my last full week of work in the studio.
This weekend I have to clean and reorganise my space so that I can fit in it my new screen printing tools. Oh yes, I bought a super amazing screen printing kit last week and I can't wait to try it out!
Until now for those few screen printed items I make I used an open studio, but that won't do anymore.
I have big big plans for this winter season, so I went all the way and bought myself one! This means I need to be more organised with my space so I can fit everything in it and be comfy and productive.

So from next week until the end of August I will take it slowly. I'm sure this will involved a lot of food (both cooked and eaten), lots of books, a few movies, a lot of walking or should I say wondering around. Probably a bit of sketching and surely lots of time with our furry friends. I'm pretty sure I wont be able to stay away from the studio for all the time, especially with the new screen printing gear there, but I'll do everything at my own pace.

One thing I decided to do is to try to do things I've never done before. This is something I've been thinking for a while and I decided I want to start doing it during this holiday. So to start I've picked a crochet project. Bear with me I've never done any crochet in my life. No idea where to start, but we all need a challenge once in a while, right? I picked mine: I'll crochet a water bottle. To be more precise I'll try to crochet a cover for my hot water bottle :)

Why among all the things I've never done I decided to try crochet? Because I saw a beautiful post in one of my favourite blogs (You can check it out here.) and simply I said to myself why not.

Just started to sketch ideas for Christmas

I'm going to enjoy some time with these two :)

sketches for a new series of kitchen prints and recipe cards

Hello!
I just want to share with you a couple of photos I took this morning as soon as I arrived to the studio from the food market.
I'm going to make a salad with these baby beetroots, I love them raw, and I think I'm going to cook the kale with some chickpeas in a lemon sauce.

Right now I'm working on a series of kitchen prints, recipe cards and recipe books, as you can see from my sketches!

sketching new patterns for new home goodies!

Hello!
Last month or so was pretty busy. I had a few retail orders to work on and I had my first wholesale order through Etsy Wholesale. I couldn't really find the time to work on something completely new.

Now it's that time. I started sketching new patterns using different mediums like gel pens and paint, watercolour and pencils, to give myself a bit more freedom. I love this part of my job, it feels like new all the time, it feels like I can put a bit of myself into it.
Once I'm happy with some of these sketches I will put them in digital so then I can use them to carve new printing blocks. This is how I do it most of times, the new thing is that this time I'll use the blocks to hand print organic cotton and linen, using new tools and new inks.

So I'm happy to announce a new line of home goodies, all hand printed using high quality and eco-friendly materials: I'll start with some tea towels and tote bags, expected to be in my shop at some point in June.

I would love to know what you think about these kinds of products, would you like to see anything in particular in my shop?

I've started an art journal project

Hello!
Yesterday I decided to make myself a pocket size journal to use for sketching down ideas and patterns. These patterns most of time will be turned into handmade block stamps I use for notebooks and other things.
To make the journal I used one of my previously hand carved stamps and some blue ink. The result really reminds me of beautiful hot summers spent in Mediterranean places. I'm thinking of actually list in my little shop some of these, what do you think? Maybe with the choice of text on the cover.

As soon as I finished making it I started using it!
I'm working on a new kind of pattern I'll use for postcards and hard cover Coptic stitched pocket journals.
This is what I came up with.

A bit geometric, but with some natural elements in it. I've already started carving the block. I'll post some work in progress and more sketches on my new art journal soon!