Erin Dollar

Patterns at PDX

September 6, 2012

Just got back from a trip to Portland, Oregon (my hometown, and favorite place on Earth). I took tons of photos that I’ll be sharing here soon, but I wanted to post these two patterns that I spotted in the Portland airport. On the left, a couple awesome wallets from the new Pendleton store that’s outside security. On the right, the awesomely kitschy carpet that’s all over the airport… I have a strange fondness for it.

The carpet in PDX is so quirky, I’m sad they’ll be tearing it out and replacing it. Looking forward to sharing more snippets of my trip: I took a few tours of friends’ studios, and visited my favorite fabric stores in Portland, and I’m excited to hear what you think.

Patterns all day, every day.

September 3, 2012

August was a busy month at Cotton & Flax! As I prepare for the launch of the Fall/Winter line later this month, I have been working diligently to create a new set of patterns to add to the Cotton & Flax collection. You may have seen me posting some in progress shots of my patterns on Instagram (I’m ~~@erin_dollar~~ (edit: make that @cottonandflax) in case you want to follow me!). When I am developing patterns, I spend a lot of time drawing in my sketchbook, creating hand carved stamps to try out new shapes, and scanning and editing those patterns in Photoshop.

In the next couple weeks, I hope to share a little video showing some of my drawing process for these patterns, but until then, I hope you enjoyed this little sneak peek into how these patterns come to life.

Snail Mail Saturday – Geometric

September 1, 2012

I love integrating geometric forms into my textile work, so I was delighted to find so many awesome geometric snail mail supplies.

1. Neon Nomad Card by Hammerpress 2. Friendship Notecards by Shastablasta 3. With Love Gift Notecard by Egg Press 4. Le Pli Postal Stationary 5. Letterpress printed Ikat envelope liner by Stripe & Field

Print of the Week – Etchings by Robert Bechtle

August 31, 2012

I stumbled upon some etchings by Robert Bechtle last week, and was instantly drawn to them. They are so classically “California,” and really reflect the view I have of Southern California, even though they were made 45 years ago. I just passed my 2 year anniversary of moving to LA, so I find these prints to be a lovely reminder of the strange charm of California.

The first print above is titled “Alameda Camaro,” the second, “Burbank Street, Alameda.” Both are hard ground etchings from 1967.

Marimekko Fabric Printing

August 29, 2012

Have you seen this video of the Marimekko factory? I loved this glimpse into how their fabrics are made. Most of Marimekko’s fabrics are silkscreen printed, either using flat screens like the ones I use here at Cotton & Flax, or rotary screens (which you see sometimes in the video above. I enjoyed seeing printers working diligently to produce those iconic Marimekko patterns.

While only the first half of the video deals with the fabric printing and production (the rest is sort of an infomercial for Marimekko’s retail shops, and maybe Finland as a whole…), I love that Marimekko offers some transparency about how and where their goods are made, and the processes behind their creation.

The difference between production at Marimekko and production here at Cotton & Flax is astounding (it’s a one woman operation around here!), but I’d still like to follow their lead in the coming weeks by sharing more about how my work is made. Keep an eye out for that soon!

DIY Hand Stamped Gift Wrap

August 27, 2012

I posted a couple shots of some gift wrap I made a while back, and realized that I could easily do a DIY here on the blog. Stamping your own gift wrap is a fun way to personalize a gift, or to re-use some paper that you might have on hand already. Plus, it’s a great entry-level project for anyone interested in printmaking!

The first step is to gather supplies: I will show you how to hand carve your own stamps using a small block of soft printing linoleum (available at many art and craft stores, the Speedball EZ Cut stuff works great), but you could just as easily use a premade stamp if you want. If you want to do the full DIY, you’ll need:

1 block soft printmaking linoleum
Pencil and paper for sketching design ideas
Carving tools – Speedball makes an inexpensive set, you could also use a good old X-acto if you’re careful!
Ink – I’m using a stamp pad for this project, but you could also roll out a little water-based printmaking ink if you have a rubber brayer and a flat glass surface handy to spread out the ink
Paper – I use anything from regular construction paper, to old grocery bags, or a large roll of blank paper you can purchase at an art, craft, or office supply store

*Author’s note: I only recommend products that I love and use in my own studio. I may receive a small commission on sales of the products that are linked to in my posts.

Find a large clean surface to work on. I like to put down my safety cutting mat first, since I don’t want to damage my worktable while I’m cutting the linoleum. Before start cutting my stamp, I like to pencil sketch a few ideas for shapes I’d like to create. Keep in mind the size of the gift you’ll be wrapping. Perhaps design a larger shape for a larger gift, which would require more paper, and a smaller shape for a smaller gift.

Once I’ve chosen a design, I place my pencil sketch face down on the linoleum block, and rub the back with my fingernail to transfer the image. Keep in mind that the image will reverse when printed, so don’t worry if it doesn’t look quite right at first. When you are carving a stamp, the parts you carve away from the block will not print. The stamp will consist of whatever flat surface you leave behind while carving.

I begin by carving the outline of my shape with an Xacto knife, then start to carve the details with my carving tools. Carve the block by pushing your carving tools along the surface away from your body. Be careful not to keep your fingers in front of the blade, that’s the fastest way to accidentally cut yourself! Use light pressure and don’t force anything, the linoleum is soft, and will easily give way when you push your carving tool along the surface of the block. Experiment by carving larger or smaller shapes to see the variety of textures you can create.

Once you have a stamp you’re happy with, throw away any stray bits of linoleum, dust off your workspace, and get ready to print!

Cut out a piece of paper large enough to wrap your gift, and lay it face up on your work surface. Ink up your stamp by pressing the stamp to an ink pad a couple of times, then press the stamp to the paper in whatever arrangement you prefer. I like to do a simple repeat pattern, but random arrangements are fun, too. Try using a couple different colors of ink, or mix two or three stamps into one design!

The gifts I wrapped were small, so keep in mind you can go much larger with this project. You could also use your stamps to make a patterned gift tag or a small card to accompany a gift, and mixing patterns and colors can create a fun combination. I’d love to see any stamped or printed papers you make, so feel free to share in the comments if you tried this project.