Ostrich eggs

So, painting this ostrich egg was very satisfying. The large surafce gave me loads of room for tons of colour and thick black lines. It was like a big canvass. I'd like to more of these for next year. The actual shell of the ostrich egg is very hard and almost ceramic like. The first time I received one in the post from Angie's Eggs (which is where I get all my eggs from) I thought she sent me a ceramic egg! And by the way this is a good time to mention that Angie from Angie's Eggs has a wonderful supply and array of not only different kinds of eggs to pourchase for painting and decorating but also tons of egg decorating tools, books, stands, paints etc. Check out her site. I have never been dissapointed by her service.

Easter 2010

Hello everyone! I won't even start with why I've been away for so long. Let's just say my life has taken a whole new turn and I am past all the difficulties.

I have been extremely busy painting Easter eggs for this year. Here are some snaps of what's available for purchasing in 2010rom my new online shop yay! It's called Laikonik Easter Egg Shop, check it out.

With my designs I got inspired by a wooden handpainted plate which I keep at home. It is from Poland and features an image of a 'Lajkonik' which is where the name of my business comes from. I will have some more later on about the story of the 'Lajkonik'.

I have no idea why this image uploaded sideways! Sorry!

What inspired me was the use of strong black outlines and autumn type colours. I wanted the designs to be bold and simple but full to the brim with colour of course.









I also have some new designs for my card range. I will be posting some more photos of eggs, cards and general fun from my studio over the next few weeks so stay tuned!

Lino printing trials

I'm having a go doing lino printing. The printing is not so hard, the cutting I find a bit tricky. I guess it's a matter of getting used to it. I can't say I truly enjoy the actualy cutting of the lino. I am impatient and want to get to the end quickly. I can see how lino cutting for me would be a fantastic excercise in practising patience, letting go and paying attention. It's not that I want the image to look a certain way, it's just that the printing is so much fun. My favourite part of this technique is the rough edges and the cut marks that occasionally show themselves here and there on the print. It adds character when it's imperfect. i really like the one on the brown kraft paper.

Decorating

I thought I would share some fun decorating tips with you. I will put paint and/or texta to just about anything. When I purchased these mini storage units from IKEA I couldn't resist decorating the plain exterior. I used plain black and brown textas and was very happy with the result. Incidentaly those gorgeous spools of orange and red twine inside one of the drawers were purchased during the recent Magnolia Square market in Sydney from HEAVEN IN EARTH. They are a garden accesory business and have beautiful products.

Round bits of timber which I picked up at a construction site next door. I painted them and put some twine through the holes. They now hang on my wall in the dining room. Something differet. Again just texta on wood.

I picked up this old drawer from out the front of a nerby house during a council collection. There were 4 other drawers like it and I couldn't decide whether or not to take them, I thought about all the junk I already bring home and then don't know what to do with. I cleaned it up and of course painted it. I loved the result. Unfortunately by this time the council truck had already picked up the remaining 4.

This is a little wooden tray that I picked up at my local St Vinnies. I absolutely fell in love with it the moment I saw it. There is something so homely, warm and comforting about it I find. I can't stop looking at it.

Colourful fabric bits

Hello, back from the illnesses that have gripped my family and myself for nearly two weeks. The silence from the lack of coughing in our home is lovely.

A little while ago I wrote about some fabric bits and pieces that I have left over from some experimenting. I also wrote that I was going to put all the pieces together and make some wall hangings. That is still the plan I'll just have to wait till I find the time! For now I'd like to share with you all the results of all my dabblings with fabric, paint, lino, brushes, fabric markers, stencils and a silk screen. One thing I must say about them all is that I love each one. None of them are particularly ambitious pieces of art. They were not thought out or designed. I made each one because I felt that I wanted to and I used the medium that suited me at the time. I had no particular expectation of any of them and just accepted each one as it turned out. I'm not good at drawing but I'm good with colour and the older I get the less I am bothered about the abilities I supposedly lack. This is something that I have only just recently realised about my work and it has deepened my love for it. I realised that I really don't expect wonders from any piece that I undertake. I noticed that I allow myself to draw or paint however I see fit and don't WANT a "result". Does that make sense? It frees me to think about my approach in this way. And the freer I feel the more I love what I do. Anyone can recreate any of the pieces shown below and if it will give you joy please feel free to copy any of the designs shown in this post. Or make your own. All you need is some fabric and some paints or markers and of course freedom in your artistic heart :)

These are all drawn onto the fabric first and then filled in with fabric markers. Inspired by Polish folk embroidery.



These were cut out from a stencil paper available from art shops. It's like a plastic kind of paper that gives you a sharp edge when you print it. I put the cut out onto the fabric and then squeegied some paint through a silkscreen. The one below uses the same method.

These were just painted straight onto the fabric with a brush.

Again drawn with a fabric marker and then filled in with more fabric markers. I then stitched it onto some nice orange fabric.

Drawn and painted again.

These two are my favourite because they're so happy and vibrant.

More cutouts stencilled onto fabric.

The one on the right is a lino cut printed onto calico.

That dreaded flu

Just a quick hello today to all my wonderful visitors. I don't know anyone in Sydney who isn't sick with some type of cold or flu. My children, partner and I are all sick and we are taking it easy until we recover. I have not seen a flu epidemic like this before. I hope where ever you are the nasty flu virus won't get you and if it has I hope you get well soon. I will blog hopefully in the next few days. Take care and stay warm if you're in the winter season!

Changing styles and colours

When I started Laikonik 3 years ago I had no idea of what exactly it was that I was going to be selling or making, who I would sell it to or where I would sell it. The very first things I made and sold were these small hand made photo albums which were covered in hand painted cotton. I fell in love with the process of painting on fabric and have never really deviated from that too much.

My very first stall was at the St Ives Heritage Craft Fair market in Sydney. Only my friends who came to the market to share my excitement bought from me. No one else did. But that wouldn't stop me. i loved making and decorating things. Anything really but the whole thing about paper and fabric and painting and gluing and creating something useful made me feel great inside. So below are images of the very first albums and notebooks that I ever made.

I haven't looked at them for a long time and when I dug out these images today I realised just how much I adored seeing them all together on my little market stall each month. I also just realised that colour is what I love most about my designs.

These were A4 dry mount photo albums. I made the pages in different colours to make them different from the standard black.

Smaller photo albums. Also dry mount but A5 in size.

Notebooks covered in hand painted cotton which was always fun to paint. These notebooks were stitched by hand and included a button for winding the cotton around and "closing" the book.

These were great and always sold very well. Tiny little pocket books about A6 in size with multi coloured paper inside.

Mixed collection of all the photo albums and notebooks.

Later on when I started making the Once-A-Year books (for chronicling the first 18 years of a child's life) I would hand paint the covers. Since I was only selling about 5-10 books a month I could get away with that and the covers were always different. Below are some of the designs I used to sell. Now I have the designs screen printed onto the fabric in various different designs and colours. The books now sell all over Australia and in Belgium and have been featured in several popular printed publications as well as on other blogs.

The very first Once-A-Year book designs.

Later I made the designs more elaborate as I started having fun with fabric paints and fabric paint pens.

These designs were a short fad, although I always loved them they were too labour intensive to keep up on a regular basis. By this stage I started thinking of screen printing.



A few more of the early hand painted range.

What I realised having looked at all these designs from the past is that I truly love colour. And so I have decided to start injecting more of it back into all my new designs which I am working on at the moment. Will keep posted about this...

If you would like to see the current design range of the Once-A-Year books please visit my website http://www.laikonik.com.au/

I am also planning on bringing back notebooks and pocket books for possibly this Christmas. If you'd like to be notified of all my new products and special offers please go to the website's contact page and email me to join the mailing list.