STUDIO SALE + CAITLYN X SANDI 3

My handwriting font du jour.

Miss. Wright and I are hosting a studio sale/party tomorrow night at our studio! YES. Located on the fringes of the Dupont Strip (oh man, what a terrible name!). Look for the auto garage with the partially polka dotted pole out front. Doors are open from 6-10 pm. Stop by early, come later on - the choice is all yours. There will be snacks, beverages, music, and a bunch of great people selling their awesome stuff (check out that lineup above). I wrote a little bit about all of our party sellers over on the Falconwright blog if you want to know more!

This party really pushed us to really get our space together. We've made so many improvements! I never imagined I would have a workspace outside of my home, or that we could take a plain room in a not so pretty building above an auto garage, and turn it into one of my very favourite places with the help of one of my very favourite people. This party is not only a sale, but also a celebration of this clubhouse, and a high five to all our pals who have helped and supported us this year. But of course, it's also a sale. Party shopping: it's the best of both worlds.

Something else you will find at this event? Caitlyn and I's 3rd collaboration project: The Holiday Card Pack! A limited run of 25 packs of 4 screen printed cards. Caitlyn's egg nog card is my new favourite card in the entire world. And I made a batman smells card because I am a...31 year old woman.

I love how Caitlyn designed her cards to go landscape, and I went portrait. When we did our dog postcards her dogs were looking right, and mine left. Collaborating is the best.

Hope we see you tomorrow!

NEW CARDS.

You can now find these 5 new cards in my etsy shop! For the plant enthusiast/ice cream fiend/funny lover/shining diamond/awesome person who did that thing for you in your life. Also? A mystery pack.

To get rid of some of my older stock and revamp my shop, I have put together 10 mystery packs. Each one contains two 5X7 mini prints, seven cards (including one Over The Moon card with congratulations text I did for Urban Graphic) as well as anything else I decide to toss in! A little drawing? A weird message?  A list of my favourite X-Files episodes to compare with yours? Fun wrapping? It's...a mystery.

FALCONWRIGHT SHOP UPDATE

Attention web surfers/leather lovers/early holiday shoppers: Danielle and I updated our shop today! It's not a brand new collection, but it is a sizeable restock with a few exciting surprises. The new kids on the block are as follows: zipper pouches, some strappy wallets & card holders, some pretty new leather colours, and two new patterns! 

That October sign above is from the school across the street from my house. Whatever life coaches, I get all my guidance from Winchester Junior & Senior Public School. An exclamation mark too (because they mean it). According to them, November is the month of empathy.

My giant, smashed phone is sleeping inside the wallet in this picture. Snug as a bug in a bag. Danielle made a card holder like this a while back, but we never had the right leather to reproduce it. This pink is perfect though: flexible and thick, spongy and soft. We only managed to get our greedy paws on a very limited supply of this colour (same goes for the light brown and lavender leathers). Sometimes sourcing materials feels like treasure hunting.

Zip pouches! For: travel items, makeup, candy stashes, your weird extensive collection of  little pencils, or whatever else you'd like to carry around. That Danielle Wright keeps upping her game.

 New Pattern 01: CLAWS.

New Pattern 02: WILD PAISLEY. Brick teardrop flowers, loops, and floating tulip heads.

BLACK AND WHITE AND GREY ALL OVER.

Here are some black and white (and grey all over) illustrations I recently did for my oldest pal, Jason Hudson. Jason is a talented photographer, a gifted word arranger, and all around pro company. The drawing on top is based on Hot Knife by Fiona Apple (a song from one of his blog mixes). Good song. In 1996 Jason and I were definitely singing along to Tidal together. I bet it sounded great, and not melodramatic at all. The other drawings come from a set of 30 Rules For Your 30's. The boy tells it as he sees it/knows things. Recommended reading!

Jason and I became friends in grade 9 when I sat next to him in music class. We both played the alto sax (and would continue to play the alto sax until we graduated). We ate french fries together, obsessed about The X-Files together, babysat together, drank too many ill advised sugary alcoholic beverages at our first parties together, killed time in London together, eventually moved to Toronto together, and so on. Now that I've destroyed any illusion of childhood cool, it should also be noted that nobody has more embarrassing photos of me going through every questionable fashion phase than Jason. But the opposite is also true - I definitely have evidence that Jason went through a blonde hair phase in high school. I tried to go through a blond hair phase too, but my attempt to dye my hair blonde in Jason's bathroom resulted in my hair falling out. What a nightmare (damn you, Blondissima!). I subsequently went to my high school prom with a wig on.

