Great Chance to Pick up some Handmade Goodies...

Along with some colleagues and students, East Place Designs will be selling gifts for you to find special, different, individual pressies for those you love and adore.
Wednesday 27 November is the day....and you don't have to work at or be involved with City College Norwich - come along anyway...
AND - bonus! - cute little Vanilla bunny is on the poster:

Be lovely to see some of you there, maybe...

Hand Printing Gifts for Christmas

Putting some last minute festive touches to some ideas for the season - like block prints of Shackleton rabbit and Vanilla bunny in RED.

Some nice soft block can be bought online, ours came from Handprinted - really easy to carve - with a textured side and a smooth face, for different uses and results.

Next - some winter themed motifs to compliment these two - which can be printed onto paper, card and fabric too....hand-made hands-on FUN!

We'll let you in on a preview as soon as....

Inspiration

Next big thing - Chrimbles...
What to do??
Let's look at a bit of pictoral inspo:

I love Helen Dardik's design and illustrative work - and orange is a colour we're planning to use for our Christmas 2013

Ways to depict little Teasel hedgehog...

Paper cuts / prints / winter but not too 'Christmasy' theme?

  

Love the wonky bonkers birdies - a bit rough and ready, with a real homemade feel - yet still stylish with the bold prints in a simple colourway

And let's not forget the way all East Place Designs' pieces hark back to a sweet old-fashioned simple, mostly outdoors childhood, the like of which I was lucky enough to have myself - beautifully represented by this card that must date from the 1960s 

All images from the very addictive and fabuloso Pinterest - yeah

New Photos of the Dresses

I have put up the dusky pink jacket onto our Etsy shop - here
Some lovely new photos really show it off beautifully:

And - here's the flower dress:

Thanks so much to all who helped make these happen! Amazing and gorgeous images

Exhibition

If you came along to the exhibition in St. Lawrence's Art Centre in South Walsham, you'll have noticed the way East Place Designs displayed products looked quite different from previous stalls. It was an exhibition as opposed to a fair - so it needed to have a different emphasis...

Here are a few photos of the space and some close-ups of the display as well:

Also, if you did go - we just want to say a big Thank You! - It was a real privilege to meet so many interesting and interested people over the three days. 

You all said such lovely complimentary things about our designs and products. 

You gave us lots of exciting new ideas too!

Keeping It Local!

If you went along to the fair on the big green in Ditchingham last month, you'll have spotted Audrey - the dear little campervan behind the stall.. She was given that name because of her number plate.
It was Ditchingham's first summer fete in quite a few years. The village is near Bungay on the Suffolk/Norfolk border.
Unfortunately Annie was away in Wales so Helen was keeping it local; busy writing labels (you can just see Audrey in the background):

A couple of close ups show how carefully chosen themes and a limited colour palette pull the summer look together well. Isn't the Flower Girl dress gorgeous? 

Utilising the trellis is the best display improvement we've made this season - it's light and airy yet gives height to compliment the mannequin:

There's the old Globetrotter! - That's been over to Ireland and on the plane to Italy - safe as houses - considering they're made from paper, you know! Annie's Grandpa bought it in the 1940s. 

That sweet gingham cushion has now sold, so get your orders in as things disappear...!

Try Something New...

Trying out a bit of old fashioned embroidery and bead/button embellishment to add a 'bit more handmade' to some little bits and bobs...

CHEESELS ~ Whatever can they be....?

Just for you, the East Place kitchen is working on a recipe to make the best ever Cheesels... 

"but what ARE 'Cheesels'?" You say...

Well they're an irresistibly tasty combination of Cheese and Teasel -aka- cheesy hedgehog biscuits! Scrummy

Famous cook ~ the lovely Teasel hedgehog ~ will soon be offering up gorgeous recipe cards for you to cook up your own fun and delicious treats:

Look out for lovely gift bundles for keen cooks ~ of the both the young and more grown up variety ~ coming soon...remember YOU saw it here FIRST!

Great To Meet Good People!

After a late night, an early start and a long drive, we got to Long Melford this morning to be welcomed by Dee and set up our craft stall in The Old School.
It was a lovely friendly atmosphere and we felt privileged to meet lots of fellow Artisans - all dedicated to producing high quality products which showed their real love for what they do. If you're reading this then do keep in touch...
 

A blue-grey coat of paint worked a treat to unify the display too - and helped to pull together the overall look.

The dresses and pinafores looked gorgeous - and proved irresistible for a few customers...so thank you for showing your appreciation of locally handmade creativity and craft.

New for this fair - fresh striped draw string bags were popular - embellished by Annie's whippet and terrier designs

 The trellis Helen had sourced looked fantastic, adding height in a light and airy way to the space.

As always, meeting and chatting with people today was a big learning curve - time for reflection now - thanks to lots of constructive feedback.

Preparing for the next Craft Fair

Come and say hello - Next Craft Fair: Long Melford, 10am-4pm, at The Old School, 20 July
The paint pots have been opened - and a couple of new colours are mixed. Made up of some odds and ends of not quite finished tubs in the shed and a couple of sample pots, a pleasing array of bluish-greys has been arrived at and duly plastered over any wicker in the vicinity.
Three trellis panels will form a corner at the back of the stall, providing height for showing off some of the pinafores and hanging our name on:

How did that cheeky scooter get in the photo?

Now the stall will look more together - Helen and I got together on Sunday to plan what will go where - it's just countdown to Saturday after next1
If you're nearby - pop along - it will be grand to see you at the Craft Fair in Long Melford.

A Bit More Handmade

In an attempt to create a much more handmade look and feel to some aspects of the design work and products, I have decided to explore some simple print-making processes and started by carving a little Vanilla bunny from some lino block today.
It's difficult to tell from the block itself whether or not the image is working - to see how much has been cut out and if it needs any more removed.

The best thing to do is just made a quick proof print to check - and then cut again if necessary to make any adjustments to the design.

Using some black water-based printing ink (to hand in the little making shed!), I rolled some onto the block and made a quick print - which highlighted a couple of things that would be better changed - hence the second proof print (see if you can spot the differences):

The one on the left is actually the second print.

On seeing them, the four (just) year old son declared - "I don't really like the lines not attached." 

He didn't like the black either, suggesting "You could make it a girlish blue."

Salient advice - thank you dear boy!

Well - I shall be working on them, adding colour - maybe a 'girlish blue' is just what's needed! 

The aim is to develop a print of each character and one of the birdies too - Cards? Tea towels? - we'll see...

Little Friends love Pinterest

Teasel hedgehog, Vanilla bunny and Shackleton rabbit each have their very own board on Pinterest! They have already found some fabulous images to pin on there...
Here are a few from Shackleton's fun and active board:

 

See Shackleton's Pinterest board

Funnily enough as a matter of fact, Teasel chose some cute hedgehog images - even one wearing an apron:

See Teasel's Pinterest Board

Sweet Vanilla has put some very gentle little bunnies on her Pinterest Board. Here are a few - use the links to pop over to Pinterest for the names of the designers/illustrators:

See Vanilla's Pinterest Board

If you are not already using Pinterest, take a look - even the little East Place Designs birdies have a board. It's addictive, so watch out..!