Casa Murriguez News

Slow Fashioned Covers Jau Jou Studio's Spring Trunk Show Fundraiser...and takes some pretty pictures in the process

Sharon — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 04:12:00 +0200

On the windy Friday evening of March 25th, 6 local designers/makers/artist-types (including Casa M of course) transformed Daniel Jau Jou's Jau Jou Studio hair salon into a little boutique filled with pillows and art prints, terrariums and incscribled metal pendants, nature-inspired jewelry, frilly panties and bold necklaces, colorful coin purses and totes made from salvaged materials with birds and other animals adorning them and haute couture clutches.

Daniel Jau Jou was the host with the most and made sure that nobody went thirsty or hungry while they were on his turf. And it wasn't just a good time, we also raised almost $500 ($495 to be exact) with a raffle that included lots of goodies donated by all of us designers. All the money we raise went to the Red Cross for earthquake and tsunami relief in Japan.

Luckily the lovely Marissa Rocke took incredible photos of the event that were published along with this awesome article about the trunk show on Slow Fashioned - an online magazine that "goes beyond fashion to empower readers to slow down and make more educated shopping and lifestyle decisions. Instead of being wrapped up in consumerism, acquiring more stuff just to acquire more stuff; Slow Fashioned challenges you to reduce, reuse, and recycle and to join the slow movement." I could not be more on board with this philosophy if I tried. So I was really excited to get connected with Slow Fashioned and look forward to future opportunities for collaboration.

And don't forget to check out the article!

Casa M gets some Attention

Sharon — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 07:39:00 +0200

Tis the season to check out Casa M's freshest styles and gifty goodies for the holidays. A few folks have taken notice of Casa Murriguez's handmade housewares with style and conscience, and for this we are both grateful and happy to share what they've got to say.

First there was the Brown Alumni Magazine's 2010 Holiday Gift Guide that featured our brown skinny octopus flower tea towel and our 12"x20" yellow octopus flower pillow.

1, 2 ECO CHIC Sharon Murriguez ’00 prints organic fabric with water-based inks to make these cheery tea towels and throw pillows. Pillow $50;Tea Towel $18. www.casamurriguez.com (415) 948-6389.

3, 4 BORN AGAIN Carole Ann Penney ’07 “upcycles” vintage shirts into aprons and turns the cuffs into luggage tags. Apron $20; luggage tags $8. www.connectthedotscrafts.com (802) 236-2290.

5 ITCHING TO KNIT? Make these school-spirit mittens designed by Julie Iselin Turjoman ’79. Her book, Brave New Knits, gathers knitting patterns from the blogosphere. Mitten pattern $5. www.julieturjoman.com (212) 808-1684.

Casa M also got some love from Daily Candy on Friday, November 19th in a write-up about Shana Astrachan's pop-up shop featuring her jewelry and treats from local designers including Casa M. We've got art prints, postcards and gift tags/ornaments in this oh so fine little shop in the Mission.

The Campo was Kind to Casa M

Sharon — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 07:15:00 +0200

We had a total blast in Kelseyville, CA this past weekend at the two-day Harvest Festival at the Steele Winery. We sold a bunch of cool Casa M goodies including two new offerings -- the Casa M "Around Town Tote Bag" and Casa M "Decorative Festive Banners." We had just been in Kelseyville a couple of weeks ago at the Pear Festival in downtown where we got a warm reception and we were happy to see some of the same faces come out and say hello again this past weekend!

Why Kelseyville you ask? Well, Eric spent many of his formative years there and his parents -- Mama Bird and Papa Bird West -- still live there. So it was great to have a home base and lots of willing help in setting stuff up and taking it all down.

Here are some photos from the Harvest Festival and the newest iteration of the Casa M booth. I was really happy with our set up this time around...though admittedly, it changes a little every time. And some of the shows we have coming up (including the one this Sunday, October 17th in Hayes Valley -- the RAG Designer Sale in conjunction with the Capsule Design Festival) have smaller or odd booth sizes so we will be forced to get creative and use space wisely! We will let you know how it goes....

A full booth photo from the Harvest Festival at the beginning of Day 1!

A view from under the tent at the Casa M booth -- Harvest Festival

Casa M's tea towel display

Casa M's new totes!

Print with Sharon at Patchwerk Press

Sharon — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 19:24:00 +0200

Hey Bay Area people interested in getting a taste of screen printing. I will be teaching a class an afternoon class on Thursday, October 14th 2010 from 2-5pm. It will be held at patchwerk press' shop where I am a collective member. This class will be geared to beginners who don't know the basics...so we will be building a good solid screen printing foundation by working with paper stencils to make one or two color prints...depending on how much time we have.

