Robot Shop

Website Updates and The Abyss

robot_shop — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 22:58:12 GMT

I'm currently doing a big website update - if you are on our mailing list you'll be getting a mail shot shortly (along with a discount code too!) about all the new products :-)

These are my current 2 new favourites - our I love crisps and I love biscuits tee shirts. My actual favourite character keeps changing though. Currently i have lots of love for the twiglet, party ring and the custard cream.

I've got the Abyss on in the background as i've seen half of it about 4 times, so i thought it was really about time i watched the full thing...it also explains the slight blue tinge to my face in the photo. That, and a big blanket are definitely aiding work on the website :-)

I can't believe its so cold here in London already...what a shame.

robot_shop — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 19:34:13 GMT

Very nice week this week - lots of productive time in the studio and a great haul of dead stock stripey tees that i plan on using for an exciting limited edition project for Robot Shop :-)

I also finally broke with one of my bad habits of really wanting to go to an exhibition /
film and never getting around to it in time. I went to the Supremes Costume exhibition at the V & A museum (http://www.vam.ac.uk/). It was really good - and i was really surprised to see just how teeny the Supremes were in their petite little outfits. Just the best stage costumes. I can't say that any of it will particularly influence any Robot Shop future design work, but it did totally indulge my love for 60's fashion and music :-) It's on till the end of October, so if it's not too far i'd really advise you all to go along.

As and extra treat at the same time, Design China Now exhibition was also on. A really great collection of modern Chinese design. I couldn't help but snap up an angry panda to take home.

First Post Of 2008! Ha!!

robot_shop — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 21:31:00 GMT

rainbow keyboard
Originally uploaded by robot_shop.

Well, i really have been busy - first post of 2008 half the year in :-)

I've been getting very annoyed trying to intergrate a blog into our website, and literally after hours and days of fiddling around and searching through google and many many forums, i've finally cracked it. Phew!

In addition to this personal celebration, Spain have just got through to the semi finals of Euro 2008. We're willing them on here at Robot Shop on account of my lovely boyfriend Alex being half Spanish. Woop woop!!

I'll leave you with a picture of a little keyboard i snapped up at a carboot sale a few weeks ago. We're not sure if it works yet, but it's so pretty i don't care :-)

Christmas Robot

robot_shop — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 21:47:47 GMT

Christmas Robot
Originally uploaded by robot_shop.

Phewee! Where is the time going? I can't believe it's almost Christmas, and also, equaly scary is the fact that it's almost time for the Clothes Show at the Birmingham NEC. I have been super busy!

We are pleased to anounce that we will be exhibiting this year in the Purple Zone in the Off Beat Boutique section. I'm really excited, and a little scared! I really hope that we have enough stock. Hopefully it will be lots of fun.

Also, more news is that my brother Jim has taken the reins at Robot shop in the run up to Christmas. He has extensive knowledge of vintage toys too, so is an excellent addition to the Robot Shop team
:-)

I'll be adding our special new Christmas tee online in the next couple of days, so keep em' peeled!

100's and 100's of Scrabble Tiles

robot_shop — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 23:12:32 GMT

100's and 100's of Scrabble Tiles
Originally uploaded by robot_shop.

I'm the worst blogger ever. I really like my life, but i do seem to spend a lot of time making customer orders and going to the Post Office, which i don't think would make for very exciting reading!

There are lots of exciting things going on in the land of Robot Shop Pink Kat, which hopefully i should be able to reveal soon. We've also made quite a big decision on the future of Robot Shop in Camden.

This week has been lots of sorting out in preparation of Christmas. I spent a whole evening sorting out Scrabble tiles...phew. Glad that job is done. We go through a lot of scrabble sets!

It may sound odd - but i really like that its getting colder. I'm a big scarf fan, and i'm itching to get them out of storage. Hope you all are enjoying the chilly weather as much as i am :-)

Birthday Shoes

robot_shop — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 19:26:02 GMT

Birthday Shoes
Originally uploaded by robot_shop.

