two posts in one week..?!

                                 

Take that google-bots, two blog-posts in one week, amazin'! Anyway, I shan't delay as attempting to dry off after two days of soakage. Pics above are exclusively of The Printing Rooms. Delighted with the finished shop look, it really looks fantastic, and so say our new customers. Spent my first day sans siopa yesterday... and after a year of working non-stop, I literally didn't know what to do with myself... so I kept moving things, then moving them back. 

Now for some pics of the rest of the shop, and mostly you will see beautiful hats and fascinators from the lovely Laura Cassidy Design - she's becoming very popular with the good folk of Dun Laoghaire, and hopefully she's staying dry in there today! Don't forget to pop in and say hello, we're open Monday - Saturday, 10-6, Thursday 10-7, and Sunday 11-5. Opening eve 6-9 this Thursday. No excuses, map below - get on down, and don't be worrying about the rain, Ms. Cassidy has the cutest hand-made rain hats to keep the do nice and dry! We're only there for 5 weeks, so, as the ad goes when (they're) we're gone we're gone!!

   

STUDIO3 POP-UP - OPEN TODAY!

Quick update, really this time. Have been working on a pop-up for the last few months (hard slog!) and it's finally open today at 10am!! It's a really beautiful space and we were very lucky to have a visual merchandiser involved to set it up and make it look BOOTIFUL... and it does. Also involved in Studio3 is the fab Laura Cassidy Design.

I'm showing my newest prints, and my linen canvases and finally my first test hand-printed cushions. Any peeps around the Dun Laoghaire way, pop in our pop up (map below) and say aloha, ola, howya, dia dhuit... whatever you like. Oh, and opening night is Thursday 27th October, so after you've cast your vote for David Norris (weeellll, come on) then come over and grab a glass of wine.

Spud Printing Course in June

okokok, I've had it with promises... promises that I make and fail to keep, so *embarrassed cough* I'll just get on with this blog post without further apologies, and start with some nice pics.



It feels like a long long time ago (end of June), but my potato printing course is long overdue a mention. I've had many many lovely days since I started working for myself (Jan 2011), but I suppose this day was lovely in that it was surprising: how much I enjoyed it, how much I gained from it, and a boost I needed at the time (post-exhibition come-down and a reminder that I never did a blog re the exhibition... jeese). Had a really great bunch of students, who got some really great results, and whatever you might think of the humble potato printing, it's started me on the road to my new range of textiles. There is an awful lot of snobbery around some forms of printing, so I quite enjoy embracing these techniques... pure stubborness... and hope to surprise people with the results.


Hopefully I will have more classes in the future - there have been an awful lot of requests for lino printing classes, so when space and time permits, it's a definite plan in the making. In the meantime, if you are interested in future classes, email me and you'll be added to the growing list!

Apologies and new stuff to shout about!

Apologies to the google-bots that we've been away from our blog for so long. No excuses apart from being busy researching new products. So, sorries over, let's move on and quickly tell you about that.

Firstly, have spent the last month researching... the plan was always to move into textiles, and to expand the printing range. Having spent 7 years living in London, one grá I left with was for print: the design of print, pattern, and textiles (ultimate fantasy, had always imagined myself in a fancy, bright, trendy studio designing and making naive prints, with stockists lining up to buy... so that's totally come true.. ).

The love of textile print has always been buried deep somewhere, but when I started The Printing Rooms, I started with what I was familiar with... lino cuts. Moving into textiles was always going to be tricky, especially since I didn't know how to machine sew. So off I took myself to 3 sewing classes, and practise practise practise, et voila, new-found machine-sewing skills. With that, I have managed to create a range of hand-printed cushions. I didn't have the space/money to purchase a lot of screen-printint paraphenalia, so used what I had to hand. I made the ultimate recession-friendly print, using the humble spud (which reminds me, blog is due on the potato printing course I did back in June, when I fell in love with teaching!). See what you think of the results above and below. All are printed on linen unions, and cottons, all materials sourced here!

 

Flutter Clutter Cushions on whhite linen union

                                 

Exhibition preparation

Firstly, spare my spelling - it is 4.45am of an Easter Sunday and I suppose the low-lying stress levels will do this to a tired mind & body from time-to-time. In other words, I can't sleep, so thought I'd make the most of the time, by updating the blog, and watching the cat eat a very large black spider... saved me having to get a pot, cardboard over the top to chuck it out the window (the spider, not the cat).

Pic above is the invite that we emaield around for the exhibition. Really pleased with it. Didn't have a huge amount of time to spend on it, but it just came together quite quickly. It was a happy day of things coming together, including receiving notice that my press release hadn't just been lost in the ether, but had in fact landed in at least one press inbox. Hopefully I'll have a few media snippets to share with over the coming weeks.

Ah, the frames, the frames! My wonderful framer delivered my frames to me on Thursday. They are so beautifully made (he's a carpenter/joiner by trade) - very very pleased. Can (sort of) relax now... ha! Anyway, all the printing is done (may decide to do one further print - will certainly carve up the lino and see how we get on) but all in all, I have more prints then I had set out to do in the short space I had (was only asked to do the exhibition at beginning of March), and whilst the Gallery is a large space (nervous nervous), I think I should be ok.. watch this space!

The makings of a new stall and other stuff!

Slightly better day at Designer Mart yesterday, simply because I was able to move stall. Wind still an issue for first 2 stalls by Exchange Dublin. There were lots of crashing sounds coming from Laura Cassidy's stand, but thankfully none of her beautiful range was damaged. As for The Printing Rooms, the newest and smallest range are trickling in. Available framed and un-framed, they measure just 9cm x 4.5cm... almost needed a tweezer to get these printing. Have a look at my favourite, 'Floating'. This was done trialing a new printing method, using a metallic pigment. The plate was first printed with the base colour, then then the pigment was placed over the ink, re-rolled, then rolled through the press. An extender was mixed with the ink to give it a more translucent look. Delighted with the result, as wanted to have an ethereal/underwater feel, and think/hope that's been achieved.

Now, onto the Designer Mart stall. Trying to keep it creative and that over-used word, organic, by adding and trialling new areas/pieces over the coming weeks, and hopefully we'll have it sussed by the Summer months. Yesterday, I added a line extending inwards towards the stand, and, aptly hung the 'Flutterbyebye' range of prints. Next week will do the same on the other side of the stand. Trying to create a sort of symmetry, but it's trial&error, what with the perils of outdoor markets...bunting is on the horizon, but is currently a little dot. Hoping that once the madness of the exhibition has died down (5th May opening, pop it in the diary), that can be something fun to try.. or frustrating, depending. 

Finally, introducing the newest addition to the 'Mini' range of prints: 'Twit Twooh, an edition of 30, first 10 done in a fawn/gold colour, and further colours to be introduced over the following few weeks. Keep an eye on our Facebook page, as will certainly be posting the newest colours up once complete. and once all 30 are printed, they will be ready for the website. One is already 'winging' (sorry, that was terrible) it's way back to Australia with a happy holiday purchase from Designer Mart!