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Pretty Rocks on Frocks update
It's time for another Pretty Rock Empire update so I can keep track of what's going on. Think of this as an annual report, and mock me for my poor sense of timing. I've just watched Doctor Who, so it seems entirely appropriate. So: Pretty Rocks on Frocks is the fabric design division of Pretty Rock Designs, existing for now on the fabric print-to-order site Spoonflower.com. (For now you'll need to click the "Designs - Not For Sale" link in the left column to see anything.)
Basically one uploads an image and can order it printed in a selection of repeat patterns (e.g. mirror, squared, offset vertical, offset horizontal etc) on a selection of 10 different fabrics (e.g. various weights of cotton, sateen, linen etc), and just very recently in wallpaper and decals too.
As designer I choose the size of the design and how it repeats, and then once I've ordered at least a test swatch (and presumably deemed it fit for human consumption), I can offer that design for sale. Pattern repeat sizes can be negotiated but only one can be available at any one time. I plan to offer the same source designs in different pattern sizes for different purposes, but these are treated as completely new designs.
So what brought this on? Well, fairly early in the life of Pretty Rock pictures, a couple of quilting friends thought that these would make good fabrics for art quilts - quilts where the artist creates an image out of irregularly shaped pieces of fabric rather than regularly shaped pieces of regularly patterned fabrics. (Apologies for the gross oversimplification). They like to work with rich and interesting textures rather than traditional patterns, but these can be hard to find. There are some examples of batik textured fabrics here. Apparently the rock pictures would make good stash fillers, because of the variety of colours and textures you can get in the one fat quarter - handy when you might only want a tiny snippet of something exotic, or more importantly multiple tiny snippets of slightly different but compatible exotic textures.
So, I've uploaded a couple of batches of softened large scale Pretty Rock pictures recommended as good textural candidates, and ordered swatches for preview. As is typical with first run prints, the results were disappointing; the colour reproduction seemed off, particularly in the darker shades, and even lighter colours seemed a bit muddy at first. Fabric (particularly the cotton used for swatches) does not print like paper. It certainly can't handle true blacks or deep rich colors with any conviction. Damn.
However, I bounced back from that initial disappointment when the second set of swatches came through shortly after the first. This batch included several lighter designs which printed much more nicely, so it gave me somewhere to go. That somewhere has been re-rendering most of the initial designs to be lighter and brighter. They're looking less like natural rocks on screen, but should make much more workable prints on fabric. I've left some of the deeper darker blends, but buyer beware - always order a swatch.
I am part way through this revision process, and although I could release some of the first batch of designs for sale now I'd prefer to wait until I have a decent stock for a grand opening of sorts. Unfortunately work on the site is slow and painful because I've been having internet traumas here, and their site is not the quickest in the world. "This may take a few minutes." is something you see pretty often, but to be fair there is a lot going on at server side.
Of course large blurry textures for art quilts or silk scarves are one thing; repeat patterns for more traditional clothing and soft furnishings are another again. It's been quite fun seeing what happens to pretty rocks when they are mirrored against themselves across and down.
Large scale repeats could still be useful for curtains, and I'm thinking of ordering some yardage to turn into wall hangings.
I've now developed a technique in my editing software to do this myself (possibly duplicating one of the mirroring functions in Painshop Photo Pro but I could never find something simple enough for my needs). I'll write more about these patterns and their potential for other types of merchandising another time, but I've been having fun making them and uploading to redbubble. Here are some of my latest efforts, already available for sale as cards and prints, and most as iPhone/iPod covers too:
There are a couple of these kinds of smaller patterns in my first batch of fabrics, but they were more for experimentation than anything else; I may not release them.
Finally I've learned more about the limits of Spoonflower re resolution, and have some further improvements planned for the next round of uploads. I'm sure I'll never run out of ways to fine tune the system. I'm certainly looking forward to getting more samples printed on the different fabrics, as I've read that some take colour better than others. It's a clever business model of Spoonflower: both artists and customers really have to order at least $5 8"x8" test swatches to see what they're getting.
Unless you're prepared to play a bit of lucky dip with the colour reproduction, you really need to order test swatches first.
So, what's next?
* Finish revising the 30 or so designs I have in progress and release them into the wild for sale.
* Make different sized repeats for more traditional fabrics.
* Look at the new options for producing wallpaper. How seriously freaky would that look?
This freaky.
* I'm not sure the new decals are something I'd bother with for now, but I might take a look.
So that's where we stand on Pretty Rocks on Frocks. In the medium term I might put some feelers out into the fashion industry; Pretty Rock Designs has the advantage of being novel, and that has value. I doubt that Spoonflower will be able to deliver the quality needed for fashion use, but if I license out the design then it's up to the customer to reproduce it to the standard they require. Then too I might approach some of the quilting fabric companies such as those featured on fatquarter.com for licensing deals. I may need to acquire an agent and/or lawyer ;-)
Hmmm. Maybe I could sponsor a fashion design student... Hmmmm.
