Holiday Paper Cut

Doing that paper cut snowflake from the last post inspired me to do some more holiday related paper cut art so I made some paper typography which I photographed and made into some postcards to send out to all of the coolest people that make what I do possible.

Fry Phrase Pennant Flags

I was on a mission to make some new flags that had text of some kind: a small message or phrase that were more monochromatic but with an outdoorsy camping feel, and I wanted to screen print them instead of color blocking solids like I did on the nautical flags.  I really wanted it to be a project like an art project that didn't just feel like making things to make them; like it was grounded in something.  I was trying brainstorm clever phrases to put on the flags but most of the things I came up with felt arbitrary and didn't really work.

That's when I came across Fry Instant Phrases and short sentences.  The words in these phrases come from an Instant Word List developed by Dr. Edward Fry (1925-2010) from a book he wrote in 1980.  According to Fry, the first 300 words in the list represent about 67% of all the words children encounter in their reading.  They are divided into sections of 100 phrases per group.  The first 100 are the easiest, the next 100 are a bit harder, and so on.  These phrases are ones that children commonly come across when learning to read as well as in writing and spelling fluency.

Reading through these phrases, I could see that a lot of them were common place short sentences (So there you are, He called me, Have you seen it?) but when brought together and read in a sequence they created an interesting narrative that was so loose it was really up to the reader to decide what was happening.  This really got me excited about telling a story through something I was making instead of traditional story making: sitting down and typing or writing out a story, so I picked out my favorite ones and made a list:

I read through the first 5 groups (500 phrases).  I really like how it felt when I paired them up with ones that kind of went together or that had some kind of descriptive chemistry creating a tiny narrative.  I typed them out in Illustrator and chose appropriate fonts that went with each one.  Next I arranged them into color circles with small graphic elements.  Below is the original 16 but as I moved forward I boiled it down to 12 since I would be screen printing each one in a different color (kind of a lot of work, you know?)  It's good to edit anyway.

I used creme muslin which I pre-washed making the fabric so super soft!  I precut the fabric to the approximate size of the flag.  Then it was onto the screen printing which took me about 2 days to burn each screen, print, wash out, reburn, etc. Cue upbeat movie montage music!

Finished! (the printing at least)

I printed 3 of each design and will sell them as editions of a limited run so when someone has one flag, there will only be 2 others like it making it a bit special and rare.  Next I sewed them into flags with pointy bottoms using a thin layer of batting as filler so they would have more weight to them.  I sewed in a loop of fabric at the top to fit a dowel through for hanging.

I bought the dowels at an art supply store, sawed them in half and hand sanded the ends.

I tied white paracord on the ends of the dowels for easy hanging.

 The back of each flag is signed and numbered with the edition.  Here's the first edition finished:

Done!  I hung one of each of them on the wall and took a group photo!

Some individual shots:

The flags are great to hang in apartment entry ways, bedrooms, living rooms, or kids rooms (the phrases are for children after all) to add a pop of color and some subtle style to any room.  Is there one that resonates with you?  They will be for sale at the Mokuyobi Threads booth #159 at the Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn, NY on June 22+23. And after that in the Zipper Teeth Etsy shop while supplies last.

I hope you had as much fun reading the post as I had making them.

Topographic Watercolor Map Series

Lately I've been having an itch to get more into watercolor.  I do a lot of work on the computer or drawing with a pen and I've been missing making work with my hands and felt the need to jump in.  But what to paint?  I've recently been inspired by maps being used as an adventurer's tool.  Before we had our iPhones and GPS, people had to actually look at maps to figure out where to go, crazy right?!?

I wanted to explore imaginary places on maps and I love how topography maps have different colors to represent different elevations of land.  I painted a series of maps that all had a 3D element of looking like they were on actual pieces of paper and used different watercolor shades in each map to show the varying elevations.  I also incorporated some typographical elements to break up the maps.

I played with the idea of taking a trip on these maps and having to follow a path like a treasure map which made me think about adventures on land vs taking a mental journey.  I find myself doing this a lot: wanting to accomplish something and setting out steps to make it happen; it was a fun idea to imagine that as an actual map and a journey that you had to begin.  I've been working on a lot of adventure themed products to release on Mokuyobi Threads in the coming seasons so it all seemed very fitting.

Above is the final wall of all of the maps and painted type with coordinating spray painted frames.  You can buy prints of all of the paintings in various sizes at my Society6 shop.

Now for some work in progress photos...

Some progress photos from my instagram: JuliePinzur follow me!

I love this one with the neon yellow frame.  It totally rocks.

With these paintings up, the new studio is really coming together (we moved).  I love the look of them on the wall but the wall is kind of large so I plan to add to it.  We'll see where it goes...

Totally Rad Embroidery

With my awesome portfolio site up, the embroidery section was looking pretty sparse.  Illustrations, patterns, and sewing are all mega fast compared to doing an embroidery which is why my knitting section is non-existent.  But I've been seeing so much awesome embroidery lately and I need to step up my game.  What better way to do that than to make a TOTALLY RAD embroidery (literally).  Embroidered typography is the best (fact).

First I was running low on my embroidery colors and there's nothing worse than being in the middle of an embroidery project and running out of a color.  Such a creativity killer, so I made sure to stock up!

After spending forever to wind and organize my thread (it was so worth it though) I was ready to go!

When it comes to embroidery projects, air erasing markers are my best friend.  Draw to your heart's content and the ink will just disappear over time, no wash or water necessary!  How new the pen is, how hard you press, and how many times you trace over the same line will affect on how long the ink will last.  Could be a few hours to over a week if you get too carried away!  But it will erase eventually, never fails.

Picking colors was super hard, it's difficult to imagine how the shapes of color will work together when you're done.  You just gotta go for it.

And I did my fair share of cutting and re-embroidering the mess ups and change of color decisions.  Behind the scenes secrets, shhhh!

Many hours later... Totally Rad is Totally Done! (almost)

Close-up of the R with my fancy double row split stitch.

Teeny Cat is a Totally Rad sleeper! (You can see what a mess my erasable pen lines were).

After the ink erased I mounted the fabric onto stretcher boards used to make canvases.  

The final size of it is 9 inches wide by 6 inches tall which they conveniently (sarcasm) don't have as a standard size canvas or as individual stretcher board lengths at the Utrecht by my studio (the smallest one they had was 8") so I had to do a bit of DIY magic.

I think it turned out pretty well!  And I already uploaded it as a new project to my portfolio site, go me!

It looks so fancy when you stretch an embroidery over stretcher boards.  Like professional or something. Whoa.  Can't wait to hang it on the wall!  P.S. I have more embroidery projects in the works, stay tuned!!