proprietary notions

It's not that I have not been creative, lately: now that I keep a blog I like the rhythm of keeping records of my design process. But this is the time of the season when I am working madly on new designs which don't just belong to me. I design for Renaissance Ribbons, for my line of LFN Textiles Artist's Ribbons, and we had a very satisfying couple of days in California earlier in the month going over lots of new design ideas. We have about 10 new ribbons in sampling right now. Such excitement! There will be at least 2, maybe 3 new holiday designs; 2-3 for fall; 2 new colorways for the brocaded Butterfly, and various & sundry other marvels to tempt you with ... but I don't feel quite sanguine about posting designs before final approval!

I have been working on a great new rug design for Crate & Barrel, hopefully for fall 2010 -- can't show you! And another rug for Land of Nod, a new and delightful client of mine. And some bedding sets as well -- dream work, to be sure. Imagine drawing the kind of bed you would have loved to wake up in as a 10 year old. And the rug to go in the room, too.

I hope that in the next few weeks I will have several new ribbons to write about; the new Crate & Barrel items, for fall 2009, should show up on the market in August. So we will all have to be patient.

Here is a little preview. (just couldn't keep it all to myself!)

spotted on Cole Haan!

The other day a woman I know walked into the gallery shop downstairs in sandals that looked very familiar: Erika squealed out "Laura! Come see" and Vicki's cute flipflops turned out to be trimmed in my Bukhara ribbon, and made by Cole Haan! I haven't been able to turn them up online --- must have been a collection which has sold out already, or from last year! Since I don't do my own wholesaling I rarely know who buys them until moments like this. Fun!

what do you think of these colors?

I just adore color. It really is one of my reasons to make art. I found myself giving unsolicited advice yesterday to a neighbor painting the facade of his new restaurant here in New Harmony, to change a tiny little detail in a scroll color -- and prefaced it with the fact that I am a Colorist. (oh, please! I can be a bit high handed, I am sure).

Here are some proposed new colorways for my Auricula Ribbon. I want to do it in a narrower width -- maybe 7/8" -- and think the round flowers will look like punchy polka dots at that scale.

Please weigh in with comments as to which colors you like best!

These designs are copyright Laura Foster Nicholson 2009.

creative mending with ribbon

I have been advocating mending for while now as the truly eco thing to do, yet I find myself happier making something from scratch than mending something old & familiar. The creative in me I guess. But I adore my Uzbek embroidered bag, so yesterday I mended the frayed handles by enclosing them in ribbon. I was particularly happy about this because it gave me a chance to decorate an original piece of Uzbek stitchery with one of my suzani ribbons -- Samarkand Scroll -- which is an homage to Uzbek stitching ("Suzani" comes from the word meaning "stitch").

There is a detailed account of this project on Rayela's Fiber Focus blog, where this is posted as my first guest blog.

next ribbon show

I will be taking my ribbons on the road again in June, to the Original Creative Festival in Cincinnati. I thought it would be a good way to build on the positive response to the ribbons in Paducah.

Show dates are June 25-27 at the Sharonville Convention Center, 11355 Chester Road, Sharonville OH. Come visit if you are in the area!

I wish I could make these things

I was just scrolling through my files of "things to make with ribbon" and I found these images which have always inspired me. These are some of the best things I could ever dream of making -- but as you can see, somewhat time intensive. All of these images are courtesy of the Victoria & Albert's amazing website.

summer's sweetest oranges

What a lovely photo, no? I received this yesterday from Renaissance Ribbons -- it is part of a new promotion for LFN Textiles ribbons, and the photographer, Keith Walley, has added such magic to the ribbons!