New in the Shop: Exclusive Enamel Pins!

As promised earlier this week, I’ve been busy updating a bunch of things behind the scenes, including the Hands Occupied Shop. Most importantly is my first foray into merch! I worked with an illustrator friend to develop two adorable enamel pin designs inspired by the knitting community. Both of these are perfect for gifting to your knit night bestie or treating yourself!

Find the pins in the Shop: Rip it! Enamel Pin / Fiber Friends Enamel Pin

About the pins

Fiber Friends

This adorable pin measures approximately 1.25 inches by 1.25 inches. The original design by Taaja Tucker features five of the most-loved fiber producing animals (sheep, rabbit, goat, alpaca, & yak) hanging out together behind a red banner reading “fiber friends.”

Rip It!

Also clocking in at 1.25 inches by 1.25 inches, this funny pin again features original artwork by Taaja Tucker. This pin depicts a frog smiling and tearing out its red knitting. The words “rip it!” are in the foreground because in the knit and crochet community, frogging is the term we use for tearing back out work to fix a mistake, often very far back. Frogs ribbit, so… RIP IT! 

Working with Taaja Tucker

Taaja Tucker is the name of the biologist and artist I collaborated with on these first 2 enamel pin designs. Personally, I’m a crafter and a fiber artist – not an illustrator. Enter Taaja, who I’ve known since college & who also designed my old band’s merchandise (pictured below!). 15 years after college, we collaborated again on merch for an indie project. I feel like working with a friend is the kind of good vibes I needed for adding physical objects to the Hands Occupied Shop, you know?

Taaja’s website / @tinywaterbear on Instagram

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This is what happens when you combine listening to the new episode of @seriouscrafts and trying to take a mirror selfie to show off the day’s handmade wardrobe element. (The new episode is seriously pretty funny!) . The shirt was for my college band, Falcorps (as in Falcor Luckdragon, yes). I screen printed our sweet merch using thrift store t-shirts and @speedball_art supplies in my dorm laundry room. 😆 Shout out to @tinywaterbear’s epic shirt design, & former bandmates @shuttershop @haunted_neighborhoods @mike_lala @mccuneza, etc. 🥰

A post shared by Heidi Gustad 🧶✂️ (@handsoccupied) on Jul 30, 2019 at 9:39pm PDT

Fun fact: these have literally been years in the making!

These pins were actually designed in early 2018. I wasn’t sure pins would be the right move for Hands Occupied at the time, but Taaja had already finished the Fiber Friends & Rip It designs. Luckily I was in love with the designs, so I kept them in my back pocket just in case! When WizardPins reached out about working together on a pins project, I was ready to go! Getting the project rolling was so simple. Shout out to WizardPins for making my enamel pin dreams come true!

Congratulations! If you’ve read this far, I appreciate it! Use code FREESHIP in the Shop to get, you guessed it, free shipping on orders through 10/1/20.