News

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.

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

It’s that time of year again. You know.. the time of year when you need to shovel the driveway every hour, and you can walk out your second-story windows onto the snowbanks (I don’t mean the kind that Frosty keeps his monies in either.) It’s also a time for family and friends to get together and celebrate.

Wishing everyone a very safe, and happy holiday season.

Cheers,
Pickledog

Octoberfest is on ’til the break of dawn, but on these warm autumn days the local squirrels are busy gathering nuts, and seeds for Squirrelfest. What is Squirrelfest? My friends, Squirrelfest is wunderbar.

In other non-squirrel related news.. as a new feature, Twitter updates have been added to Go Pickledog Go. If you have a Twitter account you can follow Pickledog’s Tweets, and receive instant updates on important news like, I’m raking leaves, or I have a tummy ache from eating too much ice-cream.

I make a horrible jedi, and Pickledog turns me to the darkside in seconds.

Welcome to the new blogy home of Pickledog, GoPickledoGo.com/blog!

The site is still in need of some fine tuning, but as you can see we’ve moved in all of our junk, and the new address is starting to feel like home. The classic version of Pickledog is still available, but all brand-new Pickledog-bloggin’ will happen exclusively here at GoPickledogGo.com/blog.

If you have links, or bookmarks to Pickledog you can upadate them to the new address: http://www.gopickledoggo.com/blog.

Hope everyone is having a super-summer!

Cheers,
Pickledog