Roslyn Russell 14/12/12 Roslyn Russell 14/12/12

CWC Member Feature: Monique Plunkett

By Roslyn Russell Today I welcome Monique Plunkett from Elkhorn. Monique is a graphic designer who creates high quality screen printed homewares and accessories. Monqiue began Elkhorn while living on the Central Coast of NSW and the natural beauty of that environment has been a strong influence in Monique's work.

What do you create? I create a range of hand screen printed designs printed on durable eco-friendly fabrics. They range from things for the home, cushions,table runners, tea towels and a small collection of soft floaty scarves.

Have you done training in your creative field or has it come about informally? I have been screen printing since I was young. Mana, my Nan, bought my sister and I our first Silk Screen sets. When I finished school, I spent my first year studying Visual Arts and then went on to study Graphic Design. I guess you could say I have a mix of formal training and have since experimented with different creative areas in my own time.

What are your main creative inspirations? Natural coastal surrounds definitely are a huge inspiration to me. It can come from something as simple as the change in light as the sun goes down over the water, to the variations of colour and texture in a feather or a collection of finds from the beach. I have some wonderfully supportive and close friends that inspire me on all sorts of levels, not just creative. It’s having these people in your life that keeps you going, which is inspiring in itself.

How do you balance your creative projects with the administration aspect of creative work? This is something I have struggled with from time to time. It can be really hard to find a balance as production time can be quite intensive. I have found if I dedicate the first hour of the morning to admin and get it out of the way it leaves me free to get into the creative projects which of course it what I love best!

What do you do when you experience a creative block? Get outside! I either head down to the local cafe or go for a walk or run, which always seems to clear my head. I have a stack of favourite magazines and blogs which are always good to flip through, they seem to help get the creative flow happening again. I also have a couple of great friends of whom I really value their creative opinion. I often shoot them a email or meet them for a coffee and show them where I am at. Sometimes it's just great to talk through your designs with someone else.

What future goals do you have for your creative pursuits? The question of the year! This has actually been on my mind a lot lately, having recently relocated to Melbourne. The short term goal is to find a shared studio space, so I can continue working on Elkhorn and perhaps pick up a few other design jobs. In the future I would love to work with like-minded designers whether it's a collaboration or assisting with another label that I admire!

Thanks so much for sharing your creativity with us today Monique! For more information about Monique and Elkhorn, you can find her on her blog, Facebook and her Etsy store.

Roslyn Russell is a sewist, blogger and teacher. Her blog, Sew Delicious, is where she showcases her latest projects, designs and sewing tutorials. Roslyn also enjoys cake baking and decorating, exploring Melbourne cafes and restaurants, and hunting through op-shops for vintage sewing and kitchen treasures.

Roslyn Russell 15/11/12 Roslyn Russell 15/11/12

CWC Member Feature: Lauren Treiser

By Roslyn Russell Today I welcome Lauren Treiser as our featured member on the CWC blog. You might already know her as our Women in Art columnist, but Lauren is also a freelance graphic designer and is the founder of Patchy Rugs. She is passionate about fine art, interior design and jewellery and is currently studying Gold and Silversmithing.

What do you create? I’m a graphic designer and run my own freelance business (laurentreiser.com). I create everything from branding, packaging, print material, websites, digital marketing to wedding invitations.

I also recently started an online patchwork rug company called Patchy Rugs . It’s the first time I’m selling a tangible product, so it’s been an exciting learning curve. I enjoy the marketing side of it and I’m quite active on social media, but my husband definitely is the business brains of the company!

Have you done training in your creative field or has it come about informally? Many moons ago, I completed Brighton Bay’s folio building course. I loved that you could explore so many creative areas; photography, printmaking and drawing just to name a few. I then went on to study Graphic Design at RMIT and did my honours there too. A few years later, I completed AWARD School (Creative advertising course) and I’m once again back at school studying Silversmithing at NMIT.

What are your main creative inspirations? Blogs for sure! But I still do love holding a beautifully designed book and magazine (Vogue Living is a weakness of mine). I like to get out and about in Melbourne; exploring new cafes, visiting galleries and attending events.

I love travelling and have many places on my wishlist including Morocco, India and Egypt! I love watching Grand Designs and have recently started listening to podcasts (I know that’s a bit late to the game) but ABC RN cover some fantastic topics.

