More on cushions

Yes, I know this journal is becoming positively conjusing - I really think I'm going to have to split it between work stuff (which goodness knows is diverse enough right now) and political/social diatribes (or vague meanderings, as I think they may more often be). But for now, here is a close-up of the Harry Clarke Harlequin cushion (just scanned, so the quality isn't wonderful I'm afraid). This was grabbed when I took it down to a local shop this morning - on the grounds that it's "so very Art Deco". It is quite lovely in fact. But most of all I like the little sting in the tail combined with the sheer beauty of the drawing/fabric et al. I wish we had more of this metallic fabric, but for now it's about to all be used up in some bags (it was only one dance dress worth after all) then it's all gone. Anyway, we can do more of these cushions with other fabric - they work particularly well with Japanese. I also have a fabulous, amazing 1920s piece covered with hibiscus blossoms that I think are hand-printed. It has a few moth holes in the centre so can be cut. But maybe it's too strong to go with this print. Hmm. Well, you see what I mean about the vague meanderings. I blame the heat, it's been a wonderfully hot day today.

Mooncat bag is on ebay for Katrina!

I just saw it go on as I was looking on ebay for something else. Fantastic! http://cgi.ebay.com/ART-FOR-KATRINA-100-MOON-CAT-original-handbag_W0QQitemZ7348806642QQcategoryZ554QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem (by the way, it's a 'perfect' - actually made by Anna herself).

Up and ready to go - well almost

Eureka! At last we have found workshops we can collaborate with. It's been remarkably hard finding people who can do the high quality we need, quickly and reliably and at the right price - and NOT in a sweatshop set-up. So, it's come down to two small workshops - one of which is basically a fine tailor, the other a place specialising in soft furnishings. In both cases the quality is beautiful and we feel confident that we'll get lovely results. But we must have tried out about twelve separate places - and that was only the ones we decided to try samples with - loads more didn't even get to that stage. The samples that aren't perfect we'll probably sell on "special". They are all fine to most eyes, but have either small snags (one person put the lining in the wrong way round, so that there is a small pleat at one side - wouldn't bother me, but perfect it isn't) or they are "one-offs" in the sense that the person sewing refused to do more (we found two people who did nice sewing, but it took them a long time so the pay for them worked out too low - it's why we went for professionals in the end, as they can run up a bag perfectly AND quickly). Oh - thank goodness we've solved it. Honestly, at one point we nearly gave up. So - shop is almost done (but is as we speak being linked into the Worldpay secure system - by a specialist UK company, that's way beyond my capabilities). I think we MAY (fingers crossed) be up and running this weekend. If you have any special requests for cushions or bags now might be the time to mention them, as we are about to design two batches. We can't take special orders (just too hard as both sewing places only want to do batches for now) but you CAN of course nudge us to do more cats, more fairytales or whatever. We'll be using a lot of vintage fabric - we've found some lovely pieces here recently. One issue by the way (sorry, this is probably boring), is that what a lot of people doing this style of digital printing DON'T tell you is that it fades a bit the first time it's dry-cleaned. Most colours simply fade a little, and it still looks fine (in fact not really noticeable if you aren't looking) but yellows and oranges - those sort of tones - fade badly. So for now, we will only do those on a few bags where we feel that it will be feasible to simply clean by going over them with a damp sponge (many of my bags have that cleaning instruction, and when I thought about it I realised I've probably in fact never cleaned a bag anyway). But for most of the bags we do - and for cushions - expect a restricted colour range until we have solved this. Lots of blues and purples and soft monochromes folks! The fairytale bag below will be fine - those colours stay true though the pink on the print will perhaps become softer. But we will only do full-colour cats combined with dark fabrics. It means we can't do really strong red and black vampusses - a bit of a disappointment although we can do more moody colours. Still, perhaps Vampuss bags were a bit of a niche thing anyway - though must say I would love one. Oh well, anyway, enough - the best thing will be to show what we have later this week. It is SO exciting after all this time!

