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Bouncing Ox sheet set image courtesy of
Spoonflower... |
The ox sign figures prominently in my family, so I had already decided to
create a fabric design to commemorate it. The competition was just an added
incentive.
[Just for the record, I had one of my poorest showings on the challenge itself
— garnering less than ten votes — but there was a happy ending to this
story.]
For inspiration, I went to eBay. From extensive browsing over the
years, I know that in December and January, there are numerous souvenir items
for sale featuring the symbol for the upcoming Lunar New Year.
This time, I found an ox keychain with the perfect image for me to copy... to
use... er, to create a near facsimile. ;-)
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| Jumbo Bouncing Ox (Illuminating Yellow on Ultimate Gray) Spoonflower fabric... |
Joking aside and to be clear, I used
Paint Shop Pro
to draw my own version of the ox head.
For the design challenge entry, I decided to feature Pantone's 2021 colours of the year — illuminating yellow and ultimate gray — in the background. The numbers forming the year 2021 float around the ox heads.
Four large heads form the main part of the design. A smaller version filled in
the background to complete the seamless repeat. (Curious thing — do you see
how the upside down version of the head looks like a cartoon camper van??)
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| Medium Bouncing Ox (Gray on Gray) cocktail napkins (image courtesy of Spoonflower)... |
Since it was always my intention to make
this design available for sale (regardless of how many votes it'd get), I also thought about other
sizes and colourways. The above is a medium size print with a gray on gray
background (without the year 2021).
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| Large Bouncing Ox (Gray on White) Spoonflower fabric... |
A larger — but not as large as the yellow/gray one — version was done up in
gray and white, both with and without the year 2021.
Sometime last summer, Spoonflower merged with
Roostery. You can now design custom fabrics and then purchase home decor items
created out of them from the same source. The 300 thread count sheet set
shown at the top of this post is $179 (all pricing in USD) for a twin size.
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| Jumbo Bouncing Ox (Illuminating Yellow on Ultimate Gray) Spoonflower wallpaper... |
Three types of wallpaper are available, starting at $18 per 2' by 3' roll,
up to $199 for a 2' x 27' roll. A peel and stick swatch for $8 is a fun
purchase if you want to customize small things like a laptop cover.
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| Medium Bouncing Ox (Red) Spoonflower fabric... |
Along with table cloths and runners, small kitchen linen items are also
available for purchase. As I've said in the past, however, if you sew,
you're better off — cost-wise — making those yourself.
As you probably know, 2020 was a renaissance year for sewing, what with many
people dusting off their old sewing machines to make face masks for one and
all.
While I don't have access to Spoonflower's corporate earnings data,
I'm sure that they had a banner year. (I personally experienced a 62% uptick
in sales, so it's a good bet that they did quite well.) With cloth face
masks becoming a ubiquitous part of everyone's wardrobe,
Spoonflower took the opportunity to add some related line items to
their site.
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DIY Pleated mask image courtesy of Spoonflower... |
They currently offer two types of face mask products. The first is a
two-pack DIY project for $10. The kit contains sufficient fabric to make two double layer masks out
of a material called perennial sateen grand, cut and sew templates,
and elastic or twill tape.
And of course, being Spoonflower, it means that you can either
create your own design to showcase on those face masks, or choose from
the thousands of existing prints. For a custom product, the $10 price
point — even if you have to sew it yourself — is a great value.
Until recently — and I have no idea if it will be brought back, but it's not
currently available — they also sold an actual fitted mask like this one (in
one of three sizes) for $18.
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| Fitted mask image courtesy of Spoonflower... |
There is also a charitable component to this. Spoonflower will
donate a mask via Masks Now for every kit or face mask sold.
Finally, wholesale pricing of $1,900 will net corporations a 500 count box
of custom basic pleated masks (much like the DIY version).
After finalizing my designs in the larger formats, I created three small
versions — conveniently sized for face masks — in baby pink, baby blue and
light gray.
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| 2021 Small Bouncing Ox (Blue) Spoonflower fabric... |
But don't get caught up in the whole face mask idea. These small prints are
also perfect for any baby projects for little oxen born on or after Feb 12,
2021.
Oh, and as for the happy ending that I alluded to above? I was over the moon
when — on the same day that my disappointing challenge results were revealed
— I sold my first piece of this design (in the light gray) and the purchaser
even responded to my thank you note to advise me that she was going to use
it to make masks!
Isn't that karmic?
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