Tidying up the shop in readiness for the autumn

I know that isn't the most riveting of headings for a post. But well, it hasn't been the most riveting of days, more a worthy and working day of doing things that I've known for ages I should have done. I just wasn't feeling terribly much in a writing mood today so the Bohemian Gothic companion book was put to one side (mustn't do that too often, deadlines loom) and instead I began to actually - gasp - make the ordering options on various bags consistent. I'm starting with the Cats bags and have this little pop-up page to actually show the options currently. We must add two or three more I think - the Hanged Man would be a great bag, suitably surreal. It did suddenly occur to me (Duh!) that not everyone who visits the shop now will actually know what things like "BBCats Knight of Wands" means. So - I need to do much more of this over the next fortnight or so. Oh, and get that book finished. Which right now seems daunting.

The new satins!

Well, in the Wirth designs these are particularly brilliant colours - in some of our other designs they are a little more muted. However, I just LOVE that I can finally use quite strong backing fabrics without overwhelming the print. Oddly enough it's hard to see the difference, in a photo, between this and our prints up to now (which were on silk and in a whole different technique). Well, maybe I will take a contrast shot or something. Hmm - maybe this close-up shows it better. It really IS this richly coloured.
Here is the Wirth bag in bright red vintage (it's a good 30 years old I'd guess) Japanese kimono silk. I adore this colour:

And here it is in a very limited edition (we think we can do 8-10 in all) in antique silk velvet/plush that I bought last week. Piano shawl type hand-tied fringe was originally on the piece, which was a small table-cloth. Very teddy-bearish in a way. I like it!

They will all be on the shop (maybe I'll put them on Etsy too) soon. I'll update with a link.

The new satins!

Well, in the Wirth designs these are particularly brilliant colours - in some of our other designs they are a little more muted. However, I just LOVE that I can finally use quite strong backing fabrics without overwhelming the print. Oddly enough it's hard to see the difference, in a photo, between this and our prints up to now (which were on silk and in a whole different technique). Well, maybe I will take a contrast shot or something. Hmm - maybe this close-up shows it better. It really IS this richly coloured.
Here is the Wirth bag in bright red vintage (it's a good 30 years old I'd guess) Japanese kimono silk. I adore this colour:

And here it is in a very limited edition (we think we can do 8-10 in all) in antique silk velvet/plush that I bought last week. Piano shawl type hand-tied fringe was originally on the piece, which was a small table-cloth. Very teddy-bearish in a way. I like it!

They will all be on the shop (maybe I'll put them on Etsy too) soon. I'll update with a link.

I need help - Bohemian Gothic bags

And to say thanks, if you reply (whether or not you are friended here) I will enter you in a draw to win a FREE printed silk tarot/drawstring bag with one of the Bohemian Gothic prints on it. Just to make it a bit more fun! I'll leave the poll up for at least three days - Oh! And please leave a comment when you've voted (however brief) to help me to work out who to put in the draw - I don't want to leave anyone out.

Bohemian Gothic Tarot, Nine of Cups

The distinctly Dr Jekyll-ish Nine of Cups. (I think he looks just a little like Edgar Allen Poe too).

Spookiest lamppost in Prague?

Apologies to spider phobics. But isn't this just SO creepily fantastic? I have to admit I couldn't walk under it though. Oh - and yes, we will try to incorporate it into one of the Bohemian Gothic cards - though we are rapidly running out of possibilities as the deck is fairly far advanced now.

The sad Knight of Pentacles

Okay, I have to admit to a touch of Hogwarts influence here. Then again, the headless knight just seems such a stock character of Gothic (early Gothic perhaps more than Gothic revival) that we have to include him. We're working on a kind of Dr Frankenstein scene now (probably the Three of Pentacles). This deck is hard but also good fun to make.

A very quiet card - the Eight of Cups

The Sun - The Bohemian Gothic Tarot

Even through these last very difficult weeks the deck has progressed. It's actually been very helpful to have work to focus on. For those who have emailed, thank-you - I appreciate it very much and I will write back. Right now I'm finding I either say nothing or far too much. I need to let it sink in a bit more and find some balance in how to talk about it all. There is quite a lot that I want to say at some point, but for now I'd like to just go back to the deck and all the other things in the pipeline. I'm trying to do the book, the websites and get jewellery going right now, so much to think about. Here is The Sun - an interesting card to do in a Gothic deck - we tried quite a few things before coming up with this boy: