Hankies

Prancing Unicorns for sale!

Textile design and motif making are my absolute favorite things to do. While my latest book, Playful Fabric Printing, illuminates how to go about printing in full detail and using many differing tools, it’s focus is more about the tools you need to use -to make- a print. This is why I have begun the Motif Maker’s Zine.

Within the pages of the zine, I discuss and unpack how to make your own motifs, how to gather similar ideas together to create a collection of motifs, and also how to use texture and patterning to bring sparkle and depth to your drawn imagery.

Unicorns, it turns out, are ripe and ready for interpretation as a motif. I had little idea how much lore and fantasy surround unicorns. But once I began researching them, I fell in love with them. For instance, why, when entering a forest of known unicorn habitation, must you carry pinking sheers? What do soft serve ice cream or gumball machines have to do with unicorns? hmmm.

The zine format allows me to discuss this extensive research with you! Each zine is 16 pages, is hand drawn and illustrated and each has a beautiful centerfold. This is a creative jumpstart for the home studio and surface design artist!

This deep dive into motif making spurred the creation of hand printed hankies, unicorn T-shirts, prints and more. I am hoping you might gift yourself some Melly made items today! Please check out my Etsy!

Motif Maker’s Zine and an Etsy update

I am excited to announce the release of my new publication, the Motif Maker’s Zine. What is a Zine? It is a non commercial offering! It is hand drawn and illustrated, self published and focused on textile design and motif making. Each volume is 16 pages, with a full color cover and centerfold.

The Motif Maker’s Zine has three volumes so far. The first volume showcases how to make a motif, while working in various media and a change of scale. Volume 2 discusses making motifs that interact and play well with one another (unicorns, feathers, pinking sheers-oh my!). Volume 3 discusses how pattern and texture can interact with motif to elevate and enrich your design. Each of the Zines references pages from my book, Playful Fabric Printing, drawing upon and expanding the knowledge found there, while helping you build and use motifs of your own creation.

The creation of my Zine included designing several new prints, where Fleur de Lis, unicorns, feathers, and pinking sheers are featured. I have printed silk hankies using these designs, which can be found in my Etsy shop! Stuff them in your coat pocket- dab an eye when you get cold, tie one onto your purse, use them as pocket squares!

It is my sincere hope that you will join in the fun and become a Motif Maker!

Purchase your copy today!

Motif Making

I have been skittering down a rabbit hole of exploration into Motif Making. Its been fun. Check out my insta to see a fuller picture of this print and it’s fellas.

I am creating a Zine, an artistic, hand written and printed offering, called the Motif Maker’s Zine. These will be 16 page booklets that speak to how to make and use motif in your printed work.

And, while I do that, I am printing hankies using the motifs discussed in the Zine! I hope to get all of this into my Etsy really soon!

In the meantime, I am updating this website, simplifying it, and learning to maintain it myself. I have been disheartened by social media and look forward to occupying this space again.

My life has been morphing and shifting. I am studying to become a personal trainer! I love working out and I would like to get an additional Special Populations certification, so that I can work with cancer patients who want to engage in fitness.

I have broken up my Instagram accounts! I now have an Melly Testa artist insta, my breast cancer advocacy insta and my Flat_and_Fit insta. Please follow me there!

And hello. It feels good to use this space again.

Hankies, steaming, around and back again

This weekend, I completed printing the 48 Blowsy Rose hankie fundraiser to benefit METAvivor. I have sold 47 out of the 48 silk habotai handkerchiefs. I am going to purchase one (I mean donate on behalf), because I need to start collecting -my own- hankies. If the final hankie does not sell today, I will ‘buy’ that too. Tomorrow, I will send 240$ to METAvivor, as this is the listed end date for trying this idea out.

I am so happy to be able to donate money, print hankies, and that YOU will own a piece of my work. Thank you so very much!!!

At the end of the print job, I searched around in my bin of Salty Soda Soaked (Playful Fabric Printing, page 45) fabrics and found a few cotton bandanas. You can see they are quite a bit bigger than the dainty silk habotai hankies.

