Erinzam News

Today I used favorite fabric scraps and images from vintage magazines to create a series of little buttons/pins to include with books purchased from my Etsy shop. I’m tempted to keep a few of these for myself!

After loads of planning, designing and cutting, I finally have an edition of 100 rocket clocks ready to find new homes via Etsy. I created this design several years ago as part of a class assignment at Fort Hays State University and recently decided to refine and redesign a few parts. I will post more about the entire process soon. Until then, here are a few images to give you a glimpse of the paper goodness.

I’m so excited about the beautiful frame that arrived today for my little Luba painting. I did this painting quite some time ago, and just couldn’t decide on the right way to present it. Finally, I found the perfect frame and now Luba is ready for a new home.

Three more fabric books are ready for a new home! I did hesitate to give up #3 though, as I have a soft spot for typography. All of these covers are reclaimed from fabrics destined for who-knows-what or where. The first is from a damaged vintage tablecloth, the second from an old curtain, the third from a discarded mail bag. Although I have the raw materials for making a series of eight books this size, I want each one to be distinctly different. The first book is quilted and pillowy, the second has a special pocket that runs the length of the cover, and the third is unique because of the printing on the plastic canvas.

After moving, unpacking, arranging, etc. the studio is finally ready to be unveiled! I share a studio space with my husband, Ben Schlitter, although most of the time I am the one who has my stuff all over the place. Between the two of us we use this space to design, paint, draw, illustrate, photograph, screen print, bind books, sew, make various things out of paper, pack up our Etsy orders, you name it. This is the perfect place for a couple of art nerds to hang out.

One of my favorite things in the room is the red table (click on the top image to see a larger view), which was originally found by Ben, brown and ugly. A fresh coat of red paint spiced it up. This is the spot that I’m constantly trying to keep clean, but as you can see, no matter how hard I try, it always ends up covered with stuff! I am also quite fond of the small poster section in the corner, which includes beauties from Hatch Show Print and Gardner Design. Let’s not forget the “shelf of goodies” above the computer. A selection of goodies near a Mac is a necessity for every graphic designer. Some of these include: packaging for a real Russian robot and mini parking garage, little wire bicycles from Thailand, a few wind up toys and bobblehead creatures, and the obligatory rubber chicken.

Here I am again, pulling things from the recycle bin! I couldn’t resist these materials, though. The brown book, which I named Ecopak, is created from a paper tray used to hold produce from the grocery store. My favorite part is how the pages are cut different sizes to fit inside. The blue book is made from an interesting piece of packaging foam, enhanced with an illustration of an oil rig. Fitting, since that’s where this foam’s life began.

Ecopak sold already, but the oil rig book and another book similar to it are still available through Etsy.

Ben Schlitter is posting new drawings daily, all of which are whimsical and straight out of his imagination. Although I love them all, his most recent post caught my eye. The names are cool too. This one is called Egnaro.

Finally! After months, and even years of creating a stash of fun and unique fabric scraps, I am putting them to use. In the works is a small series of books made from this very pile of textiles. Here are the first two, made from vintage drapery samples discovered this past summer in a 2nd hand store. More to come!

A sampling of unique kitchen and tea towels, printed, embroidered, or woven by hand:

Left to right, top: PataPri, artgoodies, hannahlaura, rockpaperscissorsart
Left to right, bottom: ofpaperandthread, OHHONEY, MrPS, jschubertdesigns

After years of using paper towels, I’m giving them up. Well, not completely, but as much as possible. My most recent trip to Europe made my dependence on a constant stream of disposable paper very noticeable. Blame it on being American, but I had no idea that I was needlessly filling up my trash can with fluffy white paper used to dry my hands and wipe my face. About the same time as the trip, I received a very special collection of hand-embroidered tea towels as a wedding gift. I love these towels! I am now creating a collection of fun and pretty towels that hang all over the kitchen. This way, I have no excuse to reach for the paper when my hands are dripping wet. This new change of pace led me to the next step: cloth napkins. I’m not sure what took me so long to prefer cloth over paper, but now I will never go back. Cloth napkins are much more fun. I don’t even need to mention the money and the trees that I save.

I came up with an easy way to create a fun stash of cloth napkins on the cheap, created from kitchen towels. Most available cloth napkins are white, and I frequently eat curry, spaghetti sauce, blueberries, you name it. This makes the white napkins look gross after one or two uses. I select kitchen towels with dark colors or busy patterns which can hide my messes. The set of towels I selected above are from Anthropologie. The process is so simple. I fold each towel in half lengthwise and cut along the fold. I then double fold, pin and stitch a new hem along each cut edge. Done! That’s it. These napkins are not a standard “napkin size” but they work quite well for everyday meals. You can bring out the fancy white ones when you have guests.

My husband and I left the beautiful Kansas sky for the beautiful California weather. After the long hiatus caused by moving, I am so happy to be back in a studio space.

One of the first projects I began was to convert a stash of matchbooks (that I found while moving) into mini books. I decided to convert them all. I had plenty of interesting paper scraps saved up from past projects and they made perfect little pages in these matchbook books. I like to think of these as books in disguise. That way, if you ever need to take secret notes while on a detective mission, for example, this is the perfect place to do it. I already began to post some of them individually and also as sets on Etsy.