The highs and the lows

It's been a busybusy week... I'm at the level of happy exhaustion that can only come from crazy deadlines and physical labour! I had a surprising flow of custom orders at my Etsy shop most of which were to be mailed out in time for Christmas--- so of course the first and last thing I've done is panic! I have such a fear of packages getting lost in the mail or being delivered too late, so I've been very nervous when I had so many orders to be sent out of the country. Fingers and toes crossed - Canada Post please come through!!

There's a wonderful high with the strict deadline of orders which has caused me to work pretty continuously over the past few days. I haven't had time to second guess myself, and the result has been great, I'm actually feeling happier with the work I'm producing (maybe because it's not preempted with worry and anxiety). Hooray for that level of freedom!

I've also sent out a slew of greeting cards, a lot of them within various card exchanges I've participated in. It's been handy to have my screenprinted cards to send out so that I can spend more time decorating envelopes! I've worked with nibs and brush pens, a slew of different inks, and tried out different calligraphy styles. That was fun, and a great practice! I got pretty creative!

The one thing that's been plaguing me since last week is that my printmaking has once again fallen behind. It seems to be always coasting in the shadows, waiting for my schedule to free up so that I can spend time creating, carving, printing. But that never seems to happen! I did say to myself that I would, no matter what, spend an hour or two every day just creating, no matter what obligations I've got going on.....well that's proved easier said than done. I'm working through it, and hope by this week's end I have a good rhythm of balancing the immediate demands with the longer term goals and plans. High hopes? Possibly. :)

Hope you are all having a lovely week!

xo

Pri

Making Christmas Cards

Hi pals, This update is going to take you behind the scenes at Paper Trails Design Co! There's so much that goes into making each card, and I hope you find it as interesting as I do!

Step One: Design

I start off by coming up with manymany (mostly terrible) ideas and designs that I sketch out in my notebook, or go through random sketches I've done in the past to see if there's anything good there. Once I have a solid base, I go through it all and narrow down the ones I have a 'good feeling' about. Not a lot of science here!

A lot of the cards I've created have been design patterns in a shape. I create a template of the shape, and this is when my good friend tracing paper comes out! I use tracing paper on top of the templates so I can freely create different designs without having to redraw the initial shape.

Now comes the tricky part! When screenprinting cards, only one colour can be printed at a time. So I have to plan out the designs for each colour ahead of time, and I use tracing paper to separate the design into two (or more) colours.

Once the design seems to be ready to go, I usually scan my traced designs into photoshop to clean it up and ensure there aren't any holes in my colouring! Also, I should mention that the design needs to be black in this stage- the colour comes later, with the paint!

Step 2: Prep the Screen

The next step is one I complete at Open Studio. I transfer the designs onto my screen using emulsion, a dark room, and a huge UV light machine. Once that's done, I take my screens back home and set it up to print!

Step 3: Print!

Mixing inks can be sofun and sofrustrating at the same time. But once I've got a colour ready,I'm good to go! I use newsprint for rough drafts, to test ink, etc. Once I figure out where my card needs to be positioned, I hold it's place with tape so that each card can go in the same spot.

The cards dry pretty quickly, so the process doesn't take too long if I have to apply a layer or two of different colours.

Step 4: Package and Send!

I really look forward to the packaging part of the process! Those who know me can attest to my pretty strong love for wrapping gifts. And that's how I think of every sale- I try to make every order a pretty little package that folks will be delighted to receive in the mail.

Thanks for reading about my process! If you have any questions, let me know in the comments below, I would be happy to answer them! I did run through step 2 pretty fast (prepping my screen), but I felt it was too much info! I think I'll leave it for another blog post on a rainy day. :)

If you haven't checked out my Etsy shop yet, please do! My cards will be on sale up until the week before Christmas, but I recommend ordering by the first week of December to receive them on time!

xo and have a great rest of the week!

Pri

Living out a hobby

  I'm finally back to the blog, and so much to share! I've just added this year's screenprinted christmas cards to my Etsy shop, and there will be  a post on my process of creating these cards soon!

I've been feeling fortunate lately. Every action I'm taking with my business seems to involve a huge creative and technical learning curve so that even a year into the business, everything is still feeling so new and unchartered!

There's been a LOT of learning in the past two months- I've taken a letterpress workshop at Open Studio, which was a fantastic introduction to using the Vandercook press. I recently also took 'gilding' and 'zentangles' workshops  through the Calligraphic Arts Guild of Toronto, both of which were so inspiring and fun, I'm itching to add these learnings to everything I'm working on! It's kind of wonderful that the things that inspire and excite me are also very helpful in growing my business and my level of skill.

So now that my cards are printed, I'm settling back into creative and marketing mode. There's so much that happened this summer that I have to update my portfolio...which is all good news. And speaking of good news!... I'm superexcited to announce that I'll be joining the Etsy team at the Spring 2016 One of a Kind Show in Toronto! Eeek! It's a BIGDEAL for my little business (which means for me!), and I have SO MUCH creating to do for it! I can't wait!

In the meantime, lots of things to cross off that to do list...and so it continues. With the intermittent bursts of creative energy, and thrill of being my own boss. Yay!

xo

Pri

Rearranging everything

Sometimes this blog reminds me of a blaring alarm clock. I always seem to begin by thinking back to the last time I blogged, and...what? it's been two weeks already? Howzthat?

It's been an abnormally stressful month. The heavyweight Christmas season is fast approaching, and with it comes many late nights, much anxiety, and looonggg lists of to-dos. That coupled with the fact that my business is almost a year old (!!!) and there is so much I wish I had figured out and done before now.

