check it out

It's my new online store:


I thought a separate shop might be helpful for those who want to purchase my items but don't want to sign up with Etsy. I'm using the service Big Cartel, which I highly recommend for fellow artists and designers who want to set up an online store on a tight budget. Since my designs are bold, I used one of their templates to make a really simple looking shop, but you can also do all kinds of things if you know web design. It is nice to know that I can tweak things a bit if I am really motivated one day!

New summer items!

In June I was finally able to start on my new line of bags, three of which are now available in my Modern Radar Etsy shop. Hooray! I am very pleased with the way they've been turning out. After printing on pre-made bags for about a year, I finally decided to go back to sewing my own again. Ultimately, I got tired of the basic tote bag and wanted more control over shape, canvas color, etc. Another motivation was that if I mess up during the printing process it doesn't waste a whole bag, just a section of cloth. Definitely a good thing! I've also figured out how to streamline the contruction process over the last year or so, so I don't end up spending unneccesary hours slaving away at the sewing machine. That was the problem the first time I tried making them myself. You'd think having sewn consistently since I was a kid I'd have it all figured out by now, but I'm constantly looking at how things are put together and being amazed at how I overcomplicate things.


I also have a few new card designs for sale, including these cutesy bunnies that I couldn't resist printing. I think they'd be great for baby showers, kids, and grown-ups like me :).


The few of my old totes I have left are now on clearance, and I'll be adding a few limited edition pillows to my shop over the next day or so. It is very gloomy here today so taking pictures of them will be a bit of a struggle, but hopefully I can work some photo magic and have them up by tonight!

backyard history weekends

I rarely get sick. When I do it always takes me awhile to realize because I forget what the symptoms feel like. After coming back from a six-plus mile hike on Sunday, something hit me. It's a mild sort of thing, mostly dizziness and lack of energy, peppered with a tiny bit of coughing. It is not helping me get any work done. Sunday morning also happens to be "pancake morning" at our house, a ritual with includes sitting and watching "This Old House" while eating the pancakes (how dorky is that?!). Anyway, whenever I go for a hike after pancakes I always get hungry about an hour or two into our trek and have to remind myself how two small pancakes are not a hearty breakfast. Then we do the same thing again a week later. Sigh. Anyway, I think the combination of a rigorous hike and inadequate fuel may have weakened me a bit and triggered my illness. That combined with my taking Thursday and Friday off for my birthday leaves this work week in a sorry state. I had planned to catch up on some printing, but I'm thinking now I might be more productive if I just sit and work on new designs most of the day and try to fight this bug.

Since I am sort of on the subject of our hiking rituals, I want share a few of the hundreds of photos I have taken over the last few months. These are from the trails all around the Eno River. We have probably covered about 20 miles of trail so far. What I really like about these particular routes are all the ruins of abandoned houses, mills, dams, and Durham's first water pumping station, mostly dating from the late 1800's.

part of Durham's first water pumping station circa 1887

Old pumping equipment - the channel this is sitting in is filled with about 10 ft. deep with dirt and leaves. We could barely see the tops of the tunnel that originally brought water to the pump.

Another tree must have fallen on these guys when they were young, then rotted away.

It's hard to tell from the photo, but this house was in the prettiest spot,
right by a brook lined with daffodils

Anyway, these trails are super fun if you happen to live in the area. I give them an A+!!

new for spring

It has been a very cold and gloomy start to the week here. I'm glad I took pictures last week when the house was less cave-like. I know I have ranted about my camera at some point in the past, pining for a real one with a nice big lens (rather than a point-and-shoot). Surprisingly, it actually took o.k. photos this time, without a lot of struggle. I think the quality of light in the winter helps. It is more conducive to taking pictures in my home, maybe partially because the leaves are off the trees. If only I could create all my designs for the year in the winter so I could get decent photos. Anyway, it's always a great day when I don't have to do any retakes!


These are some of the new pouch patterns I am trying out this spring. I was so excited to find the buttercup yellow canvas, as well as a periwinkle blue that I don't have a finished product for yet. I had been looking for canvas to buy in bulk in colors besides the typical red, green, blue.


I've also been stocking the Modern Radar shop with decorative pillows, which are available exclusively through my Etsy shop. Initially I wanted to offer them wholesale, but then it hit me that I have no place in my 900 square foot home to store all of the bulky pillow forms I would need to keep on hand.


