10 July, 2008

bags of clouds

so here it is: the new project that came out of my studio yesterday:




silver-lined cloud tote bags!
i think i am happy with them, but i am a little torn; maybe you can help me decide:
which is better --
the lighter print (which is actually easier to do, it is just a block print with fabric screenprinting ink):


or the more saturated, opaque print (where i did the block print and then went over and filled it in with a paintbrush):


personally, i am a little drawn to the more faded looking one, i just think it looks a little cooler... but does it look incomplete, or like it is a mess-up (which, technically, maybe it is -- the ink isnt fully saturated on the print...)?
help me decide, please! i did them on canvas bags that i had ordered before renegade and on which i had intended to do some screenprints of my cross-stitch designs. i didn't get to that project in time for the fair, obviously.
i hadn't done any block printing in a while; well, i did try one of one of my cross-stitch designs, but i was not happy with those results. this time, though, i had fun! me gusto!
here are what i did for my test prints: my shipping envelopes -- now they have little silver lined clouds.


the other challenge of this project was finding a metallic embroidery floss or other material that was both easy enough to work with and thick enough to show up on these bags. the stuff that i use for my cloud cross-stitch pieces is too thin for this use; plus, is it a pain to work with - it frays and breaks and makes me scream bad words out loud when i am working with it. so you saw, in my previous post the whole big pile of options i bought yesterday. (i had no idea there were so many options!) well i tried out each kind, and found only one that is pleasant enough to work with. oh well, at least now i know. and the results, me thinks, are worth the pain. just as long as you know -- I SUFFER FOR MY ART, dammit. oops.

i put up one of the black bags on etsy. go check it out if you are interested.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

i like the lighter print. the heaver looks a bit "child like"
and thats all i have to say about it other than if i was a girl i would rock this so hard!

Leila said...

Absolutely the lighter one! Very fun idea. I like the silver stitching part the best, of course.

Anonymous said...

yep, for SURE the lighter one - it looks more "cloud-ey".
xo,
hezza

Anonymous said...

Hmmm...I'm going to have to go against the grain here and say that I'm not as drawn to the lighter print because of it's stormy feel. To me, the simplicity of the cloud's shape is best reflected in the more solid, yes child-like rendering. I love that the silver stitching is then hard to see until you're closer up...it makes you rethink your initial "happy little cloud" interpretation and gives it all al little more depth.
Lovely work from studio chez, overall...I'm saving my pennies for a grouping of cloud cross-stitches!
-mwj

chez-sucre-chez said...

thank you so so so very much for all of these opinions! i've listened (read) and thought about it and here is what i have come up with: if i end up doing a bigger run of these, i will do the blue/denim-ish ones with the single process -- the more faded look. then, i will do the black bags with the more saturated solid white. how does that sound? also -- i just printed a batch of natural canvas color bags -- ooooh, they look good. i still have to do the stitching around them, i'll photograph and post them as soon as i'm through!
thanks again for the comments -- i really appreciate it!