new venues

It’s so great to get MAD back out into the world. I haven’t done a vending event for over three months. It’s all been planning, executing some of those plans, production, design, computer and desk work for me the second half of winter. I’m thinking very big for 2010. It’s going to be a real growth year for MAD. But when I’m plugging away in a mostly isolated way as artists do, I have those moments of wondering, “How is it all going to turn out? Am I really going to have the success I’m planning for?”



And then I have my first vending event of the year, which happened to be the benefit beCAUSE Show this past Saturday. It was not terribly well attended, and I didn’t expect it to be, but I received so many strong affirmations from people who were just seeing my work for the first time live, sales were much stronger than I expected for the crowd, and my feelings of impending success are stronger than ever. Of course now my to-do list is longer than ever also!

One thing at the top of my list is to meet with a contract sewer in VT to explore the possibility of helping with my production. If anyone else out there knows of sewers doing professional quality work who would like to partner with me, please let me know!



It’s always good to try new things. This was my first year doing the beCAUSE Show. What a sweet scene: hula hoops, chocolate popsicles, antique button jewelry, creative people young and old selling a wide variety of goods to raise money for a slew of worthy causes. I was able to send a nice big check to the Vermont Food Bank after figuring out exactly what 50% of my profits were by day’s end. I had a large space because the vendor who was supposed to be next to me cancelled.

The next new thing I will try, in terms of venues, is the Vermont Women’s Expo at the Sheraton in Burlington, VT April 10th. More details to follow as the day draws near.

the next level

In this post we announce that prices on many Mountain Ash Design products will be going up in 2010. We are ready to move beyond the early product-development and market-testing phase of this home grown enterprise and into the offering-our-popular-products-to-stores and making-a-reasonable-profit stage. We are excited to move into a growth stage and offer employment opportunities to skilled local stitchers.



We are proud to offer one-of-a-kind sustainably handmade apparel and accessories to increase your domestic bliss and personal style. All production happens right here in the USA, and currently exclusively in Vermont.



We are seeking relationships with galleries and boutiques who are committed to offering unique items of impeccable quality to their customers and supporting independent artists with high standards of craftsmanship and individual design.
We invite interested retailers to get in touch by emailing sarah@mountainashdesign.com

from a green planet

Here are some skirts I've been making, photographed by my illustrious live-in child protegee. The fabric I used for the skirts is new but the sashes are all made from vintage or recycled materials and I've trimmed each one in front with a button-down shirt collar or pair of cuffs.

As the text for this post I've decided to share the copy I just sent to Crafty Planet in my own home state of Minnesota.
I've been working on my contribution to the upcoming book Crafty Planet Goes Green. In it I have a project for a Virtuous Baby Quilt. I recently sent my updated bio and artist statement, plus answers to the editor's questions, for a possible artist bio section in the book. I thought it would make a nice way to get acquainted/reacquainted with any of you infrequent visitors to this here blog.



Bio:
"Sarah O. Green has been honing her craft for 30 years. She was taught by her mother to sew clothes with a sewing machine at age 10 and started creating her own wardrobe at age 12 when she stole her dad’s t-shirts to make a mini-dress.



"As an art major in college Sarah began to see the expressive potential of home furnishings, though her professors thought she should stick to painting and photography. In 2006 she founded Mountain Ash Design, under which she sustainably creates a variety of one-of-a-kind wearable and functional art objects.



"Since her adolescence Sarah has secretly harbored a desire to be a fashion designer. The enthusiastic response to her current line of retro-style aprons and apron-inspired wrap skirts has been encouraging. When composing her work, Sarah tries to channel her Victorian grandmother, who was a master of many textile arts and made wonderful quilts from her store of diverse scraps.



Artist statement:
"I am inspired by quilters from the 19th and early 20th centuries who produced beautiful and dynamic work from the limited fabric choices they had. Like quilters of my grandmother’s generation who reused materials that were readily available to them, it is important to me to find and use beautiful quality materials that might otherwise be wasted.


"While I do use some new designer fabrics that I find particularly appealing, I try to use recycled materials as much as possible. I especially like to use woven cotton button-down shirts and older fabrics resurrected from the cast off fabric collections of others. I enjoy the nuances that the history and uniqueness of these fabrics add to my finished work.


"I strive for simplicity in composition; to marry fabrics in unexpected, humorous and beautifully harmonious ways, with attention to colors and associations evoked by prints. The fabrics I use often depict scenes or characters that take the viewer to another time and place.


