This Halloween I once again collaborated with Kiki’s Cocoa, as well as a number of other makers and artists to create a special spooky treat for all the subscribers of Kiki’s Cacao Club. Inspired in equal part by traditional Day of the Dead imagery as well as contemporary character designs, here is a peek behind the curtain for the making of the ChiChiLand Halloween Bandanas!
Follow this link to learn more about the Kiki’s Cocoa: Halloween Edition project and to see more photos of the finished products.
…or read on to see how we made them.
I created the set of original character designs in Photoshop and then vectorized them for laser cutting.
The stencils were then etched into linoleum blocks, using high-precision laser cutting. Each block contained 5-6 stamps and took nearly 3 hours to engrave.
…and came out all charred, dirty and generally eew.
Considering the amount of chemical washing required, mistakes such as forgetting to mirror the logo were… costly.
By the way, my arms are not this hairy – it’s Quba cleaning the stamps on the photo above.
All cleaned, the first of three plates is drying in the sun.
Once all the plates were ready, Quba and Bryan got them cut into separate stamps, trimmed and sanded.
We also used the laser cutter to create cardboard stencils for the stamps.
So that I could pretend I am bat girl.
…and so that the paint does not smudge all over the fabric :)
This is what the stamps looked like without the stencils – paint EVERYWHERE.
This is the first “smudgy” draft for the layout purposes.
And here are the final bandanas drying out in my studio.
For more pictures of the finished project, check out Kiki’s Cocoa: Halloween Edition
Credits:
Concept, design and prints: Çiğdem Michalski (ChiChiLand)
Cholcolates and packaging: Kirsten Ritschel (Kiki’s Cocoa)
Blocks crafted by: Quba Michalski (QubaHQ)
Crafting assistance: Bryan Turbett