Carpet design - weaving in progress!

Just over a year ago I posted about the non-profit social business Node and the great fair trade project they've set up with Kumbeshwar Technical School in Kathmandu, Nepal, which I visited when I was there last year. Basically, Node in their own words "work with the worlds best designers and illustrators and convert their images into the highest quality hand-made fair trade carpets", providing training and employment for disadvantaged people, mainly women.

I decided when I visited the school that I'd like to support the project and have a rug woven to my own spoecification, but it took me a few months to come up with a design I was totally happy with. (Because the thread that they use is Tibetan wool which is hand-dyed, there's a specific palette of colours available, and also, any lines within the design have to be a minimum thickness so that they can be translated effectively into the woven design).

Because the rugs are carefully hand-woven, and because all their rugs are made to order, it takes a while to produce each one. My design's currently in production and Chris Haughton from Node has just sent me the photos below of the rug being woven. It's looking great, and I can't wait to receive it - obviously I'll post photographs of it when it arrives.

Other beautiful rugs woven through this fair trade scheme (by design and illustration luminaries like Chris Haughton, Sanna Annukka, Lesley Barnes and Donna Wilson) are on sale from the Design Museum Shop.

"Do You Speak Football?" A handy book of illustrated soccer phrases in 7 languages,

"Do you speak football?" is a handy soccer phrasebook with 22 key football phrases translated into seven languages - Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Dutch and Italian.

It's the result of my first foray into the world of self-publishing. I wanted to make a small hardback book partly to find out how self-publishing works and to understand the actual process, and partly just for the fun of holding my own little book in my clammy little hands. (I'm planning to write another post soon about the experience as there's not much info out there, and specifically my experience of using Ingram Spark's self-publishing Print On Demand services).

Thus far I've only printed up a handful of books for family and friends, but it is available to buy from my Etsy shop if anyone's interested.

New screenprint - Cassette Hounds

So, here's my new limited edition 3 colour screenprint - Cassette Hounds.

Remember cassette tapes? Of course you do. Remember how they needed walking twice a day? Probably not, everyone conveniently forgets that detail. This little baby comes in two bright colourways and is a very limited edition of 6 prints in each. It's the first completely new screenprint I've done in a while, as I spent a lot of last year reprinting the open editions of my "No Underground. Get Over It" series.

For those interested in the technicals, it measures a handy 30x40cm, is printed on lovely 300gsm Fabriano 5 Liscia paper. Each print is signed and is available to buy from my little old online shop.

Goodbye to Elphick's in Columbia Road

Very sad to hear the other day that Elphicks in Columbia Road will be closing. The shop's been there since 2007 and has been a showcase and outlet for a great number of printmakers and artists. Sharon who owns the shop has been stocking and selling some of my pieces for the past couple of years, in particular my London Fields screenprint. The shop will be closing in just a few weeks and all prints are reduced by 20%, so if you're in that area then drop by and grab yourself a beautiful bargain.

Say Hello to 2014

Happy 2014. Another year is upon us - let's hope 2014 brings us all what we want and hope for, rather than what we deserve. Even those of us with monkeys for brains.

The Great Christmas Sprout Divide - which side are you on?

Sprouts or No Sprouts? That's the big Christmas question. Which side are you on?

Eek! Here comes the Zombie Toast!

Halloween starts at breakfast! Witness the advance of the toasted zombie hordes as they home in on their poor victim! Mmmm... yoooolk....

Where does punctuation come from? - A comic strip

This is the third of the one-page comic strips I recently drew up, and probably my favourite as it involved more writing that the others. I think this may have potential for a series, we'll see but I certainly plan to do a few more like this. Click on the image to view it larger and actually read what it says!

Late Night Visitor - A comic strip

The second of three one-pager comic strips I recently created. I'm pleased with the simplicity and colours in this one, and the premise is simple but nicely surreal I think. Click the image to view larger, natch.

The Proposal - A comic strip

The first of three comic strips I recently created and submitted to OFF LIFE comic for inclusion in their issue #7. This was my first attempt at storytelling/sequential/narrative imagery for a very long time. I feel it just about works, though it rather resembles a series of animation stills rather than actually flowing as a story. Not too shabby a start though. Click on the image to view it larger.

Illustration Friday - Underwater

Another quick image created for Illustration Friday for this week's theme, "Underwater". As ever any feedback and comments are welcome.

Illustration Friday - Hidden

Another Illustration Friday picture. I haven't posted an illustration for Illustration Friday in quite a while, but managed to find time to produce the above image for this week's theme of "Hidden". As always any comments are welcomed.