My collection of Noctiluna products for Spring/Summer 2016 now almost fully exists, and here are some photos of them for you to see. Also, being in a caring and sharing kind of mood, I have included a list for you, of the stages that I go through in order to make these lovely things. Read, gasp, and pray for me. Ha!
Stage 1. I order t-shirts, onesies, bags, cushion covers, and printing inks, and sign up for fairs until my business credit card actually starts whimpering for me to stop.
Stage 2. Preparing screens and washing them in the bath tub, then manically scrubbing the bath tub down so that the kids don’t get turned into day-glo mutants overnight.Then praying that the screens turn out okay, so that I don’t have to start the whole process all over again (it has happened before!).
Stage 3. The shirts arrive and I start squealing excitedly, and organizing them into size and color groups….all over my living room. Everyone in my family hates me a little bit.
Stage 4. Screen printing takes place on my dining table over a roughly three week period. I get mad if there are any dirty dishes in the sink when I need to clean a screen. Kids who come over for play dates ooh and ahh at the shirts. However, my family properly hate me now.
Stage 5. I iron every single product to fix the inks, while watching every single costume drama ever made in the universe. After a week my right arm feels heavier than my left, and I can’t stop thinking about Mr Darcy. My husband wears slightly crumpled shirts to work (sort of reminds me of Darcy), and the kids have started using words such as countenance, affectation and disposition in their everyday language.
Stage 6. The sewing begins. This is when the most cursing is done during production. Sewing is not something that comes easily to me. I have fantasies of taking my machine out into the yard and attacking it Office Spaces style.This stage is long and painful. Much chocolate is consumed.
Stage 7. The photo session. Oh my god. Why is it always windy when I decide to photograph my collection? Is some kind of cosmic joke being played on me? I struggle through an amateurish day of taking acceptable photos, and then another day of painstakingly uploading them to Etsy and my website, and trying not to accidentally delete them all.
Stage 8. I finally start clearing my mess up properly, my family starts talking to me again. The Spring fairs beckon, the weather gets nice, my shirts are packed away into satisfyingly neat piles and I start worrying about why I didn’t make more stuff!
Note: My love for screen printing overcomes all the rest of it, so it’s all good!