I think it will be a true blast and it just might get you hooked on screen printing. Anyway, check out the full class description and all the details on what we will cover and supplies needed on Rock Paper Scissor's website, where you will also register for the class. Feel free to contact me with any questions.

Casa M and Patchwerk Press had a Blast at SF Center for the Book's Steamroller Event

Sharon — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 18:47:00 +0200

Casa M had a lot of fun being a part of the print-making crowd at San Francisco Center for the Book's 6th Annual Steamroller Street Fair where one of the many highlights was a 3 ton steamroller printing lino cuts in the middle of the street. It was so cool. And even better was that the prints were up for sale right away.

Casa M had it's own booth featuring a few new pillow designs as well as it's oldies but goodies. Check out this photo of Cool Guy Murriguez manning the Casa M booth. He is truly a sales force to be reckoned with! And you can even get a glimpse of one of the new pillows in the bottom right corner of the photo -- it's the rosy rooftops with some super fly upholstery fabric cut into the design. In fact, the upholstery fabric totally informed the direction of the color palette. I usually don't lean towards the pink family, but I couldn't help it this time around.

And to add to the style factor he is not only rocking his new prescription shades, but he is also working his freshly purchased hand-printed tie from Trinity Cross' line Field Day Wearables. I've got my eye on several items in her current line that I am dying to have -- including a leopard print sheet dress (yes, she makes rad dresses from upcycled vintage bed sheets) and an extra long hoodie with design accents in all the right places.

What was also super cool about the day was that I wasn't only there as Casa M, but I was also there with my printing collective Patchwerk Press. We had a booth with live printing and lots of cool stuff from collective members -- like hand-printed shirts, hankies, aprons, handmade letterpress books and keepsakes. Trinity of Field Day (mentioned above) is also a patchwerk press collective member and she is actually one of the founding members. Another patchwerk press member had his own booth for his line of cool and edgy men's wear -- Henry Miyoshi's Korrupt Label.

So basically patchwerk press was working the Steamroller scene and getting our goods out there and telling the Bay Area about all the awesome classes and printing resources we have to offer. Look out for a blog post soon about printing classes I will be teaching in October out of our West Oakland print shop. But in the meantime, you can visit and sign-up for patchewerk printing classes and more cool classes through Rock Paper Scissors Art Collective. Fun printing times are her!

End of Summer & Fall Casa M Craft Shows & Fairs

Sharon — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 08:06:00 +0200

Casa M is excited to be participating in the following shows and craft fairs, so come visit us at one of these events soon!

Alamo Square Flea Market and Indie Mart
Saturday, August 21, 2010
9am to 3pm @ Alamo Square Park, SF
Scott, Fulton & Hayes Street (Scott is closed and the main area)

http://bit.ly/casam-indiemart-aug2010

Rock Make
Sunday, August 22, 2010
11am to 6pm in SF @ Treat Avenue (between 17th & 18th Streets) & 18th Street (between Harrison & Folsom)
http://www.rockmake.com/

Casa M w/ Patchwerk Press Printing Collective
ROADWORKS STEAMROLLER PRINTS Street Fair
Sunday, September 19, 2010
12 - 5 pm in SF @ Rhode Island St., between 16th and 17th Streets
http://sfcb.org/events

Kelseyville Pear Festival
Saturday, September 25, 2010
9am - 4pm in Downtown Kelseyville, CA on Main Street
http://www.kelseyvillepearfestival.com/

15th Annual Steele Wines Harvest Festival
Saturday, October 9 & 10, 2010
10am - 5pm both days at the Steele Winery in Kelseyville, CA
http://www.steelewines.com/about/events.asp

Fun Times and Fabric Printing Tips with Custom Gramophone and Birds Cafe Curtains

Sharon — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 06:33:00 +0200

So I had the opportunity to work on a really fun custom project recently: a pair of cafe curtains for a former co-worker and friend's kitchen in her new home. She really loved the gramophone with birds pillow and was wondering if I could translate that design to curtains.

We talked through a few different ideas and the final design was to be an antique gold gramophone in the bottom left corner with a much longer trail of birds floating out of its horn in bright colors floating all the way to the top right of the curtain made from ivory colored organic cotton with a lining to increase privacy and minimize fading over time. As I was planning the production process, I realized there are a lot of elements to completing such a project, so I thought it would be fun (and hopefully a tiny bit helpful for those of you working on similar projects) to share some tips and steps in my process of making these curtains.

1st: Taking Accurate Measurments

This first step was more challenging than usual because I am in the Bay Area and the house I made these curtains for is in Portland, Oregon. But with clear communication and some quick (not to scale) sketches, we made sure that I understood the dimensions properly. Though the real test will come once the curtains get to Portland and get put up.

