Some background and progress on Handmade Fairytales

Whenever I'm asked what Handmade Family makes I say stories...Actually, that's a lie. I just now thought of it, but it sounded so good, that I honestly want it to be true. Maybe I will start saying that for real. The real truth, is that we make back-to-basics gifts, toys, accessories and decor that promote education, problem solving and imagination. We're more than the products we make though, and we know that our customers are more than what they buy...we make things to be a part our families' lives. Stories are an important part of that, and we love telling them. When Abby was born, I knew that I wanted to collect these little experiences and illustrate them, so I started a little web comic called Daily Life. One panel cartoons with some accompanying text. I did several of them over the course of a year or two, and then decided to make a calendar collecting twelve stories about my first year as a stay-at-home dad my two little girls.

Looking for an idea for the second calendar was tough. I wanted to still tell stories about my family, but was looking for a way to stretch my abilities a little and offer something that people who didn't know me, and who didn't have that back story could relate to. Part of what inspired me as a kid, and made me want to follow a career in art was a love of movies and games. I remember being a member of the Rebel Alliance, or a Ghostbuster on the playground. Movies have become a part of our cultural dialog and there's such a rich source of material to play with there. One of the really fun aspects of that project was researching accurate costumes for the kids, while thinking of ways to make costumes for the adults that made sense but were obviously hand made.

I've enjoyed working on these projects so much, and have learned so much by doing them. This year though, I wasn't sure whether I was going to do one. I talked to Mrs Handmade about it and while we both agreed that the fan inspired work for 2012 was really cool and we love showing it, maybe we could do something more...So we decided to do a book. At first, I wanted to do just a "sketchbook" collection of drawings and illustrations. Sort of a best of the last couple years with some new work to tie it together. She thought (rightly) that it would be better to do a book of all new work, and to continue telling stories. So we decided to work on an illustrated book of Fairy Tales. As we talked out the idea, it grew. And grew...Into the most ambitious project we've done so far. The book will contain 12 fairy tales, written graciously (and incredibly) by our friends, with illustrations, layout and design by me. Along with this is the 2013 Handmade Family with us and the kids acting out the stories as illustrated theatre...

Brandon Graham, with The Brave Little Tailor
Justin Hunter, with Goldielocks, The Fox & The Crow, and The Frog Prince
Josh Burnett with Hansel and Gretel
Leighton Connor with The Princess and The Pea, and The Seven Ravens
Richard Smith with Jack and the Beanstalk, and an original story about my forest sprites
Rob Lammle with Thumbelina
Steve Johnson with The Emperors New Clothes, and Little Red Riding Hood

So would you like to see a little bit of what we've been working on? Here's a couple of the pencil drawings from the Brave Little Tailor, by Brandon Graham

“Seven,” he said. He would have to swat them all at once. If he missed even one, he would be stung for certain. Stings were not his favorite. He found his straw broom and tested its heft. He aimed carefully. Then he let fly. SMACK. Seven wasps curled harmlessly along the ground.

“Did you see that?” he called to his sheep. The sheep were hard to impress.

He was, however, truly miffed that no one had bothered to warn him the giant was there. Meridee might have said something. Poor manners were inexcusable. He turned on his heels to go back and give her a good talking to.

We're all really excited about this project and are looking forward to sharing the ideas and progress  with you over the next few weeks as we lead up to their release at the Strange Folk Festival in O'fallon IL, at the end of September. Until then, take care and be good.

Your friend,
Jeffrey

Some New Artwork and Thoughts About Projects

All these pictures were taken on my iphone and processed with instagram. You can follow me if you want too! My user name is redherringjeff.

 My friend Connie from Life Uncork'd is pretty awesome. Summertime is full of berry, peach, and apple picking and Connie is right out there...and she makes wonderful jam. For my birthday, she gave me three small jars, and we've been enjoying the heck out of them. Especially Olive and I...especially Olive. Ha-ha-ha!