Some of my favorite blogs are: The Design Files (I admit, I am just slightly obsessed.) Miss Moss – missmoss.co.za Design Lovefest – designlovefest.com Pinterest – find me under Patchy Rugs I know it’s not a blog but I love instagram too! My name is @ilovelollies, so come and find me!

How do you balance your creative projects with the administration aspect of creative work? It's hard when I feel I’m doing more admin than actually creating, but I guess that’s all part of working for yourself.

What do you do when you experience a creative block? Eat chocolate! This doesn’t always work so I usually try to distract myself. If I have something percolating in the back of my mind, whilst I cook or run errands, an idea will eventually cometo me! I am a very visual person so it helps me to stimulate my senses. That, and a lot of brainstorming in my studio, or at a café!

What future goals do you have for your creative pursuits? I would like to continue growing my freelance business and work with interesting clients who let me explore new creative areas. My dream is to have a jewellery collection for sale in the future and in my next life, I want to be an interior designer or a stylist.

Thank you Lauren for sharing your creativity with us! Find out more about Lauren and Patchy Rugs here: website, facebook and twitter.

Roslyn Russell 17/10/12 Roslyn Russell 17/10/12

CWC Member Feature - Jenny Pemberton-Webb

By Roslyn Russell Today's featured member is Jenny Pemberton-Webb who is the creative force behind boutique homewares label Ivy and Lil (Diane visited her studio a few months ago!). With a work history rich in creative endeavours, Jenny's passion for art and making has led to her establishing Ivy & Lil in 2010.

What do you create? I have established a boutique home wares label and hand screen print and hand make a selected range of products including tea-towels, cushions, greeting and decorative artworks. I love the rustic look and feel of linen so use this as my base and add a blast of colour through my designs. This is my recent passion but builds on more than 25 years of being an artist and printmaker.

Have you done training in your creative field or has it come about informally? I went to Melbourne University and studied to be a secondary school art teacher, majoring in printmaking and sculpture. I was always good on the administrative and organising side of this too so was a natural at arranging exhibitions.

My first job after uni was at Sothebys fine art auctioneers in Armadale working alongside Lesley Always (who went onto Artbank, Arts Victoria and AsiaLink) and from there I was offered a job as the co-ordinator of the Walker Street Gallery in Dandenong. I gained an amazing amount of experience working on exhibitions, public art programs and events and moved through a variety of roles as arts officer and cultural planner to what I’m doing now which is working as a place manager for a major revitalisation project.

A few years back I did a Masters of Art of Public Spaces at RMIT and put this to good practice working with some amazing artists like Robbie Rowlands, Rowena Martinich, Cameron Robbins and design and fabrication company Big Fish.

I’ve always continued painting and working in my studio predominantly for my own pleasure. In 2010 my hubby and I took a 6 month break and hit the road to travel around Australia. It was during this time I realised I needed to put art making at the centre of my life and decided to establish Ivy & Lil.

How do you balance your creative projects with the administration aspect of creative work? I make sure that all my studio work happens in the daylight when I have natural light and I can see the impact of light on my colour combinations and for mixing inks. I’m very lucky to have the ideal studio space at the rear of our house and it’s a space my hubby renovated for me in an old 1940’s era barn. I’m always reading about how people are trying to squeeze their lives in and around all the competing tasks. What works for me is doing administrative work, manage my on line stores, update my blog and face book in the evenings during the week. I have some basic but sound systems in place so I’m tracking sales, enquiries and building mail lists week to week. I read blogs and google topics of interest at random times during the day when I have a spare moment and on my lunch breaks.

Keeping up with social media is a big challenge I am constantly trying to embrace, it seems just as I master one new platform another one appears!

What do you do when you experience a creative block? Well luckily it’s not something that happens too often as I usually have more ideas and plans than there are days in the week to realise them! But I certainly don’t beat myself up. Instead I’ll clean up the studio and get organised again or take time to reflect on what I’ve recently achieved. I also love to go out and see what other artists and designers are doing and making.

I find that I get inspired by all sorts of things like looking at furniture and salvaged industrial items or checking out second hand shop, galleries and reading magazines and blogs. Everywhere you go there are patterns and colour so I’m constantly looking at this every day. A bit of gardening is always a great circuit breaker too! What future goals do you have for your creative pursuits? I’m really keen to get my current range of work into as many places as possible and am constantly seeking out the places and ways to do this. I enjoy the all forms of contact with people who make and love hand made products so I’m learning all the time about the industry, trends and what others are doing. I’m totally enjoying the range I am working on at the moment and plan to continue developing new designs, colours and products. I’d also like to spend some time on my one of pieces and keep connected to painting as this is what has sustained me over the years. I guess its really about planning to a certain extent but also being ready to get swept up in the journey and see where things might lead.

Thanks so much Jenny for sharing your creativity!

To find out more about Jenny and her label Ivy and Lil, you can find here here: website, facebook, , made it, blue caravan.

Roslyn Russell 20/9/12 Roslyn Russell 20/9/12

CWC Member Feature: Mandy Wood

By Roslyn Russell I'm excited to welcome Mandy Wood to the CWC blog today as our featured member. She is a girl after my own heart - inspired by the needle and thread. Mandy's creativity and skills in the area of sewing and design has led to cushion range, olive thread, and she is currently developing and almost ready to launch her online store at Blue Caravan.

What do you create? I design and hand make the cushion range - olive thread.

Have you done training in your creative field or has it come about informally? I have always loved creating and sewing and although I have done a few short sewing courses and am hoping to do a more in-depth design course soon - my sewing skills have developed mainly through the help and guidance of my mum and grandmas who are all really good sewers. My learning process is definitely a bit more hit and miss as I am willing to give anything a go - for example teaching myself to insert invisible zippers by hand (that was fun!)... it might take a few goes to get everything to exactly how I want it but the final outcome always makes it worthwhile!

What are your main creative inspirations? My main inspirations would have would have to be fabric and colour! I am obsessed and I love finding new fabrics that I have to work with because they are just so fabulous. The latest - olive thread BRIGHTS - is a perfect example of this as I had the cream/tan fabric for about 6 months before I decided the tigerlilly cotton fabric would work perfectly with it for this collection (see the cushion line up for the final product). It is also fantastic to have access to so many other creative inspirations and creative people through blogs, magazines, facebook, instagram, pinterest and networking groups like CWC. I am constantly inspired and impressed by the countless talented creatives and get my daily blog fix through personal favourites like The Daily Imprint, The Design Files, Decor 8 and Absolutely Beautiful Things to name a few. If I am ever stuck or feeling in need of a spruce, these are my go to places which often leads to me getting lost in the online world and discovering new exciting people and their work/projects.

How do you balance your creative projects with the administration aspect of creative work? I find I do get really excited and just want to keep designing and sewing ... but at the same time I do like doing the admin side. Call me crazy but I think it has something to do with a long term obsession with paper and stationery :] I am also a big fan of the trusty excel spreadsheet and I am never without a notebook (containing the current to-do list) of some size. As olive thread is a new business I try to spend a considerable amount of time profile building and linking with other like minded people in order to learn, grow and establish the brand. It is exciting because olive thread keeps evolving and building and my administration/research plays a large role in this.

What do you do when you experience a creative block? Step away from the project that I am working on. I know myself and my creative process well enough that I cannot force it... the answer or idea will come to me and quite often at the most unexpected time and places. This is especially helpful as I often get overwhelmed from so many ideas that I need to clear my head and prioritise. As much as I would like to, I can't do everything at once and anything worth doing takes time. I also find public transport/commuting a space where I have the time to let the thoughts come ... on a train/tram with a notebook is where most of my current plans have developed. So I just jump on a train and see where I end up (which is usually at work :}).

What future goals do you have for your creative pursuits? My future goals are to grow my customer base and open up avenues into the home decor marketplace. It is such an exciting time for olive thread and I would love to be able to make an income off it but mostly I love seeing when people connect with my cushions - everyone has their favourites, it is so individualistic! I also plan to establish a base of stockists and thinking big I would love to develop an olive thread home wares range... lots to do - I love it :} If you want to keep up to date with olive thread 'like' the facebook page or follow me on Instagram olive_thread or Pinterest. Blue Caravan online store coming very soon but feel free to email with any enquiries or just to say hello mandytwood@hotmail.com :}

Thank you so much Mandy for sharing your creativity on the CWC blog today.

