Navy Ticking Bucket Bag

I cannot get enough of this navy ticking fabric!  I want to put it on everything!


My Navy Ticking Bucket Bag was handmade by me! The outsides and strap are made from a heavy weight cotton pillow ticking in navy and cream, which has been fused with heavy weight interfacing for added structure. The lining is made from hot pink cotton, which was also fused with interfacing. The bag is 12 inches tall, 5.5 inches deep at the widest part of the bottom, and 12 inches wide. The strap measures 22 inches - perfect for throwing over your shoulder. There is a patch pocket on the outside for handy access to cellphones and keys. This bag is very roomy, and great for everyday use.


There are so many things I love about this bag. The insides are so roomy - it holds everything! I love the outside pocket for keeping my keys and cellphone at hand. This bag is perfect for everyday use. It's casual and matches everything, but it's got a hot pink peak-a-boo surprise.


Get one for yourself at my Etsy shop.

This item was made using a Keyka Lou pattern.  I love Keyka Lou patterns.  That girl designs the cutest bags, and her Bucket Bag is one of my favorites.  Expect more Keyka Lou designs in the future.

Changed Prices

I've changed my prices dramatically, and I thought I should explain myself.

This past month Etsy has had lots of online labs and blog articles about pricing handmade items.  I haven't really looked at my pricing strategy since I started my shop last August.  I didn't really know what I was doing back then, but it's been awhile and I've learned a lot since starting my shop.  It was time to take a good long look at my prices, because I knew they were too low.  Many of my items have changed since I started out - my Police Box Wristlets, for example, are way more awesome now than they were when I started making them. I think I've got them to a point where I can call them perfect, but that also means that there's a bit more time that goes into making them.  The old price did not reflect the current quality well.

After watching the labs I made up a meticulous spreadsheet.  After plugging in many numbers, and waffling over how much I'm comfortable paying myself, I realized that I was really undervaluing my products and myself.  Looking at these numbers, I know I've been undervaluing myself as an artist.

Plus, I need to eat.  That whole starving artist cliche is looming ever closer to becoming a reality.

So that's why my prices have been raised.  The thing is, I'm not even close to charging what I ought to be.  But what I ought to be charging is scary.  Scarier still is that I haven't sold anything since I've raised my prices.

Food.  Rent.  Cue panic attack.

Navy Ticking Messenger Bag

I love this bag!

It's made with navy ticking, fused with heavy weight interfacing for added structure and stiffness, and fully lined with hot pink cotton.  It has a hand-dyed strap made from cotton webbing with pretty nickel plated hardware.  The exterior sports two pockets, which are large enough to hold your standard paper-back book.

It's perfect.

It's the same style as my Skulls & Argyle bag.  I've found that this bag style is very functional and pretty.  It looks good on, even when loaded down with stuff, and it holds all the things I need it to with lots of room to spare.

It's a great everyday bag.

Get one for yourself at my Etsy shop.

Skulls & Argyle Messenger Bag

Check out my new bag!

My Skulls & Argyle Messenger Bag features a pattern that was laboriously hand stamped by yours truly.   And I do mean laboriously.

For this pattern I decided not to get hung up on perfection.  I eyeballed it, which is why the argyle is a little wonky.  I decided that it gives it charm.  I quite like it.  I laid the skulls out randomly.  When I finished printing, the skulls weren't popping as much as I wanted them to, so I filled in each of them by hand with a paint brush.


Laboriously.

I will not be doing that a second time.  I don't even want to know how long that took me, but I know I got through several episodes of Supernatural.

The exterior fabric is navy cotton duck canvas.  I used Lumiere by Jacquard fabric paint in Crimson and Metallic Silver for the argyle pattern, and Neo Opaque by Jacquard in White for the skulls.  My stamps were made from Speedball Speedy Carve.

I made up the sewing pattern myself.  The bag measures 14 inches tall, 14 inches wide at the bottom and 12.5 inches at the top.  And it's 4 inches deep, so there's tons of room inside.  The front pocket is split in two, handy for cellphones and keys, but wide enough to fit a book.

The lining fabric is white cotton, and has large interior pockets.  This was probably a mistake.  I think I'll do a zip or patch pocket next time I make a bag like this.

The strap is very long, so I can wear it like a messenger bag, and is attached to the exterior with a box stitch.

While this one is for me, I do plan on making a version to sell in my Etsy shop.

Gams: a Block Print Pattern

Behold, my printing operation!

It's really not as complicated as it looks.  But it is just as low budget as I can manage.

I had a very specific idea in mind for what I wanted this fabric to look like.  I made a mock up in Illustrator (because that was where I designed the stamps I made using Speedball Speedy Carve), and used the fancy color picker tool to choose my color palette.  I found one that I really liked and then mixed up the three colors I wanted in little pots with lids (I wanted to have leftovers in case I needed to re-do things).

Then I laid out my fabric on my cutting mat and made a grid using thread and tape.  I did the horizontal lines first.  Since I knew I was going to print up two pieces of fabric (I'm making a bag), I needed to make it possible to move my fabric out of the grid and move another piece in for each color I printed up.  So I did the vertical grid lines so that they taped onto my long acrylic ruler on the top.  That way I could lift the ruler up, and wiggle the fabric out from under the horizontal lines, but could still put another piece of fabric in.  It worked pretty well.