 

 Working on handmade commission pieces and personal illustrations at the same time allows me to experiment with different color combinations and techniques in a way that I may normally not be able to. My emotional stance towards this learning process has changed a lot over the years.  In school there was a lot more "wild" experimentation, with strong colors and heavy washes. Now as I work I think more about control and thin washes effecting how the colors work together.

 

 A couple of weeks ago I put a shout out on Instagram and Facebook mentioning that I was going to be doing some marker drawings as warm-ups and asking friends and followers what they'd like to see. There was a great range of suggestions from Olive dressed as a Super Toddler to Batman trapped in Candy Land (complete with sweets and disaster). I'm pretty happy with this little drawing of Pinky and the Brain, I thought it might be funny to sort of switch their positions...

 We're getting work done on the Fairy Tale book and Calendar. I have drafts of several of the stories from my writer friends that are working with me on it, and about a third of the book illustrations are put together. Here's a little teaser of the witch from The Seven Ravens. It's really cool seeing this project come together, and I'm looking forward to sharing more bits of it with you over the next month.

Thanks for stopping in! Until next time, take care and be good!
Your friend,
Jeffrey

Some things I'm into right now,

Tiger in a Jar:  Tiger in a Jar makes beautiful, rich videos and photosets featuring among other things handmade products and lifestyle. If you like quiet moments in the midst of adventure, this is the place for you.

PBS Digital Studios: A network of web originals from PBS on YouTube. I've been really enjoying their idea channel show, as well as musical remixes like this one featuring Mister Rogers.

6 Hours

All these pictures were taken on my iphone and processed with instagram. You can follow me if you want too! My user name is redherringjeff.

I love my kids, and I love being home with them. As any stay at home parent can tell you though, the hardest part of that job is that you never get a day off. For me, nap time is spent working or cleaning and there is very little time left for personal projects. I talked to Mrs Handmade about this the other day, and we hatched a plan for some time set aside for those things that I don't have time for, and also time to just be alone. On the Design Mom blog last week, Gabrielle Blair talked about being alone and included this wonderful little video about it.





So I've managed to get out to Bread Co, or the library and get some work done on the blogs, or in my sketch book. and it's been really great. My wife is pretty rad.
Speaking of rad, this past weekend Mrs Handmade had another idea...trade a day of babysitting each week with one of our friends. My head exploded. What a perfect, simple idea that would be great for everybody. Why hadn't we thought about it sooner? Six hours home alone. Six hours to get some work done...during the day. This week was my first "day off" and while it felt a little indulgent at times, I made an actual dent in my work load. And then we went to see "Brave" after picking up the girls. And it was great.
Here's a little peek at my six hours...

 

9:30. After dropping Amy off at work, and the kids off at the sitters I sat down to frame some calendar prints for the shop and watch the "new" Conan movie. The movie had just the right amount of fluff to make actually paying attention to what I was doing possible. Also, in case the R rating didn't warn you, this is not like the older Conan movies, and I wouldn't watch it with kids. There's a lot of boobs and blood.

11:00.  I spent 20 minutes in my super messy studio looking for picture hanging hardware that I'm sure I have. I briefly considered both cleaning up the studio and going out to buy the hardware. Ultimately I decided to just let it go and work on sketches for the fairy tale book and calendar...

 Eating lunch while listening to Neil Gaiman read "Stardust" and sketching ideas for "The Emperors New Clothes".  I'm thinking that instead of going with the traditional Rococo inspired designs that I'll do Napoleonic empire clothes with 20th century Arts and Crafts sets.

1:30. After lunch, back down to the studio to rework some drawings for a barbecue competition team shirt I'm working on. One of my instagram followers said I need to post more of this type of stuff. What do you all think? More artwork? Is there anyghing in particular you'd like to see here on the blog?

