jcaroline's blog

I'm over there today...

I have been doing things. I just haven't told you about them. I'm over at Slice Fabrique's blog today talking about their new fabric cutter. It's pretty cool. You should read my post and then get yourself one. Okay, at least comment about how great my write-up is. :)

You bet I Yudu. Don't you?

I have a new friend and I would like for you to meet her (or him?):

I don't know if my Yudu is a boy or a girl. Will decide on that later... Anyhow, this little wondrous piece of crafting hardware showed up last week and I think I might be in love. I saw this machine at Blogher-- Gabby of DesignMom fame was demonstrating one.  I'm a little bit of a silkscreen freak anyway (remember, I tried to silkscreen fabric yardage?), so I came home and ordered one.

So, let me tell you I have only burned one screen and only screened 3 pieces of linen.  And they all came out good enough to use.  I turned this one into a pillow.

 

You want to see that a little closer?  Okay.

 

If you've ever screen-printed, I think the crispness of the image is pretty impressive.  My understanding is the quality is mostly determined by the screen mesh, how well it is burned, and the ink consistency.  I give the Yudu a big thumbs-up on all.

So what makes the Yudu so different from traditional screen printing?  That fact that it is a self-contained unit and all the supplies are specifically made for the Yudu.  No more ordering screens from one place, an exposure lamp somewhere else, inks somewhere else, and hoping that the screens you bought fit the frames you are using, blah, blah, blah.  The Yudu also has alignment "pegs" that allow you to keep the screens and platen (the piece your item to silkscreen goes on, like a T-shirt) aligned from burning to screening.

So yes, you still have to go through the steps of silk-screening, but Yudu makes it much more streamlined and neater.  If you've never screen-printed before, here are the basic steps you follow:

1. Apply emulsion (which they sell in sheets) to your screen and let dry.  (REALLY let it dry-- learned that the hard way.)
2. Create a design on a transparency, either free-hand or by printing on your computer.
3. Burn the design onto the screen using the Yudu in 8 minutes.
4. Wash out the "unburned" portion of the emulsion with water.  Let dry again.
5. Place the screen on the pegs on the Yudu.  Place your fabric onto the self-adhesive platen under the screen.
6. "Flood" the screen by pulling ink across the design with the squeegee, without touching the fabric.
7. Pull the ink across the design with the screen against the fabric.
8. Let design dry thoroughly.  Then iron for 3 minutes to make it wash-fast.
9. Return unused ink to container.  Wash ink from screen and squeegee.
10. The machine had no ink on it whatsoever (just the screen), so I did not need to clean up the machine.

So, silkscreening isn't INSTANT.   (I'd say with screen drying time, the above design took 3 hours, but only 20 minutes of actual "hands on" time).  However, silk screening gives you a great way to create an image that you can consistently recreate in different colors on different materials to your heart's content! And with the Yudu, you can do it without a room full of equipment and a huge mess.

ProvoCraft, the maker of Yudu, really promotes this as a tool to screen your own T-shirts (and don't think I won't make some of questionable taste!).  But I think it's real potential is to create mini-fabrics.  The screen will handle an image up to 11" x 14" and by using multiple screens, you can create a multi-colored design.  So if you want to make your own custom "fabric" for a pillow or the front of a tote or hand-bag- you can do it with the Yudu.

The Yudu is available at your local Michaels and online at Amazon right now.  And jcaroline creative! will carry the supplies: the ink, screens, emulsions and platens.  (We should have them in about a week.  I'll be sure to let you know!)

 

Just Going Through Some Mail (the printed kind)

First, I must apologize.  I have made nothing in the last two days.  I promise to do better next week.  So today, I am totally relying on other people's work.  I get a ton of catalogs, but I do enjoy looking through them.  You never know where that next little bit of inspiration will come from.  I was flipping through Talbots and look what I found:

That second sandal is Michael Miller's Turquoise Gabriella and the bottom one is Brown Carnival Bloom.  You can purchase the sandals here, if you are so inclined.  I think they are really cute, but I can't stand to have that piece between my toes.

Yesterday, a Target catalog came.  Yes, Target, the marketing genuises that they are, now also send out a catalog.  This is the second one I've received.  The catalog focuses on their apparel and home furnishings, with a small insert on their bath, body and cosmetics lines.  Anyway,  I loved their side tables.

The little black bentwood table in the front is $14.99.  The black round pedestal table is $79.99.  The inlaid table in the back right is $99.99.  It's no Goodwill, but its certainly cheaper than another home catalog I receive with the initials P.B.

And look at this cute lamp and pillows:

The lampshade is $12.99, the base is $24.99.  The pillows are $19.99.  It makes me want to enter a blue and white phase.  In fact, that just gave me a brilliant idea (thank you, Caroline).  I'll compile a collection of items that are blue and white all in one place, so you can be inspired too.  And I'll call it Inspirations.   Wow, this post was productive.

An Oldie but a Goodie

After these large furniture projects, I decided today would be spent on something much smaller.  And though the ribbon key fobs have been around for at least two years, if not longer, I still like them.  They are a quick project and make a cute gift.  Plus, we got in our new ribbons today.  You may remember several weeks back I was so excited about the nautical flag ribbon that I designed and imported.  Well, that experiment worked and I was really tired of looking at the same old ribbon designs that we've had since the turn of the century.  (That sounds like I'm being dramatic, but that was only 8 years ago!)

So make yourself a key fob or two in less than 30 minutes.  Tutorial is here.

New Ribbon!

I don't know about you, but I am excited about this little piece of loveliness to the left.  We used to have a similar ribbon, but the vendor stopped producing it last year.  It was a very popular ribbon for our customers, so I drew up a design I personally like better (it spells jcaroline in nautical flags), emailed it to China and voila!  Two weeks later it arrived here and it is as spectacular as it looked in the pictures they sent me.

So, what really excites me is now that I know it actually works- I send an email (oh, and some money) and I get product, we plan to produce more little cuties to replace the ribbons that we have not been able to get anymore.

So my first foray into importing worked and has opened a world of opportunities for me to produce crazy ribbons.  You can buy this one here.