Category Archives: inspiration

My very Irish grandmother

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My grandmother Peggy McCann Coleman is half Irish. Her father Mark McCann immigrated from Ireland to America. I grew up with St. Patrick’s Day being a Holy day. My middle name actually is McCann. And my first name is Catherine (with a C). That’s the way my great great great great (?) aunt Kate spelled her name in Ireland. AND Princess Kate spells her name Catherine with a C.

With St. Patrick’s Day upon again, I wanted to make a scarf for my grandmother that she could wear! But I wanted her to be able to wear it to church, too! I delivered the scarf to her tonight just in time for March 17th. So if you happen to be at First United Methodist Church in Yazoo City this Sunday at 11:00, you are going to see my grandmother rocking her new scarf. It gives me such joy to be able to make her something. She has been such a supporter of me and really tries to understand everything that I do. When I first started painting on scarves, I had lunch with her and Mom. She pulled out her checkbook and wrote me a check to help buy supplies because she was so excited! I can’t tell you how much it means that my 87 year old grandmother wants to wear something I painted. So this is the Peggy scarf.

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Four Finger Fundraiser

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I felt that the Four Finger Fundraiser merited a blog post. I met Jonathan and Amber Perrodin two years ago at Renegade Craft Fair in Austin a few booths down from mine. Salt of the earth kind of folks, ya know? They live in Springdale, Arkansas and are leaders in the craft/art movement up in Northwest Arkansas. Jonathan and Amber are the hands and brain behind Perrodin Supply Company. You can read more about it on their about page on Etsy.

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“Perrodin Supply began in January of 2012. After making artist panels and handcrafted canvases for nearly 10 years on a small, local scale, Jonathan decided to begin offering his services to a wider audience. They are both humbled and honored to have worked with nationally and internationally recognized artists.

Perrodin Supply Co. was founded with the full intention of bringing artists and crafters high quality, handcrafted goods and supplies at prices even the Perrodin’s can afford. It will always remain the goal of Perrodin Supply Co. to bring you great products and exceptional customer service!”

A few weeks ago, Jonathan was working on the saw and cut off his index finger on his right hand! I still cringe at that thought. They could not repair his finger. He is now having to relearn his trade without his index finger! I can’t even imagine how to do that. They are facing an overwhelming amount of medical bills.

There are 33 artists who have organized online a Pop Up shop, spearheaded by my amazingly talented friend Stacie Bloomfield. It is called the Four Finger Fundraiser. (I got to create the logo!) 100% of the proceeds are going to Jonathan and Amber. Of course I’m contributing along with some of my awesome friends, Thimblepress, Tim Cook, Weather and Noise, Leah Duncan, Strawberry Luna, Bella Vita Jewelry, Tumbleweeds Handcraft, Peru Paper Company, Buffalo Blue Designs and the list goes ON! You want to know the really cool thing? Some of these people have never met the Perrodin’s. That is one of the beautiful things about the craft community.

I hope you will consider supporting the Perrodin’s with this fundraiser! And you will be getting really really awesome work in return! The shop opens Monday, March 11th. You can follow the Four Finger Fundraiser on Twitter and on Facebook. And please spread the word! I am hoping everything sells out the first day!

Kate

New Letterpress Business Cards for Surtex

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In case you didn’t know, I’m going to Surtex! Here is my new website just for surface design.

I have spent the past four months preparing for this show. And I really wanted to do something special for business cards. My Little Things Studio cards are fine, but nothing is super special about the size, paper, etc. And I really am trying to stand out at Surtex. My roommate (the incredibly talented Kristen Ley) graciously told me she would letterpress me some business cards!!! I thought it would be YEARS before I would be able to have this. I can’t believe she gave me such a special gift – her talent and time.

Kristen bought a 1925 Chandler Price letterpress machine this past summer. It has been awesome to watch her perfect her craft. If you don’t know much about letterpress, then you probably don’t know how expensive it can be, because it is very time consuming. I can’t tell you how proud and thankful I am for this gift from her. She helped me decide on the color, paper, etc. And we figured out how to edge paint the cards (keep reading! details coming!)

This was a very labor-intensive project. And sometimes dangerous…Kristen almost broke her finger on the 2nd night of working the press! She was picking up a piece of paper from inside the press when it was slowly moving and her finger got caught for a second there! It was horrible. I grabbed the keys, ice, and Advil, thinking I was about to take her to the ER. But she decides she’s going to tape up her hand and keep working! Ah! The next morning she went to get an x-ray and it was miraculously not broken! I still can’t believe that happened! It was so scary, because that was her right hand pointer finger – the hand she uses to draw and paint! We are all so thankful it is okay.

Before I go any further, I have to say without Kristen, Dave, and my mom, these cards wouldn’t have gotten finished. Kristen printed them for me. Dave cut them, and my mother did the edge painting.

