I have begun to refer to my room as the Narwhal Factory (others may argue for Taiwanese Sweatshop), considering that besides homework, eating, and sleeping (in that order), narwhals are basically what I do. I’m not complaining. I’m almost complaining. It’s stressful at times. But this is an awesome college job.

My craft show Saturday went well, for my first one. It was a slow day for all of us, but I got to make friends with some Cleveland crafters and learn tips from people who have done far more customer interaction than I have. It was wonderful to get real-life opinions from people… online, there are plenty of people who stop through the site without buying anything. Do they like, dislike, hate my products? But in real life, nobody can walk by a whale without commenting on its cuteness. Which always helps the ego get a little boost.

I also had lots of fun brainstorming. First of all, I would love to do more craft shows. It’s hard to find shows in Virginia that aren’t super-folky, but I’ll be on the lookout this summer. And I want to build a nifty display setup; you guys don’t get any pictures because the room was dimly lit and, while I had a decent setup for my means (ie Dorm Room and dishracks), it wasn’t picture perfect. Next time, promise. And I realized that I don’t have anything that boys, especially boys in the “can still get dragged to crafts shows age”, can buy. First order of business once school’s out: boy ipod cases. That’ll be fun.

I did sell something. Two somethings, actually. And since there weren’t too many people coming through, I was happy. And I made friends, so you should check out their stuff:

Judy of Modern Pixie
Stephanie of Stephie Lou
Jessica of Jewelry by J
Jen of Jeneration Design
and Nelleeta, but she doesn’t have a website…

Today I was thinking about going for a walk through Little Italy and exploring the little art galleries… but the skies are alternating between bright blue and drippy gray. A good day for staying in and sewing, which is just what I’ll do – once I get my room to be less of a mess.

greetings from narwhal-land! is a post from: Fluffyland Craft & Sewing Blog

in the last two weeks:

surveyed damage from the water main break around the corner

savored the sunshine and began a painting of Pedro the Magnificent, taking advantage of the rare window light

frolicked in the snow, including some tobogganing

spent time reflecting on the beauty of winter and the value of silence on a newman club retreat

And Ash Wednesday yesterday marked the start of Lent: a season of repentance and renewal, a season to break bad habits and form new, good ones. For my Lenten promise I am giving up facebook, and since that will add lots of small pieces of time in my day, I am trying to be more available to people around me who may need little pieces of help. I figure there are so many little things that I think I’m too busy for… yet I have time to check my facebook once every hour for five minutes at a time? Time to switch up my priorities.

happenings: a photo cache is a post from: Fluffyland Craft & Sewing Blog

I made my screen, printed about 30 little whales spouting hearts, then spent a good hour or so cleaning the screen! I definitely understand now why everyone hates cleaning the screens so much… no fun, and I made quite a mess. But the printing was so much fun! I’m hooked. (and of course, my first print was a whale.)

I’m always nervous to jump into things like this… especially with about $10 cost per screen, messing up is just so unacceptable! But for today I let myself have this one as a ‘practice’, and luckily it turned out great. They’re all a bit more “spongy” looking than I had expected, but I also made a design with a huge ink blob of printing area. I think in the future I’ll stick to more defined lines.

I still have ink all over my hands and I’m super tired, so I’ve been rubbing my eyes.. which of course has made them itchier. Wouldn’t be surprised if my eyes are bluer than usual in the morning.
(and of course i’m totally joking – i don’t think i actually got ink in my eyes.)

And my sewing lesson went wonderfully! We both had lots of fun, and she made some cute stuff: a pillowcase and a little zipper pouch. Tomorrow she’s going to work on a tote. I’m excited. I was very, very nervous this morning. And everything was fine. :)

i gocco-ed! is a post from: Fluffyland Craft & Sewing Blog

I must say that screenprinting is one of the most stressful arts I choose to dabble in. The entire time my mind whizzes through “oh no oh no i moved it wet paint! ah!” Of course, I lift the screen and everything’s fine and lovely and crisp and smooth and it’s all worthwhile.

I printed five shirts today with this lovely shade of blue… it’s almost turquoise, the second picture is more accurate color-wise.

I can feel my 14-year-old self telling me how awesome I am right now. Seriously, five years ago screenprinting seemed impossible, something I’d never try. Now I can do it, and it’s delightful in its hectic manner, and I just feel so cool.

whale tees! is a post from: Fluffyland Craft & Sewing Blog

Yesterday was just so blatantly gross outside that I needed to rebel against it by making something extraordinarily awesome. Something out of my ordinary, something to say, “ha, sun! i can be creative without you around!”

So I pulled my box of screenprinting goodies off my shelf, wiped the dust from my frame, and began stapling. I ran out of staples halfway through, but after an hour long staple quest and an exasperated lunch break I was back in business.

My design features a whale (shocking, i know) spouting hearts. The whale will sit at the bottom corner of the tee, with the largest heart ending up at the top center of the tee, not far below the neckline. I did a few test prints today on brown paper and am excited but nervous about printing the real t-shirts, an event that may take place tomorrow morning after church.

Before Christmas I screenprinted 100 shirts, front and back, as commissioned by a friend for his band. My facilities (dorm room and bathroom closet) were not optimal, and with schoolwork and finals approaching, it was nerve wracking, to put it lightly. Somehow I’ve managed to dive back in, and I’m thinking the more relaxed summer atmosphere will make this the enjoyable art I had imagined it to be long ago.