Roslyn Russell 23/8/12 Roslyn Russell 23/8/12

CWC Member Feature - Prue Aja

Today I welcome Prue Aja to the CWC blog as our featured member. Prue is a photographer whose love of imagery began as a teenager growing up in Byron Bay. She worked for several years as a stylist in Sydney and London, but stepped back behind the camera when she was pregnant with her daughter. Prue is now finishing her formal photography studies and has been enjoying working as an assistant to other successful Melbourne based photographers as well as expanding her own portfolio. What do you create? Imagery – I am a photographer, working with many different subjects from buildings to children to food and fashion. I am still in the process of defining exactly what style of photographer I am, and enjoying the challenge of trying new things to shoot.

Have you done training in your field or has it come about informally? I am currently studying Diploma of Photoimaging part time at RMIT, I do however come from a fashion background as a stylist working in Sydney and London and wanted to have more of a creative direction in the images. I actually enjoyed landscape and architectural photography from when I was a child, and since studying it has opened me up to working in studio, portraiture, and post-production with photoshop.

What are your main creative inspirations? My partner Nick, who is an artist and always pushing me to test my limits, and my 2 year old daughter who shows another perspective at looking at things. People, and pictures – I love meeting new people and being inspired by their stories or who they are (imagining how I would take their portrait), and flicking through magazines trying to work out how photos where taken using lighting or cameras/ lens.

How do you balance your creative projects with the administration aspect of creative work? To be honest I have a bit of a business/entrepreneurial head, so I enjoy the admin and marketing side of my business’s, but also I try not to mix them, as in I put away a day or so a month to look after tax/invoicing, maintenance, marketing and PR plans. By the end of that day I feel I really have, ticked a lot of boxes, the weight is off my shoulders and can get stuck into being creative again without worrying about logistics. Photography in itself I feel has a big admin side and only a small percentage is in preparing for a shoot, setting everything up, then the post of sorting and editing photos, so you need to be logistical and well organised.

What do you do when you experience a creative block? If I am working from home, I’ll go get in the veggie garden as there is always something that needs doing, even if its 10 minutes pulling out weeds, it clears my head to start again (I also catch myself using it as a form of procrastination). I have also started running this year and found it amazing for clearing your head and stimulating new ideas, and I’m always psyched when I get home. And if it is on a job I just have to remember to stop and breathe and everything begins to fall into place.

What future goals do you have for your creative pursuits? Over the next couple of years while I am studying I want to try out as many different forms of photography while I still have the teachers as mentors (happy to do jobs at a special student rate for any CWC members) and also to build up my portfolio and begin to define the direction I want to go in. I am happy about the position I am currently in my life, and would like to be a really strengthen my skills as a photographer, but also never stop learning new techniques and ways of being creative. Constantly evolve….

Thank you so much Prue for sharing your creativity with us today.

If you would like to find out more about Prue and her work, you can visit her website.

Roslyn Russell 26/7/12 Roslyn Russell 26/7/12

CWC Member Feature : Stephanie Ransom

By Roslyn Russell Today I welcome Steph Ransom as the featured member on the CWC blog. Steph is a talented illustrator, graphic designer and teacher. While visiting the website for her business Fathom & Co. I quickly realised that many of her designs are featured on well known places and products. Which ones? Read the interview, then pop over to her website and find out!

What do you create? I run a small graphic design firm, Fathom & Co. We specialise largely in print design but are moving rapidly towards more digital projects. I also illustrate and take on commissions for this separately to my design work. Because I love illustration it's my natural inclination to include this in a lot of my design work – whether it is a small part of the look and feel of the project or a larger aspect of the project – so it does all end up meshed together. I also teach part time at Shillington College so I like to think that I help to create passionate and hard working creatives.

Have you done training in your creative field or has it come about informally? I did a degree in Graphic Design at Monash University (with a an Illustration major in my final year). It was a fantastic experience. I had lots of fun, met some really excellent people and got a really solid grounding for a Graphic Design career. I've been lucky enough to work with and for some incredible designers who taught me heaps, pushed me along and basically continued my informal design education. Over the years I've done print workshops, post grad study in multi-media and more recently a short course in building websites. I really enjoy being in an environment where I am learning formally. It gives me a good opportunity to take a fresh look at where I'm at and get some perspective and inspiration.

