New embroideries and prints available

We have some new embroideries up on our etsy shop right now, as well as limited editions of a few of our favourite pieces. There are 20 x A3 giclee prints of "Shut Up I'm Dreaming" and "Don't Worry Baby" as well as 10 x A3 giclee prints of "Eye on the Coconut". Details are all on the etsy shop.

The new embroideries we have available are a new "E" in our sweater letter range, a new abstract geo #4 and the original embroidery of "Eye on the Coconut".

Shop sale

We're having a sale over at our etsy shop with everything available at 25% off everything when you use the code 25off at check out. The giclee prints are what we have on stock so are ready to ship immediately. There are different stock levels with some like Aim to misbehave (pictured below) with just the one available. There are also a handful of embroidered originals and wall hangings also available. Sale ends this Sunday the 24th.

DC x PMU shirt collab

It's Pick Me Up time again for you lucky folks in London. We took part last year as one of their Selects and are taking part again this time through the DC x PMU shirt collaboration. They've asked a hugely talented line up of artists to create graphics, so we're pretty humbled to be included. Our shirt graphic is based on the hand embroidered lettering below.

The shirts launched exclusively at the festival and will be available for purchase there before being sold in participating stores. The festival runs until the 5th of May, info can be found on their website. Our agents Handsome Frank are also returning with their pop up gallery/shop selling artwork and running workshops. We've created a new embroidery for Eye on the Coconut, which is available to purchase as an A3 giclee poster.

Back to Oz

We're counting down until we bid London farewell and head back to sunny Sydney. I'll miss this wonderful city and I hope it won't be too long before I can come back again. An endless summer sounds pretty awesome, 6 months in Sydney and 6 months this side of the globe sounds like an ideal arrangement. If only!

Before we fly out we're holding a special clearance in our BigCartel and Etsy stores. 30% of our handsewn embroideries and a 3 for 1 special on our risograph prints (BigCartel). For the 30% discount on Etsy please use this code BACK2OZ.

Makers, Dreamers: We also have a brand new poster available of our Makers, Dreamers embroidery. "We are the music makers and we are the dreamers of dreams" is a quote taken from Ode by Arthur O'Shaughnessy via the film Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory.

The original embroidered artwork was on display at AMV BBDO and now a limited edition of 100 A2 sized giclee printed posters are available. (please note that the posters are smaller than the original A1 sized hand embroidered poster)

A2 posters (including 12mm border) hand numbered and signed. Printed on Hahnemueller Photorag paper using archival inks

Posters will be mailed rolled.

Liquid pencils, lace and other things

Been a while between posts, a lot has happened in the meantime.

"Liquid Pencil" tests: Fun times testing out a new typographic piece as an inked up poster before the sewing phase. I had bought a bottle of "Liquid Pencil" (Derivan) on impulse a while ago but haven't had a project to test it out on 'til now. It's less liquid than ink and more the consistency of globby paint but it glides off the brush smoothly and has a nice thick look to it with a graphite finish. I used it in combination with masking fluid which was a bit hit and miss. The bottle of masking fluid is quite old and probably past its prime but seemed to be working alright, although some areas dried too thin and ended up not masking at all. Overall I'm pretty happy with the results, I know I probably could have composited it digitally in photoshop with all the masking etc but its nice trying to do it the old fashioned way. The roughness of the edges where the fluid pooled at the corners and brushed edges of the mask add that extra bit of charm you can't emulate digitally. Or...I suppose you could but it wouldn't be half as fun.

Kevin Tran exhibition: We checked out Kevin Tran's exhibition at Mils gallery after seeing his work posted up online, the works up close are so vivid and detailed. Thanks to Catherine and Matt for the heads up on the show. (On a side note we went down to chinatown after the show for our favourite cheap eat at the Chinese Noodle House. Nothing beats special braised eggplant and combination hand made noodles!)