The Hanged Man

I LOVE the way this picture turned out. It is very closely based on one by Ford (I showed it ages ago here) as we were so surprised to find a "Hanged Man" in fairytale that we just had to pay tribute to the original. Mind-you, that was black and white so in the end this one came out looking rather different. There is potentially much to discuss for any tarotistas here. This story in many ways takes the Hanged Man card back to what was probably its original meaning, which was "Traitor" and showed a "shame painting" (traitors used to be displayed in this way). But the story is so complex and many-nuanced, and the ending so strange - one minute the Shifty Lad is suspended there laughing at fate, the next minute the princess, er, accidentally drops him (sure, sure, I believe that too - I don't think this princess was all that amused or pleased at being married off to a Shifty Lad, even though he was a good looking rogue), that I think you can also read it as the more modern interpretation of "Spiritual revelation, sacrifice, enlightenment, mental suspension". Anyway, I think there is much to be debated here - but I adore the card! You know, when I was a little girl I so much wanted one of those pointy hats with a veil...

Autumn and floods, floods and autumn - and a woodpecker on a lightning rod

Autumn came about two weeks ago, but I didn't like to mention it as I thought if I said nothing, summer might come back. Sadly it seems not. We are living with constant rain and the possibility of floods. Small floods might be okay in a way - they might at least wake our local authorities up to the fact that to dismiss the Prague floods of 2002 at "500-year floods" is hardly facing up to reality in times of global climate change. But large floods - floods like three years ago? I so much hope not, it would be almost unbearable for all those people who have really only just managed to get their places straight again. It's hard to describe what bad floods do - the smell, the dirt, the dampness that can carry on for years - and the loss of some fabulous architectural details (even though we were lucky enough to have only one death, the loss of art and architecture hurts.) Oh well, I look at the rain and hope... On a brighter note, as I was leaving the flat this morning I notice Minnie on the terrace entranced with something. I looked up, and there on our lightning rod was an indignant Great Spotted Woodpecker - drilling in an annoyed manner and obviously being surprised by the iron-hard wood. I joined Minnie in gazing entranced - beautiful bird, though obviously a little short-sighted.

Water sprite demands money with menaces

A beggar has been arrested after dressing up as a water fairy and demanding money from youngsters skating on a Czech lake to guarantee the ice did not break. Police arrested the 47-year-old man after parents complained that a man claiming to be a "water sprite", who was dressed in green and covered in green ribbons, was demanding money at the lake in Brno, in the Czech Republic. Brno police chiefs said they had never come across anything like it before. Vit Cvrcek, spokesman with Brno police told Czech daily Mlada fronta Dnes: "Nobody is allowed to beg in Brno. Not even water sprites." ___________ I was actually looking generally for more information on Czech water sprites and came across this post from last winter. Too good not to share. Maybe this winter I will dress as the Snow Queen and demand money for guaranteeing that sleds don't skid? Or I'll be the Green Fairy and take bribes for making sure you don't fall over in a heap after drinking absinthe? This new racket offers a lot of possibilities! Hey ho.

New bag

This one we are very happy with. It's a matter of having refined the shape a little, and most importantly of all, we've worked out how to get the prints really working. Basically it's best if we take some of our detail out of the background - that way you can see the main figure and the bag works even from a slight distance. So, this one is good. The earlier ones are lovely, but I think we'll auction them as samples on ebay in a couple of weeks - they are not as perfect as this one. We have now despatched new sewing person off with the most FABULOUS combination you've ever seen and we wait to see if she is happy and can begin to do them regularly. Fingers - and paws - crossed. Meantime I'm working on the shop - September launch we think. By the way, they are about 7 inches high (bottom to top of handles) and seven inches in diameter - people keep asking. A good size as a handback - you can carry a paperback book just about, along with all the usual. But NOT shopping bag size as yet. We're working on how to do larger without the price becoming very high. The issue is that the fabrics are pricey - but worth it of course, I wouldn't do a bag like this in cheap fabrics. oh - nice tags I think (Alex and Anna design, not mine). We have some with Victorian cakes on - and it made us think we will do a few Victorian Cake bags too - but I digress. This is black silk dupion with the dark pink floral-textured silk-mix kimono again. Plus dark pink Czech brilliants.