Yasmintoo! Universe Report

Every week is a good week but this one was especially productive.
I finished sewing 30 scarves and two each day go into the etsy shop. I really don't care for working with silk, dyeing or constructing, so this was an achievement. You can see several views of each scarf at flickr.

Supplies and fabric arrived every day this week. I got a new 24 inch paper cutter for the cards. Boy will that speed up production on cutting the 24 X 36 inch sheets of mango and unryu natural paper I print the lino cuts on.
I cleaned up the laptop, put everything except for this month's work on my external hard drive. I needed the room because I bought a wacom tablet. I don't know about you, but my fingers just won't get with shift, control, alt, a key, the space bar and left clicking and dragging all at one time. The wacom tablet has a pen and a mouse. I love it.

(The work in progress design is for digitally printed fabric. Black and white created in pen, then scanned into Illustrator, traced using the wacom tablet. I'm still working on the colors and additional motifs. I'll post the completed pattern and other pieces in this set on Sunday.)

The stationery for my first large order of cards is here. I also got some sexy card colors for the holiday season.
Last, but not least, the fabric came back from the printer. The second batch of fabric shipped on Friday, yesterday. That will complete the turquoise shibori set. Expect to see all three fabrics in that set in the shop this week. I can't wait.
Today and tomorrow I'll finish another set and get it off to spoonflower. I found a great and easy tutorial for preparing fabric for digital printing. The biggest issues with digital fabric are shadows at the edges of the repeats, which create blocks of pattern as opposed to a smooth seamless design and color. This tutorial solves both issues.

(Oranges and Raspberries stripe on organic cotton sateen)

Color is always an issue. The more familiar you are with how colors actually print in different processes, the more satisfied you are with the outcome. At first I always go through some irritation because I have to tailor the colors in my work to the process I will use to create it. Then I remember that I learned to work within the limitations of Procion dye, so many years ago. I learned exactly what colors to expect and to enjoy the occasional surprise.
Monitors, browsers, the type of machine and inks your printer is using and so much more influence the final colors in digitally printed fabric. One thing for sure, good design usually looks great in almost all colors and flexibility is a virtue. (Used to be patience, but in 2009 I think that might be an old school concept.)
This week, I'll complete my card order and work on getting some card sets completed. That will be my studio work in the morning. In the afternoon, I need to start stocking the additional stores I've set up on Artfire, Shophandmade, 1000markets and BigCartel. I'll let you know how that is going.