Upcoming New Collection Launch & More

Next week Sawyer's Place will be launching the second line of SP Exclusive tapes - the Titus Collection. As a mother to a 2 year old boy the new collection has been heavily influenced by my desire to have something 'for the guys', something fun and something manly - and of course something blue! As a one-woman design team I find it difficult to step out of my own mindset of what I want and step into the shoes of our customer - which is why if you're a fan of our facebook page (Sawyer's Place FB) you'll notice me regularly attempting to pick the brains of you all. 

All suggestions are taken on board and I think in the upcoming collections some of you may see your own suggestions come to fruition, I've had many an 'ah-ha' moment when reading the suggestions, pleads and begging sof our customers for this design or that. So if there is anything you'd love to see in a tape please drop me a line or stop by the facebook page with your requests.

Titus will be joined on his flight with a restock of many of our core line (the red and green spots for example) as well as some new limited edition releases and will also feature our new labelling!

If you're a blogger or store owner and would like to test-run the new design collection please email me at : enquiries@sawyersplace.com I'll be selecting 3 new blogs to test run the Titus collection in the coming weeks.

This new label and the vacuum sealed packaging brings our product in line with the industry standard across Asia and I am so excited to be launching it, our new collection and great new core lines all in the next week....so stay tuned! 

The Industry of Man

In the next few weeks Sawyer's Place will release the second exclusive collection of washi tapes.  Finding a name for this collection has proven difficult, but after tossing and turning I have constantly been drawn to the title character of Titus Andronicus, the most bloody and foul, vengeful of Shakespeare's heroes. The collection is "all man" and industrial in nature, the Roman Empire is certainly indicative of that and Titus is such a strong and evocative name. So Titus it is.

The set is to be made up of two designer patterns and one coordinating stripe. It is my intention in the coming months to develop our range to coordinate with the spots, stripes and plains that everyone has come to love already. Allowing you to easily mix and match your tapes in any given project.

So all of those with boys in your life of any age that have been crying out for something "manly" I think you're going to really love Titus - I know I already do and they're not even here yet.

Delving into the world of washi!

Today I received the first proofs of our new collection, it's such an exciting step and I'm really enjoying working with the manufacturer to bring my designs to fruition.  At the moment we're neck deep in design, while at the same time promoting and fulfilling orders from the previous line and working on designs for the next, it's  certainly hard to switch from one mode to the other at times and it often means Iam up all night with a head full of washi but it's exciting nonetheless.  So what are all the steps?

Firstly I develop my design idea, creating a jpeg of my design plan and identifying the colours from a pantone chart for the factory designers to develop a proof. With the Ophelia collection the first designs had a simple text file for Insanity Script and one damask shape drawing for the Regal Damask.

The designers at the factory then create 'proofs', both a digital file and photographs of the printed tapes (on strips of paper). A little bit of back and forth to refine the designs where necessary and then we're onto manufacture!

After the printing of the design onto large sheets of washi (or rice paper) adhesive is applied to the rolls.  A stripping agent is applied to the printed side to enable the tape to be pulled cleanly from the roll.

15 meters of rice paper tapes with glue on their backsides, and stripping agent on their front sides, are wrapped up into a core.

Tapes are gathered in large rolls in the factory before being cut to size manually.

The rolls are then packaged for delivery and head their way to Sawyer's Place on the South Coast of Western Australia.  A long way from where they start in Japan! From conception to delivery and release the entire process takes about 8-12 weeks depending on how complicated the design is and how many times we make changes to the proofs.  And all of this is accomplished between us and the factory staff - and we don't speak the same language!

Busy busy busy!

Well it's been a week since I launched the Ophelia Collection of tapes and the response has been wonderful. To date 104 rolls of these two gorgeous designs have winged their way across the country (and a couple have even gone overseas) and while I am busily packaging envelopes each day I'm also deep in the planning and design phase for the next collection, but more about THAT soon as today I wanted to share with you some of the projects that have been created using these two new classic designs.

Rhonda Yates created this truly elegant card above using the Regal Damask print.