Basically one uploads an image and can order it printed in a selection of repeat patterns (e.g. mirror, squared, offset vertical, offset horizontal etc) on a selection of 10 different fabrics (e.g. various weights of cotton, sateen, linen etc), and just very recently in wallpaper and decals too.
As designer I choose the size of the design and how it repeats, and then once I've ordered at least a test swatch (and presumably deemed it fit for human consumption), I can offer that design for sale. Pattern repeat sizes can be negotiated but only one can be available at any one time. I plan to offer the same source designs in different pattern sizes for different purposes, but these are treated as completely new designs.
So what brought this on? Well, fairly early in the life of Pretty Rock pictures, a couple of quilting friends thought that these would make good fabrics for art quilts - quilts where the artist creates an image out of irregularly shaped pieces of fabric rather than regularly shaped pieces of regularly patterned fabrics. (Apologies for the gross oversimplification). They like to work with rich and interesting textures rather than traditional patterns, but these can be hard to find. There are some examples of batik textured fabrics here. Apparently the rock pictures would make good stash fillers, because of the variety of colours and textures you can get in the one fat quarter - handy when you might only want a tiny snippet of something exotic, or more importantly multiple tiny snippets of slightly different but compatible exotic textures.
So, I've uploaded a couple of batches of softened large scale Pretty Rock pictures recommended as good textural candidates, and ordered swatches for preview. As is typical with first run prints, the results were disappointing; the colour reproduction seemed off, particularly in the darker shades, and even lighter colours seemed a bit muddy at first. Fabric (particularly the cotton used for swatches) does not print like paper. It certainly can't handle true blacks or deep rich colors with any conviction. Damn.
However, I bounced back from that initial disappointment when the second set of swatches came through shortly after the first. This batch included several lighter designs which printed much more nicely, so it gave me somewhere to go. That somewhere has been re-rendering most of the initial designs to be lighter and brighter. They're looking less like natural rocks on screen, but should make much more workable prints on fabric. I've left some of the deeper darker blends, but buyer beware - always order a swatch.
I am part way through this revision process, and although I could release some of the first batch of designs for sale now I'd prefer to wait until I have a decent stock for a grand opening of sorts. Unfortunately work on the site is slow and painful because I've been having internet traumas here, and their site is not the quickest in the world. "This may take a few minutes." is something you see pretty often, but to be fair there is a lot going on at server side.
Of course large blurry textures for art quilts or silk scarves are one thing; repeat patterns for more traditional clothing and soft furnishings are another again. It's been quite fun seeing what happens to pretty rocks when they are mirrored against themselves across and down.
Large scale repeats could still be useful for curtains, and I'm thinking of ordering some yardage to turn into wall hangings.
I've now developed a technique in my editing software to do this myself (possibly duplicating one of the mirroring functions in Painshop Photo Pro but I could never find something simple enough for my needs). I'll write more about these patterns and their potential for other types of merchandising another time, but I've been having fun making them and uploading to redbubble. Here are some of my latest efforts, already available for sale as cards and prints, and most as iPhone/iPod covers too:
There are a couple of these kinds of smaller patterns in my first batch of fabrics, but they were more for experimentation than anything else; I may not release them.
Finally I've learned more about the limits of Spoonflower re resolution, and have some further improvements planned for the next round of uploads. I'm sure I'll never run out of ways to fine tune the system. I'm certainly looking forward to getting more samples printed on the different fabrics, as I've read that some take colour better than others. It's a clever business model of Spoonflower: both artists and customers really have to order at least $5 8"x8" test swatches to see what they're getting.
Unless you're prepared to play a bit of lucky dip with the colour reproduction, you really need to order test swatches first.
So, what's next?
* Finish revising the 30 or so designs I have in progress and release them into the wild for sale.
* Make different sized repeats for more traditional fabrics.
* Look at the new options for producing wallpaper. How seriously freaky would that look?
This freaky.
* I'm not sure the new decals are something I'd bother with for now, but I might take a look.
So that's where we stand on Pretty Rocks on Frocks. In the medium term I might put some feelers out into the fashion industry; Pretty Rock Designs has the advantage of being novel, and that has value. I doubt that Spoonflower will be able to deliver the quality needed for fashion use, but if I license out the design then it's up to the customer to reproduce it to the standard they require. Then too I might approach some of the quilting fabric companies such as those featured on fatquarter.com for licensing deals. I may need to acquire an agent and/or lawyer ;-)
Hmmm. Maybe I could sponsor a fashion design student... Hmmmm.