I've wrote reallt excellent blog posts twice now from my flickr account, but they haven't arrived at my blog - they were very interesting and full of juicy gossip....that i can't remember....ooops!

This week has been my Birthday, yesterday i reached the grand age of 25. I didn't have quite the day i was planning, i was ill with my crappy tonsils. We were planning a days cheeky shopping in Central London, romantic dinner at Itsu and then a friends band in the evening. We didn't get to do any of that, but did have a nice day on the sofa with my boyfriend, eating apple pie and custard :-) We are going to try for a Birthday #2 next week.

Also this week, Robot Shop is 3. I'm planning a surprise for everybody on the mailing list. I'll be sending the mail out this weekend with details about party bags!!!

I'll be dosed up with Beechams this weekend, so i'll hopefully be ok!

Rainbow Juice

robot_shop — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 21:40:32 GMT

Rainbow Juice
Originally uploaded by robot_shop.

Not a lot exciting to say - just about to tuck in to my first attempt at bread making - looks pretty cool. About to try some crochet again, my previous attempts have not been so great, but then i think the last time i tried i was about 9 years old, so i'm not going to beat myself up about it! Have been making the most of my daytime hours by doing my shopping at 1am.

Found some excellent fabric today, clear PVC with Barbie Dolls on it - it is as cool as it sounds! For this weekend i've made coin purses, handbags and make up / washbags. I've also made a load more Playmobil keychains and more Stephen the Crow Flight bags, and the last 2 ever Stephen frame bags. I really hope it doesn't rain this weekend. The amount of rain these past few weekends has lead me to spend an unhealthy amount of time playing Diner Dash on the Nintendo DS. The rain is also squashing my plants in my garden too, not to mention the fact that it's probably going to make Wimbledon last about a month! Damn you, stinky rain!

I'll post picture of my new Barbie creations on my next post.
Stay dry :-)

Boggly from Interpol

robot_shop — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 12:09:37 GMT

We went to go and see Interpol last night at the London Astoria, it was amazing. I'd never seen them play before - so i was totally blown away, and my boyfriend just spent the whole evening saying "I told you"

It was our first gig since the Smoking Ban came in the day before. I can safely say (especially being a non smoker) that i am all for it. It was so nice, we stood right at the very top of the Astoria, where usually you wouldn't be able to see anything besides a big smoke cloud, but we had the perfect un-stinky and un-smokey view - apart from the woman right in the corner of my eye who was doing the most terrible dancing.

Daniel Kessler, on the other hand, does excellent dancing (he's my most favourite)

I'm a crap blogger

robot_shop — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 17:50:25 GMT

Kitty Bricks
Originally uploaded by robot_shop.

I don't really have a good excuse for not posting, i think part of it is i write a diary too, and sometimes if i'm writing in that a lot, i mentally think i have done my blog, or it's like i'm repeating myself!

I have got the excuse of being busy though. I've been putting together some drawings i'm hopeful of starting a stationary line with. I love stationary so much, and so i thought it was quite an obvious avenue to go down. Also, plans are afoot for changes with Robot Shop - can't say too much at the moment, but we have lots of ideas and will hopefully be having a meeting about ti soon....!

I got these Kitty Bricks through the post this week, and i am totally in love. I saw a picture of someone elses set on Flickr and knew that i had to track them down. They are a Japapnese Mcdonalds exclusive (just like so many things that i love!) so i had to get this little lot on Ebay, magical ebay! I think I'm going to make a box frame to put them all in.

We have had nothing but rain rain rain it seems for weeks in the shop, so i have been eating my way through so many books. My favourite out of my recent lot is The Time Travellers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. I'm not usually a bestsellers kind of girl, but this i really loved, my boyfriend is not a time traveller (!), but it did strike quite a few chords with me. Our local charity shop has an amazing offer on paperbacks. They are all 5 for £1, so even if i don't enjoy the book it's still worth it. I take back anything i don't want to keep too - so i guess it's a good deal for both of us. I have to be quite selective, otherwise there won't be any room to get in my house because of the mountain of books we already have.

