As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I usually spend some time each Saturday catching up on my snail mail correspondence. This week, I was inspired by summer brights, and put together a little roundup of some of my favorite brightly colored snail mail supplies.
1. Trifold Notecards by Mike Perry 2. Vintage UN envelopes 3. Neon aerograms from The Hungry Workshop 4. Love stamps from USPS
I have only been living in Los Angeles for a little less than two years, so I still feel like a newbie in a lot of ways. Back in Portland (where I grew up, and lived before I moved to LA), I had a handful of favorite fabric stores that I’d frequent on a regular basis. After moving to LA, it has taken me quite a while to find my favorite spots, and I still feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface of what LA has to offer.
A couple weeks ago, Keiko of Small Adventure invited me to go explore the fabric district in downtown LA, and I gladly said yes! Michael Levine, one of my favorite fabric shops is located down there, but Keiko showed me around to a couple other of her favorite spots as well. I have to say, though, that Michael Levine is still my favorite in the fabric district. I’ll always stop in just to gawk at the beautiful Liberty of London printed fabrics they keep in a display case… so beautiful, but so expensive.
(Photos above from Danni of Oh Hello Friend)
I grabbed a few swatches while I was shopping – I’m trying to develop an idea of my color palette for my newer designs, excited to branch out into some bright colors (maybe even a neon!) If you’re an Los Angeles local, let me know your fabric store recommendations over on Twitter, I’m @cottonandflax!
Currently enamored of the simple floral linocut prints of Hugo Guinness. More here.
I’ve been working on some new patterns this week. This is one of my favorite parts of the process of making printed textiles, as I get to spend hours dreaming up new designs, and experimenting with inks and stamps and my favorite brushes and pens. Right now I’m working on creating larger versions of the many patterns I’ve sketched over the last few weeks, and I’m excited to see them come to life.
I create many (but not all) of my patterns by drawing directly onto tracing paper. I do this for a couple reasons: first, because I like to tape a piece of graph paper underneath, so that I can have a grid from which to work. While all of my textile patterns are hand drawn, I try to find ways to create patterns with some amount of regularity in spacing, and graph paper keeps me from getting wildly out of scale in my drawings. Second, I love being able to place the finished tracing paper patterns over a piece of unprinted fabric, and be able to get a glimpse at what the final product might look like.
I’m hoping to share a big batch of new patterns here on the blog in the coming week!
As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, I usually spend some time each Saturday catching up on my snail mail correspondence. My own collection of cards and snail mail supplies is currently a bit out of control, and I’m hoping to get organized soon so I can give you readers a glimpse into my collection. This week, I put together a little roundup of some of my favorite snail mail supplies.
1. Blackwing 602 Writing Pencils from Kaufmann Mercantile. 2. Yellow Pattern Postcard from Quill and Arrow Press. 3. Airmail Envelopes from Kiosk. 4. Thank You card from DEADWEIGHT. 5. Gregory Peck postage stamps from USPS.
Visited the Unique LA spring show this weekend, and I’d love to share a couple of my new favorite shops that I found there. For those who’ve never been, Unique LA is a thrice yearly independent design show, which features a great assortment of local California makers, as well as some excellent designers and artists from around the US. Here are a couple new-to-me companies, I snapped a few photos of their booth with my phone (forgot my real camera, whoops!)
On the left we have The Academy, with some great menswear that they carry in the shop in Long Beach. On the right, the neon hued jewelry of KYYOTE, which is handmade in LA (these porcupine quill earrings were hand dyed to get that vibrant hue!)
There were so many other great vendors at Unique LA, I wish I could have documented more of the fair. I’ll have to visit again for the summer or holiday fairs!