 3:00. I caved and went to buy hardware on my way to pick up the girls. I just know that in the next couple of days I'll find the stuff I already had...it's not like I wont use it all or anything, just frustrating that I wasted so much time looking for it. Ha-ha-ha!

 

4:00. I picked up the girls at the sitter. They were glad to see me, but sad that they had to leave their friends. Ha-ha-ha! Life's so hard when you're a kid. We went and picked up Mom, and then went and saw Brave. The movie was great, and I think it's unfortunate that Disney did such a terrible job marketing it, because it wasn't the movie they made it out to be. 

And that was my "day off". Over all, a pretty good and productive day, and I hope you enjoyed spending it with me. Is this something you'd like to see as a regular feature? Are there things that you'd like to read about that I'm just not thinking of? Would you like to see more tutorials, reviews and shows? Let us know in the comments. We'd love to hear from you!

Until next time, take care and be good!

Your friend,

Jeffrey

Things I'm into right now:

Thundercats. I finally got to see some of the new Thundercats cartoon, and it's pretty cool. One thing that's interesting to me is that this is the second cartoon that I've seen recently that borrows a lot of it's themes from the A-team. 

Neil Gaiman Books on tape:
I'm listening to "Stardust" right now, and have "Coraline" to listen to while I work next. One of the cool things is that Neil reads his own books, and he has such a wonderful, English voice.

Photo Round-up For The Third Week of June

All these pictures were taken on my iphone and processed with instagram. You can follow me if you want too! My user name is redherringjeff.

Have you seen "The Avengers" yet? Mrs Handmade went the other nite for our twelfth anniversary, and it was awesome! Here's Olive posing as Captain America on one of our morning trips to Target. It's the only place open after we drop Amy off for work, so we usually go and hang out for a bit and get a start on our errands before heading to the park, or wherever.  

 

This is our Simmer-Down chair. Sometimes the kids just need a minute to catch their breath and think about the decisions they're making...Sometimes I need a place to put them while I think about what to say to them. Something I've noticed is that the days they seem to be the neediest are the days that I just don't have anything to give them. 

I bought some costume glasses at a Deals that's going out of business. They're super cheap, but the girls look so cute in them! I showed this picture to Abby, and she said "Awww, it looks just like you!" Ha-ha-ha! It's awesome having conversations with her. She's so funny, and smart, and I never know what she's going to say.

 Last week we took some of our capes and artwork to a new shop in O'Fallon, Illinois. The shop is super cute, and carries a good variety of awesome local handmade goods. If you're in the area, you should definitely stop by and check them out. They're located at 311 South Lincoln in O'fallon, IL 62269.

 I finally managed to get the first four Doctor Who peg people painted. I'm pretty happy overall with how they turned out. From left to right, there's the Empty Child, Rose Tyler, the Tenth Doctor, and a Cyberman. I've got a couple of others started, and am pretty excited about them all.

 

 We set up shop at the Soulard Market Arts and Crafts fair this weekend. The market is pretty awesome! It's an indoor Farmers Market, so it's open year round and was really busy. We had a great time hanging out with our crafty friends, and meeting new ones. The response to our work was really positive and encouraging too, which is always an added bonus that sure helps get you through the heat of the day when things start to slow down a bit.

 I added this little shelf to our display this week, and am so glad I did! It adds a little hight to the items on the table, and gives us an extra three feet of display room! It takes so little to get us excited these days, ha-ha-ha!

Thanks for stopping in! Until next time, take care and be good!

Your friend,

Jeffrey

Some things I'm into right now,

Adventure Time: it's like Spongebob times 10. Totally inappropriate and awesome, it's about a boy named Finn and his magic dog Jake and the adventures they have. Basically the kinds of things I daydreamed about as a kid...or last week. Like I said it's totally inappropriate for kids, but despite that the girls are a little obsessed with it. 

