syko

Thank you with flowers

I got pretty overwhelmed by the feedback I got on my post on copycats yesterday. Thank you everyone for your thoughts and wise words! I am sorry that I can't get back to each one of you personally! I feel quite strong with my network of friends all around the (blog) world and I think working together is the best method we have to fight copying! It is important to talk about these things, but I would like to close up the discussion for this time. I am not the whining kind and I want to go on to talk about nicer things! Empowered by the feedback on the interactive project and the encouragement yesterday I did a little art quilt today. I'm a little too late for Malka's Mini Quilt Monday and I want to show this off right away, so I'll just make a new one for Monday! It's called Lovisa's garden. Lovisa is my second name and I have always thought it was beautiful, like many other people I have used this name as an alter ego on the Internet before I became "syko" with everyone :)

Lovisa thinks that dreaming of a garden is as important as having an actual one and having read all garden books at the library she is pretty assured that she has green fingers, even if she doesn't have much experience with flowers yet.

I have a feeling that Lovisa will appear in many if my future projects, she has many other hobbies, or is it dreams, that she would like to share!

I will list this little quilt in my shop today!

Happy crafting!

Hugs,
Kajsa

The highest form of flattery

I have been avoiding the subject of copying for a long time, but today I saw something that made me sad so I decided to write down my thoughts on the matter. First I want to clarify that I am a giving, positive nature and that I love to inspire. That is one of the reasons why I blog! When I first started sewing I always used a pattern and was very inspired by other people's work. Slowly I got more confident and discovered areas and materials that felt like my own. One big find was fusible webbing, another was that my naive drawings transformed into appliqué looked great and that using black thread and raw edges around the appliqué felt like me.

One of my first art quilts.

This was a process that took time, it takes time to find your own expression as an artist and I am still learning and developing every day. When I see work inspired by my own work I get very flattered, especially when people give me credit for it, that just prooves to me that I have come somewhere as an artist. If you have a style that can be copied it must mean that you actually have a distinctive style! That said I know that many of my designs are very simple and easy to make you own version of, which is very much allowed, of course. And like everyone else I am inspired by current trends. My most loved design among other crafters must be the stuffed house ornament, I made the first ones for Christmas 2007 and I think I do not brag very much if I said that I started a soft house trend :) I once looked at my stats on flickr and found that one visitor had come from a US blog where someone who had bought a set of soft houses at a local fair was asking for tips on how to display them in her home. They were the exact same design as mine, except that the fabric choice was nothing I would have thought of and the craftmanship, hm... Anyway someone suggested she would put them in a row like this, and linked to my picture, the one you see below. Well, that incident mostly made me laugh, but also shows how small the world have become with the Internet, when you see something nice on the Internet and you copy it to sell it in a local market, the world might still know :)

What makes me sad is when I see the same person coming back to mark my photos as favourites on flickr without ever living a comment and then finds that she is selling stuff very much inspired by my work in her own shop. What makes me mad is when someone contacts me to ask for crafty advice, then opens up a shop to sell craft inspired by my work and never gets back to me to say thanks! I would like these people to know that I have left my career at the university to work full-time as a crafter. I am working hard to get a fair income (not knowing if it's possible yet) and to support my family. In other words I am not a person I would feel comfortable stealing from myself ;)

Aah, that helped! Thanks for listening! Thank you blog readers for being encouraging, honest and wonderful!

Love,
Kajsa

Interactive project stage 8/10

Here I am again with the Interactive project! My daughter is off early today so I needed a fun project before I pick her up and decided to go for this! I got 38 suggestions for the next step last time, the random number generator picked number 24...

...which was suggested by Lucy, she said: Stripy socks on the washing line!!!!! I hope you don't think they are too dull Lucy! They are hand-knitted wool socks that the little girl has washed to put away for Summer. Maybe she knitted them herself. When Autumn comes she will wear the warm socks again! 

 

That was the socks, and this is how the whole thing looks right now! We've only got two more stages to go! What do you think is still missing from the picture?

 

Here comes the rules again!

I will:
1. wait until I have got (at least) ten suggestions for the next motive
2. draw one of them
3. do my best to do as you wish using fabric and thread (and buttons?)
4. go through 10 stages
5. draw a winner among all the people who has come with one of the ten first suggestions at any stage. This person will win the finished piece of art work. (before this I will most certainly get it scanned and printed so that everyone will have the chance to get a piece of the cake)

Feel free to join in! You can see the whole process in my flickr. Only two more steps and we will have a finished piece of art!

Printed joy!

Having a business is filled with ups and down, moments of joy and sometimes of discouragement. Yesterday was one of the joyful days when I received my long awaited printed card catalogues. To help my busy brother with the design (he is my digital print master and a talented layouter) I downloaded a free layout software, Scribus, and gave it a try for the first time in my life. It was fun and easier than imagined and I am quite proud of the result! It feels great to conquer a new field. Even if I have a lot to learn yet I don't look like a complete fool when people say layout anymore! I quite envy the kids that grow up with computers!
 
The catalogues are to be sent out to a bunch of local shops. I hope they will be at least half as exited as I was when I got the catalogue in my hands. If you happen to have a shop with some free space for syko cards, don't hesitate to contact me at kajsa (dot) wikman (at) syko (dot) fi!

