two become three and fly to sydney

Find Ink & Spindle at the Stitches & Craft Show in the incubator area!
19-23 August
Rosehill Racecourse
Level 4
Stand 174-175

She's back, yay!!! All is right with the world as Teegs returns from her whirlwind South East Asia trip and our two becomes three again! I'm sure Teegs will tell you all about it once she's allowed near the blog again (currently she's chained to the email) but for now we're happy to be back to functioning at full capacity like a well oiled machine. It does kinda feel like that which is very cool.

Needless to say we've been run off our feet preparing for the Stitches & Craft Sydney show! This time we weren't allowed to leave everything to the last minute because we got our stock paletted & freighted up this time! Wow we're totally seasoned craft carnies now. And probably looked like total dorks as we took these photos!


Ink & Spindle gets palletized- see our tree is coming with us!


Ink & Spindle gets shrinkwrapped, lara displays poor posture as usual

And because those photos were so damn ugly, here's some pretty pics of fabric to soothe your eyes:




Lara's stack o' fabrics

Ahhhhh...

Hope to see you at the show!!

xx Lara.

Handmade in Melbourne

We're totally chuffed to be included in this year's Handmade in Melbourne book! Just like the Melbourne Design Guide it was not that long ago that we were simply admiring the book and it's artisans from afar and didn't think we could actually be included in it.

But this year Ink & Spindle is there between the pages! I do think that the 2008 edition was better - professional photography and writing really makes a book like this and being asked to submit our own was somewhat disappointing. Plus there was a typo when our text was edited to say that it was me who became a secondary school teacher rather than Teegs. But still, I can't complain.


Ink & Spindle's page



And of course there was the launch. Where Penny, Caitlin, Bee and I enjoyed the free wine and finger food (a little too much?) and listened to speeches by Stephen Kent and John Brumby who went on and on about ideas and innovation whilst we giggled and chattered and were told to shush.


Me, Caitlin, Penny and her lovely man Chris


Stephen Kent talks, lady in foreground tells us to shut up numerous times

Fun fun! Now to actually sit down and read everyone else's pages!

Excitement...

Here at Ink & Spindle (- Teegs, because she's still enjoying the hot weather in Asia) we're all pretty excited! We're featured in the latest issue of Living Creatively's online mag.



How good does she look, our Lara, inking up totally suits her. Click here to read the full article and look at some more pictures of us :)

Living Creatively has done an awesome job putting this interview together and guess what... all of our favourite crafters are featured on their website. You can read about Dear Fii, Auntie Cookie, One Red Robin and many many more.

Thanks!
Bianca

Ink & Spindle Open Studio this weekend!

artwork by Sixto from Too Yeah Media. Thanks Sixto!!

It's that time of year again - Ink & Spindle is having another open studio! And this time we're giving you more than a day's notice. How organised are we!

Yesterday we received a lovely email out of the blue from the very talented Sixto (check out his full name, awesome huh?) saying:

"I've been getting into a bit of poster design, and as a regular visitor of your blog, I couldn't help but be inspired by Ink and Spindle's infectious bubbliness that I spent some of my spare studio time last week designing a poster for your open studio this Saturday."

How incredibly generous is that?? And how cute is that poster? I do like to think we work in a castle.

Anyway, open studio details repeated below:

Ink & Spindle Open Studio
Saturday 25th July
10am - 1pm
Suite 206, Level 2
10 Elizabeth St
Kensington VIC 3031

Hope to see you there! We'll have some nibblies and some fabric & kits to peruse. We wont be doing a demo print run, but maybe next time.

xx Lara.

A Parting Gift

So, I fly out tonight. Off to Thailand and Laos for three wonderful weeks! I feel very lucky, indeed! It's my first time overseas and I'm sure you're wondering how I'm spending my final hours on Australian soil. Am I doing some last minute packing? Nope. Am I checking to see what important things I have forgotten? Nope. Am I enjoying one last lie down, before I spend the whole night on a plane? Nope.

I'm uploading photo's to our Flickr page so I can show you what fantastic new things we have in the shop!

As I know a few of you noticed a few posts back, we were making some screenprinted Italian wool felt scarves - well they were so popular and after a few emails from people asking if they were available...

