Painting some Steampunk for my next Halloween fabric line!

Fabric design is a lot of work but it is such a fun and creative outlet for lots of artwork! I love the whole aspect of developing a concept, the focal fabrics and the supporting fabrics that make each fabric line unique and different. Don't get me wrong, its hard work with lots of time invested into thinking up the concept, creating the designs, drawing and painting to put together a fabric line. Sometimes I have a great idea and I spend the time to develop it and paint it only to not use it. Not everything turns out. But art is all about the journey! It's a wild, never ending journey that I love.

Last night my husband and I pulled a very rare, but occasional all nighter and it wasn't because we were partying or etc. I was to get the line in before the deadline date.

There are so many things that have to come together to make a fabric line cohesive and usable and there are many different ways to reach that goal. Some designers do everything on the computer. From their drawing, painting, vectorizing etc. Thats awesome too, each of us have our way of bring you lots of beautiful and diverse designs to get you excited to create.

I think that is another aspect of this whole process, inspiring others to create. Whether I inspire someone to take an art class or I inspire them to go home and sew, for an artist that feeds our creative souls.

The process for me since I do a lot of novelty fabrics is I create a theme and will write down everything I can think of that is related to that subject or theme.  I sketch first then refine the drawings and then paint, developing different aspects and characters for my lines. Then my husband brings them into the computer and works his magic by cleaning up my lines, if I paint outside the lines he makes me look like I don't! He adds the elements that I have painted separately so that the design comes to life. I paint everything separately so that I can have it to use it in other places in the fabric line or if I need it in another line. For instance, at the end of the video notice how the bird now has chain hanging from his neck with keys. All done separately and added later on the computer. I also used the keys in the tossed and the chain and keys on a cat. Okay, so now you know some of the secrets of Fabric Design, well some of mine anyway!

To see more of my designs visit my website at www.desireesdesigns.com
To see more of my artwork visit my other website at www.desireehabicht.com

Thanks for watching!

I might be a bit early but who cares!! Our Apothecary Shop!!

I am excited to be already working on things for the holidays. Going into Fall is inspiring! I just love it, the holidays are right around the corner. This year we have decided to decorate for Halloween. We don't usually do that but this year Jen and I decided to set up an Apothecary Shop on a big antique we have. So we have been collecting jars, labels, bugs etc. The creepy part is that some of these were already in Jenns room! We have an interesting design esthetic.  So yesterday we began setting up our shop. We added plastic bugs to oil in jars along with plastic bones and pictures. We have had fun a the dollar store along with digging through cupboards and Jenn's room! We are also finding free Halloween labels and ideas on Pinterest!!

A side view of the display

We still need to add some spiders in liquid and details to our set up but its coming along!

This jar of caterpillars (plastic) really look real, ick! LOL loving it, oh it does have a few cockroaches thrown it also. I used old vegetable oil, not water, to float the critters.

Dollar store purchases except for my Boo-licious chalkboard painting in back!

One of my favorite pictures, you can see the oil in with these small black snakes that look like worms. I used my collection of old coffee and tea pots which added to the look. Under the things you can see some netting, it was called creepy cloth at the dollar store! The white ball under glass is actually a kidney stone that Jenn's horse passed many years ago. It was so amazing, and she worked for a vet, so we kept it. It adds the crazy collection. 

Still in progress but will post more later!! Having fun sharing ideas!

What are you planning for Halloween this year? You might consider setting up a shop of your own! Share you photos!