Fairy Tales: I've started working on the 2013 Handmade Family calendar, and the theme is fairy tales. I'm thinking that there will also be a companion sketch book as well. The idea is pretty ambitious, but I'm really excited about it. Are there any fairy tales that you'd like to see included? Let us know in the comments! 

Photo Roundup For The First Week Of June

Busy, busy beginning of summer here getting the yard work done, summer craft shows, artwork, and of course playing with the girls. So here's this weeks photo roundup, all these pictures were taken on my iphone and processed with instagram. You can follow me if you want too! My user name is redherringjeff.

One of our goals for Handmade Family this year was to do a show a month, in May we ended up doing three.  It was a hectic month for Mrs Handmade and me. Memorial day was Gypsy Caravan, an annual craftshow and flea market benefiting the Saint Louis Symphony. We were expecting heat and thunderstorms, but got a pretty mild, windy day. It was really pretty nice. This is our booth neighbor Melissa of Villa Design through the window formed by our displays. 

This book shelf, built inside of a door frame is awesome. One of the really awesome things I saw in the vendors stalls around the show. If only I was a little richer...and earlier. At 7:30 it had already sold.

 

This is my first "successful" attempt to braid Abby's hair. It's not the prettiest braid in the world, but if ponytails are any indication, it'll get better. 

We're always making things around here, and imaginative role-playing is a pretty big game with the kids. Really, we do a lot of back to basics stuff around here. Which isn't to say that we never watch TV or play computer games, there's plenty of that too, but we like to shoot for a balance.  Abby found this box the other day and wanted me to cut a robot face out of it. She was walking around saying "I am a robot...I talk like a robot..." for quite awhile. The other side has just one big square cut out of it, so she can be a talking TV head.  Ha-ha-ha!

So I'm sitting on the couch reading, and Abby decides to climb up on my shoulders and start wrigling around and dancing. The more I think about it, the more it seems like a good metaphor for our lives with children. I know I'll miss these days when they're gone.

 

The leeks I planted in our garden last summer bloomed this week.  They are huge and beautiful, Amy smelled them and was surprised to find that they smell like onions.  Ha-ha-ha! I said it made sense to me. This is one of the really cool things about having a garden. Even if (for what ever reason) not everything you plant gets eaten, there's nothing like seeing where things come from and where they go. Nature's pretty darn amazing.

 

The beginning stages of a Cthulhu peg-person. I've been having a lot of fun working on these guys a little bit at a time, lately.

 

A sketch I did for my friend Rob over at SpaceMonkeyX. He's a freelance writer, and all around pretty awesome guy.  You should go check him out!

Well, that's it for this week! Until next time then, take care and be good!

Your friend,

Jeffrey

Photo Roundup For The Third Week Of May

I can't believe that I forgot to post these on Monday!  This seems to just be one of those weeks :) So here's this weeks photo roundup, all these pictures were taken on my iphone and processed with instagram. You can follow me if you want too! My user name is redherringjeff.

 

Sitting outside on the swing, I was checking mail while the kids played and Abby asked me to take her picture. This is her pose...with her eyes closed. Ha-ha-ha! This is actually intentional, and just cracks me up!

Abby's god mother got this book for her for her first birthday, and it's probably one of my favorites. It's hard to beat a combination like Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess in the first place, but the poem is just fantastic, and speaks about the things fathers want for their daughters. I don't want them to be perfect, but do want them to be happy, healthy and responsible. It often frustrates me how little good literature there is out there for little girls, but it IS there.

 

Working on some new peg people. I've seen several on pinterest that are pretty nice, but not really what I'm looking for...This is what happens when someone with art training and several years as a serious miniature hobbyist/gamer  becomes a crafter. I hope that this first set of Doctor Who peg people are well received. If not, then I had fun making them!

 

Speaking of art, I do graphic design and illustration as my day job. (In case you didn't know, ha-ha-ha!) These are a couple of character drawings I did last week. I'm thinking if I don't have time to get the new Daily Life finished this week I might throw some color on them for Friday's post. 

