I got some Spoonflower samples today!  Always exciting.  When I discovered they now offered cotton lawn I had to come up with some designs to test it out. (Lawn was the first thing I requested back when I first signed up with them.)  The samples you see above are all printed on lawn.  The colors came out mostly as expected which is nice.  Can you see the old-timey circus/Alice influence?

The fabric itself is a looser weave than I was expecting; maybe it will shrink up a bit in the wash.  My idea was to construct a wee 1930s dress for myself from Spoonflower lawn.  And, I suppose, some dolly dresses too.  What do you think?

I printed the strongman design on canvas.  I really like the canvas. (I wasn’t expecting to as I haven’t had much use for it; perhaps that will change!)  There were other strongman versions on quilt-weight fabric but I don’t like them as much.  Somehow the details didn’t show up as well. (Plus the scale was smaller so the little guys just seem sort of lost.)  I think this design would need something a little more if it were ever to be printed, some kind of design element in the background.

The diamond/star design is printed on their standard quilt-weight fabric in a slightly different colorway from the same design above it.  I like the softer, more greenish version in the lawn. (Although the bright red, blue and white is appropriate for our holiday weekend!)

Have you printed up anything at Spoonflower lately?

Anyhow, I wish all my fellow U.S. residents, citizens and ex-pats a Happy July 4th weekend!   Actually, a lovely weekend to everyone!

New watercolor paper.  I normally use off-white hotpress (I love it for detailed work) but I stumbled upon this more textured, ecru-colored stuff that tickled my fancy.  Perhaps it’s this new paper, with its darker tone, that gave rise to Felix’s moody mix of murky green hues.  I’m not sure he’s finished but if not, he’s close.

Felix is actually a cheery example of a 8-armed fellow and surprisingly modest too.  He wears his medals with pride but doesn’t like to brag about his feats of strength.  He can be a little vain, however, and takes care to regularly groom his short golden locks (which, as you might imagine, can be quite challenging with a life underwater!).