Helen Rawlinson

Note: no one is actually buying anything at this point - lot of drinking and chatting going on!

We had such a good time at our Open Studios last night. The weather was kind and everyone was in good Christmas spirits! Mulled wine and mince pies a plenty, a roaring fire and an outdoor screening on the Chocolate Factory walls pulled it all together to make a great start to the weekend.
Here's just a glimpse of it all.  Tomorrow's the last day - I'm doing 20% off on my current range of lampshades and as always the sale (print) table is happily getting lighter as the weekend goes on.  Still plenty of tea towels and bags to shift!  Just the block mugs left - all the Moroccan tile designs were bagged in one swoop.  Most of the studios are open and there are some really great finds for both Christmas presents and beyond.

I really shouldn't put this one in, but it does explain my banging head this morning! Poor little Bernina pushed to the wall. This desk certainly takes some hammering and I really think it's about time I remove that Tricky sticker!

That clock needs a new battery! Close of day today - 6pm

With Relish are opposite me and calls for Dog Bingo will be heard throughout the day - everyone welcome to join in the fun and support The Mayhew Animal Home. 
I love the photos taken by Matt from Studiohead (responsible for the virtual orchestra merriment in the yard!) which give a sneek peak into the build up and beyond of Open Studios - now in its sixteenth year! See all the pics on our Facebook Page 

It's all getting frantic at The Chocolate Factory again!
Open Studios is nearly upon us...

All welcome!

I'm having a rather nice time of November so far - An out of the ordinary great day of teaching at The Make Lounge (all will be revealed at a later date) The State of Craft Book launch (I have my copies! It's a must buy!) a fleeting glance at the crazy world of SickBoy, a night out to see John Hegley and anatomical friends at The Lilian Baylis Studio (an old friend has temporarily moved into our loft space so we've had a bit of free babysitting!) a game of tennis and thankfully, lots of orders to keep me busy, it's all just flying by. Hence not much time to blog, so I'd just thought I'd share this happy cat I spotted just on the street near to my studio the other day.

I mentioned a few posts back about my contribution to a fab new book which is launching this week.
State of Craft - By Ziggy Hanaor and Victoria Woodcock is now available now on Amazon. The launch party is open to all and is tomorrow night - I'll be there so do say hello if you spot me!

It's going to be quite an event - with mini workshops in moustache making, tote bag printing and hipster head dress making.  Plus a talented panel ready to answer all your DIY questions - see more info here and click to attend!

and bread making with Campbel Works (Neil and Harriet being as inventive as ever) Christine was our expert guide - quite an experience on a fine Sunday morning!

My little boy turned 6 at the weekend. It's rather frightening to see him so excited about growing older!
Being the dutiful mum, I printed him a new t-shirt for the day (won't fit him for very long!) and his party was a trip to the local cinema with 10 of his pals.  We went to see the magical Arrietty, which they amazingly sat calmly all the way through - OK a bit of fidgeting and munching of snacks, but not bad for 90 minutes!
 Snack bags were provided (just can't help myself) plus a balloon filled disco back at home. A big success, thanks to help from friends (getting them all home safely on the bus - even though the bus conductor was none too pleased with the racket up stairs!) and of course to Aunty Jacquie for the fantastic party spread! She worked wonders whilst we were out. (and the Ben 10 cake went down a storm!)
 Party in full swing! Oh to be 6 again....

Anyone for a cocktail?

Back in June my fine friend Tjinder asked me to illustrate some recipes for his little project over at Cornershop HQ.  If you haven't heard of Cornershop - then now's the time to enjoy. I'm a big fan of Tjinder's music, an especially big fan of his Missus and our boys are the maddest of friends that 5 year olds can possibly be.
I've dabbled in illustration work in the past and would love to do more if I ever find time to follow this path, or someone else asks me!
This was a great opportunity to have a play and follow a brief. I loved the whole process of collecting imagery (raiding the kitchen cupboards) making little sketches, scanning them in and playing around with the joys (and frustrations) of photoshop.
I'm glad I tackled Judy first as it was the most complicated of the two recipes, so when it came to Brimful I was on a roll.


Both recipes are now available as printable hi res PDF downloads, so you can print them up onto posh A4 paper and have them at the ready for a mighty cocktail making session!  Having tasted it myself, I can honestly say that the Judy cocktail is a real winner (thanks to Dishoom).
Check out Cornershop's website to join the 6 for 6 Singhles club and you'll end up with the Judy Cocktail as well as five other art works plus, of course, some rather cool tracks.
As for Brimful you can download it right here for free!
Comments on a beer mat please! I'd love to know what you all think.

