What was even more lovely was opening The Age on Saturday and seeing myself in it! I was interviewed by Megan Backhouse (who is wonderful and hilarious) for a profile in December and quite frankly I was so rushed and insane at the time that I didn’t remember anything I said – so it was a nice surprise to read my words and find them not too nonsensical. Hurrah for good writing.

Here’s a nice pic of the article that I stole from my friend Natalie Cheng (thanks Nat!) but for actual reading purposes head here to read it online.

In other news, it’s good to be back in the studio and planning out the year. I’m very excited about some new digitally printed silk scarves that will be coming out for winter – they’re going to be deliciously long and shiny – 160 x 35cm. It was quite strange designing for a long thin thing that goes upside down at the other end; I had to keep remembering not to put important things in the middle where no one would see them.

Here’s a couple of sneak peeks. Each end is shown up the right way – just try to image it as one long scarf (like I said, strange to get one’s head around).

There’ll be four designs altogether (as long as the print turns out ok, eep!) and I am taking pre-orders if anyone is desperately interested – they’ll be available March-April. Just drop me a line at hello@thegentlyunfurlingsneak.com and I’ll give you a wonderful pre-order-delightful-person discount.

Northcote Kris Kringle Night Markets
Every Thursday between 24 November and 15 December, 5.30-10pm
Northcote Town Hall (Surely you know where that is. What kind of hipster are you?)

Maribyrnong Makers Market
Saturday 26 November, 9.30am-3.30pm
Gamon St, Seddon (closest station: Seddon)

Markit@FedSquare
Sunday 27 November, 10am-5pm
Federation Square

Craft Hatch
Saturday 10 December, 11am-4pm
1000 £ Bend (they have beer and halloumi sandwiches), 361 Little Lonsdale St

Sisters’ Market
Friday 16 December, 5-9pm AND Saturday 17 November, 10am-4pm
Brunswick Town Hall (cnr Sydney Rd and that other one, near the Retreat, you know…)

Bend and Snap Twilight Market
Sunday 18 December, 3-8pm
1000 £ Bend (see above comment re. beer, halloumi), 361 Little Lonsdale St

Maribyrnong Makers Market (yes, again)
Thursday 22 December, 4.30-8.30pm
Gamon St, Seddon (closest station: still Seddon)

And then after that it’s Christmas, whereupon I will eat and sleep and not have to cart a fold-up table anywhere. A bit of peaceful cricket-watching instead.

If you come to one or three or ANY of these markets, please do say hello! It’s always lovely to meet readers and to give them discounts… ahem.

The first cabs off the rank, November-wise, are:

Finders Keepers Brisbane
Saturday 5 November AND Sunday 6 November
Old Museum

I LOVE going to Brisbane for this market. It’s in the most beautiful building (all Victorian-looking, wonderful balcony, with grass underneath for the food stalls and bands) and I must admit, the weather is always much better than in Melbs. And it’s one of those markets where you sell lots but then fill your suitcase up again with purchases. (I regret nothing!)

Maribyrnong Makers Market
Saturday 26 November
Gamon St, Seddon

I’ve never had a stall at MMM before but I visited the September market and it is cute as a button and full of yum things, nice-smelling things, and awesome-lookin’ things. And it’s around the corner from my house. So very convenient for the inevitable ‘oh crap, I’ve forgotten XX’ when setting up.

Markit@FedSquare
Sunday 27 November 2011
Fed Square (yes, not a trick name)

One of my favourite markets, it focuses on illustrative and decorative kind of products (ones that have been MARKED, geddit?) It’s always an amazing line-up and definitely somewhere to get all of the Christmas shopping done in one swoop.

So I will see you all there, hmm? Usual 10% discount for blog readers (you have to tell me though, I can’t tell from your face) which gets bumped up to 20% if you bring me food/coffee/beer. That’s a good deal!

The girls all printed out, awaiting the knifey knifey

Partially cut out. I think this is when I stopped for a biscuit break.

Fully cut and ready to face the day.

Meeting their background stripes.

Adjusting placement for maximum good spotlighted-ness

Edition no. 1 - the most valuable, don't you know

All done and hanging out with my microscope boxes and Hideyo paper flowers.

The Flower Gossipers will be available in the shop real soon (ie as soon as I can take some decent photos, ie not on my phone). But if you CAN’T WAIT until then or you really really want the no. 1 edition, email me and you can have it for the wonderfully excellent price of $110. Free postage for the first one just cos I like you so much.

So here’s a peek at the first print, which has been dubbed the Moon print:

And here it is in dress form, printed onto chiffon (which feels ever so lovely and smooth). The back of the dress is slightly different so that you don’t feel like you’re mirroring your front self all day. Obviously the chiffon is sheer so a little slip or short singlet dress is a good idea – we’ve all got one of those right? I think I’ve got about six.

I’m absurdly pleased with the results, and the good news is there’s two new prints being made too! Here’s a little tiny sneak peek.

AND to my total delight, I notice that the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art is currently showing Surrealism: the Poetry of Dreams. And I do happen to have a little spare time on Friday afternoon before I have to lug all my stuff to the market. Yessss. Max Ernst, Rene Magritte, Giorgio De Chirico, Man Ray, oh my.

If you happen to reside in or around Brisbane I would highly recommend heading along, even if you’re not a Surrealism geek like me. And then pop in to the market and say hullo!

So there will be some new products, some changes to the website (thinking about revamping the shop slightly) and a brand new sparkly newsletter that will be sent out at actual regular intervals (gasp!) Sign up at the little woman in the top left corner. I look forward to appearing in your inbox more often, and seeing you at more markets/open studios/exhibitions.

The items in the window are also for sale in the shop and the online shop (options!) And right next door is a display by glass dude extraordinaire Philip Stokes, which I’m pretty happy to be near. Highly recommended if you’re in the upper area of Flinders Lane (it’s next to Cumulus Inc, yum).

My goodies plus Philip’s will be gracing the window until Saturday 2 July AND very soon Craft Victoria’s blog will have a feature of my studio space, after a visit from pocket rocket Kim last week for a photoshoot. Check back for the link once it’s live.

I’ll be debuting a new range of greeting cards at Markit – again with the excitement – and would love to see you all come down and say hello. You can also admire the new banner that I made with the help of my dad (10% off for people admiring the supreme craftsmanship of the banner poles). It’s in the Atrium at Federation Square, that’s the place where there’s usually people selling books or doing interpretive dance or talking about poetry. Sunday 29 May, 10am – 5pm. See you there!

Lord Coconut will have all four of the framed portrait series, but is mainly specialising in awesome jewellery for men. (And from the spying I’ve been able to do so far, excellent ye olde photographic wallpaper and beautiful wooden jewellery cases.)

I especially enjoy the logo – very exciting for vintage illustration nerds like myself. Stand by for much gift-buying, male friends and relatives.  Lord Coconut is now open on the interwebs, and soon to be open in reality at the following address:
Suite 3, Level 4, 289 Flinders Lane (yep that’s Carlow House), Melbourne