I think the stress reached a peak about a week ago, when I felt paralysed with fear, worry and no clue where to start, that I ended up watching a full season of Friends on Netflix in the middle of the day- taking refuge in numbing my mind for hours on end. Guys, that's when you know something's up! It seems so much easier to work when I have deadlines set (like orders to be fulfilled)- there's a clear goal, and clear timing. And someone already paid for it and wants my work! Creating without any clue about how people will receive my work is more stressful than I EVER imagined!!!

I kind of love making big changes (this life, case in point), so after my i-feel-sorry-for-myself-so-I'll-binge-watch-netflix episode I decided on creating a fresh outlook and environment for myself. Instead of putting on the pressure to work endless hours with noendinsight, I decided to intersperse my time between work, taking meaningful breaks (I'm finally reading again!), and allowing myself breathing room. It's just as important to take care of yourself and your environment as it is to put in many work hours. And you know what? During this time (non-work hours) I think I've stumbled upon another card series! So there you go- it works!

This environment changing mood I'm in is leaking to other areas of my life- I've been planning to reorganize my studio, and the apartment is slowly getting a deep clean! ah, it's rejuvenating!

By the way, I'm offering custom greeting cards now on my Etsy shop. I will have more postings soon, but if you're interested in gifting a one of a kind card (for a special birthday or anniversary, new baby, wedding, new home...so many reasons), please get in touch!

Hope you are having a great week. It's rainy here, perfect for working under warm lights, tea breaks, yoga, or you know, watching netflix.

xx

Pri

5 calligraphy classes, 4 long days, 3 pen holders, 2 dozen nibs...and a flourished bird on a quill

Hi all! Two weeks ago I was in Tennessee, attending IAMPETH's calligraphy convention. I think it's taken me about a week to recover! I had such a good time, met a ton of very talented, friendly calligraphers, and learned a LOT! Oh, and bought MANY supplies back home with me!

I learned Spencerian and Italian scripts, the basics of flourishing (which I SO needed), arm movement writing (take some of that pressure off my wrist!!), and brush lettering (portable calligraphy! what!). I bought three pen holders and lots of nibs and inks- which I have been so excited to use the moment I got back home!

In my flourishing basics class, we drew this flourished bird on a quill (hence the title of this post!):

I also promised that I would share my pangram that we exchanged at the convention- so hereit is. Note that this was before my flourishing class!! For those who don't know, a pangram is a sentence that uses up all the letters of the alphabet ("the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" is the most common one).

Honestly, I'm so grateful that I gathered the courage to put myself out there and go to this convention. I thought I would feel left out, or too amateur- but the incredible hospitality of this organization and the attendees made me feel welcome and involved right away.

So now that I'm back and somewhat settled in, I've been working on a couple of invitation designs. Also, I've got Christmas on the brain (title says it all, doesn't it?)- I have to get started on new batches of cards- all occassion ones and Christmas. I can't believe how fast the summer is flying by...not enough hours in the day!

For the rest of the week, I've got some calligraphy projects to work on, cards to start sketching out, business card designs to finalize (omg, still!!), and a print day for my linocut, which has been sitting around for months! phewww Oh, and we're off camping on the weekend- 2 day portage trip! Eek!

Have a happy week,

xo

Pri

ps. Can't remember if I've posted this previously, but here's the link to the IAMPETH website, which has amazing free tutorials, notes, and tips for a beginner in calligraphy! It's one of the ways I got started- give it a try!

Accepting change and making decisions

It's hard to believe that February has come, and almost gone. I don't know if it's a good thing (that I've been so immersed in work that I haven't been aware of time) or a bad thing (that I've been so immersed in work that I haven't been aware of ANYTHING ELSE). One thing's for sure, it's been sort of crazy! The juggling between custom orders, creating prints and greeting cards has been tough! It's been hard not to jump to a new thing every fifteen minutes but stay focused on the task at hand.

I've spent a lot of time thinking about how I can manage this new pace of life without going crazy. Organization, of course, is key, and my moleskin planner never leaves my side. No, I will not give up handwriting all my appointments and to do lists!! I've found that the other incredibly important element to sanity for me is a regular routine of yoga and running. Running is great when I'm super stressed and need to physically tire myself out to calm my mind, and yoga really helps with mindfulness and focus. Since I've been working from home and turning into a hermit, I've found a love for doing yoga in my own home space. Something about using my home as a place that I can wind down as well as work feels balanced and encouraging. I use this amazing website for my classes.

Having your own business can be so liberating and constraining at the same time. You can decide on ANY direction for your business, but all decisions feel like they hold so much weight that it's stupefying! I finally did make a decision recently, and that is to offer up my calligraphy and design services for wedding invitations and events. Yay for making the decision! I hand design the invitations and create a digital copy that folks can print themselves, or send to a printer! I'm working on getting some examples on my Etsy shop soon....

Speaking of Etsy, if you haven't already seen, I've added some new screenprinted cards that can be used for many different occasions- the cards are blank and speak the universal language of love. :) Here's my screenprinting process and setup in my home studio:

On a personal note, it's been a bit of a challenge understanding where my 'new life' fits in with the world and people around me. There have been stressful, sometimes sad, sometimes guilty, sometimes happy days related to this. I stumbled on this article recently. It was a good reminder that when I feel like I'm 'wasting time' (mostly in relation to my old life), I am probably wrong, and even if I'm not, it's something I shouldn't stress about because it's still leading me down some pretty amazing paths. I am still accomplishing something even if I am not going into an office everyday.  I need a daily reminder of this- we probably all do. :)

xx

Priyanka

The image at the beginning of this post is a little quote I wrote out for my lovely friend's beautiful new baby. Check out my Etsy shop for more pics and purchase options :)