Hic!

 A print session of letters for an Australian customer.  The Christmas sacks are back.  Round up all your nieces and nephews and you're sorted for present buying in one hit! Buy them here and here

I'm extremely excited about this book! 

A while ago I made some storage buckets to go in our hallway.  I used my pebble design for them.
They still haven't made it to my hallway but they are in this fabulous new book from Cicada!

From the pioneers of the new craft revolution in book form (Making Stuff) here is Ziggy Hanaor and Victoria Woodcock's latest page turner, State of Craft.

I can't wait to get my hands on it to see all the lovely stuff there is to make, with interviews and how to-s on every page, from some top folks of the crafting world!
My first serious step by step tutorial, you will find it in there somewhere.  A big thanks to Ziggy and Victoria for including my buckets.
 Out very soon!

Oh dear, long time no see me!
Sorry everyone who ever might read my little blog. I've been absent of late, sunning myself in France with the family then back with a whirlwind of things to do.

Only as I packed my boxes into Jessica's(aka of Cabbages and Kings) big Luton van this evening, did I finally admit that I will be having a stall at The Thames Festival this weekend.

Early start tomorrow then, getting it all looking ship shape.  I'm sharing with some super lovely people and hoping that the weather will be kind, it should be a fantastic weekend.

Find me at the Craft HQ with Sannapanda and friends , Cabbages & Kings and Craft Guerrilla - all info here or click on the map

So much happening but no time to post. A birthday present to a friend inspired these new tote bags, made from my tea towels no less! I've just dropped them in my Not On The High Street Shop and will be adding them to Etsy very soon. I think a little tutorial might be in order. Watch this space!

My lovely boy has just finished his first reception year at school.  He seems to have had such a great time and we're lucky to have such a nice school so near to us.
Time for chaos and disorganisation but hopefully some good old fashioned play. I'm looking forward to blogging a few of our days out for a change!
I dashed to the studio this morning to continue my back log of printing/making etc. etc (Stan went off to the cinema with his dad).  This gorgeous little tray arrived in the post while I was mid print, so I had to take a pic, along with my new mugs we fired last week  (I broke one in the process, outdoor windy weather hazards!).  I also took a few new tea towel shots as the last lot looked a bit cold.
Anyway, enjoy your summer everyone.  I'll be back soon. x
I found this via a rather lovely Treasury I was featured in thanks to Barbara from vintage Etsy shop Look On My Treaures  It's by Vera Neumann for Mikasa (I already have a plate see here) and I'm becoming a big fan.  I bought the tray from Kelly at another great vintage shop Patch Happy Pauper.  Sadly due to my rather impulsive purchase it was removed from the treasury during the RESERVED process of organising UK Shipping.  Luckily Kelly was very happy with the sale and I'm now a very happy collector!
Another shot at the tea towels and my new mugs now on Etsy

I am a big voyeur on Etsy and am not shy of liking lots of things.  If I bought everything I wanted I'd be seriously out of pocket.  Occasionally, I do actually buy something because I just can't resist.  The above little brooch is one such thing and when it arrived I fell in love! Cute or what?  Character, detail, frivolity, patience..it's all there in this mini miaow.
But now I want this one!
The lovely thing about Adatinė ( a partnership of friends, Elena and Ieva from Lithuania) is that new things keep popping up all the time and they are all just as appealing as the next.  So I better not look for a while or I'll have a whole menagerie pinned to my cardi in no time at all!
The clothes are lovely too!


I'm pretty sure I found Adatinė originally through Debbie over at Kickcan and Conkers.  Always a good place to go, to point you in the direction of lovely, unusual finds!

I'd love to pull up all the gorgeous things I spy and shout about them here on my blog...but it all seems to take so much time.  It's not all just about me, me, me, honest!  So, bravo to those that do find the time, where would we be without them? 
Hooray for the rare occasion that I do write a post like this, but in the meantime I'll just keep on adding to my Etsy faves, or hop on over to Pinterest and you'll find me there - pin, pin, pinning...on my big, fat mood board of everything!

Right, I really am done for the weekend. x

So I'm a bit excited and my titles are getting rather corney...but I'm very happy to present my new tea towels.
As I never seem to have enough time in the day, I've gone down the production line and had a whole heap of these printed onto gorgeous organic cotton. Available in blue and red in my Etsy shop now!

