THE MONTH OF MAY.

Oh hi! It's hard to believe that it's been a whole month of freelance life. The biggest surprise so far has been how fast time flies. I hope everyone has been enjoying the glorious start of summer - here's what May has been all about around here:

1. FALCONWRIGHT Danielle and I have been working away all month preparing some new summer leather goods. We updated our shop today with some old faves and some new kids on the block all dressed up in gems, waves, pyramids, and party mix! YEAH. We've learned a lot about leather this month. We've experimented with new inks, we've learned how to use our new sewing machine, we've standardized the size and shape of certain items, and we've ordered some pretty new mailing stuff (stickers, wrapping, etc). It's felt great to dive into things and work hard to improve our stuff - we hope it shows! I've decided to steal this guy below for myself:

2. THE GARDEN. I constantly flip flop between thinking that a garden is the greatest thing ever and a total waste of energy.  For instance, I could buy tomatoes in a second and eat them immediately, or I could grow them for months and lose half of them to the evil squirrels that run my hood. But practicality is never really the reason for doing things yourself, right? It's about the experience, man. And the smell of tomato leaves is pretty much the greatest thing in the world. So, despite my bitterness towards all of natures creatures, I decided to fill those boxes UP. These pics were taken a couple weeks back so everything has grown considerably. Except for the chard, which all died. And only the chard. Is chard fussy? Chard is a mystery!

 

3. TRAMP BY SHARON VAN ETTEN. This album is good. That's all. 

 

4. GLAZING IS AMAZING PART 3. Ceramics: so hot right now (kiln jokes!). These are the very last pieces from my ceramics course. I've now got many little bowls sitting on my kitchen table. I'm not really sure what to do with all these little bowls, but I really want to take another class anyways. Or find a place in Toronto where I can just pay to fire and glaze. Does that exist? If anyone in the know has any recommendations, I'd love to know!

 

 

Other then that there has been lots of eating unhealthy fistfuls of food, painting text, photo editing, summertime beer drinking, and the triumphant beginning of softball season (Go Rebels! Go Bottle Rockets!). I'm also starting to flesh out some ideas for a new series of prints. More to come...

ODDS & SODS.

My printing muscles have been getting a workout lately. I've also been posting a lot lately - I'll probably never blog as much as I will/have this past couple of weeks, ha. The time before Holiday shows can be a grind, but they definitely motivate me to make new things. And I really need that push, ya know? For you Toronto folks looking for handmade goods - A Handmade Holiday is Saturday Decemeber 3rd (this weekend!) and City of Craft runs December 10th and 11th! There will be a ton of excellent craftspeople in attendence at both of these events, and I'm definitely looking forward to picking up a few things I've had my eyes on...

I wanted to thank you for the kind, enthusiastic response to Danielle and I's new project: Falconwright. Thank you to Lemonade, Where The Lovely Things Are, Kylin Untitled, and The Shiny Squirrel for posting about it. And thank you for all the kind comments and interest regarding an eventual shop launch (we're so pleasantly surprised). I've been busy making us tags and bags and business cards, while Danielle has been making our stock of headbands and a few bangles (photos to come!).

Speaking of business cards, to ease up on some of my screen printing load I decided to get business cards printed up. These feature bits and pieces of an illustration (from a series) that you'll soon see in The Walrus (yeah!).

In other news, my band is currently recording new songs and making a couple of videos. But in the meantime, you can download (or stream) the album we put out last year via Bandcamp or Facebook for FREE. If you're not ready for Christmas carols, and you've been itching for some nervous, dramatic rock music in your life - look no further? Mostly loud jams on here, but there are a few quieter tracks too. Thanks to NXeW and our twittering Wavelength pals for helping to spread the word. For all the record lovers in the house, we still have this guy available on vinyl too.

Speaking of rabbit's feet - Charlotte sent me this lucky little foot in honour of the above mentioned album. Sweetheart, right?

And lastly, I finally cleaned up the backyard garden that I greatly neglected at the end of the season. Planted some garlic and and shut it down. I will treat you better next year, garden. We will spend more time together. I swear.

CATS AND CONTAINERS.

Garden experiment of 2010: containers.

Planted: tomatoes, eggplant, cucumber, beans, spinach, romaine, kale, parsley, sweet basil, thai basil, chives, a couple beets, and catnip for the big man. Nothing too crazy volume wise (the containers are pretty small), but they should be easy to maintain and fun to watch.

All of this will surely be tempting for the devilish, wailing, night raccoons, who host fight club in our yard when the sun goes down. The horrible sounds they make!

Oreo is happiest in the summer when we let him out in the yard. He rolls around in the dirt, eats grass, sunbathes like a pro, and generally lives the good life.