CLOTH bag finished...finally!

I mentioned a post or two ago that it takes a while to finish things....this bag is direct evidence, considering I started it last Christmas! I decided around that time to stop being precious about precious fabric, and take the scissors to my sacred stash. This little bundle of offcuts from the ever so fabulous CLOTH collection was just screaming to be teamed with a few bits of denim from recycled jeans. It only took 6 months to complete. A bit here and a bit there. Thats how I tend to work.

My friend Catriona gave me a dress made out of striped Liberty print that she wore in the 80s! The fabric was still in flawless shape so I used it to line the bag:


I nerded out and made sure I used a small snippet of fabric bearing the word CLOTH (no secret how much I LOVE their work)


Love the shades of blue created by chopping up an old pair of jeans or two!


One of these days I'll post a tutorial on how I do zippered pockets on tote bags. I'm pretty sure you'd never find this technique in any traditional sewing instructions, but hey, it works great! Sometimes I just make it up as I go along, making tutorial-posting a challenge. (i.e. "You mean you want me to do it twice? Exactly the same??!")


So my bag is complete and I'm a bit in love with it. The ONLY problem is that I think I made the strap a bit too long. As you can see I top-stitched the bejeezus out of it, making unpicking it not an option. I'll use it a bit more and see if I can tolerate it. It would be such a shame to chop a chunk out of it! Ahhhh we'll see.

Gocco Hiccups!

K so there I was. I cleared away all other potential interruptions, and left the Queen's Birthday for me to roll up my sleeves and get busy printing.

Artwork prepared, Gocco unpacked and ready for action: Check.


Chair strategically placed at window to distract cat and prevent her from walking on fresh prints: Check.


Screen burned, ink applied to master, all going well:


Here is where things start going pear-shaped:


I've read about this happening. Of course I didn't consider it would happen to me, I envisioned a flawless print run....the carbon from the toner stuck to the screen, well more than the carbon stuck, even the PAPER stuck! Ouch. I knew this master was toast but printed a few anyway and quickly decided to have another crack with a fresh master. (Its painful though, every master you waste is about $15 worth of supplies!)


I remember reading that if your photocopied artwork has any moisture in it, the carbon may stick to the master. So I got out the iron, and turned off the steam and applied the iron to the artwork to dry it out. The second screen I tried to burn was better, but still had some major carbon sticking problems. No paper stuck though...so I printed a few more...(man the printing bit is heaps of fun, I had to force myself to stop b/c it was coming out all wrong...)

So its back to the drawing board - I think I have to make the photocopy lighter, I'll try that - I only have one master left so I think I'll get some more supplies before commencing the next experiment. Its a pretty amazing little unit, I so hope I can work out how to get a good screen, coz the printing part is super easy and heaps of fun.
So the rest of my day got freed up to do something with guaranteed results: I made a lined A-line skirt with a lovely piece of winter woolly fabric. Its nearly finished, I'll have to post a pic! Ciao for now. xo

Gocco Experiment, Here I Come...

I first heard about GOCCO right before I left Canada to move back to Aus in 2006 and have been coveting one ever since. Despite them not being made any more, I was slightly anxious about the concept of having one and then one day not being able to buy supplies any more! But as they say, I'll deal with that when and if it happens! It only took four years but a few months ago I purchased the PG-11 and its been sitting in my bedroom whispering to me ever since. So its time to bite the bullet and have some fun with it. I'm not very good at loving my experiments and given this is a whole new application for me, its taken a while to dive in. ANYWAY long weekend coming up = lets have some gocco fun baby. So I've prepped some artwork, the PG-11 came with enough supplies for 3 designs, so here is what I plan to experiment with:


I can't claim the rights to this phrase, I scribbled it in my journal after seeing it in a graphic design rag....so apologies for not being able to reference it correctly!

Hows this for a drawing with absolutely no point:


And this is an old design that I thought might be fun for printing on fabric one day. But for now I'll print it on paper and see what happens:


I'm terrible for percolating on projects and not having a finished product for weeks on end which is why I'm such a terrible blogger. So instead of sitting idle I thought I'd share that there is progress in the Juicy Zone! And hopefully after the weekend instead of black and white artwork I might have a pretty picture or two to share. Or at the very least some pictures of my cat covered in paint! xo