The wild coast of Bohemia

As you'll have gathered, the calendar (hey, spelt it right that time, it's one of those words I habitually mis-spell) is based on existing pictures, though very much reworked. It's partly because of our time - we were only paid for a couple of weeks work on this, though Alex has put in more - but mainly because it's what the publisher insisted on. I suppose it made them feel that they knew what they would be getting. It's actually worked out very well and I love the result, although I'm also itching to do a whole new lot of Bohemian Cats work.

IF this one is a success - and that's definitely a great big IF as by sod's law it's being launched at maybe the worst economy in central europe for decades - we will get to do a whole set of new pictures for 2011. Here's hoping.

But whatever happens, I have to say that reviving "the mouse" as he is called around here (he's a gerbil), has been a laugh. In real life he was a right little bad-tempered rodent who bit me several times and actually, single pawed, managed to terrify all our three cats. You had to admire that in a way.

I just finally set up a page for Baba Studio (distinct from my personal pages) at Facebook. I've been told I should probably really have set up a group, so later I'll try to do that too. For now though, it's nice to have the page - it's come together quite well and includes a feed from my Baba Studio blogspot blog for anyone who wants to read that and finds it easier to do so on Facebook. Please come and visit if you'd like to!

Adjustable strap - though for the final bags we are commissioning some cotton webbing strap to be made to our order (it feels more substantial for such a long strap - and has a nice texture). Also the final zips of course won't have the rather noticeable brass metal stops.

I'm very pleased with this design - it's been three months to get to this point (backwards and forwards between Romana, us and the guys in Vietnam). But I think it was worth taking some time.

It's not yet available. Now we have the mammoth task of doing all the prints and specifications (colour etc) for one large batch. I think we should with luck have these in April.

I know I keep saying it, but it is AMAZING how long things take. I really do understand now that you have to begin to prepare for autumn/winter season a full year ahead. Crazy!

and another one - the same shape/pattern but just to show how it looks in a different colour.

Today the sun came out, I saw a green woodpecker looking for somewhere to build a nest and the cats went mad on the roof. First hints of spring!

I also got a wildly, wildly gypsy tablecloth that I bought. Minnie sniffed it for five minutes and was appalled, so I took it straight to wash (she checks everything that comes into the house). It turned out to be FILTHY - basin after basin of brown water was flushed away before I got it clean. I then drenched it in aroma fabric conditioner and hung it outside. After which it will be fit to use. It's falling to pieces really, but it looks like something from a Victorian circus and I love it. Once it's dried and ironed I'll photograph it.

For now though, some of the red-on-white embroidery that I love so much here. This is very faded and on an unusually thick linen (only a strip left, it's been cut just an inch from the embroidery) - I suspect it's a good 100 years old. We will scan it all and store it for use as a graphic later. Then maybe I will think seriously about sewing it on to one of my thick old french sheets, if it's wide enough. Any other ideas? I would really like to use it for real as well as using it as a graphics source.

We are getting these completed quite quickly now. It is GREAT to be able to offer bags at this much lower cost in these times. Though you'll notice we've also put up the price of custom bags as we want to nudge people, gently, to go for the standard bags unless they really, really want a special colour or fabric.

Today I will have the happy task of pulling out our very old Bohemian indigo fabrics - I grabbed a load from a friend before he finished his antiques business here - and working out how to use them in the new shoulder pouches. But that's for later. 

So - one of the all-time favourites now in his slightly new incarnation:





On Etsy for now, on the shop later. Don't ask me where is the cheaper to buy. I really am at my wit's end with currency changes and will just try to keep both sites more or less in line. Buy where is best for you!

I haven't sent this out in a newsletter because it's only two designs. But as they are brand new and we're really pleased with them, I thought I'd do a "special" for this month. I hate to use the word "cute" - but I do think they're cute! At 20 Euros they are probably a bit too cheap - but well, it's February and in a recession, so why not?