Here they are!

They are each one-of-a-kind creations, completely handmade in the I&S studio (of course) and are deliciously, toasty warm! They're scrinted felt on the front, with a linen or cotton back, in case you're like me and don't like that scratchy feel 100% wool felt can have.

Oh, and I don't think we'll have any more after this batch are gone (there's only 10 there!!) so if you like a warm neck... :)

... we can help you out!

I'll speak to you all when I return from my adventuring (with bundles of amazing fabric, no doubt) - until then, I leave you in the incredibly capable hands of Bee & Larz :D

Adios amiga's!!

xx T

Happy 1st Birthday Ink & Spindle!!!

The Ink & Spindle studio - one year ago and today
(Teegs edit: Gosh, it sure looks 'lived in' these days, that's for sure... and there's Jus from Mixtape mixing inks with me! Hi Jus!)

We just remembered whilst eating lunch - today is Ink & Spindle's first birthday!!

We signed our lease exactly 1 year ago today. Which feels simultaneously forever ago and just yesterday.

Crazy.
xx L

Haven't you seen it yet?

We're in this months Home Beautiful magazine, how exciting! Yay! (Teegs edit: I think you mean OMG! OMG! OMG! A single "yay!" doesn't really seem to encompass the awesomeness of our first printed thingie!! C'mon, Bee, let out a squeal!)

She's back!

Hooray!

Bee has returned to us after spending 3 wonderful weeks visiting family and friends back in the Netherlands. She went home specifically to attend her best friend Charlotte's wedding - such fun! And, much to my total jealousy, she even spent some amazing time in Paris! *sigh...*

Bee & I have a week over overlap before I head off on my own exciting adventure to Thailand & Laos! (So excited - I leave on Wednesday!! Yay!) So anyway, I thought I'd better give you an update on the happenings around here! Hmmm, so we haven't blogged in weeks... Y'know what? We haven't got any news. Larz and I have just been printing and doing admin. We have basically just been attempting to get ourselves organised for the Sydney Stitches & Craft Show. It's looming ever closer, and as usual we're feeling the pressure! Eep!

Oh, wait! I just remembered - there is one exciting bit of news- we are going to our first private Lace lesson tonight! Though, I'm very ashamed to admit, Lara has finished her homework, and I have not. I think I might loose my status as Teacher's Pet this week. That doesn't sit well with me... Will let you know how that works out!

xx T

New & improved online shop!!!

Geez sometimes it feels like we're creating a new online shop for Ink & Spindle every few months. But this is the last time I promise!

Let me introduce - The New and Totally Improved Ink & Spindle shop!


New Ink & Spindle shop - looks the same, but magic hides beneath

The old shop software was slow, clunky and unreliable. We had this constant problem where orders wouldn't process properly and stock wouldn't deplete. This version is SO MUCH BETTER.

There's only one downside, and it's actually an upside too depending on your point of view. There's no customer account/login. So every time you buy something you need to enter your address again. But that said, I often find having to create an account REALLY ANNOYING so I think this is better for new customers. And existing customers - we just hope you love us enough anyway ;)


New Ink & Spindle shop - über simple order screen

Oh, and as part of the launch - some new prints! Wrens in a range of new colourways, and Rooftops finally in the shop!


Wrens in Deep Red on Natural


Wrens in Snow on Natural


Rooftops in Deep Red on Organic Cotton/Hemp


Rooftops in Snow on Natural

And the winner is...

Not telling yet - let's begin...

All the entrants sliced up and ready to go...

Folded and put in our very attractive "hat"...

The excitement is almost too much to bear....

Congratulations to Paper Tiger!

Now because we're suuuuch kind and generous (and modest - did I mention we were modest?) people, AND because there was just so many entrants, we thought it would be nice to do a 2nd & 3rd prize, too! Also we were having such a fun time with the whole drawn from a hat thing we didn't want to go back to normal work!!

Ooooh who could win Second Prize?!?

It's this Jacqui !

And Third Prize?

It's this Lauren !!

(oodly, there were two of both names)

Congrats you guys - email us your postal addy's and we'll send you a package of fabulous goodies!

Huzzah!