2nd: Calculate Final Curtain Dimensions & Raw Material Needed to Account for Seam Allowances and Hems

It really helped to draw up a production map to figure out how much material I needed and to think through the best process. I also ended up adding a lining to the curtain and a few more inches to the width to allow a little room for gathering the curtain when it is hanging. The final width ended up being ~40 inches and the final length was 21".

3rd: Map Out Image Placement on Raw Material

Because I print on the fabric before sewing it, some additional calculations were needed to figure out where to to place the image for printing to make sure the image would end up in the right place at its final dimensions.

4th: Prep Printing Work Space and Printing Materials

Printing on a large scale and on fabric can be a little tricky. A clean work space is totally critical as is thinking ahead and having all the tools in place you need before you start printing.

When printing on fabric, it helps to have a cushioned surface to get good ink coverage. You can convert a regular table top with a fleece blanket or a few yards of felt. You can experiment with folding the blanket in half or using multiple layers of felt. I have found that sometimes foamcore or cardboard with some give is also a good substitute for a more cushioned surface.

Once you have a clean and cushioned printing surface, you can set up the fabric that you are printing on. Make sure your fabric has been washed/pre-shrunk before printing on it and that it is ironed smooth to get the best image quality. I tape down the fabric that I am printing on with masking or painter's tape to hold the fabric in place.

Before you start printing, make sure you have all of your inks mixed and ready to go. Some water-based inks require you to add an additional fixer in order to make the ink stay on fabric permenantly, so be sure to follow the instructions for setting your image permenantly....and doing a test first is always a good idea...and I have definitely found that lesson out the hard way! Be sure you have your screens, squeegees, palette knives, and scrap paper and rags at your finger tips. Now the printing can begin. With water-based inks, be sure to keep the screen wet or flooded so that the image doesn't dry out between printing each image. I find 2-3 passes usually work best.

5th: Let the Fabric Prep & Sewing Begin

Now that the fabric is all printed, it can be measured, pinned and sewn together.

And here is the final result. Should have taken a photo of both curtains together, but I wanted to get them off in the mail to Portland. So hopefully once they are happily set up in their home, I will get and post more photos!

Better Late than Never: Photos from Casa M Booth at Bazaar Bizarre Maker Faire

Sharon — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 20:10:00 +0200

I've been on a slow roll on the reporting back front and realized that I never shared any details about how stuff went at Bazaar Bizarre Maker Faire in San Mateo at the end of May.

So I thought I would take a moment to share some photos of the Casa M booth in action and give a shout out to some cool designers and makers I met along the way!

Here I am chatting it up with a couple of potential customers.

Here's a closer look at the main attraction of the Casa M booth -- the orange doors! I was really psyched with the way these came together and how they looked displaying the Casa M wares. These doors would not have happened without the skillful handiwork of friend and artist Dan Brubaker.

And there I am with friend Dianne Martinez who came on day 2 of the event to lend a helping hand (Sarah Jane Levin also helped out on day 1, but I sadly don't have any photos with her). We might be having a clowning around moment in this here photo!

A view from Casa M's corner booth of the BazBiz masses.

All in all, it was a fun, good and long two days. Met some cool folks and great designers including Bradley Boogie of Tiny Sparks Design, from whom we got a super awesome clock made from beautifully finished wood with a screenprinted clock face. I'll have to post photos onces we have found the perfect spot for it. Also, we were fortunate enough to have our booth right next to our friends from The Weekend Store, where they make jewelery from vintage typewriter keys, maps, clock parts and old story books. Got some delightful cucumber mint whipped cream to save my drier than dry hands from Bunny Butt Apothecary. And I also enjoyed chatting with Danni Hong from oh, hello friend. I really wish I had a photo or two of her booth cause it was really eclectic and well done and did a great job of displaying all her jewelery and other decorative items.

Good times!

Jet Blue finds Casa M at RAG Boutique in San Francisco's Hayes Valley

Sharon — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 22:29:00 +0200

Just got an email from Blakely Bass, founder and curator of RAG (Residents Apparel Gallery) in Hayes Valley, to let me know that Casa M's pillows were featured in a Jet Blue article about RAG in Hayes Valley. Hooray! The only bummer was that the article mistakenly referred to Casa Murriguez as Casa Rodriguez...so without knowing it, the author gave a shout out to my pre-married life and name.

But not to fear, I sent a quick email to make the correction, so hopefully the change will be reflected soon. And at the very least there is a link to Casa Murriguez's Etsy site from the article.

Check out the full article: Shop Local and Eco at RAG Boutique from June 30, 2010 by Jeanne Storck.

UPDATE: So the correction was made really quickly and no mistaken identities are at large any longer!

Casa M interviewed by Bazaar Bizarre!

Eric — Thu, 13 May 2010 22:00:00 +0200

Casa Murriguez was recently interviewed by the organizers of Bazaar Bizarre! Please read the full interview here.