Articles by pickledog

This summer I have made a point of  expanding my digital texture collection. Almost anything can become an interesting texture, but I personally love super distressed textures, and (always fun) wood grains the most. The lovely samples here are some of the ones I took at a park while on vacation with my family. It was super hot that day so all of the sensible people were indoors or by the beach, which meant I could snap closeup pics of concrete, and cracked paint without looking to odd in public (for once). It’s always a good idea to have your camera handy because you never know where you will find a bunch of inspiring textures. Just be prepared for some dirty looks if you fill up the family camera’s memory card with photos of bricks and tree bark.

Unfamiliar with the controls of his new Jupiter Racer-3, Zep reversed straight through an asteroid! Zep’s speedy craft continued to zig-zag backwards through space with the forward lights trailing behind like a shooting star. It was too early for Zep to know if this crazy cosmic ride would end safely, all he knew for certain was that he needed a new pair of space pantaloons.

My Ten Lords a Leaping for the Doodle Diner’s Twelve Days of Christmas Funtacular!

Wishing everyone a safe and happy holiday season, and a bright shiny New Year!

Get the new S2 Bandits. The Super Sneaky-Sneaker Sneakers!

YEEE-HAW! Getting muddy is half the fun, and these two swamp critters know how to have serious fun.

Even Mummy-Daddies need to unwind.

Pickledog Jr. is keeping me pretty wrapped up, so I almost didn’t get to post my Illustration Friday entry this week. Thankfully, the little man drifted off to dreamland, because somebody has to be getting some sleep around here.

I am very pleased to finally announce the brand-newest member of the Pickledog family, our son Casey.

While I’ve been enjoying the newest of being a dad, and becoming at pro at diaper changing, Pickledog has had some much deserved vacation time. I have to say I love being a dad, everyday is a different adventure with our little guy, and it seems like the summer has just flown by.

It hasn’t been all baby bottles, and diapers. Pickledog has some fun things to share, so to wrap up August we’ll be looking at some books, and blogs that have caught our attention over the summer months.

Pictured Above: my artistic rendition of Casey’s arrival. Yes, babies do come from outer space wearing colourful robotic suits. Mini Cards printed by MOO.

Yards of colourful robot fabric have arrived, but was it everything that I hoped for? Yes it was.

My fabric arrived in my mailbox about three weeks from the time I placed the order, which is bang-on to the timeframe given by Spoonflower for International orders. Three weeks was a long wait, but Spoonflower is very open about how long orders will take on their web site, and it sounds like they are working towards reducing delivery times.

When I opened the postal envelope I found my fabric was neatly folded, wrapped in tissue paper, and sealed with a cute little Spoonflower sticker. I love little details like that, they really do make a difference. Wasting no time I ripped into the wrap, to retrieve my custom robot cotton. As I had mentioned in my previous post, at that time I wasn’t sure if the colours would shift with Spoonflower’s printing process, but I can say that I am happy with the results. The colours are bright, and clean, but if a colour match is critical for your project I recommend ordering a sample colour swatch from their web site before ordering your fabric.

Spoonflower is worth trying out for yourself if you have ever wanted to create your own custom fabric. The print quality is super, and it looks like they are working to expand the fabric selections available, having just recently added the option of organic cotton. Their web site is nicely designed, and I didn’t have any problems uploading my artwork, or placing my order. In the end, three yards of material came to about $88 Canadian with delivery, and for this project it was worth every penny.

Normally if your car is turned sideways and you are still moving forward that would mean something is going horribly wrong, but not if you are drifting. Drifting is a driving technique and a motor sport where a car slides at an angle, with its side moving in the direction of the turn. I know it looks like fun, but don’t go trying this with the family sedan.

If you are following Pickledog on Twitter, you may remember a Tweet about my Top Secret Robot Project. If you’re not following PD on Twitter (shame on you) see what you’re missing? I came across a company online named Spoonflower. Spoonflower is a manufacturer of custom printed fabric, and the best part is – you provide the artwork. Yes, that’s right you design it, they print it by the yard!

The web site
The Spoonflower web site is still Beta, I imagine new features will make their way to the site over time, but it is pretty sweet as is right now. Signing up to the web site is simple, except if you are one of the unlucky people (like me) whose email blocks the Spoonflower conformation email. Fortunately Spoonflower is already equipped with helpful tech support for just such an occasion, and they had me up and running fairly soon.

If you’ve never set up a repeating print before, there is a bit of a learning curve to creating the artwork, and setting up the correct color profiles. Spoonflower’s web site is loaded with helpful “how to” information for all of that as well. For safety, I recommend at least reading through Spoonflower’s file requirements before getting too far into creating your print.

Pricing, and Placing Orders
Prices range from “$18-$32 US per yard” to have your work printed on “quilting-weight, and upholster-weight cottons” according to the Spoonflower web site. If colour matching is super important you can also order custom colour swatches for $5 each. I found that uploading my artwork to their site was easy (read the instructions though.) Filling out the online shipping, and payment forms was also a simple process, and once completed a receipt was emailed to me right away confirming the order.

Now for the Robots
That super secret robot project I mentioned earlier is a fun robot print design!

For the pattern I went with a 9×9″ simple repeat. Drawing each robot first, then assembling the layout. Because of a time constraint I chose not to order a colour swatch ahead of time, but I feel confident that the final fabric will closely match my artwork. Once the fabric arrives I will post a follow up with the results, and reveal exactly what this project is for.

Pickledog’s profile on Spoonflower