IF YOU BUILD IT 3/3!

The studio is finally put together, which means: I can silk screen!

First, mix your base and pigments.

Then grab your screen. This one is much loved.

Then get your fabric placed:


And voila! My first raven in years! It was a little shakey, but, hey, I did it! And the streaks just add character, right?





Success! I did it! Thankfully my SNAP class starts this evening, so I should be able to branch out soon!

Meanwhile, the more bag fabric the merrier. I hate to say it, but the big, major seasonal holiday is approaching, so we're going to need to stock up on bag fabric!

And I have to admit, I love heading down to the basement to work in the little studio! Up next: pillows and aprons! Cross your fingers that I make it work! xox.

IF YOU BUILD IT (2/3)

The room is all painted, and now to just move everything in!

i started with the silk screening table top. this gem has been with noko for eons, and i was thrilled to have her back in our basement.


and this table was from my grandma and grandpa's. just needs a coat of paint and it's ready to go!

next up, standard ikea purchases:



this shelf became home to the noko silk screen frames. they had been hiding out in my basement, so i lugged them back to the store:

and onto the shelves:

lastly, the ikea dressers were my new table legs, so i just hoisted the table top up, and voila, silk screening table:


i forgot to take an after shot of the green/yellow table, but you can see it in the above photo on the right.

and now the silk screening in built. next phase: silk screening!

IF YOU BUILD IT (1/3)

as i mentioned this summer, i have started silk screening in the basement. i'm sill trying to master bag fabric, it's coming along slowly. i just signed up for a class at SNAP Gallery, so that should help speed things along. (they need two more participants for the class to run, so sign up! it'll be barrels of fun.)

we have a full basement below the shop, and it's always been kind of a dumping ground for old stock, fixtures, racks, fabric, cardboard and the like. there are two main rooms, one which stock is kept, and one in which we used to ship out stock when we had our house line. my plan was to convert the old stock room into the silk screening room and the old shipping room into the new stock room. but in the last 6-8 months there were both completely unusable. like, when you have one path that you can walk thru the room, but that's it. one path, where you need to walk sideways down just to get thru the mess. my mom started helping out at the shop, and we spent two solid days clearing out the rooms, packing things off to the goodwill and the eco-center. and voila:


this is what the room formerly known as the stock room looked like at the end of our two days.


there were still lots of tubs of american apparel stock and hangers, but maegan and i throw those into the mens bathroom, and we were ready to rock and roll.





i am the messiest painter alive. it wasn't until 6 weeks after this photo was taken that my hair was officially paint free.

we also cleaned out the back stairwell, which hadn't been done in the three years since we moved in. once the garage was cleared away, look at what we found:


the biggest worms ever! man, they were huge!

after! a coat of white paint can work wonders. just wait! more to come!