My stuff

Fashion / My stuff / Opinions — 4 Comments
24
Jan 12

The importance of being earnest: Doing business, going organic

I’ve had a long holiday, no blogging, not much working but a lot of thinking and decision making. Business wise, 2011 was a great year for me, I got some wonderful stockists, great press and a load of really lovely customers (from this I have now deduced that my target market is “awesome, gorgeous, super nice people”) but as thoughts turned to 2012, a new collection and moving forward I knew something had to change.

Previously the most important aspect of my business as I could see it, was to produce things locally and make the most of local craftspeople. The quality of my products was/is paramount. My clothing is 100% natural and made under fair conditions, my screenprinting is done up the road from me by an absolute pro using waterbased inks and will wash a trillion times (ok I haven’t counted, but trust me it is A class) and for a time, I was very proud of what I was making. But, when they say ‘ignorance is bliss’, they aren’t lying. I was remaining ignorant to the actual reality of cotton production, the use of pesticides and the effect this has not only on the planet but the farmers, their families and their health. ’100% cotton’ is a phrase that has instant connotations of ‘natural’, ‘good for us’ and ‘quality’, when in reality it is anything but.

I’m not stupid, I know that organic cotton and alternatives are expensive, more difficult to obtain and limited in range for many peoples use. But as one person who is in charge of EVERY aspect of my company, working on a relatively small scale with the ability to produce and print my own products, why wouldn’t I take that extra step to improve my products?

Turns out, going down the organic route is proving to be a slow and difficult process but I won’t give up until I get what I want. My new designs will be made soon, and it is my absolute mission that they benefit absolutely everyone involved in their production. Don’t worry, I’m not going all earth-mother on you, they’ll still have the same edge and vibrancy.

I’m not writing this to preach, but to share what’s been buzzing around in my head this last month and let you know what’s coming. I’d really love to hear your thoughts, opinions and experiences on the subject.

 

 

Jewellery / My stuff — 1 Comment
17
Nov 11

The Season


Coming out from underneath my rock and acknowledging that December really is just around the corner has sped up the jewellery making production line. I now have plenty of rough crystal rings and necklaces ready to send as gifts or a bit of personal bling. New combinations are available and I’ll be adding more. If a particular piece is out of stock, I can make to order within a week in most cases.

Every piece comes carefully boxed and packaged for you to give as gift.

Plus, because paying for postage is such a downer when choosing to do your holiday shopping online and to thank you all for choosing to support independent business this season all postage on orders of $65nz and over is totally on me!

Here are the final postage dates for Christmas delivery according to NZ Post.
I am of course happy to post anywhere, any time but please realise that outside of these dates there is a chance your parcel may not arrive on time.

New Zealand: 20th December
Australia: 9th December
Rest of the world: 2nd December

Happy shopping!

Jewellery / My stuff — No Comments
7
Nov 11

Gifts for special friends

or gifts that special friends can buy you?

Carefully chosen jewellery is a really special gift that doesn’t need to be reserved for anniversary buying. There are lots of gorgeous pieces that are just begging to be carefully wrapped and given to a best friend. It’s a grown up type of gift giving that really let’s your friends know how totally rad you think they are.

Mahogany Ring No. 2 by Bliss in a Teacup $60. Each ring is cut, shaped and sanded by hand.

Rhinestone Friendship Bracelet by The Cat Paradox $23US

Nuggest necklace by Rebekah Hemmer. $33US. Pure silver nugget beads strung on to a gold filled chain.

Lightening Bolt Bangle in stainless steel by Dr Craz $30US

Custom initial stacking ring by Pale Fish NY $38US

Rough Bornite pendant on gold plated chain by me... Evie Kemp $39NZ

Over the next few weeks they’ll be a few more little and different gift guides/inspiration popping up here.

My stuff — 41 Comments
13
Jul 11

The Epic Giveaway

UPDATE: The Giveaway has now closed with our winner being: Georgia Rose! Thank you all so much for entering and generally being awesome. I wish I could  give everyone a prize. I seriously do!

I really have been overwhelmed with the support and reponse I’ve had since launching http://eviekemp.com/ earlier this year. Every single person who has contacted me or purchased something has been a total joy to know and to be honest, there is nothing I would rather be doing with my life than this. So, to say thank you, woo hoo and spice things up a little I’m holding my first proper giveaway and if you’re reading this, you found it, big congrats.

So, what can be won?

I really don’t like doing things by halves so this prize is a bit of a bonanza. The lucky winner will get a Supercilious the Siamese Singlet (in their choice of size), a 5 x 7 in, giclee Pug print, a pack of postcards, a (new this week!) Cantankerous the cat bamboo ring (fits all sizes) all bundled in to a cotton canvas screen printed Sovereign tote bag.