BUT!

I have them and ought to print them, don’t you think?

I want to try and rectify the large area of white.

When Carol and I were writing Playful Fabric Printing, we came up with the concept of creating a selvedge with our names on it.

I created mine using Fum Foam stamps (Playful Fabric Printing, page 62). I think this might just make the center look a little less lonely. And, as I am printing this just for fun, I don’t mind printing my name of it. Though I could use Freezer Paper Resist (Playful Fabric Printing, page 86) to preserve that area of printing…

In the meantime, I have 48 silk hankies to steam, wash and mail away.

ALSO! I put 20 copies of Playful Fabric Printing up for sale on my Etsy page, for just 20$ each. I want to get these books into your hands, so we can start using it!

If you would like a more in depth exploration of printing these hankies, join our closed FB Community page, Playful Fabric Printing. This is where we do weekly Live Video chats, on print related subjects-this week steaming! There is a backlog of video in the group, which will help you on your way to playfully printing your own fabrics.

See you there!

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Blowsy Rose hankies, chugging right along.

Doing this fundraiser for METAvivor has been fun.

I get to print 48 hankies, make some cash for myself and give some cash to a group whose work I admire. I have just 4 more hankies available for sale. I would love for you to own one, but I also feel kinda grabby! I might need one for myself.

SaveSaveThese hankies are not yet steamed, meaning they are stiff with thickener and Procion MX dye. This is my favorite way to view them! I understand that in steaming and washing them, they will change some. The color will release and fade minimally. What I see here is not what they will eventually look like. But this is my favorite part of printing. Being able to sort through and think about these hankies in their final state is exciting!

I must color the petals of about 22 more hankies. This work will be complete today or tomorrow, then, I will begin to steam, wash and mail the hankies to you. I am ever so grateful to do this work and I feel honored to be able to donate up to $240 per print job!! That’s $240 more than I could afford on my own. So thank you!!!

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Blowsy Rose hankies! An update.

In all, the Blowsy Rose print in Florabunda is a four color design, or as we call it in Playful Fabric Printing, a four color multicolor set. In this case, the set consists of one hand carved rubber layer and three fun foam layers that color the background, the leaves and the petals.

In my opinion, three color designs are the most efficient and easy to print designs, they are approachable, easy to complete and they give you many coloring options. As I print this 4 color design, I periodically drop a layer out, making three color prints, I use all 4 layers too! My goal is to print as many different hankies as I am able in a short period of time, while maintaining consistent print quality.

As I continue to print each of the 48 hankies, I pull some out of the ‘Working Pile’ and place them in the ‘Ready to Steam’ pile.

I rather like these hankies with white background! They are sweet.

So far, I have completed 14 hankies and am well on my way to completing this print job. I am doing this in part to fundraise for METAvivor. There are four hankies for sale, to meet my goal of selling all 48, and donating 240$ from the sale, to this upstanding organization.

I do hope you will head over to my Etsy page and get your hankie today!

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And join our Facebook Community Page while you are at it! This is the place for Live Video, asking questions and learning to Playfully Print your own fabrics!

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Get your Hankie here! Plus.

As I talked up the creation of the VIP Offering to the AnaOno #cancerland fashion show, many expressed interest in owning their own Melly Made hankies! In gratitude for this opportunity, I have decided to print 48 more hankies and donate a portion of the sale to benefit METAvivor.

I have ordered 48 more hankies. I plan to print them using the large floral design featured in Floribunda! by RJR Fabrics. Each hankie will cost $20.00, with 5$ of each sale donated to Metavivor. Each hankie will be mailed via USPS stamped envelope. If you prefer UPS shipping let me know, I will send you an additional request for $ to cover the cost.

Please purchase your hankie through my Etsy store. While there, perhaps you might purchase Playful Fabric Printing, then head over to the Playful Fabric Printing Community page on Facebook! I will be doing live video updates while completing these hankies and would love to see you there!

My fingers are crossed that I sell all 48 hankies and be able to donate 240$ (my fingers are triple crossed).

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Hankies

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