We Got a Lot of Lotta (But it Still Wasn't Enough!)

June 17th, 2008 in other crafts

Laurel_Tuohy, member

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Surface artist Lotta Jansdotter was the perfect hostess at the printing party for her new book, Lotta Prints.

Photo: Laurel Tuohy

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I love Lotta Jansdotter and I'm not the only one. I've heard that in Japan she's as well-known and adored as amigurumi!

So you can imagine how excited we were at the CraftStylish office when the invitation to a printing party on June 13 at her Brooklyn loft arrived. The self-taught, Swedish-born surface artist and designer hosted the soiree in celebration of her new book, Lotta Prints, an amazing how-to text packed with printing methods and projects from large to small. The book even includes stencils of some of Lotta's most-loved motifs, from trees to leaves to one that my sister calls "asparagus."

Sorry you missed the party? Buy a copy of Lotta Prints from Chronicle Books at the link above and host your own party - I'm already planning one!

Lotta Prints is a follow-up to Simple Sewing, another soup-to-nuts how-to book that I highly recommend. It contains directions and paper patterns for 24 simple projects the encompass Lotta's fresh, easy, nature-inspired aesthetic.

The printing party was the best, craftiest night out I've had in a long time. Located in a quiet neighborhood near the Gowanus Canal, more than 100 people came through during the three-hour event. Lotta's large, airy, whitewashed studio provided the perfect backdrop for sipping wine and Pellegrino, chatting with friends and shopping the displays of Lotta's line of fashion goods from cloth napkins to baby bibs and yummy, yummy printed linen shoulder bags.

Lotta provided fabric squares, paints, stencils, linoleum and potato stamps as well her help and insight as she flitted around the table helping and admiring despite the fact that she had lost her voice the day before - she was a sweet and excellent hostess. I have to thank Lotta, Chronicle Books and Christina Loff, the book's publicist (and herself a CraftStylish crafter!), for putting on such a wonderful event. They did something similar the week before in San Francisco - check out Craft's coverage of that event here(second item).

I was lucky enough to check out Craft's blog before the Brooklyn event and saw that people were printing on their own clothing so I packed a shawl, a T-shirt and a beloved linen tunic that had a small spot on it for restyling ala Lotta - they came out great - check out the pictures in my photo gallery!

One astonishing thing I learned at the party? The uber-famous artist's name is actually pronounced 'Low-ta', not 'Laht-ta' as most of her fans pronounce it. The super laid-back artist said she doesn't mind at all and understands that most people aren't familiar with her Scandanavian name, but it's still good to know these things...