Rattle and Bark : Tees for the Uncommon Hound

A birthday cake

2009-03-30T04:33:00.000-07:00

This is sort of an unrelated post, but I made my friend a mardi gras birthday cake this weekend and wanted to post some pics of it. I made the feathers and the mask out of gumpaste and the beads are sugar beads that I got at NY Cake Supply in Manhattan. It was really fun to figure out how to make the mask - I went to a costume store around Union Square - this place always has a line around the block come October but I thought it would be pretty dead at the end of March. There were actually quite a few people in there - a harried mother who desperately cluthed at a clerk's sleve and said, "I need Abe Lincoln, for a little kid." Then I heard another clerk yell at some kids, "Don't play with the whips!" I feel like that place would be a really intersting place to work at, or a great setting for a novel...

Anyway, here are the pics:

Molding the gum paste around the mask I picked up.

The feathers I made out of gum paste - dyed red with gel food coloring and then made feathery with my exacto knife.

The finished cake....

My first screen

2009-03-15T16:56:00.000-07:00

I've got my first screen! Ok, so it's not for my dog tees, this is actually for printing my street hockey team tees, my team is called Filthy Goregous, but it's a good place to start. I'll learn how to print on this - from all the Youtube videos I've been seeing and the advice I've been getting lately it shouldn't be too hard. Then I'll move on to printing some of my own designs. I can't wait, I love the idea of being involved in every aspect of the process.

The other reason I got the screens is that my ex-boyfriend used to print them for the team, and it just feels like it's time to stop asking him to do that. I met up with my ex last week to pick up these screens from him. It was strange, I haven't seen him since we broke up. We stood outside the pizza place that he had picked for us to meet up at and caught up for about an hour then went our seperate ways. It's so strange to have these people that used to be such a big part of your life and now they are basically strangers. There's no part of me that is sad about that relationship being over, I'm so much happier with the guy I'm with now. It's just strange to see the road not taken sometimes.

Anyway, onward and upward - I'm off to get some ink for this screen tomorrow after work and then print some hockey tees. I'm also going to get another blank screen so I can try some stencil printing.

Back from CO!

2009-03-13T08:55:00.000-07:00

Here's a picture from the ski lift. I keep saying I want a new camera, but I actually think this one did pretty good on this trip!

I've been having a little post trip funk, I haven't really been able to do anything creative since I've been back, but I'm feeling so much better today. I'm going to D.C. for the weekend with my guy which will be great and I'm ready to start a fresh week next week!

I've also started reading a new book with a super cheesy title, "No Plot, No Problem! A low-stress high-velocity guide to writing a novel in 30 days." I don't really believe in such do something fantastic in a short amount of time gimmicky kinds of books, but there's something in this guy's theory - basically that you can't get anything done without setting major deadlines for yourself. I think that's an interesting point for writing, business, any creative pursuit really because anytime you are making something out of nothing there's way too many personal blocks that can set you back.

Gone Snowboarding!

2009-02-28T14:18:00.000-08:00

I've just finished a huge load of laundry, packed (ok, mostly packed...) my suitcase and I'm off to Vail for a family ski trip. Well, snowboarding in my case... I'm excited to be with the fam for a whole week and to be out in the beautiful mountains. It's an annual tradition for us - skiing, snowboarding, great wine, great food and lots of catching up. I'm also excited to come back. I have lots of plans for Rattle and Bark and I've found lots of inspiration lately - see the long list of blogs I've been adding to my "following" list.

I can't wait to get back and get started on more plans... Stay tuned!

Another designer I love

2009-02-26T14:41:00.000-08:00

I love these guys, Charlie and Sarah -I love what they are doing with their business, and I love their story. They made a onesie for their baby to teach him "proper British" and the onesies totally caught on. I love the idea of a couple that made something because they thought it was funny and then other people see it and it just starts catching on like wildfire.

Check out their adorable tee below

This is also my dream for Rattle and Bark. Also, check out their Etsy shop.

Whenever I see stuff like this I get even more inspired and motivated. I also love that they live in Brooklyn. Brooklyn is such a cool exciting place to be right now, even with the recession going on. In a way this is an interesting time, it really makes you figure out what you care about and what you want and need.

Sweet Fine Day

2009-02-25T10:51:00.000-08:00

I just found this amazing blog Sweet Fine Day while looking through my Etsy emails. This is sort of what I aspire for my blog to be - inspiring, beautiful photography, and interesting. I love that the various interests of this couple - Sweets, Craft, Food, Design as their blog says are documented in such wonderful detail.

They live in Brooklyn as well, I am going to comment on their blog and hopefully they will be my friend one day. You know, in a blogger/business person kind of way, not a weird stalker way...

Their brownies look pretty amazing too, I might have to order some things from their site!

Press!

2009-02-24T08:04:00.000-08:00

I'm so excited - some great dog blogs that I sent samples/pics and info too posted about my shirts!! My first press! This is totally exciting.

Check them out, at Gotham Unleashed and Snif NYC Dog Blog

I'm so excited, getting my work out there has been one thing I've been anxious about - I think part of my background as a writer comes into play here as well - you spend so much time working on something then the thought of really putting it out there is scary. But these blogs were so cool and nice about featuring my stuff, it was really rewarding.

Chewed A

2009-02-18T09:49:00.000-08:00

Here's another dog tee, it's another combo of embroidery and printing. I think it's time to start sending samples out to the dog blogs... I really need to get them out there, it's time to stop hiding in my studio and start putting them out there in the world.

New Dog tees

2009-02-14T06:25:00.000-08:00

I've been working on some new dog tees, I'm thinking about an I heart meat series, so this I heart bacon one is sort of a successor to the I heart meat one...

I'm also working on dog tees that are a combo of embroidery and printing. I like how they look together. Sort of retro with the embroidery, sort of modern with the lettering...

I Love Meat - the onesie.

2009-02-02T20:10:00.001-08:00

Here it is - the I love meat onesie. I originally just made this print because I think it's funny, also, as you may remember as a card. My friend Monica saw it and wanted me to make it into a baby's onesie for her friend's baby shower - here it is! I have to say, I'm pretty happy with it.

Goals, genetics and why it's easier to sleep in.

2009-01-30T08:18:00.000-08:00

I've been reading this book lately, in an effort to better understand nutrition and how our bodies deal with food. What I find fascinating about this book in particular - I'm not much one for diet books - is that it talks about our evolutionary instincts and why certain things are appealing to us and what goes on in our subconscious. I know, I know, what does this have to do with running a business and printing dog shirts??

There was one really interesting point that struck me when I was reading this book - it had to do with diet and why it's so hard to forgo a cookie in favor of the idea of yourself as a slimmer you. To phrase it another way - why is it so hard to chose future reward over instant gratification. The answer offered here is that we are genetically inclined to pick the present over the future because in our past as humans there was no future, or the future was uncertain. It was a survival skill to stay focused on the present. This helps explain why it's so easy to sleep in rather than get up and go to the gym, sleeping in feels better NOW. But it also seems to apply to our plans for ourselves in the future and helps to explain why it's so hard to work on something - a novel, a business, whose rewards are so far in the future, or uncertain in the first place.

So now I have a new goal - fight my genetic subconscious. I think one of the ways to do this is to try to bring my future goals into the present - be as visual as possible. I'm going to put up a bulletin board and try to post things in my workspace that remind me of my goals, and what it will look like when I achieve them - drawings, swipe, anything that inspires me. I'll post a pic of the bulletin board when i get it together. I also realized that this blog helps, it's an instant reminder of what I'm working to achieve and it turns the process into one of the goals. Take that, genetics.

Freezer paper, and Law & Order sucks.

2009-01-25T17:53:00.000-08:00

Ok, there's one good thing about Queens. Or maybe two or three... Anyway, one of the good things is that their bodegas have freezer paper. Freezer paper, as I'm discovering, is crack for crafty people. It's soooo good. Please witness my first attempts with it - I need to work on my carving skills with the stencils, but otherwise, I'm pretty happy with the results. Here are some pics of the final product, along with the stencil after I painted over it with screenprinting ink. Excuse the faded magazine behind the lettering - I put it behind the fabric so the ink wouldn't bleed through the Hanes t-shirt I bought to practice on.

You basically carve your stencil out, iron it on to your fabric, apply the ink, wait for it to dry and remove the stencil.

Also, one non printing related compalint. Law & Order kind of sucks. The bad guys always end up trusting the cop one too many times and then they get tricked into confessing. It's really annoying.

Oil based paint vs. water based paint

2009-01-22T04:19:00.001-08:00

I experimented with oil based block printing ink last night, in an effort to get something to stick to fabric - I've found that I'm having trouble with water based inks sliding off the brayer and off the linoleum block *although I think I'm going to try using a foam brayer instead of the hard rubber one to get more of the ink to stick to the block next time...

Anyway the oil paint was a mess - it made great prints but it's a bitch to clean up, it smells bad and it's a bitch to clean up. I know I already said that, but it bear repeating. You have to use turpenoid - a turpentine substitute to clean this stuff. Also, the prints are not dry yet.

So my goal is to make the water based ink work on the dog tees. Hopefully the foam brayer will help.

Any help on this issue would be great - please let me know what's worked for you...

I heart meat.

2009-01-19T04:33:00.000-08:00

It's freezing in New York - but it hasn't kept me inside - I spent Saturday morning playing street hockey in the 18 degree East River breezy air and had an amazing time. The outdoor rink had a dusting of snow on the ground and a thin layer of ice under that, but somehow we made it work.

