Skullie tee

I did some "skullies" on tees for boys, again, three different designs. The Pirate Ghostie has been a bit of a fave with the public so I decided to create a Pirate Skullie.

Babushka tee

I drew this little Babushka, then redrew it in Illustrator. I changed a few details so there are three babushka prints which go on tees, singlets and windcheaters.

Brooches

I have made a few brooches for the shop. My two favourites are the mini tape and double die ones. I made the mini tape for a friend, then one of their friends wanted one, then one of their friends wanted one, then......

Stripey Bibs

I had been wanting to do a set of bibs with a print for each day of the week. Cheap, plain bibs are hard to find, so I bought these bonds stripey bibs and printed an anchor on one and swallows on the other. They also come in navy and white stripe and pink and white stripe.

A red robot windcheater

Following the robot and rabbit story is this little red windcheater with the black robot print. There's a few robot badges on the sleeve that match back to the print.

The light box

I made a light box as a sign for my tshirts. I wanted to have it finished before my friends came for drinks at the shop. After mounting the light and the surrounding frame, I glued the perspex with the vinyl lettering. Standing back to admire the sign I had just finished and the perspex fell down, a corner smashed off and now a stuffed toy sits in one corner of the light box and the customers are none the wiser.

A message for all

Along the lines of a tshirt I did at my other work is this kids tee, "Save Water Drink Milk" which is part of the TAKE AWAY tees menu.

A pink rabbit winnie

It's getting colder in Melbourne and I've done a few kids windcheaters with the rabbit print on them.

Travel Journal and other little books

I had a few books cut ready to bind, but naver made it to the binders. I bought a binding machine on ebay and have hand cut a few more books, including the travel journal which features maps of the world, a copy of the inflight emergency procedure booklet and an airmail envelope.

Two babushka doll cushions

Remember those dolls that sit one inside another and each time you open one, there's a smaller one inside? These babushka dolls are soft toy like cushions that would be a perfect cuddle partner for any kid.

Mint Green Rabbit Singlets

Under the brooches and bessemerware, you'll find the mint green rabbit singlets!!

Bunny Singlets

Sitting in the yellow area, on top of the Tasmanian Lager tray are the bunny singlets. I had done a few tees and singlets with these on it for my friend's shop in Brunswick St, Tomorrow Never Knows. Having done a few for Know Your Product, they have sold quite well.

It's been a while

Well it's been a busy month and some of these pics are old, but they will be new things to those of you who haven't yet seen the shop!!

The Ghostie Collection

Under the 'Take Away Tees' label, I decided to expand on the 'ghosties' story. The crossed mouth ghostie and the pirate ghostie were in my original folio, whilst the others are new additions. All the ghostie tees are printed on Bonds kids raglan tees. I have future plans to do tees for adults too.

Take Away Tees

I have got a section of the shop devoted to my make a tshirt vision. Basically I put together a folio, made a lightbox sign and bought a heap of blank kids tshirts. I decided to print a few of the tees just to give the customers a taste of what is to come.

The cuckoo clock

This one is a pearler. While it doesn't go off on the hour, every hour, the times it does go off, always brings the shop to silence. Everyone stands in awe as the computerised sounds of the forest and a chirpy cuckoo ring in the hour. One not to be missed upon a visiti to the shop.

Mum's dresses

Mum had made some dresses out of fabric she'd brought from Lincraft. For fear of having the same fabric as someone else, she sourced vinatge shirts to make the dresses from. As a child, Mum's riding teacher was Mrs Coffey, so I made a swing tag of a young girl on her horse at pony club and placed the name "Mrs Coffey" along one side. The dresses hang above one of the changerooms.

Three more brooches

These brooches are medallions from sporting and other prestigious clubs. They fit perfectly into a souvenir teaspoon case and a piece of astro turf adds to the sporty/vintage feel of the brooches.

Bat Brooche

I hand cut a bat out of black lino / vinyl and attached a brooch pin to the back of it. Packaging was in the form of a printed piece of paper which held the brooche and was inserted into a cassette cover, it was snapped up on Thursday night when I had drinks at the shop.

The grey robot

He also sits in the window, on display in the expedit. The oversize 20 cent coin is a money box, part of a small collection I have throughout the store.

The blue robot

He sat in the window with the blue section, which has now changed and was sold just the other day!

The yellow robot

The shop opened for trading on Saturday, 31st March. Here's one of the robots I made to go with my first kids collection - Robots and Rabbits. It was sitting alongside Harv's cat which sold along with the elephant - another of his stuffed toys.

A laminated sign

We still have the old Subterranean shop sign on our awning, and Harv made this one for our window. We're hoping to make signage for our lightbox and get the old sign removed from the awning.

The other half of the shop

We've all seen the left hand side of the shop, and here's the right hand side. All merchandised into the colours and sitting quite well together.

Merchandising

Cath and I had no idea of how to merchandise, but Harv did. Everything was merchandised into its colour and against the white walls and on the not so white expedits, the whole collection sat well together and we were ready to open.

Carpet Tiles

We needed to do something with the floor. The tiles in the middle were white, which fit well into the scheme, but the outer tiles were an ugly beige colour. After a lot of searching, Harv found these carpet tiles at our favourite junk shop, just up the road in Northcote. With some elbow grease, heavy duty glue and a spare Saturday, we lay the carpet tiles to cover the beigeness and frame the whiteness!

The counter

While ebay is playing a vital role in the search for our products, it was also the saviour in the dying hours of trying to find a counter for the shop. After the stress and anticipation of ebay bidding, Harvey won the ex-icecream counter and with some elbow grease, it has come up a treat and will serve as our shop counter.

Fittings and Displays

A range of different pieces of furniture are being gathered and will form the shelving, racking and display areas for our product. It's amazing how many shades of white there are and that the 'white' ikea expedits look alittle 'off white' when placed in front of our beatifully painted white walls.

The interior

63 High St was previously a Vintage clothing store with two very spacious and sturdy changerooms. A fresh coat of paint in the changerooms and around the walls of the shop changed the unloved and scungy look of the shop to a very bright and pristine gallery like interior, except for the tiles.......

The Shop

Welcome to 63 High St, 'in the next few weeks' we are opening the doors of "Know Your Product" to the creative and curious consumers out there. Cath, Harvey and myself will entice you with new and secondhand products, handmade and manmade products, and general riff raff. This is the beginning, an early shot of the shop from the east side of High St.