Better late than never! Introducing Mlkwood Studio, Bridlington!

Its been some time, but I thought I would get my blog going again! After selling The Priory Menswear in 2017 to Internet Fusion, it sadly closed its Bridlington stores the summer of 2018. It was a sad time, but me and Leo thought we would go back to our creative roots. 

 We got the keys to number 12B High Street, Old Town the 1st October 2018! And along came Mlkwood!

The name is from the poem of Dylan Thomas.. "Undermilkwood" we have just slightly changed the spelling.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJtzOD3KbLM&t=188s

Mlkwood is part gallery, part creative studio. Leo with his background in graphic design, uses it for his office and create hub. Whilst I use my creative taste filling the place with original art and handmade goods.

We are both pleased that from coming from a creative background, a lot of the pieces to purchase are friends of ours, local and from slightly further a field. 

We have been open a year now! Its crazy! The place is completely different from when we opened, it definitely shows more of our personality. Going into Christmas, we are very excited and can't thank everyone enough for there support.

Anyhow, that's my first blog post done for a while. I hope to keep this a regular thing again, and share ideas and news from myself and the gallery!

I still have my print studio at home and desperate to get back in it, it just needs a Spring clean,

You can check Mlkwood out here:

https://www.instagram.com/mlkwood.studio

https://www.facebook.com/mlkwoodstudio

The website is still in progress.

:)

Hello Blog! I'm back! Where has this year been!

Hello my lovely blog! I am back! After the Christmas fairs last year, I decided to take a break in January. But not for long... I was delighted to be approached to produce the tote bags for the ESPU Congress in Harrogate 2016!

It was slight a challenge and in the end the grand total of bags was 569 totes.

Each bag had two logo's and a total of 7 colours. This was a lot of time and attention to detail, the most important screen was the text detail and ensuring the design all lined up correctly. 

I was so glad to be asked and have received some great feedback!

A little Giveaway!

GIVEAWAY! 

Win all these goodies from myself and Tiger Lillies! Simply head over to our Facebook pages and like both pages! 

www.facebook.com/laurenchericedesign

www.facebook.com/tigerlilliesbridlington 

Like the photo on our pages and simply share! 

Winner announced Bank holiday Monday at 9pm! 

Back at CCAD!

I was delighted to be back at CCAD last week as the artist in residence! It just feels like home! I got straight stuck in and set up my work bay with lots of inspiration to kick start a new project! 

The time there seemed to go so quickly! It must of been all the fun I was having! Whist there I did a talk to each of the year groups of the textiles and surface design course. Discussing business and life after CCAD. I hope it was inspiring and made things not look as scary after Uni life. 

I also got the chance to make handmade paper. I haven't done this in years so it was great to recap on this. 

Here is what you do:

Using newsprint tare it up into tiny pieces. If you want a big piece of paper! You need a big pile!

Then, pop the paper in the blender add 300ml of water. Keep adding a little more if necessary. Blend and keep shaking the paper so the blade doesn't get stuck.

When it's like a pulp. Using the wired mesh place the pulp ontop and spread out. Using another piece of wire mesh apply pressure and place ontop.

Squeeze all the excess water out. Keep applying pressure. The squeeze again in between a backing cloth. Then leave to bake in the baking cabinate for two hours. Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of the finished result! But it was very exciting!

My time went so fast at CCAD. I'm hoping to start a new project and hopefully be back soon at print club asap! 

Living North 2014!

November began and so did my fairs! They seemed to arrive and go as quickly as Christmas has. I also seem to have been neglecting my blog so I am trying to get a few posts in for you to read before the new year. :)

I loved the run up to my fairs. It was a little chilly in the studio but I was fine printing away with my heater and radio on full. Although with this sudden change I can barely step out side in the garden Bbbrrrrr. 

Incase you missed it at all. This was my stand. Slightly different from the year before but in the same location. For those of you who did pop by it was so nice to see some returning people. It was also lovely to catch up with stall holders from the previous years. 

I tried to print as many of your favourites as possible but I did find each day you seemed to have a different favourite design. I think mine has to be Dylan or Mr Duck. They both put a smile on my face each day. 

This year I had some new additions to the collection. I have produced some notebooks and also some hand drawn Christmas decorations. 

Here is a close up of my decorations. What do you think? 

The weekend was very busy. Again I loved every minute of the experience, I hope to be in the same place and spot next year. Fingers crossed :)

My Dream:My Studio...

I have one dream.... to have my own successful print studio. I love screen printing, (incase you haven't noticed) and would love nothing more.

I am now excited to say this dream is a possibility now I have an available space. I have been very lucky to have got my hands on this space in Bridlington.....

It needs a lot of work but I have been very lucky in one area... The warehouse (to be studio) was originally used for making parachutes. Therefore I was very excited to see it had an extremely large table. The table stretched the entire length of the room, and is in a fantastic condition.

Above, shows the table before. I chose to break down the table into a three tables which could be made into print tables. If you follow my facebook page you will have seen me transfer two of them into print tables. 

Above: The Tables before..

Below: Is the tables after they have been covered.

I now have three tables, two of which are covered already. One measures 1.5m and the other 3m. The largest table which is yet to be covered measures just over 9m. I am very excited to print on them in the future. My next step in order to get printing is to have a wash booth so I can wash my screens and to build a bigger exposure unit. 

I am also excited about another new addition to the studio.... a loom. I certainly aren't a weaver but my close friend Jade is. When she found a loom for sale locally I couldn't let her not buy it. So I thought where else would be a perfect space... and here it is! I'm sooo excited to see her use it. I've seen her work from university and it is amazing! We can teach each other! :)

Screen Printing Love

Hello, I thought incase any of my followers aren't on facebook I would share with you some images of my recent prints. I am trying to make use of imagery that is ready to go so I enlarged my little squirrel and he is now ready to get printing. Here is my first prototype of him on a Tote Bag.

I am also back to printing cushions, this time I have been printing on a gorgeous sage green for summer. They have been printed in a lovely light brown. I'm sure my squirrel is dying to get printed onto one too :)

If you read my previous post you would of read I bought some wooden letters for my branding- here they are! I haven't quite decided what to do with them yet, whether to just varnish them or paint them white. I'm not sure. Either way I do think they look nice on my green rug :)

Hope you like my new creations!

Love Lauren x

More Printing :)

When I have had some spare time on an evening I have been able to get some more samples done in the print rooms. I have had some more experiments with the dyes and manutex pulls, it is really interesting to see how the dyes disperse. Above is a sample of cotton sateen with procion dyes- olive green, lemon yellow, magenta and charcoal.

A sample using the same method but on dyed fabric.

The selection of samples I produced. 

Cushions at the Folio!

What a GORGEOUS window! This is the Folio again at CCAD in Hartlepool! I am so excited to see my birds in there again! This time on my cream cushions! Have a peek!

A Little Logo..

This is a little simple logo I created for my professional practice. Using my Koda trace I took a photo/scanned in the image of my mirror. By using the koda trace and placing it on white paper it was already in a black and white format. I then just added the text. I really like this idea and used it in my professional practice work to experimenting with layouts.

Today has been a strange day for me it went so fast! I now have 4 completed lengths, some are better than other and begin my next two tomorrow. I still need to get all the screens sorted in the morning but have my fabric dyed. I shall post some more when they're on the go! Bye for now :)