Branching out

I've spent the last couple of weeks experimenting with making things beyond greeting cards. This has been really rewarding. I am excited about many possibilities going forward. My head has been spinning with ideas I want to try. If only time and energy were on my side *sigh*.

My main focus has been getting ready for the Ravenswing event and to a lesser extent, Ottawa Comic-con which both happen this month.

The first thing I experimented with is iron-on transfers. I have always wanted to put my images on tote bags and T-shits. Up until now I have making t-shirts and bags by working directly on the fabric items with fabric paint, markers and crayons, with mixed results. Ideally I would like to do screen printing but that is not something I'm looking to invest in at the moment. I'm just working on a small scale, making things for family and friends.

Having seen fabric transfer papers in the printer paper section of stores, I was curious to see if they work. I bought a couple of different types. The first one I tried is the Avery fabric transfer for light clothes. I made two bags and one t-shirt. The results are good! Still, I`m curious about the longevity, so the final verdict will come in a while. I have another brand of transfers for dark fabric still to try. There is a lot of potential here, but it's not something I'll have for sale at  Ravenswing but you may see me wearing/ using some of these items at comic con ;-)

For the t-shirt I used one of my "Muss" comics.
On the bags I used a couple of my more recent drawings. They all turned out great!

Another thing I've been working on are a series of  keepsake boxes which I will have for Ravenswing. More about the in my next post. Here is the before: