paper & planes

I just re-upholstered two old chairs we had on our deck and I’m pretty proud of myself. I wish I had some before pictures of the torn up ol’ fabric on here – but these shiny new shots will have to suffice. For some reason this project took about a year, even though the total work was maybe an hour. Rachel mentioned about a year ago that we should re-upholster the chairs since they were pretty ratty and getting uncomfortable. Last summer I tore them apart. Sometime last fall we picked up some vinyl and batting. Mid-winter we borrowed a staple gun from Rachel’s dad. And finally, last week, when the sun came back out, I was ready to prepare the chairs for summer nights on the porch. Rachel provided additional incentive by fast using up the batting on other projects, so I had to start before she used it all. Anyhow, the chairs turned out pretty well for my first upholstery job. Staple guns are a good time.

-Jon

I received a phone call over a month ago from the art director at Oregon Home Magazine asking if I’d be willing to do some illustrations for an article on house painting. Of course I said “Yes!” I love to jump into things then worry and fret about them later – this especially since I hadn’t ever done graphic design/illustration before. Well, the March/April issue is coming out soon – with my finished illustrations – and I’d love to give you a sneak peak at one of the drawings I did. They all were done in ink and watercolor and are different from my usual style – I had Jon model for this (though beardless) – pretending to paint for me. Hee, hee!

Rachel

Jon just finished these cute little map pendants and posted them on our etsy site today. Jon has pretty much taken over the making of these (except when I’m inspired to draw and paint the tiniest images on them). These necklaces were added to the items we sell at the beginning of December. I had decided to make these for Christmas gifts. It was kinda funny because I hadn’t thought of selling them, but when I started working on them, I really liked the way just a little piece of a map looked in the pendant all covered with a resin-like glaze. They fit in great with the map paintings – it’s like having a little piece of art around your neck! Maps are so pretty.

Rachel

Welcome to paper & planes!

We are excited to start blogging. This is a behind the scenes look at the husband-wife team of Jon and Rachel Austin. Rachel is constantly creating things and sometimes inspires Jon to make a few things as well. He also is lucky to work at home with Rachel helping take care of some of the more business-y aspects of creating and selling things. We hope to share things that inspire us to create, about happenings we might know about and stuff we are working on.

Enjoy!