After making the grid, printing was easy.  I use an old candle tray for my paint - it's just the right size, and it has that wide lip, so I can lay things down on it that I don't want making a mess on my desk.  I use a tiny foam roller for inking my stamps.

I probably should have put some paper between the fabric and my cutting mat to protect my cutting mat from paint, but I've already gotten paint on it, and I don't think that stuff is coming off, so what's a little more?

I'm calling this fabric print 'Gams', because the ladies I printed up here have very pretty legs.  I'm using this print to make up a pleated tote bag, which I hope turns out awesome.

Block Printing: Secrets Uncovered!

Block Printing Stamps and Things

You guys, I have learned the secrets of block printing.  Come closer, and I will share them with you.

First, Speedball Speedy Carve.  It's pink and squishy, and cuts like butter.  Squishy, rubbery butter.  It's excellent.  My cutter has never slipped on this surface and jabbed my finger.  I thought it would be far more difficult to make detailed designs in Speedy Carve, but it's not any worse than having lino crumble on you when you're trying to make tiny cuts.  So I'll be buying this stuff from now on.

If you are using unmounted linoleum, printing can be a pain, but you can make it easier by doing a very simple thing: put a piece of sheet foam between your carving and the block.  I use clear acrylic blocks that are meant to be used with clear scrapbooking stamps, and sheets of craft foam - you can find it in stores with the 'kids craft' stuff.  So it goes, block, tape, foam, tape, carving.  It helps to have the squish of the foam when printing, because that way you'll get more even pressure.  It doesn't remove the mottling problem completely, but it does make it better.

I never did get that rubber brayer.  Instead a got a tiny foam roller - it's 1 inch across - so it doesn't need to soak up tons of paint before you can start rolling, and I don't feel like I'm wasting paint.  Plus, it was only a buck, and while you could throw it away and use another, it washes up easily.

Things I hope to learn as I go:
How to make my prints more vibrant.  It's the mottling issue again.  I'm starting to like how block printing looks, but I wish there was a way to lay more paint down so not so much fabric shows through.  (The rubber brayer?  ...maybe.)  And once I figure that out I can print on dark fabrics!

Block Printing

Block Print Tests

This week I started to teach myself how to block print.

Things I Wish I'd Known About Block Printing Before this Week:
Amazon has very few options for block printing supplies, but it's all I have because Michaels and JoAnn Fabrics do not carry ANY block printing supplies.  I know, because I looked.  Twice.  If only a real art supply store would move in across the street...

So I ordered some of the gold colored Speedball Unmounted Linoleum from some random seller on Amazon, as well as some Speedball Speedy Carve (also known as 'the pink stuff'), which I didn't get because there was a mix up and the seller sent me ink instead.  And a Speedball lino cutter.  So I've got my stuff.

(I just found this website for buying supplies: www.stampeaz.com.  I think I'll go there next time, because their prices are actually better than Amazon's are, and they've got a much better selection.)

Block printing, letterboxing, relief print making, and so on.  All of them use the same stuff, thus all these terms are useful to use when searching for supplies or tutorials.

Speedball apparently has a monopoly on print making supplies.  There aren't many other options.

Carving Linoleum

Things I Wish I'd Known About Carving Linoleum:

This stuff is kinda hard to cut.  It requires quite a bit of force to gouge out, and my hands hurt at the end of the day.

It helps to warm it up.  Some sites said 'hair dryer' and 'electric blanket', but you can save energy by sitting on it.  Just stick it under your butt, and work on another one.  Switch them back and forth as needed.

Transferring images onto the lino is easy.  I have an inkjet printer, so I just print off whatever I need in the appropriate size and cut out the image.  Transferring is easiest if you use the flat side of something and rub the image onto the lino (I have a bone paper folder that works really well, but you can use the edge of a ruler and get the same effect.)  A warm iron also works, but not as well.  Plus, you're just likely to burn your fingers.

It really hurts to stab your finger with the lino cutter.

Use a cutting mat that you don't like much to cut on, because it takes a lot of abuse.

Foam Prints - Clouds, Stars, and Hearts

Things I Wish I Knew About Printing:

I'm having a terrible time with printing.  I've tried many different methods for inking, but nothing is giving me the results I want.  I suspect I'm doing something wrong.

Foam rollers leave the paint in clumps, which gives the positive areas of your stamp a mottled appearance.  This tends to go away if you press down REALLY HARD.  Sort of annoying when you want to make a lot of stamps on the same piece.

I've tried making ink pads out of a piece of felt and soaking the ink in it, but this also gives my prints mottled-ness, and it's ineffective for inking the stamp.

I can't get even pressure over the back of the stamp, so sometimes there are areas of the stamp that don't show up on the page.  It helps if I put a piece of felt underneath the fabric I'm printing, so there's some give, but with fine detailed designs it ends up inking too much.

I've ordered a rubber brayer, since that's what you're 'supposed' to use, but at this point I can't see how that's going to help.


I'm actually really excited about block printing.  I've known all along (since I started sewing) that I was going to wind up printing my own fabric.  I like having my mark over everything, and while I like designer fabrics, I want to do it all myself.  And this way every bag I make will really feel like I made it.  Every little bit of it.