"I enjoy including an obviously recycled decorative element in my work when I can. I want people to experience the realization, 'Hey, this used to be a shirt!'"

This is honestly the best picture I have of the project I sent to Crafty Planet. I sent my finished quilt for the publishers to photograph and take to publicity events, without photographing the finished piece. What was I thinking? Well, I am getting the quilt back, so I'll have a chance eventually, and I hope to have access to the pics they take of it for the book. This picture is of the components of the quilt: four button-down shirts I got at local thrift stores, a pair of vintage gingham shorts and a vintage dish towel. At least two shirt pockets ended up on the front of the quilt.

Now, for your viewing pleasure, back to skirts...
(feel free to click on any picture to get a closer look at the details, or get a really good look at the prints towards the end of this post.)


Q & A time with Crafty Planet Goes Green:

When did you decide to “Go Green”? Why?
"I come from a long line of frugal Yankees who I believe inspired my tendency to make creative and resourceful use of whatever materials happen to be available. My parents have been environmental activists since the 1960s so I’ve had a conscious awareness of “green issues” my whole life. There are so many useful textiles languishing around out there that can be given new life and kept out of the waste stream."


What is the best / most satisfying thing about working with recycled materials?
"I have always been intrigued by the mysterious history that a pre-loved bit of textile has, whether it’s a garment or a piece of vintage yardage. Just the look of vintage prints evokes certain associations that are fun to play with."

What has been your favorite project design or material to work with? Why?
"I love to make quilts and aprons because I have a lot of freedom in terms of the unusual fabric combinations I can get away with. "

snow day photo shoot

It was one of those lemons-into-lemonade days. Yesterday was my daughter’s second consecutive snow day and I had a lot of work, looming deadlines, to-do list a mile long. You know the scene. Fortunately she likes to help with photo shoots so we did the one I had planned for this Saturday.

I am also very lucky that she is one of my biggest fans so she gets excited to see the new work I bring to the shoot. And she has an excellent eye - a real gift for fashion photography. Here’s a little story with pictures of how the shoot went. I chose the above red checked skirt as an outfit for the darker aprons, but it looked a bit too Dorothy-in-Oz in the finished pics. This picture makes a super sweet portrait of photographer and model though - Edie's own brilliant composition.

This is one of my favorite aprons so far. Blue gingham is a big part of my visual vocabulary. I spliced together two button-down shirts to make the skirt. The sash and pocket are from a piece of vintage home-décor fabric. I cannot bear to part with this one just yet. I picked up these shoes cheap at a thrift store and thought they might work for photo shoots, but I just cannot manage the heels. I’ll have to re-shoot this one later.

Then we tried these sandals. No, not quite. A bit distracting. I think they will work with the spring/summer skirts, though.

We decided these classic mary-janes would work the best. They blend in with the dress to make the background outfit more uniform.
This is another favorite apron. The fabric combo just sings for me: repurposed orange linens, new flame roses print, striped sash and pocket from a button-down shirt, surfer-print shirt collar trimming below the sash. Some, like this one, I need to photograph in poses appropriate for a variety of juries. “Tattoo alarm,” said my photographer.

Trying another pose hiding the ink.


This lovely Springy apron was made from an XL shirt. I kept the line of the hem along the back and side which I used for the skirt. The sash and pocket are a vintage print in fantastic Florida-orange colors, trimmed with a blue gingham collar.

Another pose.


Catching the model tying one on. We both love the soft percale lining all the bibs. Just like the sheets on the bed at Grandma’s house. Very cheery. I use this on the black and earthy aprons, too.

I call this pose the "apron salute." This apron is rather...unusual. Sometimes I make something and I think, I’m brilliant! Then immediately I think, No one will ever buy it. It’s too weird. Time will tell. This is new mustard fabric in a print of frogs, turtles, and lily pads-with-flowers, the sash and pocket are a vintage 70s (?) floral in murky mud-at-the-bottom-of-the-frog-pond colors, and I trimmed it with a bright pink plaid collar.


Trying different props. I am wrapping this up with one of my photographer’s fave aprons. I cut apart, then pieced the shirt back together so I could have a large enough piece for cutting the skirt in the circle-skirt-like pattern. The pocket and sash are from one of Jack Thurston’s shirts (more on him in an upcoming post). Here is Edie’s analysis:

"The green collar brings out the wonderful green in the rainbow stripe. The blue thread noticeable on the pocket blends the pocket and the stripe together wonderfully. The light purple fabric is perfect for the blue thread on the front and the red on the back. The paisleys on the trim and pocket have superb detail and the gingham is a beautiful summer green."