This week i am grateful for the perks of being your own boss and being able to work from home - this morning i packed up a whole pile of customer orders while still in my pjamas - good huh?

I'd better go - my lovely friend Lucy is coming round :-)

Friday is tee shirt day

robot_shop — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 23:29:38 GMT

Pile of Tee shirts
Originally uploaded by robot_shop.

Busy busy busy! I've made a big pile of tee shirts and vest tops for this weekend - i'm keeping my fingers crossed for lovely sunshine. i really want to see what people think of the new sundresses (finally got the elastic sorted out!) The skirt sale starts this weeknd too, to make room for new stock.

Also, had my haircut this week. Much happier. I really hate going to the hairdressers, but my hair had beocme so crap i couldn't put it off any longer. I'm quite pleased with it - and my boyfriend like it, which is important!

Probably my favourite thing this week though is the fact that they got rid of Stingray in Neighbours, i've hated him since he joined, and his death has made me a much happier viewer.....oh, i'm so lame....

Hope everyone on the mailing list got your newsletter ok - 10% off in June on everything online - Woo hoo!

Grrr!

robot_shop — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 15:30:54 GMT

I started dress production today, but i've run out of elastic. Grrr!

Here are the before and after pictures i mentioned yesterday. I love snoopy, and these little drawers are now all filled up with my decotape, stickers and Japanese note paper, envelopes and stationary sets.

Dress production will hopefully start again tommorrow as planned!

New Sun dress

robot_shop — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 00:09:57 GMT

New Sun dress
Originally uploaded by robot_shop.

What lovely weather this weekend - and in celebration i''ve come up with a new dress pattern. I'm so pleased with how it turned out. This was the first one, and it sold soon after this photo was taken. The feedback was so good, i'll be making lots more for next weekend. Perfect for festivals and running about in the sunshine!

I was thinking 2 sizes - Small to medium and large to xlarge? I try hard to cater for as many girls as possible. I think i'm going to need to have a shift around in the shop to make space for all my new ideas.

I'm feeling really creative at the moment - so i must dash. i bought a tiny chest of drawers which will be perfect to store all my Japanese stationary, notepaper and stickers in. I'm going to cover it in Snoopy pictures. I'll post the before and after shots this week. Also found an amazing Dick Bruna picture at a jumble sale. I'm in love!

Have a great Monday :-)

Lovely Bank Holiday

robot_shop — Wed, 30 May 2007 13:16:59 GMT

O.k, i am a bit late, but it was such a nice day,that i wanted to write about it.

I was really looking forward to the local Bank holiday Carboot sale, but because of the stupid rain (damn you stupid rain) it was canceled, so instead we went into Wimbledon and bought gardening equipment for my little garden and veg patch, and i collected up a couple of things for my www.swap-bot.com swaps.

We had our Sunday Dinner on Monday, and had my brother and lovely friend Matt over. The boys watched the new Rocky DVD (very good by all accounts) and i came over all 1950's house wife, made dinner, baked cookies (recipe below) made jellies and made some more blocks for my scrappy log cabin quilt and painted up a printing block drawer that i'm using as a shelving unit. All in all, a very nice day :-)

Kerry's Cookies

4oz Margarine
2 Eggs
4oz Brown Sugar
4oz White Caster sugar
1tsp Vanilla Essence
8oz Plain Flour
1/2 Tsp Baking powder
4 oz choc chips
(i used half white chocolate and half milk chocolate)

It's a really easy (and pretty classic recipe) so you can just put everything in a bowl at once if you like, i added everything like a cake recipe suggests! I only have a weedy little oven, so i baked 4 at a time with a desert spoon of mixture for each cookie, 4 cookies at a time on grease proof paper. Bake at 180 degrees. They are quite cakey with a cookie like shell. Very yummy!

Now, i'm off to make some bags for the weekend. Also, i'm planning on re-vamping the vintage cartoon print skirts, i'm thinking 3 sizes, elasticated so everyone can wear them...i'll keep you posted!

