Spotlight: Chicken Ink. Creative

Tell us a bit about yourself?
Hello! Wow this is exciting! I’m Tania and I live in the lakeside town of Paynesville on the Gippsland Lakes (it’s the boating capital of Victoria - Google it. It’s great!). My husband, daughter and I escaped - eh I mean... ‘relocated’ here from Melbourne a little over a year ago. I am a stay at home Mum to my beautiful, darling Madeleine (nearly 2), and I also teach general business studies casually at the local community college. My background is in financial services management and training (I know, a totally different world to craft, right?). Oh and I am amateur photographer. Oh and crafter.....of course!



Can you explain your craft/art and the material you like to use?

Fabric, fabric, fabric - and all it’s lovely accoutrements! My items are designed to add beautiful fabric goodness into people’s everyday lives. Bags, fabric covered diaries and notebooks and the like, softies/cushions, soft blocks and more - nice stuff for women and kids. Some buyers are even lucky enough to buy an item embellished with one of my grandmother’s vintage buttons; some of them would have to be over 60 years old!


Where do you get your inspiration and what is your creative process?
From everywhere! Books, magazines, blogs, TV (sometimes but not often), when I am out and about... I like to see what people are wearing and carrying; colour combos, shapes, patterns, styles. Sometimes I just daydream. I always carry a notebook and pen with me to capture those inspirational moments! Once I have an idea, I research different techniques then pull all these together to come up with my own way of doing things.

I test my new designs in calico first, just to make sure that it works in real life the same way that it does in my head. Then I select lots of fabric combos - I always make items in bulk quantities as I feel that it is a better and more efficient use of time and resources to make product in batches (think green!) But each will be different - be it a variation in size, fabric, embellishments etc. I rarely make 2 things the same.

And as I sew, the ghost of my maternal grandmother sits on my shoulder telling me to “baste it and press it as you go if you want a professional finish”- she is a very insistent woman not easily ignored!


To read the full interview visit the
Chicken Ink. Creative's spotlight page

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Every fortnight madeit spotlights a new designer about their art & craft, advice for success and much more. Be inspired!