how your polka is made

Naj vas povabim na ogled, kako nastajajo Fensišmensi torbice in denarnice. V vseh teh letih proizvajanja denarnic in bloganja o njih, nisem objavila niti ene objave, da prikažem, kako so pravzaprav narejene. Naj vam predstavim, kako nastanejo pike.

After realising, I have never posted about how Fensišmensi coin purses come to life, let me invite you to a brief showcase of the latest production.

Denarnice in torbice izdelujem sama. Od začetka, do konca. Kot rada rečem, je Fensišmensi “one man brand”. Od tiskanja blaga, do ovijanja v papir, nalaganja v spletno trgovino in odpreme.

Osnova vsake denarnice je enobarvno platno, ki je ravnoprav debelo in gladko, da barve s katerimi ga potiskam, ohranijo lesk in se vzorec ne razpaca. Barve za sitotisk so narejene na vodni osnovi in odtenke mešam sama. To je skoraj terapevtski korak v postopku. Barvna terapija v proizvodnji. Moj najljubši del nastajanja denarnic, v kolikor mi odtenki uspevajo.

Veliko premisleka vložim v odtenke in tudi v razmerje med dvema barvama na denarnici. Mimogrede, ste vedeli, da je razmerje v količini določene barve na površini odločilno, da zaznavamo skladnost barv, da jih možgani razumejo kot lagodne, ali moteče? Odločno branje The art of Color od Johannesa Ittna.

Blago potiskam z barvo za sitotisk, da dobim želeno barvo denarnice in podlago za nadaljni tisk. Nato dodam še vzorec pik. Pike natisnem, ali pa jih odvzamem potisku prvega sloja. Blago prekrijem s papirnatimi pikami (adijo stari izvodi Monocla), nato natisnem barvo čez vse.

Ko se barva posuši, barvo utrdim z likanjem. Dolgotrajnim neskončnim likanjem. Priznam, da raje likam srajce. Sledi šivanje zunanjih kosov in podloge. Dodajanje logo traka in sestavljanje z okvrjem. In tako je denarnica končana.

V kolikor imam blago že natisnjeno, šivanje in sestavljanje traja kake pol ure na denarnico. Oziroma bolj natančno, deset let in pol ure. Postopke v izdelavi sem tekom let malo optimizirala, razvila prijem in opustila izdelovanje izdelkov, vzorcev in potiskov, ki ne delujejo najbolje, ali pa vzamejo vse preveč časa.

Denarnico seveda še fotografiram za spletno trgovino, jo stiliram in fotografiram za instagram in jo ponudim v spletni trgovini. Dodam ji deklaracijo, ovijem v ovojni papir, zapakiram v embalažo in opremim z nalepko, da kasneje vem katera denarnica je v škatli. Jo shranim na polico, kjer počaka na odpremo.

I haven’t realised, that what I create, the coin purses and bags, how it all comes together, is so obvious in my head, that I never thought of writing a blog post about it. Like I would expect everybody to just know, that I print everything, make everything myself, without communicating it more clearly. So let me show you, how the Polka dots come to life.

Years ago, when I sold my produtcs at the Artmerket in Ljubljana, a customer asked me, if my coin purses were from China. I still can’t make it, if this was a good or a bad thing, but one thing for shore is, “handmadeness” of my products is not that obvious.

I like to say, that Fensišmensi is a “one man brand”. I do everything myself. And I mean everything. From buying supplies, screenprinting, sewing, photographing, to editing html of this WordPress theme. It’s how things progressed and it’s what I learned to do over the past twelve years.

But screenprinting is the big thing I learned first (sewing came form my younger years) and is the base of every coin purse or bag. So, about the polka dot. Screenprinting is done first. Step one is mixing colors. I love love love that step. It’s my colour therapy. But only to the point, when I fail the hue. Than, it becomes a frustration.

I print on single colour canvas fabric, that is smooth enough, so that the paint won’t smudge in the weaving. I print two layers of colour, one for the base colour, and second for the polka print, or I take away the paint at the first layer of printing, masking off the pattern with polka dots, cut out of paper (hello old Monocle magazines).

The paint dries, I fix it with ironing. This is my least favourite part of the job. I’d much rather iron a pile of shirts. Than, it’s to pattern marking, sewing the outsides and lining together and then the final assembly with the purse frame and we’re done.

I’t usually takes me half an hour to finish a coin purse, this is with already printed fabric. With printing it takes longer and I don’t know how much exactly longer, because I print a batch of fabrics and than move on to sewing.

That is a coin purse finished, but the journey to the customer doesn’t stop here. Photography, picture editing, uploading to the shop and making an instagramable styling, probably takes a few times of that half hour. Like twelve years and half hour, but I enjoy every minute of it. Minus the ironing.