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.

First Tapron

So I read somewhere that you can make pretty accurate and stable stencils using freezer paper. You cut the shape and then iron it onto the fabric with an iron minus the steam. This is my first try and I'm pretty happy with the results. The edges are pretty sharp and the white is good and dense. After this sample I can see that text may be a bit of a problem. maybe I'll get a custom stamp made. ... also I'm not sure if the image is too big. Thanks to Chloe for modeling!

Another printing block .....

Last week, Holly and Larry (http://www.greyweathers.com/index.html) gave me a fantastic Indian printing block for my Tapron project. This one is around 6" in length. The intricacy of the design and the realization that somebody had the skill to hand carve such a piece staggers me. Such craftsmanship. I wonder if they're still made these days.

Fabric printing blocks ....

A few years back I came across some small fabric printing blocks. They were originally from India. Just as a thought, I wonder if I could use these blocks in conjunction with my Tapir stencils. Replacing the white 'saddle' of the Malaysian tapir with a white printed fabric block. Maybe the printing blocks could be used for the border design I'm planning to have running around the bottom of the apron. It occurs to me that as this project progresses, I'm more and more convinced that one design will not do it ….. there is so much here - design-wise! So much to try out.

Cut paper ideas

Some ideas using cut paper. I'm liking this 'simple' approach, but feel the type is too much of a contrast. I wonder if I can get a stencil typeface that has some of the 'drawn-line' nature of the image. Hmmmmm! I suppose I could handwrite the title ... but could I do it 30 times?

Tapir Stencil ... simple

I don't think I'll be producing anything too sophisticated ….. just me and a sponge brush. So, I'm thinking of a stylized running tapir. This might form the main chest image.

Testing .... ink and stencils

I think I'm going to print images using stencils. The stencils I'm making are made using thin plastic …. like the plastic in a 3 hole punch page envelope. After a trial I've found that Speedball Fabric Screen Printing Ink seems to work best. You apply a warm iron after the printing for 5 mins to fix it. Although how many times do you wash an apron? I'm using a sponge brush rather than a stipple brush. The latter seems to pull up the fabric. I'm such a novice at this! … perhaps I should be spray glueing things down.

Seemed like a good idea at the time ....

I had thought that 30 aprons on a line, all blowing in the breeze would make a great image …. but by the time I got them all up, the wind had died down and so they all look pretty limp. Perhaps I'll try this again when they're printed.

Aprons arrive!

This year's World Tapir Day project has started with the delivery of 30 black aprons. Over the next 8 weeks I'll be printing Tapir images on them, turning them into 'TAPRONS'. Like the last two years I will offer these up for sale on the 27th April and then donating all funds to the Tapir Preservation Fund.