Happy Holidays!

Bah Humbug!

bah humbug bunting available at Bad Baby Quilts on Etsy

T'is the season --- to  pay way too much for airline tickets fa la la la la  -- isn't that how the song goes? 

Sigh...  I'm in a hum bug mood.  Booked our flights to see the families and as usual waited till the last minute and ended up paying 4x what it would normally cost any other time of year. 

I can't get into the holiday spirit.  

Maybe it's because I live in LA -- and christmas lights on palm trees just don't count?  

or maybe it's because I already spent July and August shoveling (fake) snow and decorating giant Christmas trees for "my other job" 

or maybe it's because I've been in "go" mode since the one of a kind show.  Not only am I trying to fill all my skårt orders before christmas but I've also been working at my other job -- dressing sets for SPRING catalogues, all while entertaining house guests (aka my parents).  Not complaining, all are great things, but who has time to get in the holiday spirit?

Speaking of time.  Every year in October I have great intentions of sending holiday cards. This year I have no excuse, considering I have a pile of skårt cards just begging to be addressed and sent out.  I was supposed to list them for sale on Etsy -- but that never happened either.  Alas, I haven't even made a list of who I should send to, and looks like they will not get sent. 

Do you send out holiday cards? If so, is there a protocol on dates, when is it too late? Can I still send them if I get them in the mail by friday? 

Pantone through the decades

I have been doing a lot of research on color as of late -- It's hard to figure out what color to print each design in. As I learned at the show, I didn't have enough art in red or purple. Through my research I stumbled upon this article on the Pantone website. I thought I would share. Take a read and let me know what you think the colors of the 2010's will be.

40 years of color Pantone looks back at four decades of color and
culture on the occasion of its 40th anniversary.

It reflects the influences of world events, politics, art, media, fashion and music. From the avocado and harvest gold of the '70s to the pink that echoes today's hopes for a rosier world, color punctuates our memories and scores our emotional lives.

For 40 years, Pantone, Inc. has been recognized as the global authority on color. Clients the likes of Apple, IBM, Mattel, Nike, Pottery Barn, Liz Claiborne, Whirlpool and KitchenAid rely on Pantone's color prophecies to make million-dollar product development decisions.

The Pantone Color Institute® tracks color trends and produces semiannual forecasts for fashion and home. Here, Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Institute, recounts the major color trends of the last four decades, along with the cultural influences that impacted them.

Youth culture erupted in the '60s, and sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll were the (dis)order of the day. From Swinging London to Haight-Ashbury, Mod to Mondrian, and Jimi Hendrix to Janis Joplin, music and psychedelic drugs turned people onto color. Timothy Leary influenced the fashion scene as much as Mary Quant. Fashion models and photographers were becoming as important as designers, and Twiggy emerged as the face of 1966.

The recession of the 1970s brought a retreat into safe, sober earth colors, and the dreaded "A" word of both fashion and interior designers -avocado- had the American consumer in a full nelson, especially in the kitchen. African-Americans became more aware of their heritage and adopted native African patterns and colors, which were, again, earth tones. Disco was crowned king, and in the fashion world, no one was hotter than Halston, with his luxurious Ultrasuede® pantsuits and decadent Studio 54 lifestyle.

The economic upturn of the '80s heralded a return to vibrant color. Christian Lacroix and Jean-Paul Gaultier's extravagant fashion cacophonies validated flamboyant color at the highest taste level, and women flooded the workforce with glamour, sporting big Dynasty-inspired shoulders and hair.

With the advent of MTV, kids saw and mimicked what pop stars like Michael Jackson and Madonna were wearing. Following Brooke Shields's provocative commercial for Calvin Klein jeans, supermodels like Cindy Crawford and Linda Evangelista emerged as the seraphim of fashion. Nancy Reagan's signature red became popular, later giving way to Barbara Bush blue. Toward the end of the decade, Giorgio Armani's sophisticated neutrals provided Yuppies with a quieter alternative to all-out glitz.

Meanwhile, in the home, designers flipped the color chart for consumers who had OD'd on avocado and spice tones, and America became mad for mauve.

The economic downturn at the end of the '80s became an opening for the dirtied colors of Seattle's "grunge" movement in the early 1990s. In the middle of the decade, the digital revolution with its promise of outrageous amounts of money was reflected in the eye-popping colors of the iMac®. Urban street styles, body piercing and tattooing became mainstream among young culture. Green, a color that became important with the environmental movement of the '60s, hit its vibrant zenith in the '90s with lime green and chartreuse.

Minimalism became a strong influence at the end of the '90s, as evidenced by Jil Sander's fashions and Calvin Klein's Zen-influenced home collections. As the dotcoms began to crumble and the Millennium Bug threatened, people were feeling the need to stop and escape. Spas boomed and designer water abounded. These influences led Pantone to pronounce Cerulean Blue, the color of sea and sky, "the Color of the Millennium."

The minimalist influence continued into the new century. Today, big ticket items have retreated into neutral or deeper colors, but it is the perfect time to bring touches of color into the home with accessories and small appliances, allowing consumers to enjoy color without spending a great deal. Yet neutral does not equal boring - all grays, beiges and taupes are not created equal, and even white has hundreds of subtle variations.

