Monday 25 April 2011

Sunflowers and squiggles

Back in this post I mentioned that Midi-Poddle had requested I do her a stencilled sunflower top. I neglected to mention that she completely spurned the elephant top that I'd made her that time. She's a girl with strong opinions and the confidence to voice them which will serve her well in the long run and drive me potty in the mean time. Still, last night I got a bit of time to do some more playing with stencilling so I cut her a sunflower and prettified a plain top for her. As soon as she saw it this morning she put it on and, aside from the hour or so when she was in her swimming cossie, she wore it (along with the dirt and dribbles of yogurt it acquired through the day) till bath time. Success!


I also took one of her drawings of herself and turned it into a stencil, adding the word 'hug' for cuteness value. I loved how it turned out and hung it up outside her bedroom door to surprise her when she woke up. Unfortunately, she doesn't like it. It doesn't have the bucket, spade, sea, sand and sun that it should have apparently. So that's my next challenge. :) I still really like it though.



Like I did with the elephant stencil, I also did a negative print of this one. This time it's on one of the t-shirts I dyed a week or so back. This one came out a lovely mottled lavender colour - they were all variations of purple - and because I just had the cut out pieces to play with I was able to lay out the elements differently.



My reason for doing all these is to find out whether any of them are potentially saleable, both from a quality and a workload perspective. At present the technique I'm using for these isn't really workable if I want to get any kind of fair income for the time input. I've had a few ideas on how I could possibly improve on it - like making stencils that are reusable multiple times rather than just one or two like the paper/bin bag ones I'm currently using. I like the designs, but could do with feedback on whether they have enough appeal for someone - maybe even you, dear reader - to part with actual money for.

I fancy expanding on Midi's figure with different expressions and slogans both for kids and for adults. More on that when I've got some of the ideas myself and Dr Poddle have come up with already down on paper, but in the mean time, feedback on these - and any of the other items I've posted about creating recently - would be very much appreciated. Commercial viability is the goal, albeit on a small scale. What do you think my chances are?

4 comments:

  1. Hey Gpod, I think they're great. Esp the first hug one. I reckon thats very sell-able, indeed. I reckon the strong, you style graphic images, cartoons, like this are the way to go.

    A quick series of similar simple stick figures, or animals, flowers, funny/lovable/original words re a winner: hug, happiness, peace, love, mess, kiss, dig it (spade & bucket) grow it (flower) one planet. That sort of thing, but funnier and more cleaver as you would do anyway. Print them on tops, hats, tea cups, place mats. Or perhaps offer a personalised survive, kids name and drawing? Remember its really only the adults you have to please as they fork out the dosh!

    ;) love your work!

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  2. Yes Yes Yes I will part with money or trade you for some of my creative wool pants ..I will post some pics if you need to ponder that!All the best!

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  3. Elf - I'd love to trade with you! Your wool pants are amazing. We still have the pair you gave to Midi when she was born but we'd certainly use another pair when winter comes round again - so to fit a long legged 9-12 month old. Please do post pics as well. :) Now, what would you like in return...

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