Thanks to Jessica Theodore, one of our blogging triallers for submitting this gorgeous offering.

And Chloe Hill had a lot of spooky Halloween fun creating this layout of herself using the Insanity Script tape.

The first collection is here!

Well it's been six months in the making (and the translating) but the very first Sawyer's Place exclusive washi tape designs are now here. Since arriving on Monday 58 rolls have flown out the door, a sure sign that our biggest fans are as in love with the elegant and stylish patterns as I am.  And 12 of those have gone to buyers who've not been beaten over the head with my blog and facebook posts about them so they're clearly speaking for themselves.

So if you haven't seen them here they are. First up in the Ophelia collection is Regal Damask, a classic black on white elegant design.

 

And her partner is called Insanity Script. A dark black tape with a vintage feel script printed in white, it's hard to tell amidst the 'crazy' scrawl but there are in fact 7 different prints in this pattern, and if you can tell me what any of them say I'd love to hear it.

Each roll is 15mm wide and 15 metres long, after much thought I have committed to having our line of tapes all be 15m long.  I know that the major manufacturers of washi tape have downsized to 10m rolls but I believe we can continue to be competitive and offer greater value for money with our designs.  Similarly those that have purchased various tape patterns from us over the past few months would have noticed that they were varying lengths and roll sizes - this is because we have been trialling a number of factories in Japan and China before settling on 'our' manufacturer.  I think you'll be as happy with the quality of print, adhesive and application as I am.

The two Ophelia tapes will shortly be paired with two coordinating 'dotty' patterns. It is my plan to have all of our tapes match or coordinate with simple patterns and plains to create easy to use sets at a bulk-buy price.

Sawyer's Place washi tapes are available for wholesale - does your local scrap shop have washi tape? Why not? Retailers can contact me at wholesale@sawyersplace.com with any enquiries.

Some people are just so talented!

So I thought it might be time to share some of the work my design team has been up to lately.

We're really lucky to have Kate as part of our 'crew', her work is so detailed and so artistic I'm half-tempted to send her my photos to get her touch in my own album.  In this first layout Kate has used the 5cm Cream Daisies, giving them a personal touch by stamping directly onto the flower.

Anyone who knows me knows I would have everything in my life navy blue if I could get away with it so I was very excited to have Kate play with the blue range of washi tapes and what an amazing job she did creating flags and layering flowers.  This layout features the Dark Teal and Aqua Gingham tapes as well as our range of paper daisies and coordinating daisy brads.

And as much as I might not want to think about it, the christmas season is almost upon us.  Our red and green spotted tapes are perfect for christmas crafts, be it elegance with a little red bling like design team member Rhonda's card.

Or even as a subtle addition to a sweet stamped card. Design team member Alishia is so in love with her new range of Wild Rose stamps (which she also sells so check her out on facebook at The Scrapbooking Palace) I was not surprised to see her partner her love of stamps and colouring with her love of washi tape!

Washi tape is so versatile, for your craft and home decor projects alike. I know my christmas presents will all be adorned with tape this year so all I'll be needing is a very large roll of white wrapping paper to go to town on. 

Happy Crafting,

Tatum

Ophelia is flying!

Somewhere over Asia 2,000 little rolls of fabulous washi tape are winging their way to WA ready for all those creative hands to turn them into great works of art.  Production of these new designs has been a real labour of love for me, I can't imagine what it must be like for bigger companies releasing new product lines every few weeks.  But then I suppose they have staff, to date my 'staff' consists of one toddler whose primary contribution is closing the tape stock drawer when I am finished, picking up the rubbish I drop on the floor and 'hepping mum' by popping brads I have had to count out into bags (no this does not speed up the process, but how can I knock back the 'hep').

And yet somehow I still have all these plans for the next phase.  I am about to start the process all over again to design the next line, a process that seems to also include changing my mind about what direction to go in (anyone with suggestions for new tape design greatly appreciated!). So over the next few weeks I will go back and forth, design, re-design and then commence the production process again - it's a good thing my staff keeps me entertained!

In the meantime stay tuned, Ophelia will be hitting our shores in about 7 to 10 days!