 

The girls and a little Crafternoon Delite.  I forget sometimes just how capable Olive is, because she doesn't really talk yet...That kid is smart. A lot of construction paper, foam stickers and cutting going on here.  It's cool seeing how into making things they are.  Speaking of Crafternoon Delite, Tonite (Wednesday, May 23) we are hosting a crafting event at Fusion in chesterfield mall from 6:00 to 9:00. Grab some of your handwork and come on down and hang out with us!

 

We found these costume glasses the other day at Deals, for a dollar. Olivia thought they were really cool, and looked SO cute in them...unfortunately, they broke the next day. It kills me that even something that only cost a dollar has no real longevity.

Well, that's it for this week! Until next time then, take care and be good!

Your friend,

Jeffrey

Photo Roundup For the Second Week Of May

 All these pictures were taken on my iphone and processed with instagram. You can follow me if you want too! My user name is redherringjeff.

 

This is the most hilarious side effect of owning a Mr Potato Head.  I think at one point or other, all kids try on the glasses, don't they? Olive will put them on and then come and tell me either "glasses" or "eyes" depending on her mood. 

 

A couple of weeks ago, I went and did a presentation about being a freelance Graphic Designer and Illustrator to a high school graphic design class. Remembering my speech classes in college, I was worried that I'd talk for about 5 minutes and then run out of things to say. What I forgot is that I really like to talk about what I do. I think blogging for the last 10 years or so has really made that easier, because I know what it is that I WANT to say now, ha-ha-ha! The other day I got this thank you note from the class. I think my favorite is "Thanks Jeff, you're pretty legit. props"  Ha-ha-ha! how awesome is that?

 

The other day, Abby came out of her room wearing one of the super hero masks that Mrs Handmade made for her...and a GIANT sombrero.  "Who is this masked amiga?" said Amy as she took a picture. 

 

A second later, Olive comes out wearing princess shoes and this smaller, straw sombrero. Ha-ha-ha! The perfect sidekick for her Quixotic sister!

 

The view from my chair at this weekend's farmers market down at Tower Groves in Saint Louis.  We couldn't have asked for a better day, 74 degrees and sunny. There was a good crowd, and we had great neighbors. 

 

Speaking of our great neighbors, here's Beqi and Lauren B. Both do awesome work, and are fun, funny and just generally pretty great. All day, Lauren was just GUSHING about corgis. I think Beqi was getting a little tired of it by the end of the show, but of course it didn't stop. Ha-ha-ha!

Until next time, take care and be good!

Your friend,

Jeffrey

Photo Roundup from the first week of April

All these pictures were taken on my iphone and processed with instagram. You can follow me if you want too! My user name is redherringjeff.
We're really into "back to basics" toys around these parts. This wooden train set is AWESOME! There are tons of parts (and available expansions) so it is able to be put together in several different layouts. Plus, the pieces are easy enough to put together that even Olive can do it.
Abby's tiny hands peeling the backer paper off of foam star stickers. It's amazing how much time this activity takes her, and fascinating to see how she arranges her stickers on the paper. Often it's in rows, but just as often they are all over the place.
Abby's clothes hanging cheerfully on the clothes line. I just love that little splash of color in the yard.
Several months ago, Abby and I went to story time at the library. We heard some camping stories and did a craft. Abby's campfire is pretty awesome, I think.
Abby and Olive in their new Easter Dresses.

Until next time, take care and be good.
Your friend,
Jeffrey

Handmade Family Past, Present and Future. Part 1

January and February have been crazy busy for Mrs Handmade and I. Ha-ha-ha! We were expecting to have a lull in the beginning of the year to recharge our batteries, restock inventory after the holidays, and develop some new product lines. General Eisenhower once said, "In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable,". To further that idea, Field Marchall Helmuth Carl Bernard von Moltke once said' "No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy,". That's kind of how our year has begun. So, it's been a year since Amy and I started Handmade Family, and we've come quite a long way! To get back in the swing of things, over the next couple of weeks I'd like to talk a little bit about us, how our first year went, and what our plans are for 2012.