Card details: Crane Lettra 220 lb. fluorescent white, printed front and back with neon colored edges. And of course they are yellow! There are only 800 in existence. I am so proud and so very thankful.

The plate is locked and loaded and ready to go.

Adding yellow ink!

Willow (Kristen's goldendoodle) will eat just about anything, including yellow ink.

Such a model.

Press is inked and ready to print

Weezie watched the entire time from the washing machine. She wanted to be outside with us so much.

And here is the final result!

My phone number is on there this time!

The back of the card is one of my patterns.

Cards are edge painted in NEON pink, coral, orange, and teal!

Side view of the cards all stacked together!

SO I guess you are wondering how we did the edge painting, right? Well, the letterpress community is very tight lipped about this process. Kristen contacted different letterpress folks and I called friends I knew and we found there is no one set way to do it. And there would be a lot of trial and error. Kristen suggested trying Letraset Markers. Well, I ordered them, but they bled onto the page. I tried draining the ink and just using the little bit left. That worked, but I couldn’t get a solid coating on the edge of the paper. I then just tried Crayola Markers AND THEY WORKED! They didn’t bleed, gave a solid coat and everything! We were shocked! I ended up buying a pack of the Rose-Art Neon Marker Pack and used my favorite four markers from there. NOW I will tell you that these cards do bleed if you spill water on them now. I went back and dipped some of my edge painted samples and they didn’t bleed on the paper. So I am not saying this is the best way to do it. It has to be what works for you. But who in the world is going to get these fab cards near water!?!?!? You’ll want to frame this card it’s so fab!

I’m so very thankful to Kristen. Please click here to see her amazing work. Her Small World series will take you back to a time of innocence and joy that will do your heart good.

Hope you enjoyed reading about this process!

Kate

Marian Bantjes: Intricate Beauty by Design

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A friend of mine posted a TED talk on my facebook wall yesterday by the brilliant designer Marian Bantjes. Of course I have been a huge fan of her work for many years. She is very famous. I guarantee that you have seen her work, whether you know it or not. And when you see her work, you know it’s her and you don’t forget it. My friend said, “This talk’s subject reminds me so much of you.” I was a bit cynical at first, because how could anything involving Marian remind someone of me. That’s crazy. BUT he was right. EVERYTHING SHE SAID is exactly what I have found to be true for myself. I cannot get this talk out of my head. It is me. She explains what I am doing and why I’m doing it.

I have found that when I am when the truest to myself, I get a response. Little Things Studio is the visual representation of myself. Everything I make, it is so personal. It’s why I don’t take all the daily requests for “Can you put this quote with this other pattern?” I can’t. I won’t. Because that would make it their art, and not mine. When someone asks me to do something, I want to put my entire self into it. Those are the most rewarding projects. That is the work I actually like. (Designers, I know you know what I’m talking about.) Those are the things that get me out of bed everyday. Those are the things that keep me working late by myself on a Friday night, rather than hanging out with friends. I want to make work that makes me feel alive. I put down art when I was 11 years old and did not pick it up until I was 27. I completely cut off what I should have been doing. But the thing I am most thankful for is that I actually changed. I fought to start living again.

What do you want to do when you retire?

What work do you want to do for free?

What do you love?

What comes naturally?

What am I good at?

What work doesn’t feel like work?

THOSE are the questions I am so thankful to have found the answer to. I was not living before. I was working in the corporate offices of a bank in Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. I had to wear pantyhose and closed-toe shoes! I will do my best to work in a place now where I can wear jeans, because that’s me. I do my best work when I’m me. I am still astounded at the response I had from my Art of the Beat piece. I can’t help but feel hopeful about my future when I heard Marian’s talk.

Please watch Marian’s talk if you can relate to anything I am saying.

And please visit Marian’s site and just gaze in wonder at her amazing work.

-Kate

Great Day in the Mornin by Kathryn Wiggins

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I am a huge fan for everything that Kathryn Wiggins does. She’s a good friend of mine who lives in Jackson, Mississippi about five minutes away from our house. She is an amazing artist. She put this painting on etsy about a month ago and I flipped out. I still can’t stop looking at it. It reminds me of quilts and stained glass. And there is a lot of yellow warmth in there, so of course this would be a favorite of mine. I wanted to share it with you. Secretly I really wish my shop would just explode with sales so that I could buy this painting. ha! But I am such a fan of Kathryn’s work so I want her to continue painting. So please support her work and purchase one of her paintings on her etsy.

Description on “Great Day In The Mornin” • 40 inches x 40 inches • Oil and wax on linen • 2011 • Depth 1.5 inches (sides painted white) • Unframed but ready to hang, linen is stretched onto aluminum bars for a perfectly straight hang!