Now we must say a massive thanks to everyone who gave us your ideas! We're mid tally, but so far it looks like white, greens and black are the most popular colours, with the natural linen being the fav fabric of choice, and small scale patterns in geometric and tree-related designs being what you're after!

No promises, but we'll have a brainstorm.

xx Teegs

Giveaway Has Ended!

Stay tuned for the draw....

Design Market stall video!

I'm really glad I took this video just after we set up the stall, before the crowds set in. But gawd, do I really sound like that??

quick journey back in time

Just quickly, I have to share this! I was just uploading a video of the MDM to youTube when I discovered this old video of our studio space before we leased it and renovated the bejeezus out of it.



How completely different does it look!? We used to call it the asylum. What a laugh.

Giveaway Ends Tomorrow!

Hey everyone, just a quickie to remind you that the giveaway ends tomorrow, (in approximately 17 hours!!) so if you haven't yet, leave a comment on this post!

We're gonna do the draw at 10am our time, just as Bee jets off to Europe for three weeks!! Lucky minx that she is! Bon Voyage, Bebot!! Bring me back a present!

xx t

Post Melbourne Design Market

Hooray! It's over!

We had such a great (albeit thoroughly exhausting) time yesterday - must say a massive thanks to all the wonderful readers who came in and introduced yourselves! And an even bigger thanks to those who came in, introduced themselves and bought a bunch of stuff! (And a spank for all you naughty blog lurkers (blurkers?) out there. Apparently there are many. De-lurk, dammit!)

Ahem, I'm here to show you a bunch of pics today! So I'm gonna attempt to limit myself to hilarious captions only from now on.

The Spunky Lady of I&S, modeling one of the Italian Felt Wool Scarves! They are going to be available in our shop soon, tho we only have about 12 left... I'll keep you updated.


Me, Bee & Larz's back putting the finishing touches to our stall.


Me, Bee, Larz & Sandra (a.k.a Pepperberry & co) all set up and ready to sell, sell, sell!!


Stall shot - well half the stall...


Posing in front of the cushions, fabric bolts and lamps! Can you tell I've not had much sleep?


Pepperberry & co's beautiful passport covers and notebooks!


Shonah's fabulous pendants, mid-unpacking...


Mattt's latest collaberation with us - New coloured hemp canvas bags, launching the latest design 'Rooftops'!! They sold like hotcakes, too!

Ok, now for some name dropping! We had some other fabulous blogger peeps, and non-blogger peeps, come visit us:
Penny from Pocket Carnival, Amy from Moyou, Susie from Button & Squiggle, Susan from Spin Spin, Shannon from Rabbit & The Duck, Britt from Stitchy Britt,(who by the way, actually came up and helped package stuff on Saturday arvo, with her friend Jett, in exchange for a cup of tea and a vegan chocolate biscuit), the ever-lovely Anna from Living Creatively, one of my favourite workshopee's from the Melbourne Stitches & Craft Show - the everlovely Kate, our lace teacher Jan, our newest neighbor here at the studio Yong, my chiropractor San, & Ruth the vet!

Speaking for Lara, the definite highlight of the day was when Bee spotted Lawrence Leung in the crowd told Lara (Lara loooooved his show) who then bolted out of the stall, (nearly bowling me over in the process) to shake his hand. Seriously, people, it made her day.

We found one more!

Here is, until further notice, the final 'Hot Man of I&S'!


Introducing Gerard!

A wonderfully surly teacher buddy of mine, he gave up part of his Saturday to come to the studio and fold & package fabric! The most impressive part of it is that it was during his report writing time and he STILL came! And it wasn't even the first time, bless his little cotton socks, he comes to visit fairly regularly and we always put him to work.

What a guy!

xx

Melbs Design Market

IT"S TOMORROW!

Well, it is. So come one, come all to Fed Square carpark, between 10am and 5pm!

We've got an extra big stall this time, and we're gonna need it!! We are selling a whole range of fabrics, kits, fabric covered lamps, felt scarves & cushions!

As well all that amazing stuff, we're ALSO stocking products by Mattt, Shonah & Pepperberry!

