We're celebrating! 15 Years of creating clergy stoles!

What I've learned in 15 years of owning and operating Carrot Top Studio ...

15 - Have faith in an idea. The goal was to be in business for 3 years and look where we are now!

14 - Designing for the seasons of preparation is a favorite.

13 - Communication is key.

12 - Red stoles sell well. 

11 - Listening is key. You all have great ideas!

10 - I my taxman more than I did 15 years ago. And he shouldn't read anything into this ranking. 

9 - Hard work is worth it.

8 - Writing is our strongest suit but after 405 blog posts there has been improvement.

7 - Learning and curiosity for the sake of the business has led to studying the scriptures and reading many. That's a joy.

6 - Social media can be a good thing. Thanks for linking with Carrot Top Studio!

5 - it's not all about the money - I really love what I do.

4 - Making charitable donations because through your purchases has been a special delight.

3 - Good photographs are important for an online business (duh!?) Check out the website for our recent improvements!

2 - My family is a really supportive bunch.

1 - Your compassion, caring, and encouragement make you the best clients to work with! I am so very thankful.

THANK YOU, thank you! Cheers to what is ahead :) …. signing off to go eat that cake!

Ministry Stoles: Using new techniques

It's artistically stimulating for us to experiment with new to us techniques and equipment. We recently revised mono-printing with a commercial printing plate called a gelli pate.

First we gathered our supplies. That's the gelli plate in the top left picture. Acrylic paints, stencils, stamps, things to press into the paint and brayers rounded out the gear.

After printing the fabrics we arranged them like a collage artist would do with papers. 

Adding details of overlapping fabrics and hand stitching was super fun.

And we ended up with this finished product! Read more about it on "peace and healing" stole collection on our website here. 

This took us back to several years ago when we did mono printing off of a homemade gelatin block. I recently dug into that fabric stash and put together this lively table runner. It's in our Etsy shop here!

Mono-printing is instantly gratifying. We're pleased with the results and hope to do more of this in the future!