It's a real treat to have an old friend like that in your life, someone who really knows what you were about when you were a kid. And to end up in a place where you can contribute to their work in a complimentary way? Fun stuff.

Here are some alternate ideas/versions too (below). From my endless folders of second options. I kinda love looking at the alternates. The guys that didn't quite hit it in the right spot, or the guys there wasn't room for, but that where all part of the process/journey to the finish line. Big ups to poster_01_version3, IDEA_02, drawing_black-and-white.jpeg, etc (my file management skills could definitely use some work).

                                            

                                            

HUNTER

Time for...music talk! My band just released a new 4 song EP called Hunter. It's a pay-what-you-can download on our bandcamp site, which means that you can just enter 0 and get it for FREE, or stream it from the site directly. Free is the best price. We hope you download it!

I'm really happy with this little guy. It's exactly the small collection of songs we were aiming to make - less panicked (ok still kinda panicked), and more focused and moody. While I spend the least amount of my free time making music these days, releasing new music will always be my very favourite (and most intimate) thing to do.

So, thanks so much to our pals who've already downloaded this thing - it really does encourage us to keep writing songs, even if we do take our sweet time doing it. Yes!

Exclaim! post.
Magical Thinking video. 
Fine Lines video.

SHAPE JAM

I'm happy to tell you about a group show I'll be participating in curated by local shape lover Jenn Kitagawa called SHAPE JAM. It'll be at The Hashtag Gallery from October 4th through to the 20th. Shapes, colours, art stuff, meaning, and more! The opening reception is this Thursday night from 7:00 - 11pm. I painted one million (ok, 30) mini pyramids for the occasion, as well as a couple of prints. I can't wait to see what everyone made! LET'S PARTY.

TAKE CARE, SUMMER.

I recently had the pleasure of designing a poster for Drake's Polaris Prize nomination. Which is amazing, because I listen to this record a lot. Potion and elixer bottles and a cat head? Hell yeah fuckin' right. It's slightly tropical, pretty bright, and not really like the moody album art in any way. This guy will get the screen printing treatment by Kid Icarus too. Check out all the nominees and album posters on the Polaris site!

A funny thing happened while I was in the middle of making this poster. I went to a cottage with my pals, and 15 mins away Drake was playing a show. At a venue that roughly fits 800 people in the middle of Ontario cottage country. So a few of us went, because yolo, and it was pretty much the craziest party I've ever been to. A stage full of people getting wasted, hands in the air, and Drake charming the hell out of everyone while drinking champagne from the bottle, talking big about the 416, and shouting out to Muskoka. His pals got big cheers from the audience when they told us they went wakeboarding. It was all so weird! But also the best. Can you imagine going to see a band, but before that band performed they hung out onstage drinking with their friends, playing their favourite songs, singing along to those favourite songs, and generally milling about until they played? Bold. 

1. The show was at The Key To Bala, which has a stage decorated with wood paneling and huge Muskoka chairs. Naturally. The Canadiana vibe was thick. 2. This moose head (yikes) was in the cabin we were staying at. It was wearing a little baseball cap! Must have been a teen. 3. HANDS IN THE AIR. 4. Shots for the crowd. 

And lastly, one more summer photogrid before it's all over. This was the view from our very short weekend stay at the cottage. Don't worry, none of us big people tempted fate with the back deck. Fact: Ontario is a gorgeous wonderland and I want to move to a cottage forever. Also? We bought a ton of crazy fireworks at the most amazing fireworks and cigarettes store outside of Bala. This shoppers paradise is now officially a legend in our minds. Great prices, tons of selection, and home appliances too. Fireworks off the dock, ftw!

DOT CITY.

