My best design week ever started with a spilled coffee

Honestly, last Wednesday I was rushing to finish a mood board for a client and knocked a full cup of coffee right onto my sketches. I was so mad, but the brown splotches on the beige paper looked kind of cool. I started playing with it, adding more water to make the stain bleed, and it gave me this whole idea for a 'watercolor stain' print. I spent the next three days developing a small capsule collection based on that accident, using diluted fabric dyes on silk to get the same effect. My client loved the unexpected texture and ended up picking that direction over my original plan. It just goes to show that sometimes a mess can be the best start. Has anyone else had a happy accident turn into a real design direction?

3 comments

3 Comments

king.derek1mo ago

Watercolor stains on paper are cool, but silk dyes bleed way differently. You might want to test on scraps first.

sullivan.finley1mo ago

Hey @king.derek, isn't watercolor on paper more of a stain while silk dye actually soaks in? The bleed is totally different like you said.

the_john22d ago

Haven't we all learned that lesson the hard way at least once? I tried silk painting once and my "test scrap" was more like a tie-dye napkin by the time I was done. Better to ruin a small piece of fabric than a whole project, I suppose.