December Shows!

Hi! I have one December show scheduled. I'm heading to Montreal for Winter Puces Pop! This will be the Winged Beast's first foray out of Ontario. I'm pretty stoked because this show tends to be a hotbed of talented folks! And, I like to included among talented people.

Show details:
December 18-19th
at the St-Enfant Jesus church on St-Dominique and St-Joseph. Map.
I'm not sure, but going on past hours, it'll run 11-6.

I think it's gonna be great! I was at their October event and was blown away by some of the people who turned out. As someone who views himself as up and coming, chances like these to push into a wider market and more renowned events make me jittery. But, it's always worth it to put yourself and your art out on a limb!

I'll be pushing some of my hits from the last weeks, including toques, scarves, and some chance find polos! More on that when I've got them ready.

Also, this is an out of town gig for me. I hope the Canadian Weather is kind and gives me decent roads! Though, there is something profoundly awesome about road trips!

See you there.

November Markets!

Well, I had a couple of crazy weeks. Craftalicious one weekend and then the Glebe Craft and Artisan Fair the next... a bit hectic at times. But, it all came off ok in then end. And so let me show you some pics from the last two weekends.

My table at the start of Craftalicious!

The lovely Teresa giving me a hand!

Me giving a nice visitor the run down.

As you can see Craftalicious was a pretty intimate, jammed packed little event. I highly recommend it to any other local Ottawa makers who don't know about this show. From what I understand, the organizers wanted to make an event that was small, fun, and well fed. It was also well visited. I did well enough in one day to force me to scramble for the next weekend.

Compared to Craftalicious, the Glebe craft event was a little more... umm... stately or something (it certainly was the most gorgeous venue I've ever sold in). Younger designers of my ilk were by far in the minority, with a lot more traditional crafts and such dominating the show. Still, it wasn't a wash... far from it. The older crowd meant that smaller ticket items were more the course de jour.

The Glebe fair was my first multi-day show. This was a huge learning opportunity for me, since I've mostly done one-day events. Coming out of Craftalicious I was low on some of my core shirts, but my resupply fell through. This left me innovating to fill my table. Trips to fabric land and the goodwill and late nights printing! And then selling all weekend (and printing at night)... it was quite the marathon. The result was, though, a few new innovations that I'm going to push forward (particularly in the scarf department).

Having so many market days in a row also meant that I had a good chance to evolve my table setup.

I think I'm a few steps closer to making full use of the space I get. I really see the need to make my display more vertical so that it's easier to see as people walk by. I have show dates in December(more to come on that) and I will definitely be testing out new ideas. And some ideas will be sticking around.

Now for some breathing room to restock and get organized for Puces Pop!

The Things I Need to Learn... Fast

I'm not a trained artist. The DIY joy that drives me means that most of what I do is ad hoc - there are little details that I miss in form and method, especially when it comes to actually screen printing the clothes.

Recently, I was having a lot of problems with prints bleeding around the edges of the image. This made the lines fuzzy and lame and me frustrated. There were other inconsistencies, too. Why was this happening!!!??

I turned to google for help and discovered a wealth of videos that were just the kind of tutorial I was looking for. Honestly, I'll admit right now that before I started a few years ago I had never seen a person make a print other than in photos... weird right? Ok... moving on.

Make Magazine posted this video. It's a good run down of the basic principles and has a solid ETSY connect to boot, featuring one of the executives of the site, Matt who is also a screen printer as well. What got me interested was later in the video when Matt explains how to flood the screen(spread the ink on the screen) and pull the squeegee to push the ink onto the shirt.


This helped, but the librarian in me (I am a librarian) wanted more... so I kept looking.

I found Roger Jennings' Vimeo page. Roger appears to know his stuff when it comes to the silk screen business (he's backed by a 30 year career... and some crazy background in electrical substations) and he's posted a wealth of videos on common problems and things like that.
This video was particularly helpful because Roger spends the first few minutes evaluating some common flaws in a new printers' work.

Screen Printing Overview - How to Print from Roger Jennings on Vimeo.

He's got a lot to explore.

Anyways, the problem appeared to be that I wasn't distributing my ink unevenly (called flooding...oooh industry term). And, I was applying too much pressure when I pulled with my squeegee across the screen.

After I figured this out, I took some scrap fabric and practiced. Right away, I started to see improvement!

So... thanks Roger.

Upcoming Events in November!

Winged Beast Outfitters will be appearing in the flesh this November! I'm going to have a boat-load of great stuff, and there will be an host of other great makers of things. A great way to pass a cold Novemebery day with friends and family.

Craftalicious
Saturday, November 13 · 9:00am - 5:00pm
St. Matthew's Anglican Church (Ottawa)
217 First Ave. (just off Bank Street)
Ottawa, ON
Admission is FREE!

Glebe Craft Fair (Three day event!!!!)
Friday, November 19 at 6:00pm - November 21 at 5:00am
Glebe Community Centre
175 Third Avenue
Ottawa, ON
Admission is FREE!

More events may be coming in December! Stay tuned, k?

This happy bear is wearing a cozy onesie. He is really rocking it.
Cheers!

Helpful Notices! About Shipping! For ETSY Customers!

Well, my day job has officially rolled out its xmas decorations (Earlier than ever!). This doesn't mean you don't need to be thinking about great gifts! On that note, I have to point out  that Winged Beast Oufitters has some great things to offer.

I want to let you know some details about shipping. I use Canada Post and they recommend the following dates for when items should be shipped by to make sure they will arrive on time for the big day (Dec. 24 or before!).

From Canada to:
Canada	Dec. 22
USA	Dec. 16
Africa	Dec. 1
Asia	Dec. 6
Australia	Dec. 6
Carribean	Dec. 1
Central/South America	Dec. 6
Europe	Dec. 6
Middle East	Dec. 6
New Zealand	Dec. 6

Of course, these are rough guidelines and not at all guaranteed (Customs is annoying at times). If you are interested in a Priority shipment for last minute orders, please contact me and I can get a quote for you. My kind recommendation is try to make you purchases a few days before the listed dates.

Cheers and happy holidays!