Cornelius! Woo woo!

robot_shop — Wed, 23 May 2007 23:33:58 GMT

We've just got back from seeing Cornelius at Camden Koko. OH MY GOODNESS! They were so amazing. They had the most stunning videos playing behind them, and every move in the films was in time with the live music. I've been crazy about Cornelius for so long, but never been able to get the tickets. It was truly worth the wait!

This was our favourite video of the evening - i'm off to draw, Cornelius were very inspiring!

The Tiniest Giraffe Ever!

robot_shop — Sun, 20 May 2007 23:48:00 GMT

The Tiniest Giraffe Ever!
Originally uploaded by robot_shop.

Just a quick post. Thanks to everyone who stopped by the shop this weekend. I feel so lucky to have such nice customers - but the nicest bit of this weekend was this little guy. One of my customers gave me him as a present - what a cool present, huh? She made it herself - i think he's lovely. I wonder what other creatures she makes? Thankyou again, mystery lady!

Sunny weather

robot_shop — Fri, 18 May 2007 23:26:09 GMT

Sunny weather
Originally uploaded by robot_shop.

I've been busy making all the weekend tee shirts today, but i saved a bit of time to put the washing out in the sunshine. It is a really simple pleasure, (one that my boyfriend doesn't understand!) but i love being able to dry my laundry outside. I'm such a geek.

Yesterday we went and saw Shellac play at Koko in Camden. I was going to take some cheeky pictures, but it was like land on the giants. I'm 6ft tall, and even i couldn't see - there were some massive guys there! The gig was quite good, but both me and my boyfriend decided that the band were in a bad mood. Still great to see them when they tour so rarely. We of to see Cornellius next week which i'm really looking forward to, and we scored tickets to see Beastie Boys at Brixton Academy - we are lucky bugs :-)

I've been home alone this week, so i've caught up with lots of work. I also made my very own yellow Pikmin. It's my favourite computer game, even though i'm totally stuck on the last level. I couldn't finish his eyes and flower, need to buy some more felt. I hate not being able to finish something i've started. I'll post a picture when he's all done.

Hope you all have a good weekend, i'll be sending out a newsletter soon - just deciding on a special offer!

Crabby crab crab...

robot_shop — Wed, 16 May 2007 20:14:04 GMT

I've been fiddling around with lego today, i came up with a couple of cool bits of jewelery, but i'm going to go back to them next week. I just need to have little think about exactly what i want to do with them first. It does get frustrating sometimes making lots of the same thing....

I've been told off today for being a grumble pants, i think i totally got out of the wrong side of bed, but tomorrow i've got lots of customer order to make and post off (always lots of Tutting from the other people in the Post Office queue!) and a trip to the Post Office so that will cheer me up. Call me an idiot, but i really like posting parcels. It makes me feel a real sense of achievement, also probably a good thing to like too, when you are trying to build up your mail order business!

Good news too, i'm so excited that Diner Dash is out on the nintendo ds - i'm such a geek! Perfect to while away my time during rainy quiet days in Robot Shop!

Also, I have quite a lot of black soft leather i'm trying to sell. If anyones interested, let me know. I'm really keen to sell it on, as i've finally decided that i won't use it for any of my projects [:-)]

Phew - all is back to normal!

robot_shop — Wed, 09 May 2007 13:37:20 GMT

We've now managed to change over the new motor, and my lovely machine has come back to life - it felt so weird not being able to use my machine, even though it was only for a couple of days. The other good thing was that because i had to pull everything out to get my machine out, i now have a nice tidy studio to work in, which makes a nice change!

Also, shopping treats this week - found these in Asda. I don't usually shop there, but found these. I think i like them, i think i'll wait till the weather is a bit warmer as they would look so lame with tights!

And, this little gem arrived in the post this week, and i love it. It has pride of place in my workshop, just got to find more of the figures and furniture to complete the set - i love a challenge! I love the vintage fisher price toys - especially the little people and the toys with paper transfers on them. I've got an idea for some things for the shop, but i need to mull them over for a bit longer....