Amy and I met in college, where I was studying studio art and printmaking and she was working towards a degree in early childhood and elementary education. We shared a mutual love of muppets, nature, art, kids and family. It may seem odd, after looking at the television these days that anyone as young as a college kid is already looking to start a family. Of course, I see examples among my friends everyday that prove the T.V. doesn't know what it's talking about, ha-ha-ha! A couple of years later we got married, I took some time off from drawing to build models and craft worlds for games, while Amy finished school and started teaching. All this time was passing, and people kept asking us when we were going to have kids. We all knew that we wanted to, and felt that we'd be good at it. I'd answer that we "Had our stuff together enough to not have them on accident, but not enough yet to have them on purpose." I'm glad we waited while we figured out how to live together before adding the little ones to the mix.

We moved to Amy's hometown of Saint Louis in 2004, and opened a new chapter of our lives. I moved away from building models of things and back towards drawing, working on improving my skills while building a portfolio. It would be nice to get paid for what I do, instead of just doing it as a hobby. At the same time, some friends and I were talking about starting a media/t-shirt company and were calling it Red Herring Design. Ultimately that business fell apart, but the seeds for working for ourselves and doing what we love were planted. One of the really nice things about those early days is that I had a lot of time for experimentation, and was able to try on several different "hats". I started a blog, "Penny Candy and Shady Characters" where I did self portraits in different media and styles, which evolved into an online sketch book and place to share stories about my days. I continued to work on my drawing and design, and took a position as a full time graphic artist at a small local shop. Meanwhile, Amy had begun substitute teaching in the area and eventually accepted a position as a preschool teacher.

They say that perfection is the enemy of completion. If we waited to have everything perfect and settled and safe before we had kids, then it would never happen. Having a family is something that we'd always wanted and planned for, and it was time to make that leap, ready or not. That time waiting for her was spent decorating, thinking about what kind of person she would be, writing stories and of course, making things. After she was born, the stories changed from ones of high adventure and daring do to quiet ones of moments from our days. Something I never expected was the mellowing that comes from caring for little ones and watching them grow. As my skills were developing, I began working as Red Herring Illustration on the side as we prepared to have our second child and I got ready to leave my full time Graphic Design job.

When Olive was born we realized that we couldn't afford for both of us to work full time. I'd been thinking about making the leap to full time freelancing for a long time, and it just made sense for me to be a stay-at-home dad and work nights on design and illustration work. At the same time, Amy had begun sewing again. We'd found that the swaddling blankets available commercially were really too small to wrap a baby older than a couple of weeks old. So she sat down and made some blankets of her own that were cute, comfy, and big. The sewing bug had bitten her by that point, and she made some super-hero capes for her class at school, which were a big hit! She developed the idea into satin, two panel capes with a graphic on the back. More ideas followed and pretty soon she had opened an Etsy shop, with half a dozen unique handmade products.

Our friend Winnie from Alexandra's Jewelry had been trying to get me to apply to be a vendor in Show Me Handmade for years, but I just didn't feel like I had the product to add anything meaningful to their shop. When we talked about it last year though, it seemed like a real possibility and a logical next step. There is a really vibrant Art and Indie-Craft community in St Louis, and it was time that we joined it. Amy and I talked it over, and felt that our lives together, had given us something valuable, and we wanted to share that with others. We could make family oriented illustration and decor items, back to basics toys and games, and of course baby items. Gifts and activities for growing families, and Handmade Family was born. We spent some time getting our basic branding together, went and met the folks at Fusion, and applied to join the coop/shop.

Next week, I really want to talk about our first year as Handmade Family, and share some of the wonderful people and things we've met. I hope you'll join us. Until then, take care and be good!
Your friend,
Jeffrey