Savvy she is; creating original patterns infused with symbolism, wonder + structure, directly proportional to their inherent compositional strengths.  Sarah dreams up patterns, hand-screen-prints all, and is well-accomplished in her applications- from her fashion-silhouette creations to her adorable tea towels and napkins.dots pattern in yellow, drippy napkins in orange, meshy dress at top

meshy dress // photo by Nancy Froehlich

brushstroke dress // photo by Nancy Froehlic

Mali-India dress // from where fabrics were procured // photo by Nancy Froehlich

Process-oriented and steadfast, sarah prefers to do most everything soup-to-nuts by hand.

For "dots," Sarah first drew influence from the Rabari Indian [desert] tribe whose culture she was immersed in a few years back. Each tribe member sported signature dot tattoos all over their arms, legs, neck and back.  Reacting to the arid climate, the dots wrinkled and ink bled into cracks of skin. To replicate this interesting pattern, Sarah drew tiny dots on several types of paper, including toilet paper, with several pen types, and blew them up to the present scale on a copy machine to discern which made the most interesting now-manipulated dot.  That favored dot, in all of it's processed-glory, appears as one of Sarah's original patterns, aptly named "dots" ::"dots" on a lavender pillow, available at radica.etsy.com

yellow "dots" pattern at top, stenciled lace on silk- in progress- belowOther patterns inspired by her time in India, whereupon she taught color-theory with Kala Raksha [as she jokes of the notable absurdity of an American teaching Indians color theory; her host-country peers joked that she looked as if she was dressed to attend a funeral, or worse, as if she was a 'widow' <<at time of comment, sarah was sporting pink jeans + a red tee-shirt>>].  The Bundi pattern features a radial-symmetry-homage to rickshaws and garlands referencing the town for which it was named ::

I delight in her process- there is a certain integrity and spirit in each of her patterns- though each final product stands on it's own- there exists an ever-present small history woven within.  With the playful "pompoms" pattern- Sarah first hand-made the yarned-pompoms, then photographed them, then drew from the photographs! yielding pleasure such as this ::

detail of "pompoms" pattern on dress // photo by Nancy FroehlichDrawing inspiration from everyday, her studio is neatly scattered with drawings of her mother's china pattern, creative friends' past holiday cards, images+ephemera from her talented fiance, Bruce of Post Typography, maps she went library-diving for, et al.broadcloth logo by bruce at post typography

Works in progress, for which there are consistently-many, abound + are exciting(!)...even her sprawling work table, has a myriad of older-prints that overlap in an inspiring fashion.

Visit radica on etsy here. Find there stress-less lavender pillows featuring fabrics from far-away or of her own design...napkins for the impending picnic season...some of her rad dresses...adorable vintage notions...+more.

sugarcane harvesting in India

Staving off sugar [cane+corn based] in the 2010 year [of the tiger] involves some out-of-box thinking and, at times, lots of annoying questions to restaurant-waitresses. Taking a prairie approach and eating in most of the time [recession-friendly] helps...as does creating fun projects to help encourage staying-power.

next up - growing stevia. perhaps in this awesome, mini-gray-water-retention rendition of a flower pot, of course, by eva solo. Clever girl, that one.

With a self-draining, self-containing pot [water drips into below decanter to re-water [rinse/repeat], and a minimal silouhette, this pot can grace my window sill any old day.from Happy Sleepy on flickr.

Some stevia-fun-facts. About 10x more concentrated sweetness in comparison to its canelike competition, it contains no calories, no chemicals and can be grown easily like any other herb.  Add whole leaves to tea or dry and mortar+pestle the heck out of it to add to recipes. details here.  organic stevia plant available here. eva solo pot here.

or otherwise pass the time in a delightfully fruitful manner...

as part of an exhibit, type is art has an online interface for to create uncommon forms from common typographical parts + pieces.

start with a movable/scalable palette of serifs + shoulders et al and create whatever moves you...

here's my 2 minute rendition- apples on a wave of peanut butter...time for breakfast, I think...

all images copyright 2010 // anc.

hope your valentines days' were visually, and otherwise, stimulating.

 balloon print by alicebgardens here.

retro playsuit [yes.] by ouma here.

 tea length tulle skirt also by ouma here.

a [something] you sentiment here ::

here's some alternative ♡ in tunes...

+ as thewanderous turns 1 this week- here + here are the valentine's day suggestions from last year...growing up [aww 1!] provides much perspective- as tulle skirts, kickass music + a weekend jaunt may do one better.

obsession first realized four years ago at a location, aptly named Inch Beach, in Ireland ::

copyright 2010 anc//inch beach//ireland also captured small folks jaunting along the Badlands this summer...copyright 2010//anc//badlands south dakotadiscovering Slinkachu [British street artist], and his "little people" street art was like love [art] first sight...

copyright slinkachu

copyright slinkachu

copyright slinkachu

copyright slinkachu inspired me to take my obsession home with me. I now have 4 little scenes starring little people of my own scattered around my house...

find Slinkachu's blog here. and newly released [small] book [!] here.

**thxx heidi for the submission idea**

confettisystem finally broke the packaged-party mold with their alternative fete eye-feast.

hang the streamers and heat the hot toddies...long hauls can be fun...

Infusing occasional humor and clearly, design smarts into each and every project- Studio on Fire in unafraid of both form and function.  Not every shop would run tongue depressors individually through a press for the use of business cards. The outcome makes it clear why they did ::

Some of their work [as displayed during the visit] ::

They do a mix of design + printing and also simply printing work, but seem to have a keen eye for designers they work with. Their projects range from clever to awesome to witty and swell.  Perhaps it's the well-lit modern studio [full of beautifully-old presses] acting as a canvas for striking design ::

 playing hard...as evidenced on their dedicated-beer-can-wall. awesome.

Find out more about Studio on Fire on their site, and also via Beast Pieces, their amazing blog.  You know you want to...

I would be a fool to finish this sans mentioning their awesome yearly calendars, desk-sized and 2 months at a time designed by them alongside other design-contributors.

Studio on Fire is donating a whopping 100% of proceeds from their 2010 calendar sales to Haiti [via UNICEF]. Buy one here.

next week, in a more wanderously-on-schedule manner, expect hibernating techniques and other forms of 'escape.'

happy weekending...

Bookbook by twelve south.