After hockey I came home and started printing - here's what I made this weekend. I sort of love the "I heart meat" print. I think this would be great for one of the dog tees, or, as shown here, as a greeting card I think it's pretty funny too. Maybe a journal cover? My boyfriend keeps reminding me to stay focused on the dog tees, which is true. But then I print something like this and I think it's hilarious and I can't wait to print it all over everything I can find. I also included pics of the linoleum blocks that I've been using to print because I think they look so cool in themselves.

Prints!

2009-01-11T09:08:00.000-08:00

Back from vacation and lots of fun new plans. First of which is me teaching myself how to print by hand. Here are my first attempts at linoleum block printing. I've been using Lotta Jansdotter's book, "Lotta Prints," to try various techniques.

Carving the block wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be, but for some reason the actual printing was tough. The prints were coming out uneven and a bit blurry. And then I read one of Lotta's tips in the book - when you place the block down on the paper, taking care not to move it, use a rolling pin to lightly roll over the linoleum block. This trick works perfectly, applying even pressure to the block. Here are some of the results below. The first images are practice rounds, the ones below are the prints using the rolling pin that I'm really happy with. I also sort of like the tie in with my other love - baking.

I gotta say, the printing I've done so far, with the linoleum blocks, is fun. It's really damn fun...

Christmas shopping and art store meccas

2008-12-22T11:40:00.000-08:00

This was a great weekend - thanks in part to this store. Lee's Shop in Manhattan - this place is amazing. I went there on Saturday for some craft supplies - I have a new idea for a line of dog tees that will be handmade in addition to my screenprinted tees. I love the screenprinted ones, but I've been craving really getting my hands dirty and making something as opposed to just designing it. Anyway, if you're feeling this way, and you're in New York or anywhere near it this is the place to go. The first floor alone contains papers, rubber stamps, pens of every kind, scrapbooks, wrapping paper, yarn, stencils, oh my! I was so excited about this place that as I was checking out the cashier asked me, "Did you find everything OK?" and I actually leaned forward and whispered, "This place is freaking awesome." She laughed and responded, "I know!" I was so excited to bring my bag of goodies back home to play with.

Rest of the day was spent Christmas shopping with my ladies in Brooklyn. We went to some fantastic boutiques, the best had to be Pink and Olive . This place makes me want to be a little kid again. They had the cutest tutus, dog-shaped soaps (I know, dog shaped soaps - GENIUS) and other adorablenesses for little kids. After some exhausting shopping we went out for lunch and beer. I'm happy to say I've got all my shopping done this weekend, thank god, and also managed to start making templates for my future dog tees, soon to be premiered on this blog.

After such an exhaustive day of I snuggled in with my guy on Saturday night to trim the Christmas tree, * which I just learned means that you decorate it - NOT take to said plastic tree with scissors, who knew?? watched some hockey, and worked on some new designs. It was a pretty perfect day.

Business cards and cloth labels!

2008-12-17T18:37:00.000-08:00

Here they are!!! The first photo is the front of my business card and my iron on cloth labels for the tees. The second pic is the back of my biz card - get it? It's a rorschach card!

OK folks, that's it for now...

Cloth Labels are here, and cows have huge tongues.

2008-12-17T11:05:00.000-08:00

Yay! The cloth labels are here!! It's all I can do not to start ironing them to everything I see - including my coworkers at my day job. I'm sooo excited! I can't wait to go home and start ironing. Wow, I kind of sound like a 1940s housewife, huh? Sometimes I wish I was a stay at home mom, just without the kid. The weather in New York has been really crappy lately - rain, snow, cold. All I want to do is curl up on my couch with my Rattle and Bark projects and make things and self promote till the cows come home. I have to learn how to do that - self promote that is, not make cows come home.

By the way, speaking of cows, I saw the craziest thing at my Park Slope totally normal grocery store - a cow's tongue!!! It was wrapped in plastic, just there on the refrigerated cow shelf with all the other cow/pig/delicious products and it was ENORMOUS. I had no idea a cow's tongue was this big. All I have to say is - avoid having a cow lick you - that thing is so large that you would probably be knocked down. We're talking ridiculous large. I can't believe they don't tip over whenever they stick their tongues out...

Anyway - this weekend is full of fun things to do - start working on some new ideas I have for Rattle and Bark that are going to take the dog t-shirt world by storm, and I'm going to post some pictures or scans of my business cards and labels. I also have to do Xmas shopping AND I'm going to a hockey scrimmage on Saturday morning. That's not for Rattle and Bark, that's just to run around like a puppy for a few hours in order to keep my sanity.

Back from the tournament with a new package to stalk!