  And just another peek inside, thanks for looking :) I wish my photos were as nice as the printed product!

A pile of four

I was going to show off a high tower of zippy pouches today, but I broke my last sewing machine needle when I had finished four. Sigh. Well, it will just take another day before I can send them away. I have a few shops here in Finland that sell my goods on commission and I am always excited to send them new stuff. And I am always as convinced that I have created a new hit product, optimistic as I am :) In fact I am finding it hard to know what will sell or not, things that sell well in my Etsy shop does not always sell in local shops. I love the freedom my Etsy shop gives me to follow my heart and try out new ideas. Making series of products like these pouches is also fun sometimes! It is very nice to see a growing pile of stock beside the sewing table. If you don't break your last needle that is...

This is one of the pouches I finished today, wouldn't it be a clever little home for emergency equipment like plasters and headache pills in the handbag? Or a keeper of an emergency pacifier for a little one?

 
Have a great week!

p.s. Syko is now on facebook if you would like to join the group!

Pouch tutorial a cup of tea?

I am very proud to say that I just managed to put together my first tutorial (found in the sidebar). It was a comment on my last post that made me think that it might be of help to someone. Sewing zippy pouches is quite easy to do. When you know how to do it. When you know something you tend to forget how difficult it felt the first time. If that makes any sense. Do let me know if I don't make myself clear, I want to make pouch making simple "as a cup of tea" (haha). Which brings me to the cup above that is now in my shop. Made from the same lovely fabric as this cushion. If you don't want to make your own pouch after all.

 I used to be one of those annoying customers at craft fairs: "This is a nice idea, have to try it out myself!", "That looks easy, I can do it myself anytime!" Until I got older and got kids and realised that I don't have time to make all those crafts. And above all, I do not want to make everything. Even if I could. I learned this lesson when I went to a woodworking class too, I did make myself a shelf, but I did not like to work with wood at all. I felt very strongly that someone else will have to make my furniture in the future. Did you know that you can't rip and tear wood if it goes wrong?

Now I need some lunch, then join me for a cup of tea, will you?

The colours of Spring

I hope you all had a great Easter holiday! We went to see the in-laws and enjoyed warm Spring weather and good food (I always enjoy a meal cooked by someone else!). It was great to get away for a couple of days, but I love to be back in my messy studio too. This is big E making an angel in the sand and little E blowing bubbles on the beach. It is amazing how colourless nature is right now. Spring is late this year and I can still spot some old snow outside my window. In a week it will already look different outside. I love the change of seasons!

While waiting for the world to turn green outside I started making these small house pouches. I made a few a year ago, but had totally forgotten about the design, but when someone asked me to make coin pouches I remembered these! Wonder how they would look with teacups on? Or maybe fish? Or a bird...? I might need some more zippers!

Have a great day!

Cutest bunny offers free shipping over Easter

I do not usually show off my sweet bunnies here, but sometimes they are just too cute! Those teeth are priceless! Can you see the teal fabric hanging on the chair behind him? That's a skirt I made myself last Saturday, I was going to the theater with a friend and had absolutely nothing to wear, so I got a new skirt, yay! I've had that fabric for a year or so...

Easter in my shop means free shipping worldwide until Tuesday morning 9 a.m. Helsinki time! May I tempt you with this shabby tea cushion for example? Shipping to the world outside Europe is normally 12 USD for a cushion. Happy Easter everyone! I'm going to have some lunch now and after that; chocolate eggs!

 

Quilts, BABY!

I started as a regular Monday, I did not know where to start and did not really want to do anything. Then I did it the English way and went for some tea. That mess will be become cushions later this week I hope. Then the mailman came with two packages; one package I did not expect until later this week and the other one not until May, which made me realise this was not one of those Mondays after all!

Jessie at a Tiny House and I did a little swap, and I got this beautiful butterfly necklace made from an upcycled embroidery. I will wear this proudly all Summer. She's got two more of these unique necklaces in her shop, be quick and get your own! Jessie picked out the most beautiful fabrics for me, thank you so much Jessie! Love the hand embroidered lavender sachet too!

The big surprise in the mailbox was Quilts, BABY! (edited by Linda Kopp for Lark), I did not expect to see this book until May, but it seems to be in all the on-line bookstores already, so I guess it is just an early Spring bird! This is the first craft book I am participating in so it feels special to have it in my hand. What makes it even better is that this book is great! The quilts are creative, fresh and fun and I can honestly say that I am very proud to be in it. And will gladly recommend it too!

Many of the artists in the book are friends from flickr and blogland, which is so much fun! I got a little tempted to try out a variation of my own pattern, our good friends will soon have their first baby and I'm sure they would appriciate a quilt! Or then I could just give them the book quilt, haven't managed to put it up for sale anyway...

Have a nice Monday everyone!

News in the FabScrap shop

Thanks everyone for the response on the Interactive project!! I will try to go on with the next step tomorrow, I liked your suggestions so much and can't wait to see what the hat picks for me this time!

I also wanted to let you know that I put some Moomin fabric in my Fab Scrap Shop for the Moomin fans out there. It would make a very cute dress :) I also listed HeatnBond, the stuff I use for all my appliques. I got myself the whole bolt, so now I have enough to share! It comes with instructions, but I promise to help my customers with any appliqué issues!