The giveaway is open to anyone on planet earth (beyond if you’ve still got the internet) and includes postage to you.

To enter, comment below with what you want to see in the future for future evie kemp designs/products.

PLUS additional entries for:

• Tweeting about it (mention @eviekemp or use the RT button at the bottom of the post).

• Becoming a fan on facebook https://www.facebook.com/eviekempdesigns

• Sharing on facebook (mention evie kemp so it can be counted).

Phew, hopefully that’s enough options for you all. The blog comment is the only mandatory entry, the rest are for bonus chances. Go wild (or not).

 

Entries need to be in by 11.59PM New Zealand time on Saturday 23rd July. All entries will be added up and winner will be selected by randomnumber.org before being announced here on Sunday. If you’re a hard person to catch, let me know how I can reach you.

xxx

 

Art + Illustration / My stuff / New Zealand — 3 Comments
29
Jun 11

10 favourite things

Today I was lucky enough to be featured in Viva with the NZ Herald with a picture of me, kitten Eddie and some of my 10 favourite things. Click through twice to see it readable.

 

Apologies for the awful scan. My scanner is not one of my 10 favourite things.

For photos of my full 10 things, here they are!

Clothes / My stuff — 1 Comment
27
Jun 11

Sweatshirts (!)

In the interest of fairness I’m announcing sweatshirts here before they go live on eviekemp.com at 3pmNZ time today (so in just less than 3.5 hours time) as there is just ONE OF EACH SIZE in each design in this first run. Eek!

Printed on the snuggliest grey marle sweatshirts there is Cantankerous (sporting a navy bow) and everyone’s favourite rubbish bag ripper, Feral. They are $80NZ each with free shipping within NZ and very reasonable shipping everywhere else. Sweatshirts are unisex, labelled and soft as a baby duckling on the inside.

Excuse the hanger shots, my model is stuck sipping Singapore Slings due to ash cloud ‘issues’.

Any questions ask away!

Sizing is as follows (measured flat):

Small: 49.5 cm wide • 62 cm long

Medium: 51.5 cm wide • 62 cm long (Cantankerous the Persian only!)

Large: 55.5 cm wide • 65 cm long

Extra Large: 57 cm wide • 65 cm long

 

My stuff / Uncategorized — 2 Comments
30
May 11

From the sketchbook

I rarely dwell on work I’ve done, I prefer to look forward and come up with new ideas. It’s interesting to look back once in a while and remember drawings I’ve done. I never really show any original rough sketches because adding colour is really my thing. Anyway, here’s some sketches from the archives.


Art + Illustration / My stuff — 2 Comments
1
May 11

How to: Acetone Transfer

Acetone transfer is a design school technique that has got me out of many tricky situations. Namely, how to print text on to something that can’t go through a printer. The constraints of a printer come down a lot to cost, size and the weight of the paper or card you would like to print on. Acetone transferring is also a great way to add type to original artworks, I’ve used it to put text on A1 illustration boards with great success. Besides the practical advantages to using this method, I personally love the effect it creates – a worn, printed look.

If you’ve never tried it before, here’s a quick ‘How to’.

I’m using a small, simple design. Your design should be black and white (as dark as you can get it) and then flipped so that the image is back to front (I use photoshop for this but most photocopiers also have this function). Then, print your design to the size you like using a photocopier if you have access or a lazer printer (set to black & white only, no colour). This is the most important step, an inkjet printer will not work as you need the acetone to loosen the dry ink particles from the print and transfer them on to your new piece of paper. Generally a photocopied image will transfer more easily.

Tape your backwards b&w print on to a piece of card or paper using masking tape to hold it in place. I’ve used a heavy duty pre-cut postcard that I wouldn’t be able to print on conventionally. The smoother the paper the better the transfer will be. Watercolour and other textured papers can be hard to get a good print on to.

Now, here I use pure acetone which you can buy from any art shop. It is a bit pricey, though should last a long time. It’s worth testing the technique with cheap nail polish remover (so long as it contains acetone) as sometimes this can work just fine and saves you investing in a can of acetone. Wet your cloth with acetone and rub the image with it, be careful to not let the paper move but you will need to put some muscle in to it. Acetone evaporates quickly so you will need to repeat this a few times.

If you have a roller or rolling pin, give it a firm roll while the top paper is still damp with acetone.

Peel up an edge and have a peek. Go back over the areas that haven’t taken as well. Remove the top paper, grab your next set and try something else.

 

 

 

 

 

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