Lamoore Designs

Here it is!
If you like to send handwritten greetings to friends and family, now you can do it Finders Keepers style...
These newly-designed cards feature %100 reclaimed materials, machine-sewn with a secret pocket on the cover(just in case you want to hide goodies in there).
Snippets from old, abandoned children's storybooks are stitched onto heavy white cardstock my local printshop was about to (gasp!) throw out. The size of these "waste scraps", once folded in half, made for a great card format, dontcha think?
Each one is different, $2 apiece or 6 for $10, envelope included.

Today I took care of some travelling-around business early enough to sqeeze in some fun. While in Baddeck, I did a short woodsy hike and saw some nifty things ...Look at this fungi photograph and tell me it doesn't look like McDonald's french fries?!?

I need to read up on it in my field guides...don't recall seeing it before, and today the forest floor was crawling with it.
Shout out:Jeanine, do you know what this is? As a fellow "plant-freak" as well as a yellow-lover, maybe you have some words of wisdom?

Here's another sight that grabbed my eye--a tree with so much character, I could "hear" its voice (imagine a sort of dorky, Barney-esque "Hullo boys and girls, I'm Branchy the tree!")

The most fabulous woodsy encounter though, I did not get a picture of: a bat(in broad daylight!!) flew straight toward me, halted, flew 20 feet in front of me, turned and flew right back to me! I stood still, unblinking for almost 3 minutes as the bat repeated his back/forth/back/forth path, enthralled by the wonder of it all (well *i* was enthralled at least...the bat, on the other hand, seemed completely indifferent.) *wink*

Finally, some highland cattle. Because everything's better with highland cattle.

new 1.5 inch fridge magnets designed and produced by Lamoore Designs for Smart Shop Place.

This blog was originally supposed to feature insightful little vignettes about life as an artist/business person, but I haven't posted many "useful" insights lately have I?
Let's switch things up by addressing the number one question I get asked but never properly answer, "where do you get your ideas?"
WARNING: if you're not interested in the slightest about idea-formation, this journal entry will make for some tedious reading!

As a one-woman full-time designer and maker of limited production craft/art products in Atlantic Canada, here's the guide as I see it:

Make sure your idea addresses some problem or need, (and not just designer's need to show off.)

Know your "limits". If a client approaches you and wants fridge magnets, you should be asking:
what price will each magnet sell for(the price point)? Who will be buying them(target market)? These are your "limits" to stay within... in my example case, the challenge is to come up with something to be offered to Cruise ship passengers and tourists for under $4. Yes, you can throw caution to the wind and hope the whole world will fall madly in love with whatever you come up with and pay anything to have it, but that's a riskier technique...this here's the cautious route, y'all!

What else is out there that fits these limits(under $4, geared to tourists)? Look at all the other products competing for your customer's attention and offer them something different (and hopefully, better!)If everything else is made overseas, you're different already! Maybe you can use stronger magnets? or better display/packaging? Ideally, you want to offer the [tourist] something he/she can't get anywhere else.

your weakness is also your strength. You are not a factory, so don't try to be one! It's okay (and usually preferrable) to have work show obvious traits of being hand made. I could have easily printed off oodles of identical magnets on my printer, but preferred each one to be slightly different, so I chose to do hand-lettering on found stones. Factories look for ways to streamline production so there are no deviations from the norm...you can easily do what a machine can not: introduce randomness!

work with what you have. Have you already created something that people really loved? What made it special? Can you design something based on that work?

Stay true to your "thing". Your "thing" can be your most powerful tool...like an anchor it will keep you steady when your ideas seem to want to fly in a million different directions. Your thing is what you, as a designer, want to be known for...it's a certain feature that will set *your* products apart as *yours*. My thing? That's easy: found objects!

Listen. Really listen. While it's important to stay true to your thing, veering slightly in order to satisfy the customer can be very rewarding. After all, it's your customer who keeps you in business! Were it not for my customers' input, I would probably not have added black to my pallette for seashell jewelry--and it's become my bestseller!

Visit office and art supply stores, hardware stores, gadget shops to get an idea of what sort of "technology" is available to you. The discovery of a special pen, new paper punch, industrial strength glue, etc can fuel your newest creation by solving technical dilemmas. Have catalogs specific to your trade on hand for flipping through whenever you have a minute.

take breaks. it can be frustrating trying to force an idea...step away from the drawing board to explore nature, hang out with friends, exercise...you'll find this is when ideas "pop" and spring forth.

Finally,

Love what you do. Invest in projects that would bring happiness regardless of pay. Beware:Do it for the money, and it will show!!

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