2008-12-16T07:37:00.001-08:00

I'm back from the hockey tournament! Luckily I have all my limbs and joints in tact and am in good shape to get back to the business of Rattle and Bark! The only really physical incident that happened at the tournament was when my friend Liza got slammed into the boards head first. It was ridiculous. Thank god she was wearing a helmet - it literally looked like something out of a cartoon, where Whiley Coyote paints a black tunnel onto a cement wall and the roadrunner runs right into it thinking it's a tunnel... but thankful all is well and she is not hurt.

Good news - I have a whole new package to stalk! I ordered Rattle and Bark cloth labels to sew into my pieces, to give myself one more layer of fabulous professionalism. It's already working - I am totally taking myself more seriously. My package is currently in Memphis TN. Is it weird that I'm sort of jealous of my packages for all the traveling they get to do?

Also, my fabulous PR friend Stephanie finished my press release, I just need to make a few personal adjustments and then I'll be posting the release here and sending it out to blogs to review my tees and stores to see if they want to stock my tees. Which, of course they all will.

A little less conversation, a little more action...

2008-12-12T13:57:00.000-08:00

I'm taking off in a few hours to go play in a hockey tournament. I have so much going on with the start up of Rattle and Bark that I hate to leave, but I do love me some hockey. There is part of me that's really nervous though - this is not like my normal street hockey league here in NYC, which while intense also features players of my own size and ability. The girls who play in the tournaments are the sizes of houses and have been playing ball hockey since they were in the womb. Maybe even before then... The tournaments also have full contact so I'll be getting slammed around on a regular basis by these house-size girls. At one previous tournament one of them actually picked me up - and then slammed me into the ground. I remember knocking on her helmet, from above, telling her to put my down before I hit the ground. But they are ridiculously fun. My team, the Bruisers, feels like the Harlem Globetrotters - we're running around, getting into hijinx and having a great time. It's a real bonding experience you always come back a better player than you went into it.

Hopefully I'll still have the use of my paws after the tourney is over - don't worry, I wear a helmet and hockey gloves. I can't wait to get back and start sending out my press release, samples and business cards! Look out dog apparel world - here I come!

Business cards are here!

2008-12-11T14:11:00.000-08:00

One of the final elements of Rattle and Bark is about to fall into place - my business cards are arriving! I've been stalking them like they're Britney climbing out of a limo. I cannot wait! I love that Fed ex tracking web site. It sort of makes me wish that it had a Twitter feature so that I could have up to the minute updates about how my business cards were doing, although it would probably read something like: "We're on the truck. Still. Seriously, we're in a box, what else do you want to know?"

I'm heading home in about an hour, I can't wait to see that package at my door!

Another element of the Rattle and Bark ascension to fame and glory - a friend of mine from sleepover camp (can you believe it, from like ten years ago), Stephanie Wolf is a PR maven and is helping me work out a press release! She's generously donating her skill and talent to help me make the launch really special. Copy editing, press, PR, this girl does it all. She ventured out to start her own business a while ago and is doing great, she's a total inspiration for someone like me, who is just starting out on their own.

This has been a really crazy week - just got back from a fantastic vacation in Montreal and the time off did me good - I came home with tons of new ideas for Rattle and Bark and I can't wait to put them into effect... stay tuned for the latest - I'm going to be doing a photo shoot with Scout, one of my favorite dog models in the next two weeks. He'll be showing off a new product, I'll publish the pictures - along with all the hilarious outtakes here on my blog.

Welcome to Rattle and Bark!

2008-12-06T14:28:00.000-08:00

This is my first post as owner of Rattle and Bark! I'm so excited that this blog and this business are finally getting off the ground. This blog is going to chronicle my experience getting this business off the ground - the ups, the downs, the failures and successes.

Here's a little bit about where this business came from:
I used to work with an amazing woman who had a dog named Meg. (If it sounds like a fairy tale, that's cause it kind of was). Meg had a problem with barking, with staring into space, and with freaking out with joy every time her owner came home. So my boss had a dog psychic come to see Meg - this dog psychic sat down with Meg, pet her a lot and told us that Meg saw spirits - that's what was making her so nuts.

Then came the best part: the psychic laughed - as though Meg had said something funny. And then it hit me - everyone thinks their dog is funny. So if your dog has such a great sense of humor, why are they wearing a lame dog t-shirt that says "Princess" in rhinestones? That's where the first inkling of Rattle and Bark came from. These would be funny tees for funny people's dogs. The idea grew from there.

Of course, I also have to credit my first dog, Sushi. She was my best friend. Especially during some really rough times. That's her in the picture up there - she was just a little ball of fluff. She constantly looked like she'd just tumbled out of a clothes dryer. Sushi was a golden retriever - she would have been too big for my dog tees, but I like to think that she would have gotten a kick out of them.

Check in - I'll be posting new designs and new ideas as I work on them. I'm also going to be writing about my progress looking for pet stores in my neighborhood - Park Slope, Brooklyn - to start carrying the tees.