What are your main creative inspirations? Books, magazines, blogs, galleries, films – the usual! At the moment I've been watching the TV series The Tudors. It's visually rich, intricate, beautiful... and saucy! Music really helps when I'm working. More recently I've become quite partial to podcast interviews from ABC RN or local – interesting people doing all sorts of incredible things. It's hard not to be inspired.

How do you balance your creative projects with the administration aspect of creative work? As with any creative person it's difficult wearing both hats at the same time. Weirdly, I do happen to quite like the administration side of things. There's something very satisfyingly straightforward about it. Maybe I find it a relief or a chance to turn my brain off. I'm quite comfortable talking turkey, managing projects and briefing other people who help me out. The difficult part is doing this and then switching my head back in to creative mode. Finding that quiet space to create.

What do you do when you experience a creative block? I look in books, draw, scribble, have a cup of tea, read the newspaper, procrastinate, do something else, have a change of scenery, whinge!

What future goals do you have for your creative pursuits? I'd like to learn to sew - but I think it would be speed sewing! I'd like to do my own range of illustrative prints. I'd also like to learn more about building websites - I'm digging the geeky stuff. Time. Time would be nice!

Thanks so much Steph for sharing your creativity with us today! If you'd like to know more about Steph and her work at Fathom & Co. you can read more on her website.

Roslyn Russell 29/6/12 Roslyn Russell 29/6/12

CWC Member Feature: Kirsty Eckard

By Roslyn Russell Today I welcome Kirsty Eckard as the featured member on the CWC blog. I met her at the recent Finders Keepers Market in Melbourne and loved the range of accessories she designs and makes for her label So Little Time Co. It's great to have her here today sharing the varied ways she works creatively.

What do you create? I run the wearable label So Little Time Co. The label was created by my husband and I, and we make accessories from locally sourced wood - most of them are laser cut pieces which are all hand-painted and pieced together. I also create blogs, brands and websites through my new venture as a freelance graphic designer, which I am loving. I am endlessly creating. If it's not through my label, then it's a paper bird, just for fun, or knitting a scarf with HUGE pom poms, just because I can. I find I get anxious if my hands aren't busy, even when the working day is over.

Have you done training in your creative field or has it come about informally? I started a degree in Interior Design in 2006, and soon realised I hated that - I'm not sure what I was expecting but it wasn't that. Thankfully my university did a course in Communication Design, and once I started that, I never looked back. I even went on to do an Honours year - I am a bit of a sucker for study. I think that some sort of formal training is so valuable to a creative profession and all the self teaching in the world could not have taught me the things I learned though my degree.

What are your main creative inspirations? Like most people, I'm inspired by other's creativity. The things I see in magazines, on blogs, through people folio sites - the creativity of others never ceases to inspire me. Something that I'm really inspired by is other people's dreams, especially the ones they are hesitant about telling other people. It's one of my favourite questions to ask people, and once you dig a little, the things that people strive for are incredible. And then to watch them go for it. That's the inspiring part.

How do you balance your creative projects with the administration aspect of creative work? Aside from the number crunching, I really don't mind the administration aspect. Strangely enough I enjoy writing invoices, heading to the post office to send off some goodies to their new homes, emailing clients and customers - I really don't mind it, which makes doing it a lot easier. I think most people who aren't doing it don't realise just how much admin is required to run even the smallest of creative businesses, and just how little amount of time you spent being creative. If only we could all just hire someone to do it for us.

What do you do when you experience a creative block? I'm a serious procrastinator and as a result I often find that I don't have time (especially with a looming deadline) to have creative blocks. I find that tight timelines really help any creative block that might come my way. My biggest help and support is my husband Josh, and when I feel stuck I go to him to get his perspective. Sometimes I find that his suggestions miss the mark, and that really I knew the solution all along, and sometimes he just gets it and tells me something that I completely missed to start with. I also walk away from it. I'll go and do something else, get some fresh air or grab a coffee, and even those few small moments clear my head enough to keep going.

What future goals do you have for your creative pursuits? I'd love to eventually have a three part business. One part So Little Time Co, with plenty of stockists and a great online store, one part design studio and one part blog (I've just re-launched my So Little Time blog with a serious face-lift). It's all small steps, but I have each of those written down and what I need to do to achieve them and little by little I'll get there. Watch out world!!!

Thanks so much for sharing your creativity today Kirsty! You can find out more about Kirsty here:

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