For the band’s screens, since the designs were text-based from the computer, I used the photo emulsion method outlined in the tutorials below. When using a design out of my head, though, I find it easier to draw on paper than on the computer and so I usually use the screen filler method. My dad and grandpa made the screens for me, and for the screen fabric I just picked up some basic silk acetate off the clearance rack.

want to learn to screenprint?
These are a few of the resources I used and found extremely handy.
· Silk Screen Printing Instructions – a copy of the manual that comes with Speedball Printing Kits
· Screen Printing – Cheap, Dirty, and At Home
· How to Silkscreen Posters and Shirts

It’s a great way to produce a lot of something without losing the handmade quality. If you have any questions, I’d be happy to help you out!

screenprinting and such is a post from: Fluffyland Craft & Sewing Blog

A quite daunting pile of flat whales. They’ve all got eyeballs now, so they’re ready to be stuffed and stitched up. While installing one of over 30 eyeballs yesterday, I decided to make a Safety Eye Tutorial to teach you all my method for preventing lopsided eyes on your plush. I hope you find it helpful!

Of course, once I had this huge pile of whales to work on, my creative brain started thinking of ways to procrastinate the handsewing (which is my least favorite part). So of course I started digging through my fabric stash and cutting out an obscene number of new wristlets. Those, fortunately, have no hand-finishing at all, so they’ll all actually be finished soon.

lots of flat whales is a post from: Fluffyland Craft & Sewing Blog

Every Christmas, I make something new and (hopefully!) exciting for my friends. The challenge: finding the perfect balance between fun, functional, and easy. I want them to love it, I want to be able to personalize it for each person, I want it to be more than something they’ll just throw on a shelf… but I don’t want to go crazy when I have to make a bunch.

This year, I started early. In November, I started thinking. I wanted to use my embroidery machine; I wanted to come up with something cute and clever. When fleece went on sale the day after Thanksgiving, I had it.

With this adorable navy polka dot fleece, I made scarves! I drew the whale on the computer and turned it into an embroidery applique file. The appliques are fun and painless with my machine; I’ve been working on a few more that I hope to use in the future! So each girl got her own fabric for her whale, based on favorite colors and even with a dash of personality.
I used green minky, hot pink fleece, light pink, hot pink, then turquoise corduroy, lavender flannel, blue and blue & white stripe flannelette, and orange fuzzy mystery fabric (no idea what it is but it’s awesome!)
They were fun. They were cute. But after getting so many compliments on my pocket scarf, I realized it was lackiing. Seriously, seriously lacking in the pocket department.
So each end has a simple navy fleece pocket, handsized and cozy. No zippers this time; I wasn’t about to do nine of those, are you kidding me?

And of course, the happy ending; my fabulous sock monkey wrapping paper was torn into, and I got lots of hugs and smiles. I’ve heard they get lots of compliments. :) I’m happy.

And then, we get to the best part of my Christmas. Of course, I love presents as much as the next person.. but what I love most is when that next person loves the present I have made for them. Last Christmas, I made Ben a Goomba, the Mario character, proving that 15-year-old boys are not too old for stuffed toys. This year, I had to top the Goomba. Could it be done?

Andy, my 9-year-old brother, is obsessed with Cartoon Network’s Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends. I watch the show sometimes too.. it’s amusing, and I love the art/colors of the animation; it’s actually very inspiring to watch! Andy loves Bloo, the main character: an imaginary friend who is a joking, rule-breaking, sarcastic imaginary friend. He has an extremely simple shape, and I figured I’d be able to do it.

I cut four shapes out of fleece that I knew would make a good body shape, then made a circle to connect them all at the bottom. Somehow, his eyes took forever. I pinned and repinned, cut and recut, but they never seemed to be in the right place or stay perfect circles. I finally just sewed them on, feeling like they were in the wrong spot and would look completely ridiculous. I stitched a little mouth and began to stuff him.

And he was perfect.

Ben, Andy, and I always exchange our sibling presents for each other on Christmas Eve. When I threw Bloo at Andy, who saw only a big mass of wrapping paper, he said, “i wonder what this is!” and tore away the wrapping. When he turned it around to see Bloo’s face, he yelled, “BLOOO!” and squeezed him and wouldn’t stop hugging him. I was close to tears, I was so very happy.

That is the moment that made my Christmas perfect.

♥ p.s. i’ve added a few more pictures detailing steps 9 & 10 in the Starburst Wrapper Bracelet Tutorial; if you were having problems figuring out how to connect your links, hopefully this clears up any confusion!

winter weather advisory: whale flurries! is a post from: Fluffyland Craft & Sewing Blog

Four new mini whales, Dottie (shown), Windy, Wilbur, and Jane, have been added to the shop. Each has its own personality and little story, and they each have a different & special tummy fabric!

a wave of whales! is a post from: Fluffyland Craft & Sewing Blog

A week or so ago, my brothers and I decided to head to the park down the street. We have a swingset in our backyard, but the park has the good swings. I realized that the new baby whales, Dottie, Jane, Wilbur, & Windy might like to come along. They certainly did enjoy themselves…

First, they headed for the slide… having never been down one before, they weren’t sure how they’d like it. They looked cute up there, though!

Wilbur was the first to try, since he is the most daring of the bunch. Since he enjoys thrilling things and dreams of being a pilot, he loved the slide.

They also enjoyed climbing up the fun-shaped ladder:

And of course, they couldn’t miss my favorite.. the swings!

This was a lot of excitement for such little whales, and the y got very tired. They stopped at the bottom of the slide to rest for awhile while I was still on the swings, then they hopped back into my tote and I carried them home. Lucky they didn’t have to swim! :D

Dottie, Jane, Wilbur, & Windy are brand new and for sale over at Fluffyland. Each has a special story and personality, and they have different fabrics on their tummies!

whales like swings, too is a post from: Fluffyland Craft & Sewing Blog