new in the shop!

A super-sweet pillow complete with a secret pocket...and...wait for it...a pocket monster!!!


I had so much fun making this...it's a great stash buster as I can cobble together all my little scraps left over from past projects, plus add embroidery and other findings (this one even has a bell...yes...it jingles!).

close-up of of embroidery

pocket monster hiding in his pocket.

Find it here.

Christmas Presents Round Three: Project Neptune

So, in the spirit of this book, and this art project, and this other art project, and of course this, and in wanting to do something different and special (but not lamely special) and fun for our families this year instead of giving them more stuff they have to dust weekly, we devised Project Neptune: An Artistic Inquiry, a year-long experiential and collaborative art project.

The rules are simple: each month players will get an assignment. Players will have one month to complete the assignment. They will submit the results to the hosts, and the hosts will compile the data. Three months of data will be collected and the hosts will then create a curio (suitable for displaying prominently in one's domicile) using the data and the responses. [Also: a TOP SECRET NUMBER CRUNCHING ALGORITHM, known only by the hosts, will be used to create each curio.]

Each player will receive a copy/edition of this artifact/curio/art piece.

The Stats:
12 assignments; 1 per month
3 assignments = 1 curio
12 assignments = 4 curios
1 curio = 17 buckets of fun


PLUS the bonus invitation art piece, a pictorial and mathematical representation of the prevalence of the first initials of the Neptune players. (see below)

Curio No. 1. Three layer screen print on wood.
(SCALE: 2" = 1 occurrence)

The invitation and rules.

I'm so excited to see what's going to come of this. So far three player households have returned their already-stamped postcard to say that they are IN like Flynn and will participate. The first assignment was sent by the Project Neptune Computer on January 1, 2009, as per the rules.

Stay tuned for results.

Also. This is the last of the Christmas presents. They have finally all been revealed. Expect no Round Four.

handmade shoutout

Thanks to Second Sam for her shameless shoutout about gavron designs and tiny footprint! Click on the picture to read her posting about locally sewn!

Shameless self-promotion

Shameless self-promotion of gavron designs logo wear.

Modeled (action shots!) of my adorable nephew, Brendan.

Just look at him off-road in that shirt!

(photo credits go to his mum, Melissa, my lovely sister.)

AND

a picture of Piper wearing the adorable hat I made for her while she was still in utero, now that it fits!

(photo credit goes to the mister.)

Another satisfied customer!

Just look at Second Sam in her custom Gavron Designs shirt! See how happy? It's a complete 180 degree change from this day.

You too can be this happy by visiting Gavron Designs and ordering your tshirt of wonder today.

Featured on cuteable!

A big thanks to Cutable for featuring Gavron Designs tea towels! Check it out here!

Number Two!

At long last, dear readers, Joe and I have begun to post hand screen-printed t-shirts for adults on the gavron etsy site. There are just four there now, but there will be more to come. Go ahead and buy the ones on there though, it won't hurt my feelings.

(number two of what? of --->this.)

controversy

This just in!

Someone in Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center's HR department doesn't like the backs of naked ladies and they confiscated all the CK calendars from the office!

We must be REAL artists! We're already experiencing censorship!

HA!

UGH.

The calendars are hot off the press today. They look awful.

shiny even though I requested matte paper.

the color is all weird, even though I specifically asked them to color correct.

Overall, lack luster.

Why? Because my print rep got a better job. Because my newly assigned print rep didn't tell me when the press check was running so I didn't get to see them come off the press. Because no one let me choose the paper, even though I was supposed to be able to. [And this part I'll take full responsibility for: Because we didn't take the photo at high enough resolution and no amount of photoshop genius can change that.]

And what did this do for my opinion of my before-now favoritist print shop? It has plummeted. If you can't offer great customer service to those who work for you (free of charge, mind you) then who CAN you offer great service to?

Ugh. If you see a calendar in a shop near you, I'm sorry.

Gavron Designs first public project

So Joe and I collaborate all the time...I mean, we're married, right? We make dinner together. We clean the house together. I tell him if the art is level while he hangs it. And we made all of our Christmas presents together...but this is the first public assignment we've worked on together.

Look for this hanging at a business near you (assuming you're in Seattle, and assuming that you visit or work in a place that recieves printing from CK Graphics*).

The Assignment:

Create a 18x24" three-month calendar.

The response:

(typography by me. illustration by joe. to be printed on matte
white paper, with a layer of varnish on the petals only.)

The feedback:

It's pretty, but it's too stark, too spare, says the printer. (Yeah, we know, that's how we like it, says Gavron Designs.) Add more color, says the printer. We're trying to showcase the capabilities of our five plate press. (Okay, says we.)

The second response:

(design through a true collaborative process. to be printed on white paper with varnish layer on the calendar portions--letters and numbers)

Got a project for us? We're fun. Email us here.


*CK Graphics, by the way, has an old-skool ice cream vending machine in their lobby on capital hill. That alone makes visiting them worth the parking hassle.