Side Project: Decorative Cowhide Squares

So my next shipment of ceramic coasters is starting the slow crawl of arriving to my office (I'm getting partials orders, as they are ready). So, while that is happening I started another random side project...

Cowhides are pretty much everywhere right now, used both tastefully and not. HGTV uses them as accent "rugs" on most staged modern rooms and houses, but you can also see horrific examples of kitsch gone horribly wrong online. I had eight of these beautiful knotted, rippled wood squares ready for random projects, so I'm varnishing them and affixing some cowhide samples to the backsides (or front? depends what you like) to see what happens.

I don't usually go for a hide or skin look, but the colors and the textures of the hides (found at Ikea for $3.99/ea) are really very beautiful and subtle in their colorings. If it looks cool, awesome. If not, well then project over...

Rive LLC design reveal

Finally had the time to take some good photographs of the two awesome sample bottles that Rive LLC supplied me with. The following two designs are not absolutely final, as the designs will be altered and tweaked depending on the application method.

Above: Japanese Hybrid Design (Ocra + Eggplant) created using pen and ink, plus watercolor swatches for spot colors.

Above: Birds on branches design created using pen and ink and then vectorized in Adobe Illustrator.