Last Tuesday, Falconwright released it's latest collection! Spent lots of time in the studio with my co-conspirator to put this collection together, and I'm really happy with how it all turned out. New prints, new bags, fun pics, etc! Here are a couple shots from our lookbook (you can see the whole thing here):

Behind the scenes time (lazy Instagram style, as per usual):

When we started to think about what to do for a lookbook, our first thought was to do something really simple. Because a) we are not pro photographers and b) we had a pretty small budget (so no tiger rentals, air balloons, or champagne towers). I showed Danielle a few pieces of paper I had painted, and this soon turned into "What if we made really huge versions of those? Into columns? And painted all the white paper in the universe with one million slightly wonky polka dots?" So we crossed our fingers and started painting, and thankfully it all worked out. Set designers must have fun. And of course, the set would have been nothing without that foxy lady I apparently talk about in every blog post lately, Caitlyn Murphy. Hi, girl ;) Cool illustrator, mega babe, good company - my kind of triple threat.

And here are a few other random moments: 1&2. Caitlyn and Danielle chilling out with Danielle's puppy Ollie after the photos. Recipe for stress relief and happiness: open one cold beer, unleash one cute puppy, feel good. 3. The two bags that Danielle and I adopted from our new collection. Her: baby blue. Me: bright raspberry. & 4. We sent out our orders from last week on Friday. Thank you SO MUCH to anyone who ordered from us - your support means so much. There is lots of stuff left in the shop if you wanna take a peek!

You know those what's in your bag posts you sometimes see on the web? And insides someones bag is a pretty collection of neat things? I kind of love them. Anyhow, if I dumped my pink bucket bag onto the floor right now, it would not be pretty. I keep a messy bag. I'd like to change this (if that's even possible...).

ONLINE SHOPPING & FLIGHT MODE

1. Lee sporting her new pretzel bag. Total paparazzi shot here. Hi Lee! 2. Our table at Zine Dream. 3. Edible decor. 4. Caitlyn Murphy, logo lover.

We had a great time at Zine Dream eating pretzels, drinking coffee, drinking beer, and catching up with pals. Thanks so much to our ever supportive friends for dropping by and hanging out. News: Caitlyn and I just opened up a joint webshop where you can purchase our collective projects here! How many web shops does one girl need? The answer is 3. 3 webshops.

While I was on a strict money spending ban that day, you could have really destroyed your bank account walking through The Tranzac. So many talented folks making stuff in this city.

Another peek at a few inside pages. Fun fact: I used to work at McDonald's as a youth, so I've kind of got a soft spot for it. Sometimes I even worked at the Wal-Mart location (...the horror!). Remember when McDonald's had pizza?

A couple moments from a recent trip camping: 1. Get real, sunsets! 2. A deer just grazing about like a bunch of people aren't watching it. Oh, Canada. 3. Trying our best to create a fake fire with candles and flashlights during a fire ban. 4. It's been proven: lake swimming continues to be the very best thing.

We disconnected our phones from the web and used them as cameras, watched sunsets, didn't run into the "problem bear" that was apparently lurking around the area, played a few spirited games of Apples to Apples, and read books (real books!). Take me back, please.

SNACKS UNLEASHED.

Here is a real look at my second collab project with fellow McDonald's lover, Caitlyn Murphy. It's called Snacks! and includes a zine with 20 full colour illustrations of all our favourite edibles (with screen printed covers), and a double sided tote bag adorned with pretzels.  

You could carry at least 2-3 large bags of pretzels in this bag. Salt fiends rejoice! Or you could carry other important things too. Like books. Maybe cookbooks?   

It is such a pleasure to collaborate with the right people. Lately, I've been spending the vast majority of my time working this way, and it has been so nice and productive. The right people push you to get things done, they keep the process fun, and they inspire you to be better because they are so good at what they do. Caitlyn is so good at what she does and I love working with her. We had a lot of fun putting this all together!

 

We will have these at Zine Dream on Sunday and leftovers will go online afterwards!  And after years of showing up at Zine Dream zineless - it's nice to finally get around to putting something together to celebrate the format! Zine Dream runs from 12-5 at The Tranzac. Bag and zine combos (limited to 26 packages!) will be $30 or $12 for just the zine. Plus we'll have our dog postcards, and other things, of course. We hope to see you there!

TRUCKS, LOVE, LIGHT, SNACKS.

Here's a sunny little poster I designed for the Bloorcourt Arts & Crafts Fair and City of Craft. I will be out of town when this event goes down, but lots of good people will be taking it to the streets that day to sell things they made while liberally reapplying sunscreen. Maybe you will visit them? And maybe you will enjoy an ice cream from a truck too. 