Sort of - but after all the fiasco with LJ possible closure I did look into moving posts and realised that there is a very nifty bit of free software that will move posts between LJ and Blogspot (Blog2Blog by Cooley, I'll fish out the link if anyone is interested). I've also realised that pictures on Blogspot show up far higher in a Google search than those on LJ - and this spring for me is about working on our SEO. So...

http://babastudioprague.blogspot.com/

It's going to have a much higher proportion of pictures and less of me and my opinions on things. So it's a good one if you want more of a studio and design blog - the bag pictures etc are likely to be a bit bigger too.

It'll start today as soon as I can get all the listings up. I can't do everything but we will add to the listings as often as possible so do keep checking.

I'll post the link when we're ready to begin.

We are developing new bag shapes and patterns for 2009 right now, and I thought I'd give you a glimpse into why it all takes so long. I had the "brilliant idea" a while back of making a small shoulder-bag version of our drawstring pouches. The kind of thing you could wear when you check your main bag into a cloakroom at a gallery or museum, or when you just want to carry the bare minimum when you're going out. I also thought it might be a good little airport bag to keep passport and papers in easy reach. I know that's something I could do with when I'm travelling. But then, hmm, travel means keeping everything safe so...Zips, I thought! And a nice adjustable strap so it can fit snugly.

I got together a rough example of what I was thinking, and Alex did some drawings for me, and we chatted to our sewing people about possibilities, fabrics and so on. Then there was a lot more discussion as we thought of metal fittings and they said they would not work with the bag. In the end we settled for a kind of fabric/bead fitting for the strap (which now means I need to find the right Czech glass beads as NO WAY would I use anything else).
Anyway, it is happening. But you see why it ends up all taking months?

Here is a photo from the sewing people today, The bag on the left is flat, the one on the right has a bottom (so it will hold more). There is a zip at the very top and another zip above the picture (so in other words there is an extra little outside pocket made up by the picture. Nifty eh? The interlining is stiffer than in the drawstrings so there is a bit more body to the bag. The fabric is 50-50 silk/synthetic mix. Partly to keep the final price down but also partly simply so it's a wee bit tougher than pure silk. Today these photos also tell me that if we are going with the bigger version (which I think is much better) we will need to put a bit of something on the bottom edge of the print - having the white showing won't do (as the sewing people pointed out). But extend every print? Nightmare job! So maybe we will just have to do some generic border. Or something.

< Think zip above the picture. And zip at the top.


We'll sell these when we finally get it all worked out for under $30. I am hoping well under - though it depends on whether that's possible as there is a fair bit of making in them. If it all works, we'll have these in just about all the pouch prints - and even a few more as I am about to work on some new Victorian-type images.

So - just a small insight into process in the hope it may be interesting.

Final thought. As Alex said, "Er, is there some reason all the samples are PINK?" I have a feeling these may be one lot of samples I won't end up wearing. Anyone in the mood for a pink cats' bag?

We realised that some people had problems with the (not very)naked mermaid on the right-hand panel in the original version. So we have done this new version. It's also a little more intensely coloured.

I like it. But then, I liked the original one too - which we will still have for those of you who are not afraid to carry a nekkid mermaid on your shoulder.

The Czech pm, Mirek Topolanek, takes a swing at a photographer -



I'm really not sure why Czech politicians are so prone to punching people. Anyway, this is literally a few steps from the studio. Shame we missed the fun really.

The demon is from an obi I bought because I loved the front (it shows a swallow - hopefully I'll get it in some form on to a messenger next spring). Then I looked at the back and - found this guy. Funnily enough he reminds me a bit of the Czech/German Krampus.







The dragon is just fun - great expression, he looks quite bemused.





As ever, they have made it to the Etsy shop before the main shop - I'll try and get them on to the main shop by the end of the week.

Well, at least the first two.