Eiseman is the author of Colors for Your Every Mood and the PANTONE Guide to Communicating Color, as well as The Color Answer Book (Capital Books), due out in the fall.

Fig. 1:
PANTONE 17-1937 Hot Pink
PANTONE 16-1362 Vermillion Orange
PANTONE 15-6437 Grass Green
PANTONE 13-0859 Lemon Chrome
PANTONE 16-4529 Cyan Blue

Fig. 2:
PANTONE 18-0430 Avocado
PANTONE 17-1544 Burnt Sienna
PANTONE 19-1116 Carafe
PANTONE 16-0948 Harvest Gold
PANTONE 18-1248 Rust

Fig. 3:
PANTONE 14-1122 Sheepskin
PANTONE 16-1431 Canyon Clay
PANTONE 14-3907 Thistle
PANTONE 19-1663 Ribbon Red
PANTONE 19-3955 Royal Blue

Fig. 4:
PANTONE 14-0105 Overcast
PANTONE 17-1118 Lead Gray
PANTONE 14-0445 Bright Chartreuse
PANTONE 13-0752 Lemon
PANTONE 16-1452 Firecracker
PANTONE 16-4725 Scuba Blue

Fig. 5:
PANTONE 15-4020 Cerulean
PANTONE 12-0713 Almond Oil
PANTONE 14-4002 Wind Chime
PANTONE 16-3911 Lavender Aura
PANTONE 16-1010 Incense
PANTONE 16-6008 Seagrass

PANTONE® and other Pantone, Inc. trademarks are the property of Pantone Inc. ©

Latest Kindle commercial

Another fun time was had by all, making the latest Kindle commercial.  It still amazes me when I watch it that it took 3 full days to shoot a mere 30 seconds of footage.  

The show was a success!

The One of a Kind Show is still going on in Toronto. I had only signed up to do the first half. A part of me regrets not doing the full show, but at the time I signed up, 11 days seemed like an eternity and I just didn't know how it would go. However, I am happy to announce that my 5 days at the show were a huge success. I perhaps didn't sell as much as I would have liked. But it is the experience I gained that is priceless. It's an amazing process to have your art and livelihood judged by strangers. Lucky for me it was accepted and praised by nearly everyone who stopped into my booth.

Although I won't be buying a new computer this year, or updating my online shop (two of my goals if I had made any money at the show) Below is a list of things I did gain from exhibiting at the show.

1.Feedback -- getting instant acknowledgment for my work. Friends tell me my stuff is "nice" or "cute" but they HAVE to say that. Strangers don't have to. So when they tell you the same thing is validates everything just a little bit more.
2.Ideas --- people asked if I have any of this design or that design. Keyboard and bass to go with the guitars. Frogs, monkeys, all sorts of new Skårt for me to think about designing.
3.Custom Orders -- I offered free shipping on anything ordered at the show. A number of people took advantage of the offer to request pieces in their own color scheme or pieces of things I had sold out of, like the owls. I love custom orders because I get a chance to experiment with colors I might not normally use.
4.Contacts -- I raffled off a single dandelion print. I had everyone interested in winning the piece write their name and email on a paper. Now I have a list of contacts who I know like my work and should I come to the Spring show or have any other news to share I have a full mailing list.
5.Exposure -- I had a few bloggers come by and take photos and someone spotted my booth on Breakfast Television . So far I've come across two blogs that I have gotten top billing on (click on the pics below to read how cool I am!)

6.Wholesale -- I am currently selling in one store in Los Angeles, I would like to sell in more stores both in Canada and the US. I had a few people approach me with interest. Hopefully we can make that happen soon.
7.Unexpected Opportunities -- you never know who is browsing at the show, I had interest from someone regarding licensing my work and lots of interior designers who are always looking for new and unique pieces for their clients.
8.Camaraderie -- All the other artisans were so supportive and helpful with advice and knowledge. Even though we were all selling, there was not an ounce of competition.
Check out a few of some of the other amazing screen printers who were showcasing their wares.

9.Friendships --- Packing up and leaving felt like the end of camp. I made some new friends. (who I will be visiting in Nova Scotia btw -- ; )
*click on the images below to see more of their amazing work

10.Sharing -- One of the best things about doing the show in Toronto was getting to share the experience with my friends and my family. My mom was there from morning to night helping me load in and load out. My sister Leah helped me organize my inventory and manned the booth, taking care of the money (not my strongest suit) even my other sister came in from Ottawa for a day check out the show. Special shout outs also have to go to my friends Courtney and Rachel who helped out in the morning and evening shifts keeping me company and keeping me sane, as well as Samantha my publicist popping in to help out and tell people how great my art is. And of course Cara and my husband who couldn't make it to the show but were indispensable in helping me for the last 6 months to prepare and create. As well as to Angela for lending me the place to make my magic.  Pictures of the process can be seen in skårt shop's face book album: One of a Kind Show 2010