"Oh, they're ART."

This post is dedicated to Anders, a snowboarding dad who co-chaperones our kids’ downhill program with me at Ascutney Mountain. We’ve been spending the past five Fridays there with several other parents and lots of kids. Our children are in the same class and are friends.

Anders and I were getting to know one another and as I told him about my work (”I make aprons and skirts and etc, etc,…blah, blah…”) he seemed attentive so I continued “I use new designer fabrics but I like to combine them with vintage and recycled fabrics that I get from local thrift stores…”) and he jumped right to the core of it by interjecting in a lightbulb-just-went-on-over-his-head manner “Oh, they’re Art.”

And I instantly felt so grateful to him for his perception and I don’t know if I said “Thank You,” but I certainly felt it. I know I went on to confirm his statement by telling him everything I make is one of a kind. It’s important to me to make functional items that people will touch and wear and find useful in their everyday lives but I am not mindlessly cranking out multiple look-alikes of any certain product. Though I want you to wear it in your kitchen and wipe your hands on it, it is not “just an apron.” It is special. Like you. There are sometimes groups of sisters but there are no two exactly alike.

When I see vintage aprons they are always very interesting and unique. I think this is because they were all made, not bought. For the most part, vintage aprons were made individually, as a creative outlet, with the wearer in mind. It is this kind of special one of a kind item I am trying to make available for those of us who don’t sew our own.


Though I am constantly striving to make the construction process more time-efficient, the process of hunting down and selecting interesting materials and composing them together is a very thoughtful and inspired one. And it builds in an exciting way for me. First I pick individual fabrics that I like. Then I decide what they are appropriate for. There are piles in my workroom labeled “aprons,” “sashes,” “skirts” etc., plus five or six big trays of collars and cuffs arranged by color.

The next step is more exciting: pairing 2 fabrics in a not altogether obvious matchy-matchy way to be the basis for each piece. Lots of cutting, sewing, and other mysterious processes ensue until I have a pile ready for the next, most exciting step of all: finding just the right collar or pair of cuffs to trim each piece and stir it up. That third element changes all and brings the piece to another, higher level of interest. And then marrying the three with the finishing sewing steps and seeing the results is very satisfying.



I am not much taller than these 6th grade novice shredders and their skier friends. That's me on the far left.

vintage fabric inspired body art

Happy, happy.

This post is dedicated to Audrey, my very young at heart, 70 year old customer from Florida. When we met at the Norwich Farmers Market last Fall I noticed a small rose tatto on her wrist and asked her about it. I was doing research at the time (conducting a informal questionnaires about people’s tattoos and their experiences getting/having them) in preparation for getting my first one.

I’ve spoken with Audrey on the phone several times since then and she’s always very encouraging of my business and tattoo plans. And I love the non-specific orders for aprons she places such as “Just pick out the prettiest. I trust your judgment.”
This is her latest order: two of the prettiest Gardening Aprons.

She called me again this morning and I was finally able to report that the tattoo is finished and I have pictures to send her.

Why am I showing off my ink on this blog? The design of my tat is all about my passion for vintage fabrics. When you get a tattoo the design choices are endless. It’s going to be there forever. Now how to decide? I first thought I wanted a tattoo of a beet because I saw a couple of cool beet tattoos and I was really appreciating our fantastic beet crop last summer. But I soon realized that was just a whim.

I asked myself: what have I always loved visually, emotionally and spiritually and will probably continue to love? Answer: vintage fabrics, especially florals. So I gathered together my very favorite prints and considered what aspects of them I liked. I like the definitive, yet delicate outlines, and the distinctly vintage coral pink colors in this group. I brought them all to my consultation appointment with Jim DuVal of Yankee Tattoo in Burlington, VT to help impress upon him my aesthetic vision.

Actually Jim is a big reason why I finally got a tattoo. Though I’ve always enjoyed seeing them on other people, I hardly ever saw one that I liked enough to want one like it. But I became familiar with Jim’s work through facebook and so much of his work had qualities of line and color that I loved, I knew he was the man for the job. Here's Jim at work (one of the few non-hammed up pics from this session). Also of note: I am wearing a sweater crocheted by my grandmother, Marion Curtis, who I try to channel in my textile work. She made it for me when I was in middle school. I totally snubbed it at the time but have gotten a lot of wear out of it now that I am old enough to know better*.