I recently had the pleasure of designing some wedding invitations for friends. I didn't post the entire thing here, because I felt weird about splashing their personal info on the web (I don't think my blog browsers are wedding crashers, but you never know, right?). This was my first time designing wedding invites, and it was a fun challenge. Unpictured: guitars, banjos, cocktails, etc. Big ups to Steve and Claudine!

Oh hey, meet my new workspace! This is where I spend most the vast majority of my time now and I love it. This is my first time working outside of my house, and I can already say for certain that I am far more productive when not surrounded by my couch and fridge (though we do hope to get a couch and just got a mini fridge...). Can you believe the light? We've been adding art to the walls and still have some work to do, but it's already such a great place to work from. Of course, it was only this clean for only about 45 seconds...

This is what happens when you cut a lot of leather in the middle of the hot summer. SUEDE LEGS. 

Fun fact: Danielle and I are working on some new items for our next Falconwright collection. She wrote a post about it over on our blog with a couple more sneaky pictures, but we're adding a few extra players (aka bags) to our roster. Can't wait to introduce you to the team.

Print, clean, rinse, repeat. I am going on vacation next week (camping) and I'm considering unplugging from the web and not using my phone at all. Kinda foaming at the mouth just thinking about it though. Can I do it? I probably can't do it. Maybe I could do it? I want to do it! I am excited to decrease my screen printing by 100% and replace it with 100% more swimming and afternoon beers (or bears?).

And lastly, my next collab project with Caitlyn is also well under way. It's gonna be a doozy. More revealing photos coming soon! We'll be at Zine Dream on the 12th with it and you should come. Zine Dream is always packed with cool stuff, and your eyes will not be disappointed. Plus, it's very possible we will have snacks...

SQUARES OF TIME.

I've been neglecting my blog and having a hot summer fling with Instagram. Here's a peek at what's been up with the awesome power of words. Long live the details!

 

1. Meet my new giant squeegee, Steve. Steve is gorgeous, untouched by ink and hard work. I've since sullied him up with paint and taught him a thing or two about the perils of repetitive strain. Welcome to the team, Steve! 2. No frills screen burning 101. While I dream about a more sophisticated light table with a faster burn time, this still works just fine. 3. I'm no colour mixing pro, but I try my best. 4. One of my least favourite parts of the screen printing process: reclaiming screens. Big ups to necessary evils!

1. I asked a stranger take a photo of Danielle and I on the street the other day like we were a couple of leather toting tourists. Here we are hauling hides down beautiful Bathurst Street in the blazing midday sun. 2. Packing up some Falconwright wholesale orders. We've added a small selection of neat stores to our stockists page- check it out here! 3. Perfect Leather is the best. It should be noted that I used to think it was the worst and it stressed me out to just walk in the door. I'm glad that things have changed. 4. Danielle models the finest in fancy leather cutting gear - modified batting gloves. Classy!

1. Garlic, basic, and a few green onions. Ingredients from the garden for... 2. PESTO! It's the summer of pesto, guys. Adding green onions might be a little weird, but I just don't know how to get rid of all these guys. 3. A look at my second garden box, where the tomato plants are fairly mighty, but entirely barren of fruit? 4. Lettuce for days! My intake of salad has increased about 100 percent this summer by growing lettuce. The slugs increased their intake of lettuce too.

1 & 2. The right and left view from my spot at the table on my back patio. The buildings that surround my yard are pretty beautiful, and it's really quiet for being in the center of the city. The backyard is definitely my favourite part of our house. 3. My second favourite part of my house = these windows in my living room. 4. Do all freelancers have a hard time feeding themselves? I sure do. I'm trying to force myself to eat more regular meals, and maybe a healthy snack or two. Like these cherries. I can't survive on coffee and handfuls of chips and spoonfuls of Nutella alone. Or can I...


PS - Huh, blogger is making some of my words look like links, even though they are not. And life continues to be full of little mysteries!


PS PT. 2 - Instagram ups the dramatic gauzy romance of my life by at least 75 percent. Do not be fooled - it's also full of greasy summer skin, leg bruises from bikes and baseball, fruit flies, and floors that desperately need sweeping (boring).