I wasn't sure these could be done - it's been hard to find copyright-free images in a decent enough resolution (these fabric prints demand good resolution) but these came out well. Admittedly after a good deal of work from Alex. I think it's been worth it though.

I bought a Liberty's varuna wool vintage shawl in "Hera" pattern some time back and then - typically - fell in love with it. However, it had some quite bad moth damage in one part when we bought it so I finally accepted that it really should be cut. I'm actually really glad as the bags turned out to be just drop-dead gorgeous. One had a moth hole (Romana spotted it too late once it was sewn) so I grabbed that one. It's become my new small bag for carrying things in my messenger.

It's hard to do these bags justice in a photo, They are just luscious. You know, some things just work out SO well.









They are only on Etsy for now as I need to upload a whole heap of things to the main shop. By the way, they're a little more expensive than our usual bags as the fabric in itself is quite pricey and collectible now.

I asked for input about bags on Aeclectic Forum some months back. One thing that came out strongly is that people want Pre-Raphaelite and Medieval options. We like those images too, so we've been working on them. Here are a couple of examples.

It's really hard to find either type of imagery in high quality copyright-free form so Alex had to do a lot of work on both of these. I do think they look good:
Sorry - our sites just went down as I was putting these in (the host has an announcement up so at least they know). So here is just a small upload of one image for now.






 

Again, these are my colour adjustments on the photos so not as good as Alex's. But they give an idea. We are switching mostly to new Thai silk for the bags (it's pure silk, but smoother than dupion and as iridescent as the Indian silk) AND - ta DA! - silk lining (again pure silk and yes, we even tested it to make sure).

I'm very happy. Alex says that it's like my cooking, I never do anything twice exactly the same way. He says I always have to try new things - but I think he likes it. Anyway, I am really very pleased with these.

This is Harry Clarke's "Thumbelina" - much worked on by Alex as sadly the original prints (we have a first edition) are very faded now. We have it in a bronze shot with green or a lilac. Neither is really quite right on these images - the bronze looks a bit brown (it's actually a real "shot" colour) and the lilac a bit blue. Actually, if you look at the picture of Minnie below this bag is on the far right - and that's more the real colour.

I am just in love with this lilac silk - which is funny as it was Alex who wanted it and I initially wasn't sure. But it's marvelous.

This month we are in Parq Magazine. It's fun and I'm pleased because tarot doesn't often make it out of the "New Age" and into more general publications. This makes it particularly satisfying.

Download the PDF here
and scroll down to Page 12. The English transation is on Page 78.

This afternoon two art students suddenly appeared on our roof doing a fashion shoot for college. So, as you do, we went out and chatted and asked them to do a couple of shots for us. They refused payment but accepted a book. Nice people and they said they would try to find some friends interested in modelling for a proper fashion shoot next month.

It was odd for me to see the bag in this context - I like it!

More on these bags soon. We are having them factory-made but we do the flap prints and all the finishing by hand. Result is a really tough shoulder bag that can be worn as a messenger or a rucksack. BUT - we don't have them yet, this first one is just a sample.

When we do have them we will have a really good range of prints available so you can put together your own print/colour combination. This has been six months in the planning so I'm glad it's nearly there now.

Well, lo and behold, the special beads (pressed glass and made in Czech) that we ordered suddenly arrived (about a month after we finally gave up having been told that they weren't going to be made again). No point in wondering why, let's just be happy they showed up.

In fact, they are really nice when you see them - thicker and more substantial than we expected, plus the cat is both front and back. I'm pleased with these.

The idea is to put one in (or sew one on to) each textile order. I like the idea of a small lucky charm - silly in a way, but it just adds something. I actually like protective charms, but then, I think maybe I got that from my grandmother's superstitions. It's not exactly that I believe in them, just that I enjoy the whole idea. Anyway, here are the lucky black cats:



By the way, normal blogging will be resumed at some point - still not much energy (I'll explain more at some point).