Hardy (and hearty!)

Worked on a big project last week. Really big. My normal canvas of choice measures 5" x 7", but my latest project came in at a whopping 4 feet by 6 feet. Here's the story of how it came to be.

PREFACE
A couple of weeks ago, I chatted with Mona Hirata of Weddings by Grace and Mona about her upcoming workshop @ The Wedding Cafe. Mona had an idea for her table and asked if I could help her execute it. Now, the one thing I can always count on happening during any meeting with Mona is that she'll challenge me as a designer. This was no exception.

CHAPTER 1: Mona's BIG Idea
A 4-ft x 6-ft foam core board that would hang from the pipe and drape behind her table. She referred me to a couple of Ed Hardy prints as inspiration and wanted something to pop against the black drape and linen. Mona envisioned a vine with three large roses in purple, pink, and red...and, uh, no thorns and no dripping blood, please. Turnaround on design and printing would have to be QUICK, QUICK, QUICK as she would then turn the board over to Jae Yoo at My Florist for embellishment.

CHAPTER 2: The Basics
Here's the initial concept as I sketched it out during our meeting:

CHAPTER 3: This Is Gonna Be HUGE
We quickly realized that a piece this large with only three flowers would mean a lot of empty white space. Normally, I love white space but the first design concept looked too bare, too simple.

CHAPTER 4: Less Is More...Unless It's Not Enough
With 24 square feet of space to fill up, the first thing I did was add some leaves. The vine needed a little more life, too. Added in some curly cues here and there, a few more roses, and a few more colors.

CHAPTER 5: Off To Print And A Tiny Hiccup
A few rounds of revisions, and the design was approved for print. Successfully submitted my artwork and got it in the print queue. Delivering a piece this large proved to be a challenge for the print shop,though, so we arranged to have Jae (aka florist extraordinaire) pick up the piece in his van. Small hiccup, no biggie.

CHAPTER 6: If I Can't See It, It Doesn't Exist
It's hard for a designer to produce something and not see the finished piece. The turnaround at the print shop was less than 24 hours (yippee!) and since Jae picked up the piece himself, I didn't get to see what the board looked like. Were the colors right? Did they put the grommets in the right place? Did it have the glossy finish that I asked for? I had to hope for the best and wait patiently while Jae performed his magic.

CHAPTER 7: Success!
Here is the finished product with a happy Mona standing next to it:

And a close-up shot of the crystals that Jae laboriously added to each and every petal. Amazing...

CHAPTER 8: Oh, There's More?

In addition to producing this larger than life display board, Mona asked me to create a suite of custom stationery to hand out as prize giveaways during the workshop. To my delight, she gave me carte blanche to come up with something fabulous.

The first set came in a silk portfolio embellished with a large crystal buckle on the front:

Tucked into the interior portfolio pockets were four color-coordinated notecards with smaller rhinestone buckles and Swarovski crystals.

The second stationery set included ten notecards with hot pink and clear Swarovski crystals, pearl metallic envelopes, and a chocolate brown silk pouch.

The final set included pretty floral patterned cards with one super fancy showcase piece finished with a fabric flower and feathers...all housed in a flip-top silk box.

EPILOGUE

I love it when I'm afforded the opportunity to flex my design muscles a bit. I love it even more when I can collaborate with talented individuals and breathe life into someone's fantastic vision. Thanks, Mona!

Photos courtesy of Kris Labang Photography