Here’s the fabric I took the design from, side by side with the finished work. It needed to lose the trellis and gain some black outlines to give it a sweet-but-with-an-edge vibe (hey, it’s a tattoo on my muscle-y arm after all). And, ta-da!, the finished ink below. As my friend Michelle astutely observed, “Kind of bad ass but really beautiful at the same time. Hey, kind of like Mountain Ash Design!”


* tip-o-the-nib to Eva Sollberger!

about my staycation

Well, there has been a bit of a hiatus on this here ol’ blog, but don’t worry, folks, MAD has been happily thrumming along. It’s time for an update.

Since this blog is a chronicle of the unfolding adventures of my start-up, home-based, be-my-own-boss craft business, part of the discovery process is in figuring out how to integrate it into the rest of my life, while still having a life.

And what I have been working on with intention in 2010 is creating a guilt-free balance in my life between work, non-work commitments, and personal time.

My business being thus far mainly focused on retail sales at vending events there is a distinct annual cycle to my life and work flow. During the past three years it has looked a bit like this:

Starting in early January and going until sometime in March: turn down no opportunities to play outside in the snow or socialize with the friends I don’t have time to see enough from July – December; procrastinate on doing taxes, then eventually do them; tinker around a bit with new product designs; start getting applications in for farmers markets and Spring shows.

Then, a couple weeks before the first vending event in late March, start sewing like crazy day and night until said show has occurred. Then continue all aspects of the business at a fairly reasonable pace until the Summer vending events begin in earnest.

From July until mid-late December continue to sew madly between vending events to restock inventory. Also often get inspired to tweek and invent products based on customer feedback & new ideas taking very few full days off other than pre-scheduled family vacation time away.

Time off gets more and more scarce and sales increase in proportion until my last show around Dec 21st, after which I collapse, congratulate myself, and get into holiday nesting mode. This is not my ideal work/life balance.

So what happened this year, meaning - in early 2010?

Well, Since early September 2009 I’ve been visioning plans for expansion in 2010 that promised to make much more “productive” (read: work-oriented) use of my time early in the following year. But when the kids returned to school after their holiday break, I couldn’t seem to bring myself to kick back into full gear work-wise, despite my intentions to do so.

During this time my friend, glass artist Terry Zigmund, kept posting on facebook about the 3 week trip she was on in Costa Rica. Realizing I needed more exhaling and rejuvenating time, I decided to enjoy a staycation for as long as Terry was away.

I dabbled in my year-end bookkeeping and filed my 2009 sales taxes, but I let myself off the hook and I saw my friends, enjoyed a lot of time with my family, escaped to mid-century Mexico in Barbara Kingsolver’s new novel, La Lacuna (can’t get myself to use the English definite article the title was published with), xc skied over to my neighbors’ several times for friendly visits and went snowboarding as much as possible.

I was good about keeping my Puritan work ethic at bay and not feeling guilty. I was making up for all those times last Summer I didn’t go to the beach with my friends! I thoroughly enjoyed this time of physical, social and spiritual replenishing. Plus we had great snow.

Towards the end of the 3 weeks I was starting to worry a bit if I’d be able to get back into a disciplined work schedule but when the appointed Monday came along, it wasn’t a problem.

I love my work and I feel very blessed and lucky to be able to swing this alternative lifestyle and make so many of my dreams come true.

So here I am happily working away, for about three weeks now.

Much of my work time so far has been spent timing my production of skirts and aprons so I can accurately figure out my labor costs, an important aspect in pricing as I prepare to offer them for sale in stores this year. I am making HUGE batches to be extra efficient and this timed production will be going on for a while. Sneak peeks of the batch in progress are illustrating the post you now read (if you’ve gotten this far – wow).

Other than the valuable data that will come from this project, I just happen to be building up my inventory and that’s terrific, too.

This is also a big spending time of the year as I order all the supplies I don’t have on hand and can’t get at my local thrift stores: serger thread, bias binding, (*ahem*) bolts of gorgeous new designer fabrics. (feeling the palpable excitement?)

I’m very excited about what the year may hold in store. I have plans to work hard, but also to keep striving for balance. 2010 feels like a good strong number. Plus it’s the Chinese year of the Tiger. Powerful, positive things are going to happen. RAOWR!