Blog - Cotton & Flax

Erin Dollar

Snail Mail Saturday – A Perfect Pair

Perfect Pair - Snail Mail Illustrations

I usually spend some time each Saturday catching up on my correspondence. No, I don’t mean returning emails… I’m talking about good old fashioned snail mail.

In the weeks to come I’d love to share snippets from my personal collection of cards (as well as my personal correspondence stationary, which I designed for myself this year). This week, I found a couple snail mail themed illustrations that seemed to fit together perfectly. The mailbox illustration (left) is by Winnie Ma, and the envelopes and stamps illustration (right) is by Virginia Kraljevic.

Bits and Pieces

Erin Dollar - artworks

I’ve been taking a lot of work in progress shots, and posting them on Instagram (my username is @erindollar, if you’d like to follow me). I love sharing parts of my creative process, hope to do a longer post about it soon.

Beginnings

Starting a new blog is tricky. At least, it has been for me. This is not my first rodeo, blogging-wise. I used to blog about art and design. Now, as I begin a new chapter of my life as an artist (under a new business name!), I want to start fresh. A new beginning.

Cotton & Flax pillows - S/S 2012

The pressure of the first post is immense. I want to start off my new blog with a bang, to proudly announce “Hello, I’m here, take notice!” But what could possibly be good enough for that first post? I kept thinking of new ideas: “What about a tour of my workspace?” “I know! I’ll post my full range of new work!” “Oh, even better, I’ll start with a tutorial!” Every idea felt more exciting than the last, but somehow it just wasn’t happening.

Cotton & Flax - Behind the scenes taking photos

So this is what I’ll share with you today. It’s a bit of a “behind the scenes” of my week. I’ve been trying to take better photos of my work: the textiles, the prints, the collages. I want to make them feel more tangible and show how they fit into a home. Documenting my work takes a lot more time than I ever seem to plan for. The perfectionist side of me will take 50 photos of the same pillow, each time changing the angle, the props, the lighting. It’s easy to get pulled into the most minute detail when you are looking through a camera lens.

Cotton & Flax pillows and Morgan the Beagle

But that perfected product photography isn’t really what I want to focus on for this blog. I want to share my new projects, of course, but I also want to share what my life as an artist and maker is like. I want to document the process behind what I create, and share the things that inspire me, because that is so much more interesting than those product photos. You’d never guess that below that stack of pillows, the first photo in this post, my friend’s adorable beagle was just out of the frame. These are the things I want to share. I hope you’ll enjoy.