Hand Printed Waves

I made another of these hand printed pouches (now in the shop). This ancient asian motif is one of my favourite patterns. It represents oceans and waves and is a really good one to print - it’s a bit like doing a jigsaw puzzle :)

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Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

block printed nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

Shibori Dip

I've been sewing the shibori fabric I dyed into these pouches. They're a good size to use as an accessory organiser, cosmetics bag, or to hold your phone, keys, cash and cards on an evening out. Inside, there is a pocket running the length of the pouch and they're available here!

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Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

block printed nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

Spring Printing, Making

Hello! Are you having a good spring? I think March is my favourite month - starting cold and drizzly but with promising snippets of the good weather to come.

Here's what I've been working on the last few weeks:

Pines & Cranes on cotton fabric; Blackbird, Silver Birch Pouch; Mountains Travel Wallet; Denim back to the blackbird pouch.

I love the brilliant colours and detail you can get printed onto fabric digitally and the way the new Mediterranean landscape pouch has worked out is great (more of these soon)! Also pictured is the blackbird drawing you can see on this blog's banner ^up there^ printed onto cotton twill. With the denim back, it makes a really sturdy and tactile little bag.

I've also been experimenting with paints and methods for block printing on linen and cotton. I love the immediate results and great texture of hand printed fabric:

Hand made, hand printed drawstring bag; colours for spring; Two for Joy block printing and finished zipped bag.

To find out more about these images, visit the Forest & Sea Instagram or Etsy page.

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Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

It's been a gem!

New prints for a new year..

I've loved 2015! As with any year, it's had its set backs but on the whole, it's been a gem! One of the highlights for me was to finally open an Etsy shop, make some sales and find my way around over there. It's still a work in progress but I'm so looking forward to 2016 and making some new things.

How was this year for you and what are you looking forward to in the next? I hope you have a fantastic new year's eve and wish you a happy, healthy and successful 2016!

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Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

Elaboration..

Some screenshots from the 'about' section at the Forest & Sea Etsy shop:

a photo of my sunny workroom with superimposed logo, birds + bees...

..woodblock prints pegged out to dry in our city centre (read tiny!) garden...

..and the drawing of Bruges from the medieval woodcut pattern, here superimposed on a photo of Bruges; Bruges on Bruges!

There are still two image spaces on the about section for me to add to; what do you like to know about the person you buy handmade from? Suggestions are very welcome - leave a comment below if you like :)

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Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

Online shop!

I've added some zipped pouches, gift tags and fabric to the new Forest & Sea Etsy shop! Click here to head on over and have a rummage :)

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Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Ink!

Hello! To catch up here with some of the projects I've been working on over the last few months, here are some photos from my Instagram page. Just click on the title below each picture and it'll take you straight to the post if you'd like to read more about it :)

Tea Bags | Family Cards

Rubber Stamp | Paisley Linen

Medieval Woodcut INK! | Wash Bag

Handmade Handles | Birds & Bees

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Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Slow - Busy - Slow

As I mentioned a few posts ago, I'm working on starting a shop over at Etsy. It's taking much longer than I thought it would - there are so many things, for both production and admin, that I need to research and am doing for the first time - but I'm working hard at it and I hope to open soon!

Motifs for the shop banner & cotton panels in the dye pot.

Clockwise: Sparrow - Palace Garden - Butterfly & Bloom zipped pouches!

I'm impatient to open and send off some goodies! Are you the same as me? Do things take longer than you think they will?

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Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Burlap & Azure

Also proofed and in the shop are the new colours for Arabica Cherry: Burlap and Azure!

This repeat design was made using botanical drawings of the Arabica coffee bush - my favourite bean. So if you're like me and love a strong, aromatic brew to get you going in the morning, then you can find this pattern in my spoonflower shop!

Arabica Cherry - in Burlap and Azure - printed on heavy cotton twill at spoonflower.

