I've gone Bananas!

Remember this post? Guess what arrived in the mail two nights ago. My samples! I totally loved it and it came out way better than I expected. So I've since gone on to make a big order. Well, not really, considering I'm only going to get 8 scarfs made for each design. But you see, silk printing is ridiculously crazy expensive and so that's all I can afford. I actually had to sit and stare at my laptop, do my maths ( Which I must say is not the most accurate ) and tell myself, 'Dawn, you do need to be brave and take the risk.' So after speaking to Darren about how much I should invest, I went ahead and did it. Ordered 20 yards of silk crepe de chine. 20 YARDS! That's a lot of silk, and a lot of money! Ahhhh. I almost had a bit of a panic attack after. Had to calm myself down by cooking dinner. My, my! But I reckon it will all be worthwhile. Well, we'll see.

Once they arrive, I'll have them hand-hemmed by a nice seamstress and they'll make their debut in my shop. From my guesstimate, they should be in store sometime Mid- August. I will be keeping one per design for myself and will put the rest of the 7 out. Why 7 you ask? I love the number 7. Not sure why, but it's always been my favourite number. Special 7.

Similar to my berry silk scarves, once the 7 scarves sell out, there will not be any re-prints or re-makes. I intend for these scarves to be somewhat like a collector's piece. I'm not really into the whole mass production, everyone has one sort of thing. I like putting in extra effort, keeping my print runs small, not just for my scarves but also for my giclee prints. Even though this means a whole lot more work from me, just to keep up. But you see, I enjoy doing it. I truly enjoy the fact that each time, I create a piece, only a few special owners have them. I feel it makes each piece even more unique. (If that makes sense!)In my head, I smile when I think of my pieces living in beautiful homes. Perhaps the owners of these limited edition works smile when they see their very own super special 'Dawn Tan'? *Hopefully, fingers crossed!*

This is why I still firmly believe in hand-making every single thing I stock in store. Except for my melamine plates, which are really too difficult to produce in person, each and every single item, pillowcases, scarves, prints, they are all handmade, hand sewn, printed by people I know and trust. I prefer establishing long-term relationships rather than sending out my work into the unknown. This also means my cost price becomes ridiculously high. Sure, it's cheaper to do it at a factory, in bigger runs, overseas, etc. I've been thinking a lot about it, how to make my business sustainable. And mass-production is definitely the answer to it. But well, let me just say, it is not for me. I know, I'm stupid that way.

As much as I do buy and support mass-produced goods, for now while I can afford to make my own decisions, I will still stick with hand making every piece. It's what my business is all about. Handmadelove - Each and every single piece, hand made with love. I've always been hand making, hand painting, and will never ever stop. Relationships with my printers and seamstress, the smiles and sharing of ideas, that's what fills Handmadelove with all the love it now has. I know, cheesy! I probably don't have any other way to best describe it, but relationships are important to me, and I cherish every single one of them.

So the next time you buy yourself a piece of my work, do take heart knowing that you're not only buying yourself an artwork, but also a whole lot of love and effort, smiles and best thing of all, the relationships I treasure (: OOPS! Somehow, the writer in me has gone wild and this post is getting lengthy and way longer than I had expected. I should stop. Haha. Thanks for reading! Till the next update, have fun counting down to the weekend! XO


Do note that the blue in the second rhubarb picture looks quite a bit duller  and blurry compared to the first one. Not sure why flickr changes the colour and sharpness of my images. But just so you know, it's meant to be bright and nice, like the first square image. Also, from the pictures of my scarf swatches, you can tell that the Rhubarb piece is a little on the dull side too. I've since gone on to brighten my colour and I've also enlarged the size of my rhubarbs. They're almost the same size as my bananas now. Now that's big. Hah!