This month, I made a cool new artist friend, Danielle Broder. When I came across her work, I new that she would be a perfect fit for my working as series, where we dive deep into the world of artist careers. Today, she shares her artistic experience and journey with us. You will learn all about block printing, and how you can get started creating unique textiles of your very own! Read the interview to see all of her trendsetting patterns and score a freebie from Danielle! 

Danielle, can you please share a little bit about yourself? 

I’ve always been creative, but never considered it as a career until college. I was lucky enough to have an artsy grandma, mom and dad putting me in painting, drawing, jewelry, and crafting classes all the time as a kid. When I got to college, I decided to study illustration even though I didn’t know how that would eventually turn into a job. A year after graduating, I went back for a second degree in interior design and worked for a few designers and architects in L.A. 

While in college, I had all kinds of random art jobs, working for a home staging company, as an art teacher for kids (kill me), an art director at a summer camp, and doing graphic and web design for a few years. After I graduated the second time, I needed to get the heck out of L.A. So I moved to San Francisco and started my business shortly after. 

I started printing fabric and making wall prints, selling them online and at craft shows. After a few years it was going ok but it was growing painfully slow. I decided to quit doing craft shows cold turkey and worked more on my online presence. Soon I received a random email from a small company, asking me to create a class to teach my printing process. 

A few months later, I was teaching block printing from my kitchen table in SF through Groupon. Now 5 years later, that class has become my signature offer as I’ve tweaked it to accommodate up to 40 people in larger settings as well as a 1:1 class.

I also started doing custom work for interior designers which I really love (even though some projects are SUCH a challenge!)

What projects are you most excited about right now? 

I’m finishing up some custom fabric for a woman who makes super cute pillows for interior design projects. I designed totally new patterns that stray from my usual style, so it was fun to break that boundary and do something new.

I’m also updating my online course which is a video workshop where you can learn my entire process from start to finish.
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Where do you see your business in 5 years? 

That seems so far away! In 5 years I want to be teaching primarily online, while doing more large scale custom projects for interior designers. Oh, and I want to be hosting a rad art retreat!

Thank you Danielle for sharing your expertise and inspiring us! 

You can find out more about Danielle here, and click below to grab her free list of supplies to get started. 

Happy Valentine's Day, my lovelies!  
Today, I am sharing a round-up of my top 3 Valentine's Day projects to inspire you to make a special gift for someone you love. Below you will find elevated handmade projects uniting fine art and craft to bring out the creative in you!

This project is for the nature lover in you:) One of the easiest and fun ways to get started with Natural Dyeing is with these avocado dyed silk scarves. We will be exploring this in our Indigo and Fragrance Blending workshop, where you can layer the indigo with an avocado under-dye in the process.  

These heart-shaped dream catchers are one of my most popular and viewed projects ever! These were inspired by a workshop that I attended at CAFAM with textile artist Mimi Haddon. Please tag your dreamcatchers on instagram, so that I can see them!

These block printed cards were a part of the Make Nine Challenge that I participated in last year! I had so much fun exploring block printing on paper and I would love to share the process with you.  I also marbled the envelope in a separate marbling project. 

Coming soon, I will be sharing a Q and A with a block printer textile designer and she will answer all of your questions! We would love to know what additional questions you have about block printing so that we can cover them here for you! You can email me your questions in advance.