I know I've been very quiet since getting back from the UK. Partly recovering from the trip, partly just catching up with the work. In general, we've taken several more steps with the bags. We've decided to do several more with antique fabrics, though we will have to be careful to choose them so that the bags still stay under $30. Our friend Dita, who has an antique shop specialising in fabrics, says she will go through her boxes and find us interesting, affordable pieces. The good thing is that we can use small, exquisite scraps which would otherwise be useless. We're currently converting and early 19th century cream silk damask tablecloth with some bad wear in the centre into more Flower Oracle bags. I am SO pleased we found a way to use it, the fabric is wonderful to look at and to touch.(oh, talking of currency, the shop can now display prices in any currency - yay! - and probably in February when orders are quiet we'll switch to a base price of Euros - but you'll still be able to see all prices in dollars. I'm pleased that we got this working.)We're also finally buying a really high-end printer so that we can do sharper, brighter prints that are washable and dry-cleanable. This has all taken about three months of research (not full-time fortunately, but still a lot of work) to work out the combination of printer, inks and fabric that we want to use. In the end we think we've got there. If it all works out then we'll also be able to wholesale the bags as this will allow our production to upscale - and allow us to bulk-buy good inks and dyes which will bring the price down. Right now if we offered a 50% wholesale discount on quantities of the bags we'd only be about at break-even, so we need to sort this out somehow as we would like to see them in shops this year.We may still continue to do the hand-made prints on silk in our current style. They have a different look and perhaps we'll use them just for some "specials".We've also just switched to hand-woven handles for the shoulder bags and they are utterly lovely. Hard to photograph and half the charm is in the way they feel. But we're sort of amazed that we can do these cost-effectively. Well, fairly cost-effectively. The profit on the shoulderbags is also a bit marginal right now, but perhaps with the new printing process we can have these gorgeous handles and still keep the prices very good.I wish I could capture these better on a photograph. But somehow they make the whole bag feel very special (well, I thought it was special before, but these handles - Romana's innovation - do alter the feel and make it a bit funkier and folkier - in a good way - somehow).
_________Oh - the distribution. Yes, I forgot to say. We are now being distributed in Germany, Austria and Switzerland by Koenigsfurt. Nice people and we've very pleased about this.
http://www.koenigsfurt.com/cms/
The distinctly sinister children (I must find a place for them in the Dark Sister deck).
Close-up of Can-Can dancers. You just have to wonder what's the story behind the cross young man in green.
The whole thing - complete with disaproving priest and some more sinister clowns (and into the Dark Sister they must go, willing or no).
A really excellent find I think - though buying it was an odd experience as this particular shop is, well, odd.
Now maybe I can actually spend a bit more time with the kitten - who so far is mostly being brought up by Lotte, which considering her eccentricities (such as a passionate love of thunderstorms and sitting in the rain) may not be the best of influences.
But I'm wondering about this fabric also (as an alternative) with a photo of the Bone Chapel that we're working on. Rather than go totally grim, we have taken the parts of the Chapel in which there are sweet little cherubs (clutching skulls of course - I mean that's the whole point of the bone chapel. Oh - link here http://association.tarotstudies.org/news26.html if anyone is wondering what on earth I'm talking about - scroll down and you'll see a perky little cherub atop a nicely arranged pile of bones).
Do you think this would be too much? Am I simply too keen to produce a bag that I can call "Memento Mori Mozart"? I imagine something that from a distance will look very sweet, and then from close-up will be slightly shocking - but in a good way (I very much like memento mori as I think they remind us to live well too).
Anyway, I think I'll do it and just see how it looks. Unless everyone here goes "yeuch!" or something.
ps - Moon-cat bag reached an embarrassingly high price on ebay thanks to some very generous people. We are really pleased that a good chunk of money is being raised. But someone here pointed out to me that it's also good publicity for the artists who contribute and as I (and she) feel a bit odd about that - though I guess it's fine - maybe I'll just leave commenting at that.