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Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

Waterlight

The Galápagos Sea Lions I sketched from a nature documentary a few years ago have had a bit of work done! I've redrafted the fish and given them all a bit of watery light:

Scatter!

Scatter! details.

The shop has already been updated with this new version here!

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Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Hiroshige

'Nihonbashi Bridge on Snow Morning' and 'Mt. Fuji Scene from Satta' both by Andō Hiroshige

'Evening Snow in Kamubara' by Andō Hiroshige and 'Mt. Fuji on Fine Day' by Hokusai Katsushika

Hiroshige Pouch from the 'Evening Snow in Kamubara' postcard.

When I was about 12, a family friend returned from a Tokyo business trip with a huge pile of beautifully printed, thick, mat postcards with old Japanese woodblock art on them. Everyone was allowed to keep a few and above are the ones I chose. They were blu-tacked to my bedroom wall for all of my teenage years and are a bit worse for wear, but as you can see the colours haven't faded. A while ago, I digitally cleaned one of them up and had it printed on some linen-cotton from Spoonflower. For textiles, digital printing is perfect for this kind of thing - it couldn't have turned out better. I've finally made something of it (the last image here) and it's great to have something to use, made by hand, from an image that's always been there.

I hope you have a great weekend. Spoil yourself at least once :)

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Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Sundance

Poppyfield and Sundance

Hi, have you had a good start to your weekend? I've been sorting out these new designs. On the left here is a new version of Poppyfield with updated, brighter colours and a smaller repeat. To the right is a new pattern which I've based on it and I'm so happy with how the colours have printed - they're so fresh and bright. It's called Sundance after the flowers I'd never heard of and only happened to come across after designing this pattern - meant to be?! I hope you like them too; if you do, you can find them in my Spoonflower shop!

Have a good Sunday lovely peeps :)

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Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

El Condor Pasa

Textile paint experiments - first flowering cherry - winter sun and a new blanket - el condor pasa.. a few pictures from over at Instagram. I hope you have a great week!

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Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Augghh-i-wuaah unh!

I thought that the Piepster's Chewbacca impression would be a good way to end the year on the blog.. uncanny isn't it? Augghh-i-wuaah unh! actually means Happy New Year! in the Wookiee language, so have a great New Year's Eve and a wonderful 2014 from us!

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Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Nighttime

Pines & Cranes Desktop

A nighttime version of the Pines & Cranes design. Hopefully I can sort this out for the shop next week but for now I've set it as my wallpaper for the holiday season. As you can see, I'm not the tidiest desktop keeper (and this is the sorted out version)!

I hope you had a great thanksgiving if you celebrate it and have a great rest-of-weekend :)

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Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Summer Doves

Summer Doves; a summery counterpart to the Snow Doves. You can find them over here!

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Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Linen Washi Tape

A new phone case I made this week out of linen scraps and a new washi tape design; it's great for borders or to add just a bit of decorative pattern:

Phone case using the blue strip.

The multicolour version is available here if you'd like some on fabric, paper or peel and stick decals in all these colours:

It's been a while since I posted - I hope everyone's having a great summer!

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Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Sumerian Triangles

I liked the look of the stamped triangles in my last design and thought they deserved one all on their own:

Sumerian Triangles

They remind me a lot of the marks made in cuneiform so the pattern's named after the people who invented it.

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Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Get stuff sent for free :)

Hello! If you were thinking of making some luverly stuff for the festive season this year, or if you're like me and just like a bargain, then head on over to the shop and you can get stuff sent for free!!

Free shipping at spoonflower is from 12pm, Thursday November 15th - 12pm Friday November 16th EST (if you're in the UK that's 5pm today until 5pm tomorrow).

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Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Snow Doves on Grey

Another version of Snow Doves, this time on a grey linen background. It's available for order if you'd like some (on cotton, linen, silk, wallpaper, decal, or wrapping paper!) just click here!

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Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware