World Tapir Day 2011

World Tapir Day 2011 was once again a great event. Great because of the friends I have who seem to understand and appreciate the sense of fun with which I view this project. I am so grateful to all concerned ... those who put up with my idiosyncrasies, smile benignly at my ravings, dip into their pockets for the cause of a threatened rain forest animal and after all that .... allow me to photograph them! (and I mean that exclamation mark) Thank you to all - I will do my best to keep you informed as to where your donations end up. I'm hoping you will all join in again at next year's Tapir Caper. You can see tapron wearers at: http://tinyurl.com/6b7qwf9

A first .... a tapir haiku

My short nose gives me
prehensile snout envy
but I smell better.

Thanks to Sue Dzioba (djembe) ..... a tapir person if ever there was one

30 bags

The bags are ready. I used some of the stamps I had used on the Taprons themselves. So it ended up as a mixture of stamps and stencils. It looks a little crude - but I think it's perfectly suitable for the application ... it's packaging after all!

Gift bags! of course!

I think I've found the right way to package the taprons .... paper gift bags (with handles). The white ones allow me to put some Tapir info on them while also being able to print some appropriate graphics. The images in the pictures here are not finished yet .... these are bases. When thinking of what constitutes some good tapir info, Chloe said "why don't you just put down some facts, you know in bullet form - like the Lululemon bags!" Oh yes! like I know all about them! So here's the result. Better than a small book I think. And yes, there will be a test afterwards.

Five designs for the Tapron spring collection ...

For a while now, I have wanted to not only mark World Tapir Day but also to mark the day here in Ottawa - and in 2011. To mark it in time so to speak. And so I thought I would create a stamp. A frank of some sort like a postage stamp cancellation. This lead me to seeking out postage stamps that pictured Tapirs. And so now the aprons have been finished off with stamps and franks marking 27 April 2011, Ottawa.

As a by-product this allows me to name each tapron as if it were a design in fashion catalogue ..... So may I introduce 'The Belize"; "The Borneo"; "The Nicaragua"; The Vietnam"; and "The Indonesia"......

20 days to go!

So, thirty taprons with the Indian fabric print block on top of thirty stencils. Next - some title text.

Cutting Stencils

15 stencils cut today ...... all these paper ghosts hanging in my studio. Another 15 to go.