Whew! Summer has come and gone, fall is upon us and we find ourselves packing up our playclothes and settling down to our studies once again. Plush You! Seattle opens next Friday and we are so pleased to have some of our work on display at this fabulous venue. Since we live in and LOVE  the Pacific Northwest, we decided to do a piece that expressed how we feel about it, thus the Tree Hugger.

Made from a vast mix of reclaimed fabrics; corduroy, wool, assorted felt, and linen, this piece was great fun to create. And since we have played hooky over the summer, it’s been a great piece to get us going again! Now, we are dreaming of new pieces, better pieces, BIGGER pieces! Yes! Yes!

A little excited to get back to work, and hope you all will like what we will be sharing with you over the next few months, enjoy the day, enjoy the evening, and get some good sleep.

Until we meet again…

Duuuuuuuuuuude.

Hi, my name is Geranium Rainbow. I was born in an organic kelp patch in the cold waters of Northern Cali, I thrived in an environment built on honesty, faith and freedom of expression. I believe in spiritual exploration that allows one to grow into the true color they were born to become, you know? I totally don’t get harshness, right? I am looking to be united in a family that believes in the code of color and love, you know?

peace

Three new friends: Opal, Gladys and Elliott. You can see the photos and read their stories on our Flickr page, and you can check them out on our Etsy shop.

Our new little friend Pico came to us from just south of the border. He made his way North after he was downsized from the entourage of the feared, mythic creature- El Chupacabra.

It seems that with all of the stress and strain on the global economy of late, people are not spending quite as much time in leisure activities and pursuits. This decline means that it’s become fairly lean, income wise, for creatures like El Chupacabra, Bigfoot, The Strawman and UFOs as more and more people are focused on dollar retention. And sadly, less vacations translates to less sightings-translates to less income-translates to Pico being on the streets.

So, what is a 6″ out of work monster to do? Well apparently, Pico caught one of our TV ads at 2:00am advertising our placement services and decided to see if we could help. After hiring a coyote to get him across the border, riding several box-car trains and hitchhiking his way through the West Coast, he ended up on our door step looking fairly disheveled.

It has been a couple weeks now, and we are happy to say he has his wonderful orange glow back. He has started working on his memoirs, “Mi Chupacabra es su Chupacabra”, and is looking for a safe, quite environment to add the last chapters to his seminal work.

We were to thrilled to receive our half of a trade we recently initiated with Dawn Ramerman of Look What I Can Do. Jill contacted her on the off chance that she might be willing to share one of her wonderful creations with us in exchange for one of our pieces. Thankfully, she was up for the trade. Patty the owl came to us a few days ago in the mail, and we just love her. The craftsmanship (craftswomanship) of the piece is top notch and her choice of fabric was wonderful.

The art of the trade is something that is essential to the DIY/craft experience. There is so much wonderful and talented work out there that if two artists are in mutual admiration of each other’s work, it’s wonderful when a trade can be arranged between the two to foster that mutual appreciation.

If you are interested in seeing the piece we sent Dawn, you can check out her post on the Hanetori we sent her and all about here work on her weblog. Better yet, after you’re done with that check out her Etsy store to see what she has available for sale. Her pieces would surely be a welcome addition to any home.

Thanks again Dawn!

Here are a few of the pieces we’ve put together for the upcoming 2nd Sunday Sustainability Fair being held in Portland on February 10. All the pieces we are bringing with us will either be made from mostly recycled and/or reclaimed materials.

Jill and I have learned quite a bit about the extent to which we can push certain types of reclaimed materials while getting ready for this show.

There were several designs that we made it quite far into the process with, only to be abandoned because of limitations and flaws that surfaced due to the types of reclaimed materials we were trying to use. It’s also allowed us to take some mental notes on our processes and eliminate certain types of reclaimed materials because they are simply too hard to work with.

Our newest friend up on our Etsy shop.

A little back story perhaps? Sure:

Percival is extremely fond of techno, dub, trip hop and downtempo music. He’s been known to attend a variety of rave and house style parties, spending days grooving to the hypnotic, repetitive musical structures while hopping around in a semi-trance like state alleviating his cares and concerns.

He’s extremely mellow, widely read and loves to talk about a variety of subjects. Despite being a bit squinty from a variety of strobe light induced corneal burns, Percy is extremely friendly and outgoing.

We were so excited when we were contacted by Tender Loving Empire in Portland asking us if they could carry our work. We thought about it for, oh, about 5 seconds, looked at each other and shouted, “Hecks yes!”

We were finally able to get downtown today and sign contracts with the hospitable Bri, deliver a couple of pieces for the shop and to take a look around her awesome store. There is just so much there that you could easily spend your entire paycheck there without even blinking.

Our agreement with TLE marks the first retail space we’re going to be located in, and it looks like it might not be the last. We’ve just received interest from a new vendor that if it works out might take us across the pond to merry old England before too long. Let’s hope.

What I love so much about doing these shows are the people we meet. I’m always so touched by people’s reactions to our pieces. Young children that are so happy to squish a jellyfish, or that get to pick out a monster doll to take home. This weekend I met several older patrons who did not purchase, but just held our dolls, and laughed at the expressions on their faces, and talked at length with us about our process. I’m always amazed at the baby in the backpack who reaches out for our table and points at our dolls with excitement. That’s the very best part of what we’re doing.

The other very big positive in this new endeavor is all of the great artists we’re getting to know in the area. This weekend, we were next to Rachel, the PDX buttongirl. Her vast array of awesome buttons makes it very difficult to choose what to get. She’s very knowledgeable about the Portland art scene and is great fun to sit next to at any venue.

We also had the pleasure of getting to know Mike and Mona of TinyMeat. They’re so warm, and open to collaboration and sharing of ideas it was really cool getting to talk with them. We hope to have the opportunity to work with them in the future on various projects. And let’s not forget the very talented Karina of Luna. Wow! We swapped product for one of her awesome skirts-I love it! Portland is simply overflowing with talent, and we’re so happy to be a part of this very diverse and unique community.

On a final note, we’re very pleased to announce that motokitty will be carrying our pieces in their shop starting early next year. Thanks very much to Cari of mottokitty for her support, the folks of the Etsy street team who made the event possible, all of our patrons this weekend, and especially to all the wonderful local artists in the Portland area. Good weekend, good people, and good night until next time.