Lace Study Centre: We had a great time chatting to the extremely helpful ladies from the Powerhouse Museum's Lace Study Centre. They were nice enough to share their love of lace and give us a quick demonstration and pull out some amazing examples from the museum's collection. We went straight out and bought a book so we can start learning how to lace. So many possibilities.. so many things to make. First step, modify some chopsticks into bobbins.

Gaffa Gallery: Went to the exhibition openings at Gaffa gallery which were jam packed with a lot of great works. Anna Fraser's photographs and Linelle Stepto's flora/fauna studies are some of the works on display right now. After this show we also had a food odyssey, this time it was a reunion of sorts at KFC. We used to live on popcorn chicken while at uni. It's greasy and usually leaves me feeling a little ill afterwards but the smell always beckons me back!

Paper + Type + Ramen

I've had "Keep On Moving, Tokyo Japan Nov '09" pinned to my inspiration board ever since our trip to Japan last year but hadn't got round to doing anything with it till now. I started out sketching some type treatments for another sewn piece based on this line, but along the way its switched from being sewn into something made out of paper.
The words are just a reminder for me to keep creating and making things. Tokyo is such a vibrant place, there's a constant flow of movement and there's so much stuff to soak in. I came back really inspired and this poster is just a quiet reminder to keep creating.

Designer Disco

Over the weekend Ca and I were part of the Designer Disco lane way exhibition for Sydney Design Festival. We forgot to bring a camera on the night to take pics of the light-boxes, dang, but here is the poster sans the light. Its called "Something Close To Nothing (but different to the day before)". The theme for the exhibition was music, so we took that line and played around with the idea of making nothing out of something....the solid space of the poster is made up of thousands of lines built up to create a flat texture...at least that was the idea. We hope the lyric isn't too obscure, can you guess which song its from? I hope we didn't give the impression we think music means nothing!

Thanks to Australian INfront and Future Classic for hosting the Designer Disco event.

Hungry Colours

Just finished our latest typographic experiment this time using needle and thread. A few weeks ago I posted this design as a watercolour and ta-da now it's sewn :) It's based on The Unicorns' song 'Ready to Die'. But I've only just realised that I've been singing the song wrong all this time! He's saying cougars not colours but I think I prefer it this way. You can see full design up on our site.

/ca

Sydney Design: Designer Disco

Co and I are just about finished creating our lightbox design for Designer Disco. "Australian INfront is extremely excited about bringing the Designer Disco to life with the record label Future Classic. This offshoot of Future Classic’s insanely popular underground clubnight Adult Disco burns the disco flame until late, late, late. Meanwhile, in the laneway behind the venue, an exhibition of lightbox artworks illuminate and enlighten. The array of cutting-edge Sydney designers involved include Alter, Future Classic, Greedy Hen, Leif Podhajsky, Like Minded Studio, Miricro/Maricar, Sensory,
Sopp Collective, String Theory, Toko and We Buy Your Kids."

10pm till late, Saturday 14 August
The Civic Hotel & laneway, 388 Pitt Street
Cost: $15

There's a typo in our name (we're Miricro/Maricar) nevertheless we're excited to take part along side these awesome designers. Here are some process shots of our design.

/ca

Diamonds on the Soles of Their Feet

aka the Mushies.
First bunch of illustrations from the new series we're working on together. To paraphrase Paul Simon, they had diamonds on the soles of their feet. The fae folk danced 'til dawn and left these behind.

More to come, maybe some in colour!

/ca

Splendour in the Grass 2009

A collaborative effort done whilst at Mathematics with the help of Michael Blanche & Ben Dunlop.

MySpace Secret Show Posters

Limited run of specialty printed posters for the MySpace Seceret Shows series for The Presets, Fall Out Boy and The Kooks. Created while at Mathematics.














Mathematics

Kisschasy Tour Poster

Poster illustration for Kisschasy. Metallic ink on black stock. Done while at Mathematics.