Craftivism Project | Sock Puppet PAAARTAYYY!!

Once more, I volunteered to lead the hands-on entertainment for my Ladies Group activism gathering. This time, with joy and whimsy in sharp decline, I reached for this classic. Sock puppets are the life of the party, because the party puts life into the sock puppets!

After gathering supplies, I assembled the sockets into puppet form before the event.

My sock puppet prototype, Sergio

Look into those dead eyes. There is nothing there. Only wonder. 💭

JOY ATTACK! THESE ARE FANS THAT CLACK!!

On this day, I accidentally deleted SO MUCH TEXT on this blog because I am I dumbass and inadvertently closed the page without saving. TWICE. AAAAHHHHH! LOL! WHATEVER. Never go with your first draft. That’s just silly.

Well, here are my final PRIDE CLACK FAN designs.

WOOoooo! There is real joy in these and I’m happy for it.

I’m gonna say it. They are A D O R A B L E. I accomplished what I set out to do. I made something worthy of bringing joy into the world. The goal was to design a set of unique, vibrant and joyful clack fans in time for 2026 PRIDE celebrations. The added “CLACK!” sound when the fan opens only makes it more fun! Considering that in June, it can be blazing hot here on the East Coast, PRIDE events can be met with hella hot temperatures. Maybe some locals might want one or more for their tribe. If not, I’m not bothered. In fact, I AM FABULOUS.

This is how we do it

Me. I’m the “We” here. It’s just me. And these are sublimation prints, heat pressed onto thin polyester fan material. This explains why the artwork is reversed.

From the pitch, I limited my paper to 3 sheets. I purposefully chose not to design imagery that would cover the entire fan. Using an 8.5x11 printer, a full bleed image would require 5 sheets. That’s a lot of seams. Lots of places for art to muck up in production.

LACE?

I own an old fan I purchased in ChinaTown, San Fransisco. It’s edged in black lace. I figured, EUREKA! That’s what will make these fans spectacular!

After a test drive, I discovered that the lace is too heavy and the fan fabric is flimsy. IDEA SCRAPPED. I will add the lace to the graphics. Problem solved. And on a high note, I discovered a long forgotten Singer sewing machine I’d forgot we owned. This of course got my wheels spinning on all the crafty ideas I can sew to life. But that’s another post.

PRODUCTION CHALLENGE: The plan was to make the White background a feature of the design. I worked with my limitations. But tooooooo much White space, as seen in this scrapped concept, on inferior material ended with poor results. This would be cute AF on a black background, but that’s the 5-sheet rule broken.

Stuff happens. Colours bleed and lines blur. I was almost ready to pull the plug on the fans. I won’t put out merch with obvious flaws. So I found a solution. Heat Transfer Vinyl! I can sprinkle in holographic shiny little details over the entire fan. And in doing so, can strategically cover flaws with them. WIN-WIN!

Final results for all designs that made it to MarketPlace are satisfactory. If I like them, that’s saying something, because I am the critic of all critics. I am especially critical of my own work. Positive feedback from friends is one thing and greatly appreciated. I am the design snob that needs to be on board. SO far, so good. And since I began writing this entry, I’ve already taken orders for half a dozen! Weekend plans? Fans.

Little Ink Machine ~ Polpetto

Ink on Paper and an Octopus in a Tree

Little Crafty kid grows up to be Designer for Corporate SuperPowers. The Print Shop Trade School teenager set lead type by hand and operated a genuine Heidelberg Press. Traditional old school print and design are my roots. I’ve designed for print for both entertainment and commercial industry. Before digital, Ink applied to paper stock created something that wasn’t there before. A vision with a voice. And how is that achieved? With graphic design. When, as an independent designer, I decided it was time to select my business totem, I chose an Octopus. An Ink Machine.

This would be my landing page of a portfolio site. Hindsight being 20/20, I should have made the octopus, that champion of ink, much more prominent in the layout. I am, as I hope most artists and designers are, my worst critic. In my defense, Polpetto means TINY OCTOPUS so I take it back. IT’S PERFECT. lol

A Roman coin, and Irish clover, Earth, Ocean and Industry. And Trinkets! Little shiny what-nots! Those tiny treasures are what inspire me to over reach on my craft agenda. MAKE ALL THE THINGS! is where The Cheeky Magpie’s Emporium steps into the spotlight. That’s a Magpie feather I discovered in Holland. (We don’t have Magpies here in the NorthEast of the United States) The symbolism was always in play.

WHAT ABOUT THE TREE?

Octopus is to Ink, as Tree is to…… PAPER. Now imagine an octopus in a tree. You’re welcome.

Well, Look At Me With My LLC

I suppose I should do this the right way. In case some life form decides that their existence would not be complete without owning some weird item I made one day, I registered a business to officially accommodate that! Truth be told, I’m not actually in any position to be selling anything right now. but I’ll call it Positive.

While experimenting with all sorts of mediums and equipent this year, I scratched out a BOBILLION ideas of what I thought this endeavors name should be. And is one name enough? Should there be an umbrella brand that hold a multi-verse of smaller brands? For instance, I really sunk into the name SILLY MOTH CANDLES. The whole vibe is JOY and a silly moth is feeling serious joy in that light… So that name stands. Any and all wax related products I make will fall under the brand name of SILLY MOTH CANDLES.

SO LET IT BE WRITTEN. SO LET IT BE DONE. (Easter was last weekend)

but WHAT ABOUT THE MAGPIE?

At 60 years old, with over 45 years of designing for print, while crafting for life. It’s become clear to me, the Magpie is my brand. It is my token. it’s only logical, that my business name will include one, both in name and in content. This clever and striking bird embodies the spirit of what my creativity and passions are bringing to life here in my studio. From my graphic design library to every written word of promotion, the cheeky magpie has always been, for lack of a better term, “my jam”. In ancient lore, they are known as the “Messengers of the gods”, so as a lifelong graphic designer, the correlation just fits. Incredibly smart, these alluring birds are known collectors of shiny objects and interesting bric-a-brac. Me too. Shamelessly so. Oftentimes, these crafty birds are known to share their treasures with kind humans. Again, ME TOO!

THEREFORE, let it be known that my business name, the storefront extension of my graphic design portfolio website, shall henceforth be, as deemed official by the state of connecticut,

(( drumroll ))

The Cheeky Magpie’s Emporium LLC

Logo will be forthcoming. I do like the image above, but it’s not really “Logo Material” because of its detail. I can see it on a large banner?? STOPP! Too many ideas too soon! I’m hitting the brakes for now. I’ve gotta Clack Fan to sublimate! But I officially registered a business today. So there’s that! I am now a Small Business owner! HUZZAHH!!!

It’s CLACK-A-LACKIN Goodness!

In yet another splurge on Sublimation Blanks I Need To Tinker With, I discovered that there are not nearly enough CLACKER FANS in the world. I need to change that. My only dilemma is the overall size of the material canvas. IT’S BIIIG. And with only an 8.5 x 11 format sublimation printer, I had to improvise. I managed to make the design. To completely cover the entire fan material, it would need to print to 5 separate sheets of paper as the design would need to be split and pieced back together after printing. To avoid the cost and the waste of paper, I decided to embrace the White Space and cover only the live area of the fan I could, using 3 sheets of paper.

The jury is still out on how this will pan out. Even if it prints beautifully, assembly may be a bear. STAY TUNED!