Introducing Beryl, the next in our Gocco bear series. Beryl was much more successful than Bernard was a few weeks ago, with 50 perfect examples achieved, and not a single reject! We deliberately stuck to a single colour option to allow us to concentrate on getting consistency, and we think we’ve nailed the early registration problems we were having. We’re currently working to get the paper larger to allow for better window mounting, as these were printed on slightly smaller paper than we’ve used before.

Prices: AU$10.00 each (or £5.00 for those in the old world) plus postage and packaging (which won’t be much, as we’ll just stick him in an envelope along with some stiff card to protect him). We accept cash, and also Paypal for those overseas. Contact us for details of how to pay.

Colours: Only available as Pink and Black Beryl - limited to 50.

This is “Help!”, which I’ve uploaded for Illustration Friday, for the subject ‘Rescue’.  I’ve never had a wheel clamp, but have often wondered what you do if you call the number and no one answers. This was drawn with a pen, and then coloured up in Photoshop. I’m thinking about printing it as a Gocco… mmm, maybe not. Follow this link for the Illustration Friday submissions page… http://www.illustrationfriday.com/linkviewer.html

We’ve been busy playing with our Gocco this week. Our first limited run available to buy is Bernard the Bear. He’s available in 3 different forms - Blue Bernard, Yellow Bernard and Lucky Dip Bernard. Blue Bernard and Yellow Bernard are limited to just 15 each, and printed on a fine quality printing stock. Lucky Dip Bernard is limited to 30, and printed on high quality coloured card stock for extra colour! They’re all individual, as the print quality of the Gocco is charmingly unpredictable, as you’ll see in these pictures.

Prices: AU$10.00 each (or £5.00 for those in the old world) plus postage and packaging (which won’t be much, as we’ll just stick him in an envelope along with some stiff card to protect him). We accept cash, and also Paypal for those overseas. Contact us for details of how to pay.

Colours: Blue Bernard - limited to 15 // Yellow Bernard - limited to 15 // Lucky Dip Bernard - limited to 30. Colours may vary.

Size: Print - 95mm x 130mm // Paper (varies slightly) - 185mm x 150mm approx.

After a slow start, we finally got our first Gocco print out for a very very limited Christmas run. Please don’t be offended if you didn’t get one of our exclusive Corabella Christmas cards - we printed a good 200 in black, red and gold, but alas, because of a terribly planned first colour, we only managed to achieve 16 that were vaguely in registration! We also learned about the basics of ‘don’t use gloss paper’, meaning our glossy cards had to have matt prints mounted to them. A relatively successful print run (as it wasn’t a total failure), but now our only issue is attempting to locate 300gsm pre-folded cards within Australian borders. It’s proving rather impossible! Any help in locating thicker cards would be greatly appreciated…

Twinkle has discovered a new skill set - she quite likes painting! First cab off the rank is a version of Up The Hill, Down The Hill seen in our last post. It measures 14 inches square, and is painted in acrylic.

Once upon a time, we went to Estonia. We stayed in a little hotel at the bottom of a hill. The receptionist seemed to (on a daily basis) respond to our request for directions with a stern ‘Up the hill, down the hill’. We figured that either she spoke no other English, or that our hotel was the only thing on our side of the hill. Everyday, we climbed the hill, and then descended the other side to our destination. Up The Hill, Down The Hill, just as she promised.

Twinkle clearly remembers this trip, and has become obsessed with drawing hills. Oddly enough, I don’t remember there ever being anything actually on the top of the hill in Estonia as Twinkle suggests here, but maybe I’m wrong. She’s drawing another hill right now.

There’s something that always makes me sad about knackered old vehicles up on bricks, and I usually have the uncontrollable urge to want to rescue them. At the top of my most wanted list sits an ice cream van, a vehicle that consistently puts smiles on faces as it pumps out happy tunes and tasty treats. I’d quite like one in the front room, maybe as an office, but Twinkle said no.

My dad was an ice cream man once - I blame him for all this.