The parade print tea towels are enjoying a little flurry of sales and treasury turns so lets hope these will do the same.
Sadly I can't get tea towel blanks in the organic cotton in the size I want for my studio printing, but I'm pleased to say that they are made up in the UK and I use good old waterbased inks for all my printing.
As always, biodegradable packaging is used throughout too, so I'm doing what I can to reduce the carbon footprint
My organic cotton for my fat quarters is soon to run out so I'm trying to source other eco fabrics that aren't at sky rocketing prices...not easy on this here British Island!  I'm working on it....
As for the mugs, the red ones go really nicely together with the new towels.  The darker blue one doesn't match so well unfortunately, as it ended up a bit on the mauve side, so I'll have to re work that one!
More block print mugs are going in the kiln tonight in Jo's studio, so let's hope they come out OK.

Anyway - tea towels to go......have a nice weekend everyone!
I'm at The Make Lounge tomorrow doing a screenprint hen party! Let's hope all the girls aren't too dressed up...it can get a little messy!

We stepped out of our Hackney zone at the weekend and ventured into Essex for a spot of pedalling on the River Lee.  Stanley enjoyed getting his hands wet and out pedalo was called Happy. That just about sums it up.

Well I'm glad that's all over!
I've taken it easy today, despite the fact that I have lamp and cushion orders to go out.
Back in full swing tomorrow I promise.

I made a few of these, thinking they could end up in my shop, but I've none left!

The red one went out to a customer before Open Studios. I managed to snap this before the green one was gone too.

All in all it was a good weekend.  It was lovely to see everyone else's work and have a mooch about.  (Kerry, that's probably where I was when you popped in, so sorry!)
Yesterday was the best day in terms of foot fall and sales, but the summer open is always more quiet than the Christmas one, so I'm thankful that anyone actually turned up!
The box house went down very well with the little people, so yesterday I added an ice cream shop in the yard.  With a few cardboard ice creams, lollies and biscuits, and a box of colouring in things, I gave it up to the kids to make merry.  Amazing to see how much entertainment you can get out of a bit of cardboard that once housed a mountain of lampshades!
My tea towel printing frenzy paid off, even though I have lots left, I never would have done so many if I hadn't had a goal to work towards.  So I'll be uploading them in my Etsy shop shortly.  I've got a new range of the Moroccan Tile ones coming out soon in organic cotton and I'll be working on the 'Just Married' theme over the next few weeks.


As for the mugs, I almost sold out (OK I only made 25! and had to keep the samples back)  but it was interesting to see which were the favourites. (Block and Parade equal first, then Moroccan Tile, which is the opposite to what I expected!) Plus lots of promises for Christmas purchases.
I actually managed to paint my boards this time (left over from trade show days) which I now use to cover the print table.  I've been itching to paint one of the walls in our living room a turquoise blue, so this was a good way to try out the colour. It made a nice back drop for the mug shots too!

Parade and a little ric rac

Block

Moroccan Tile - it was supposed to be red, royal blue and bright turquoise!

Make your mind up time. With ric rac or without?

I'd love to hear anyone's opinion on the above.  I was going to do the one on the right, like my lampshade print, but decided it was too busy.  I tried it out anyway and put it to the test over the weekend.  The majority vote was for the one on the left.  I made a rik rak one with the strips I'd got left, as a last minute what if?  It seemed a shame to waste it.
My friend Becky Baur pushed me down the mug making path and I'm so grateful as I've been wanting to do it for years! (Her fox in the city series are gorgeous!)  We had digital transfers made up and hand applied them ourselves one sunny Friday morning.  Then Jo from downstairs fired them for us in her kiln.  None of the colours (apart from the red/orange) came out like I expected  and they are working out to be quite expensive if I ever want to wholesale them.  But for now, I'm enjoying a new product and the chance to play around. So the rest will be up in my shop as soon as.....
I always find it interesting how sales are so dependant on the way you display things and where you put them in the room.  The mini tote display was definitely better than last time, plus it covered up all my studio crap (well not all!)

Oh and the lampshades! The lovely lampshades.....still got tons left, sold many an ex display item and a few of the new.  Look out for updates in my Lighting Shop soon.

Thanks to everyone who came along and made me smile! x

Tidy studio for now....let's see how long it lasts this time.

One more day to go..the private view was a bit wet to say the least, but we still had a reasonable turn out given the deluge of rain!  Today, the weather has been crazy, sunny one minute, major downpour the next, so not so good for tempting people out of doors.  Hopefully tomorrow will be a bit more settled! Never the less, I've enjoyed some sales and it's just so nice to have a tidy studio for a change.  The new mugs have been well received and it's nice to get feedback on which are the favourites.

More photos on my Facebook page

 I have some new colours in my Etsy Shop at the moment.

 I finally got round to taking photos and all the cropping and editing  that goes with it!  These new colours were a result of an order from a lovely customer who super kindly sent me the best product shot ever.