Plus, dealing with enormous shipping boxes would be a challenge too. Eeek! I had this vision of myself getting injured trying to bring a stack of large boxes to the post office, since you can't pay for Parcel Post from home to get a pick-up unless you rent a postal meter. Mmmm...too much for me to handle. Shipping becomes a real science if you are a small business and want to do it on the cheap using the USPS. Don't get me wrong, I am a big fan and have had great luck with them. In three years I have only had one late delivery and one lost package (going to China). But, memorizing all the regulations, box sizes, which customs form to use when, etc... has definitely taken me some time to master. I still learn something new every few times I go.

Well, unfortunately I get to honor this rainy gray weather by starting my taxes. Blah. I am trying not to procrastinate. Better to get them done now than leave them for when I am busy and stressed. Hopefully I can do something more exciting this afternoon!

happy new year!!

O.k., its maybe a bit belated now, but better than never, right? This holiday season came and went so quickly this year. Between running Modern Radar, deciding foolishly in October to take on renovating the garage into a studio (stress!), doing a custom printing job, and going back to my old retail job as holiday help...I was pretty much in a whirlwind the whole time.

After taking a week or so off after x-mas, I am back in full swing designing lots of new stuff for 2009. Thanks to everyone who purchased items from both my shops last year, all the folks who bought my stuff at the Rock and Shop Market, all the retailers who sell my products, and my great friends and aquaintances. You are all amazing! The support has really made me rethink some of the misgivings I have been having about whether to keep running my business full time. I've realized that, while not perfect, working from home has become such an important element of my life over the past year. It allows me to be my own boss, structure my own workdays, with the fringe benefit of flexibility to work on more elaborate personal projects (i.e.- fine art and crafty stuff) that will hopefully lead to future job opportunities that I can do in tandem with Modern Radar.

(closeup of "raindrops" screen)

That said, I have decided to give it one more great push this year. It really helped a lot to examine the total picture of how my business runs (a la my yearly profit/ loss statement in Quickbooks). I learned so much about what works and what doesn't, what items to design more of and what to discontinue. I think if I can make some little changes here and there, it will make a big difference and I'll be able to soldier on. The main challenge will be living simply to fit our budget, but Daniel and I have always been pretty frugal. A tight budget forces us to be more creative, which is always more satisfying for me in the end.

I'll also be addressing some of my environmental issues by gradually switching over to an even more eco-friendly company for my cardstock (as soon as I run out of the old stuff), and focus my product line more on smaller useful items....more pouches and stationary items, less of the tote bags. The new card at the top was designed to be a pseudo-Valentine's card, but I'm thinking this gold on cream might work well all year round...maybe for weddings, anniversaries?

Then there is my newly renovated garage studio, which I hope to share pictures of soon. It really helps streamline my process. The badly lit image above is a section of my studio's "inspiration board", much of which has now become very old inspiration. Anyway, I'll be back with pictures of some new items and other thoughts early next week!

the waiting game...

I ran out of blanks for most of my popular tote styles, so I have to just sit and twiddle my thumbs in anticipation of their arrival. Although, my new Permaset non-toxic textile inks just arrived. Thanks Fed Ex! These will hopefully replace the Nazdar water based inks I bought a few weeks ago, which I quickly realized were much more toxic than the ones I had been previously using. I should have been suspicious when a spec sheet for the Nazdar inks arrived in the mail before my inks did, but I was busy and only glanced at it. The added toxicity didn't really sink in until I opened the container and got an instant headache from the fumes. It had that choking "this could potentially give you cancer" type of smell. I'd rather not take my chances. I am excited about the Permaset inks though, despite the fact that they are pricey. It's worth my health, right? I'll give you the update after I try them incase there are any fellow textile printers out there who are curious.

On the topic of environmental concern, one of the greatest moral quandries I have with being a designer/artist/crafter is that I feel like most people buy too much stuff, reuse too little, and don't want to spend a lot of money on individual items. That's bad to say being a designer, huh? I can totally relate to people on the spending side. Because of my financial situation, a lot of gorgeous, reasonably priced, handmade items are still out of my range and I mostly "window shop" on sites like Etsy (my wish list is a mile long!). I sew most of my clothing, when I need something I usually rehab used items (like my chairs below), and I almost always check the thrift stores for vintage housewares before I'll buy something new.

(My kitchen. Almost everything in this pic is a thrift store find.)

As far as my own designs, I give myself a bit of a break considering some of the stuff I saw while working in retail. I would watch people buy gag gifts like "the inflatable husband....he never talks back!", which amounts to a plastic blow up 3 foot long man/raft-like thing, made in China, then stuffed in a giant paper box so it can generate 2-3 minutes of laugher (if that). At least the things I make are somewhat useful, more biodegradable, and hopefully have less of a chance of ending up in a landfill in a week!

I have been considering starting to use more sustainable materials for my products soon, but doing so when I am financially strapped is definitely a challenge, and because I value my customers, I want to keep my products somewhat consistent for them. So the issue is how to change over while maintaining that consistency. Many of the fabric colors I use are not available in sustainable cotton, and I would also be back to sewing my bags myself, therefore the price goes up, I am able to produce less, etc.. I don't really want to mess with re-pricing my totes again. I still have a ton of backstock to go through, so it would be a gradual transition anyway. I am thinking the best way to start will be by creating a few products made with sustainably produced and non-toxic materials to add to Etsy-land and see how things go. I also want to switch to a different paper supplier, but that will be less of a upheaval since they have similar colors and prices.

(Sustainable and organic fabric samples. So nice!!)

My shopping/ consumption philosophy is part of what made me realize recently that in the long run I don't think I want to keep Modern Radar as my only gig. Quitting my reliable job to run a business full time is definitely the hardest thing I have ever done. I've learned through the experience that being an "outsourcing...traveling around to gift shows...peddling my wears" type of gal is just not where I like to put my energy, and I think that is where I would have to go from here to generate a steady income. I like when customers and shop owners discover me and get in touch, rather than doing a lot of advertising. There is something much more personal about that for me...knowing that they like my work enough to reach out and support what I do. I enjoy creating the most when business is on a really small scale. I can let it grow naturally and not mass produce. But that means not always being able to live off the income. I also have lots of other interests and facets to life that I've had to let go, like my fine art, in order to devote myself completely to my business. It is really tough. I could do it if I had to, but my heart just wouldn't be in it.

Man...that turned into quite the confessional! This is all this stuff has been running through my brain during my blogging hiatus, what I referred to in my last post as "big decisions". I usually don't like to write about this stuff until I have stewed about it for quite awhile, so it all comes out in big bursts like this. Anyway, I hope to bring you all along as I work out these changes and share my research.

Uh...I think I hear the UPS truck. Time to go!

hello october!...where have i been?

Has it really been almost two months since I last posted? Where did September go? Life has been crazy lately...lots of big decisions to make while juggling business for the upcoming holiday season. I have to admit I am a bit behind. We are starting the process of converting our garage into a studio space (finally!), and because we have little to no money that isn't spoken for, we are doing most of the work ourselves. It won't be too difficult for us since we are fairly handy people, it is relatively well built, attached to the house, has lots of outlets already, etc., but it does take a bit of time and research to make sure we are doing the insulation and everything properly. We're only planning on heating or cooling the space while we are working, so insulation will be the key. Then there is figuring out what to do with all of the stuff that is in the garage right now. So much of the junk that I found I haven't pulled out in 5 years or more. Most of it was found items, not so great thrift store finds, old "dorm room" style furniture, etc. We were pretty ruthless about getting rid of things. It was great! The guy at Thrift World was chuckling as I filled the entire donation bin last week. That wasn't even all of it! My car is still full.

For the practical stuff we want to keep, we are building a large outdoor storage box, in lieu of buying a pricey shed, to keep our smaller tools and gardening supplies in. Pretty much every extra moment from now 'til the end of the year is going to be filled with drills and paint cans. I'm really looking forward to having an actual studio, but I'll be glad when it's done. I'm tired already.

Anyway, in Modern Radar news, my tote bags are now $20 instead of $24. I decided to have a sale on them to test the waters and the response made me decide to lower the everyday price. Makes things a little tight on the wholesale end, but I hope my Etsy customers will make it all worthwhile. Here is my new "vintage garden" tote design that should be in my shop by the end of next week.



I also realized I never posted an update on Daniel's and my new side-project. It's another Etsy shop called Common Decency. We are going to sell most of these items on a strictly retail basis, so we have more ability to experiment and limit the numbers we make. It is also a long needed place to sell our weirder designs that don't exactly fit in amongst all the Modern Radar cuteness. Daniel creates images by manipulating old etchings with a photocopier (I can just imagine all the strange looks he gets whenever he takes a trip to the local Kinko's). They are really neat and I always want to steal them to use in my own work, so I nabbed a few of the more conservative ones to start with and began printing. I've also thrown in a few other designs using straight forward early 20th century clip art and our original drawings.


If I had the time right now I would love to work on more ideas for this shop, but may have to stick with what is already there through the busy season. Once we get our garage turned into a workable studio, it will hopefully be easier for both of us to do more designing and printing in our free time and be more prolific.