Going to get going now, i've got the ne Bjork album to listen to - need to try and grab some Cornelius tickets too while i'm online (fingers crossed), then it's time for mass label making and maybe a little bit of patchwork before Neighbours!

Torture!

robot_shop — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 22:09:07 GMT

My poor sewing machine is still not working - need to go and pick up the new motor on Tuesday. I tried seeing if she'd come back to life last night, but no dice. Still making a horrible noise, and very broken. It is complete torture. My stash of Japanese fabric arrived yesterday, and i am dying to start using it. I'll just have to wait a little bit longer. Grumble grumble...

Aren't they pretty?

Lots to make this week to fill up the shop again, but tomorrow will be my own personal weekend, and i shall be doing little home-maker things like planting seeds for my vegetable patch, gardening and washing (and maybe a Katharine Hepburn movie or two?!)

This week i have re-discovered the fact that i love Kiwi fruits and Wes Anderson films. Hee hee!

And finally, why am i sat watching an Episode of Desperate Housewives again, when i've already seen it before and it was terrible the first time?!

Sewing Machine Disaster

robot_shop — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 20:31:59 GMT

Well, it's Friday again. Everything was going very smoothly. I registered our new web address www.iloverobotshop.com. I'd been meaning to do it for ages. We have lots of customers, some have been kindly with us for years, at the beginning with the creation of Pink Kat. Nearly 3 years ago we opened Robot Shop, which became an umbrella to house all of our brands (Pink Kat, Peach Peach and My House) Now our new web address points to the Pink Kat and Robot shop online store, so hopefully this will make things easier and less complicated.

As i said everything was going well, i printed up all the tags i needed for the shop, and prepped all the tee shirts for the weekend, aswell as my customer orders. The Dr Pepper was chilled, my stack of cds ready to be played while i machined. I turned on my lovely faithful sewing machine, but instead of the lovely starting up humm that she usually makes, instead came a horrible spluttering noise, like a car not starting. Initially i was really annoyed, this was very bad timing for her to let me down, but i stopped and had a think avout it. I have had this machine for over 5 years, i have used her almost every day for that whole time, and never had a problem. Anyway, after ringing my friendly machine repair man, it looks like i'm going to have to buy her a whole new motor. £120 Yikes!

Poor poorly machine...

Major problem - big pile of things to sew, and no sewing machine. I decided the best course of action was to eat an onion bagel and watch Neighbours. By some major miracle, my machine came back to life! I was able to make all the tee shirts and customer orders. Phew. She still needs a new motor, but she saved my life today!

mergers and aquisitions

robot_shop — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 17:54:14 GMT

Hello all, Alex here -

Like a flying super grover ^_^ i'm going to swoop in and do the first blog of April. there hasnt been one for agessssssss. and we are very sorry. no really, VERY SORRY. vic is super busy - While im...well im just a super grover i suppose.

We had a bit of time off in the week - which we used up by going to see 'Blades of glory' we are ma-hoo-sive Anchorman and Napoleon Dynamite fans so naturally we loved it. I love lamp.

In the Robot World, things are now galloping along at a great pace in the shop and online - with the new bags being a particular fave. THEY RULE ALL. We intend to finally start to unveil a range of guys/boys/men stuff soon - which should include some new tees and toys for summer...

ooooh yeah - new music to listen to: The Good Shoes album, the Big Business album (for fans of heavy music like me) the Arcade Fire album and the Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! album. some of which you will probably hear in the camden shop - as soon as vic gets bored of metronomy (which probably wont be anytime soon)

Hope y'all enjoyed my first robot blog. we'll do better in the future!! drop us a message to say hi! we love it!

Love Alex @ Robot Shop [:-)]

Happy Un-Birthday to me!

robot_shop — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 14:13:42 GMT

I've mentioned before about www.swap-bot.com. Some of my parcels have been so-so. Very well intentioned, but not really my cup of tea. I have received 2 lots of Dr Pepper lip gloss from the USA, which i'm sooo happy about! People have been really lovely. But the best parcel EVER turned up last week. It was for crafty ladies, so i was hoping for some hand made goodies, i wasn't disappointed, I received a whole box of lots of different bits and pieces. Here are some pictures:

I was so pleased!