Speaking of Matt, and in keeping with our previous post, we thought we'd show you him! (We were thinking of having an entire series titled 'The Hot Men of I&S' however, there really is only Jem and Mattt, so yeah...)

Enough of that! Here's spunky Matt:

Matt inspecting the very first repeat of the new Rooftops print, on his fancy new hemp canvas! All up to scratch, Matt..? We thought so.

As Larz often notes, we love a man who sews! ;)

(Note my brand spankin' new Princess Coat on the mannequin behind - more on that, and Lara's newbie, next week...)

On to other news, here's a pic of Lara, mid-lamp making:

She's notoriously hard to get a photo of as she's always hunched over something or another! At least here, you can nearly see her face - and she's almost smiling!

Ok, best get on with the rest of the preps!!

Come visit us at the market tomorrow

xx Teegs

Amidst the busy..

You'll find some pretty!

Here's the result of the placement printing which Sam and I did during the Open Studio last weekend, a lovely wool felt and linen scarf for dear Cousin Nathan's birthday! Only two months late, but hey, it's handmade.

Scarf modeled by the spunkiest man in the entire Younghusband Wool Store building, the very wonderful (and very tolerant) Jem of LikeButter!

Jem. You could be a part time model! Heheh!

You can see why we love the LikeButter crew so damn much - aside from building all our stuff (see tree behind) dear Jem allows us to accost him with the occasional odd modeling demand! Though he never stays for a cup of tea... can't imagine why..?

If you can tear your eyes away from the thing of beauty above (the scarf, people) we thought you might like to see what happened next...

After a few people thinking that perhaps they'd like one for themselves, it got us thinking that maybe we could whip some more scarves up for the Melbourne Design Market! So I headed off to Park Orchards to pay a visit to our dear friend Winterwood and pick us up some fancy-pants, Italian felt. After eventually choosing the colours, we came home to I&S HQ and began doing some placement prints.

Mid print run of the first colour


Ta-Da!

All cut in to lovely scarf sized lengths, now ready for colour 2!

That's all so far, I'm actually procrastinating doing the next batch of printing by writing this post. But I just had to show you Jem- er, I mean the finished scarf! ;) Just kidding, Jem!!

One last one to see what the other two lovely ladies are up to today:

Larz is on cushion making duty, Bee wrapping handmade soaps (no, not handmade by us)

P.S. massive thanks to everyone who's commented on the giveaway post - so far the most popular suggestions are MORE GREEN PLEASE and SMALL GEOMETRIC DESIGNS. Keep 'em coming folks!

xx t

GIVEAWAY?? About freakin' time!

Ok, so we're not exactly known for our frequent blogging, but that's mainly due to the fact that we have a business and there's heaps of other crap that goes in to getting fabulous fabrics to you, and it's almost ALL boring as bat doodies. I think so anyway....

Oh, sweet jellybeans, I've gone off on a tangent already.

Let's start again.

You like free stuff right? We do. So we thought we'd give you some stuff, even if it's not entirely free. Woots, anyway!

We're gonna give you a whole bunch of gorgeous handprinted fabrics! (*gasp* Wow! What a surprise!) Some you will know, some you won't... ooooh tantalising... some are so brand spankin' they're not even back from the heat setters yet!

Ok, so the dealio is:

*Leave a comment - tell us what you would like us to print. Colours, new designs, fabrics... whatever! But BE SPECIFIC! We plan on exploiting you guys as market research, so make with the detail.

NB: No praise or flattery will be allowed. Only good, solid constructive criticism. Or something.

We'll do the random draw on Wednesday the 17th June at 10am, our time. That's two whole weeks to think about what you would like to see and write something really useful!

That is all.

xx T

A busy Week(s?)

So much happened this week. No time to blog.

In an attempt to make this post not a novel, and so as not to earn more pointed looks from Larz & Bee, I'm going to work in dot points.

And try to stick to them.

Here goes:
Monday: printed like crazy; went to Lace Class; on the way, wound Bee's bobbins and nearly vommed coz I was in the back seat and I had to do it as we went thru the hated tunnel and that, along with the fumes, made me all a tad carsick; recovered and kicked the latest lace pattern's proverbial butt and got an invite to our teachers house for a private lesson (Woots!!) (yes, yes, it's well established I'm the teacher's pet.) (You're just jealous.)

Tuesday: We printed like crazy - oh btw, Bee spent the WHOLE week with us at the studio due to some time in lieu from her other job and it was ace!

Wednesday: printed like crazy (surprised?); had meetings and general boring work stuff; went to Glen Iris for my private lace lesson, learned how to do Tallies and Windmill Crossings properly. Pumped as. Time flew. Home late.

Thursday: P.L.C (see above); then we went to Mattt's Funky Gertrude St Pad so Larz could show him how to set up the blog we've finally talked him in to doing. I cooked dinner. Bee assisted. Again home late.

Friday: Got ready for our Open Studio; Then went for vegan lunch and vegan shopping with Miss Pepperberry herself, (she was teaching me all the good places to go. BTW if you haven't been to the Ivanhoe Coles. Go there. Just go. I can't explain it. It's amazing.) Sandra and I traveled all across Melbs, from North to Southeast and back to West all in an arvo, which actually ended up being and arvo and and evening, (but hey - who's timing!) which involved a lot of chatting (and eating) and it turns out she is totally ace! I had an inkling, but now I know for sure, and thought I'd better share; after I finally let poor Sandra (she was/is sick) go home, I had to stay up til 1am to go the the airport and pick up Sam! Yay, Sam! 1am turned into nearly 2am, and after a nap in the car, which was parked, running, in a bus zone, with the heater on full coz it was about minus a million degrees (I hate the cold), my bestie arrived! Huzzah! Home, cup of tea, sleep.

Saturday: Here's Sam - she is the Honorary 4th I&S Member, as she spent four weekends in a row getting filthy last year, helping us reno the space in the depths of winter AND she was from Darwin. That's a good friend, right there.

She'd kill me for putting a pic up, I guess it's just too bad she's in WA! Haha!

Saturday saw us hold our second bi-monthly Open Studio - and what fun! We had heaps of awesome people come up for a look and a chat and a nibbly, we also did a bit of placement printing, so people could see the general process. That was fun. Tho the awed silence freaked me out a bit... I'm used to demo-ing to bored teenagers!

After that, Sam and I went out to Sandra's where we got to meet (in order of appearance) Tango, Sharon, Coconut, Monsieur, Manhattan and the adorable ginger (we gotta stick together, y'know) cat, Gin Gin. We dove straight in to cooking a 5 course vegan dinner, had a great afternoon full of laughing and cooking and mess-making and quickly-cleaning-up-before-Sharon-noticed-what-we-were-doing-to-the-kitchen.
Evening rolled around soon enough, Bee & Larz arrived to join the party and we ate. And ate. And ate some more: Pesto dip; taco's with guacamole; asparagus, lemon rind and something else pasta; mini passionfruit pav's (in theory, tho they were less than successful); and finally choc ganache and strawberries... mmmm... I didn't mention the "marshmallow's". Hopefully Sandra will write a blog post about those. I just can't bring myself to.

Sunday: Sam and I woke up with sugar hangovers. They exist, trust me. After checking up on the hosts, Sandra said and I quote "Sharon woke up with a migraine, I woke up fat." We giggled.
We eventually crawled out of bed and went to Grumpy's Green on Smith St for delish vegan food and organic wine... then decided to head to the studio to make Sam's little 4y.o. sister, Ally, an Audrey & Maude Softie! We decided on Eloise the Elephant and made her from a gorgeous silk/linen fabric we had lying around somewhere and Bee's Sumor in Teal on Natural, coz look at how awesome it works with the ears!

Hmmm, now where should those ears go...

Et voila!
(Sorry about the crappy photo's, I only had my iPhone camera handy.)

So we finished Eloise just before Sam's flight home, which she made this time. Phew. Home. Sleep.

Monday: Printing, a bit crazy-esque, our new batch of delectable organics arrived, so we got straight in to those - omg yum as. Wait til they're ready, that's all I'm gonna say. Home, Ashburton, pick up Bee, get noodles, lace class, buy more bobbins, home, sleep.

Tuesday: Printing, blogging. Banana. And that's it! We're up to date.

So much for the not a novel bit, but oh well! There was a lot to catch up on!

xx Teegs