The past week and the winner is...

Over the past week....
We have had so much rain. Our rainwater tanks were full more than a week ago and still the rain keeps coming. I yearn for a little sunshine though it's hard to complain about the amount of rain knowing that much of our country is still so dry. If only there was a way to syphon it out West where it's needed.


World Environment Day
After having Susan(eco crusader extraordinaire and neighbour), assess my energy use last week, I've made some positive changes to Ecoinspired's workspace. One such change is that lamps are now a permanent fixture in the studio and of course energy saver lightglobes are used. My downlights were a big no no. In my space just one of the light switches turns on a bank of five downlights.... I rarely need that much light and so I scored a big fat cross for that. 
But enough about me......


.....regarding EcoInspired's World Environment Day Giveaway....thank you to everyone who entered. The response has been overwhelming and the comments are so nice to read too. 
James picked the winner out of his school hat , and it is......

..........Jessica Van Den

Congratulations Jessica! Hope you enjoy having this cushion in your home. I will be in contact to arrange postage.

A big hello to the new followers of this blog....great to see new faces. I hope you'll stay tuned and participate in my next Giveaway soon.

In the meantime keep an eye out for items being posted to the 'Sale' page on my website

www.ecoinspired.com.au where over the next few days I'll be sorting through items to clear.

Have a great week.

World Environment Day 'Giveaway'

Would you like this cushion?
Well now you have a chance to win this unique hand screenprinted 40cm hemp scatter cushion in EcoInspired's first ever giveaway to mark the occasion of World Environment Day 2010. (This Saturday 5th June 2010)

This Birch design has been hand screenprinted using water based inks onto a light/medium weight Hemp/Yak hair and is backed with 13oz Charcoal coloured Hemp/Organic Cotton.

If you'd like to go in the draw simply:-
1. Follow this blog or become a fan of EcoInspired's Facebook page.
2. Blog, tweet or post on your wall details of this giveaway
and
3. Post a comment to let me know that you would like to be part of the Giveaway.
Too easy really!

The lucky winner will be drawn on Monday 7 June 2010.
Good Luck!

Back to it....and sale coming soon

I've just returned to Australia from an incredible trip overseas with my family. We saw such a cross section of natural and man made landscapes, experienced vastly different cultures and enjoyed a break from the sometimes frenetic pace of life back here in Sydney.
Now I'm so excited to be home and back to the creative drawing board with a renewed energy for EcoInspired.
The week has begun with an exciting opportunity to supply environmentally friendly soft furnishings to a new project sponsored by Energy Australia.

These photos show a selection of EcoInspired's Splash design cushions printed in custom colours for the project.

The Splash design is printed in Red Coral and the Reeds design in Sunny Orange, on both hemp/yak hair and natural hemp. All of these cushions are backed with Charcoal 13oz  hemp/organic cotton canvas.

I love the colours they've chosen. Hot! hot! hot!

On another note, EcoInspired is putting together our 'Embrace the Change of Season' Sale

so stay tuned for more details of savings to be had. 

By the way, for any art and design enthusiasts travelling soon, www.designspongeonline.com has a wealth of information on their website for fabric, art and design stores located in major cities around the world.  I only managed three from the Rome list but all were as described and well worth the visit.

Creating Swatch Books

We've been focusing on EcoInspired's swatch books lately in the workshop so I thought I'd share a few snaps. 


These placement prints are next on the list and will soon find themselves collected together in a small book.


The design is called 'Parched Birch'. The drawing was inspired by the cluster of fairly ordinary swamp trees in the park behind our house. Although fairly standard, common looking trees during the day, when the sun is setting of an evening these trees are at their finest and their silhouette seen through our  window is truly mesmerising.


So far I've printed this design in White and Rich Chocolate on Hemp/Organic Cotton but my favourite is the white on Hemp/Yak hair(bottom left of the photo)....it's such a beautiful, lightweight, drapey fabric. I plan to include it in cushion and runner designs more often.

So anyway after a few attempts and numerous hours of experimenting, an EcoInspired swatch book style has begun to emerge.............