Today i'm adding all the new flight bags to the Website, and we are also devising a little competition... there will be prizes, but we'll send out a newsletter about that when we've finalised the details!

Robot Plush

robot_shop — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 22:54:13 GMT

Another busy week, i'm still not quite back to full power after being poorly, but i'm slowly getting there!

We've entered a plush in the worldwide Softie Awards. I'm quite pleased how he turned out, but i think for him to look exactly like the paintings and drawings i did for the shop signs, his head needs to be a bit less cubey - more rectangular...

I'll write again to let you all know when you can vote - it would be so cool to win an award, or even to get into the top 5. I never win anything....appart from when i was little, at a school fete when i spent all of my pocket money i'd saved up (about £12) to win a puppet that probably cost about 50p!

New instore this week, vintage style flight bags. I'm really excited to put them in the shop. I've kept one for myself as they've turned out so well. I'm going to add them to the site too, just incase you can't make it to Camden!

Poorly peter

robot_shop — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 22:36:36 GMT

I think everything has gone wrong this week. In the space of a week, i came down with the most horrible flu / tonsil illness. I was totally bedridden.

Some of you may have met my lovely brother at the weekend. He kindly stepped in to open the shop at the weekend, while i sat in a pile of duvets crying and being miserable. I am terrible at being ill. I hate not being able to do anything, and i get myself into a stress just thinking about all the things i'm meant to be doing. Unfortunately, on the off chance that i am ill (luckily, it doesn't happen very often!) things at Pink Kat and Robot Shop HQ do grind to a bit of a halt!

And, to top it all, our website went down, causing mild hysteria with you, our lovely customers. So, I'm really sorry - we aren't closing down, or anything like that! Just a technical glitch! All is restored, including my health (just a bit of a cough left!)

Hopefully, all your customer orders will be shipped out on Saturday, and i'll have a load of new tee shirts ready for the weekend

On a happier note, it was my 7 year anniversary with my lovely boyfriend. We met at college, and i'm proud to say we are still disgustingly happy!

This was my present - Love is your boyfriend knowing that you would much prefer a china dog in a plastic cowboy hat, than lay-mo flowers and chocolates!

Busy busy busy...

robot_shop — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 21:48:04 GMT

Oh my! I have had such a busy week - i really haven't stopped. On Monday, i ended up spending most of the day tidying and unpacking more boxes at home. I was meant to be having a nice day off doing nothing, but i couldn't help myself. There were too many boxes of things that i hadn't seen in a whole year (we had them all in storage while we were house hunting)

Tuesday and wednesday, i went to do some work for my lovely friend, she has been swamped under with web orders, so i hope i helped a bit! The only trouble working for a friend is i do think i take a bit longer with things than i would if it was just work - i always want to make doubly sure that i'm doing things right and not making any mistakes! I did go out on Wednesday evening though with my cousin, Alex, Matt and John which was really nice (i like beer)

Thursday, i think i set a world record for 'Fabric Shops in one day.' My cousin came to visit, i'm making him a Mighty Boosh 'Vince Noir' mirror ball suit for a fancy dress party. We are having big trouble finding the sequin fabric, but, i will not be beaten!

Mixed in with all this, i've got loads of new tee shirts to bring to the shop tmrw. They are so cute and i'm really looking forward to seeing if all my regulars like them. The new figures encapsulated include Shaggy, Scooby Doo, Dick Dastardly and Mutley, plus a few others. They have turned out very cool.

I got a few more swap packages mailed out this week too. This is my pink matchbox swap - i really wanted to keep it for myself!

I would say it is mainly pink, so i hope it is ok!

I have also given myself the deadline of the end of this month to have some Robot plushes made, as there is "The Softie Awards" deadline at the begining of March, so i'm going to MAKE myself enter!