Ayca Cavas is blabbing from Kaikoura, New Zealand.

Ok. Here I start. 

Tha bad news is I started smoking. Full time. Non stop. In a depression moment I bough a package and it has been a month already. 

The good news is I started taking the pills again. On the new years day. Today is the ninth. In couple of days I will be quitting again. 

The bad news is they made me really sick and bitchy this time! I can murder Aaron any time. Maybe that’s a god news. So his torture will be over poor baby . 

What else? What else? Hah, I put the shop on sale on Trademe 3 weeks ago. I wrote an entertaining copy. Here is the link:

Look at it! It has your pic too! :)))))

We have already 660 views, 15 watchers and 2 phone calls. Fingers crossed if the shop sells, damn, I can’t even imagine, lets hope the shop sells….

So, the BIG news is, we are going to Oz for 3 months! I am going to take that ridiculously expensive but definitely necessary graphic design course. On this, I already sold my screen printer (oh no!) with the oven (repeat: Oh nooooooo!) for $3500 (yaaaaaaay!) plus GST (double yaaaaaaaay!!!!) 

Aaron is going to Au on the 20th for 20 days to renew his crane driving tickets for anzak seas. When he is there, I will be da boss. We have Stacey on board full time, did you meet here, Lisa’s girl. And when he returns on the 6th of Feb, we will be clearing our beautiful house and getting ready very quick cause the course starts on the 20th of Feb.

And Aaron’s mom will be looking after Coffee. And think she will be fine. They have a dog too, named Benji and they love hanging together a lot! Of course I will miss her. Probably more than she’ll miss me. :/

Oh, by the wayhe course is on Brisbane! I always looked at the same course located on Sydney, the same college has a studio in Melbourne too, which both were too expensive for me to even dream about them. But the Brisbane was way more cheaper because the building expenses there are not as mush as Sydney’s. Sweet! 

So, when come to Au, you know where to find us! :))

That’s it for now. Sorry for the late reply. I decided to write you when I quit smoking. But everyday I leave to the next day. But I can’t run too far. 14th is my last day anyway. 

Lav you! And glad you are having fun! You always do. Anywhere, anytime :)))

Literally yours, 

Ayca

Daha bi komsu oluyoruz, komsu!

Subat’in ikinci haftasi Brisbane’e geliyoruz. Niye ki yaaa ne gerek var ben ondan kaciyorum sen ustune atliyosun diycen gene ama grafik tasarim kursuna gidicem ben! Annem haric bir kisi de git tabii, negzel hep istiyordun zaten desin yahu. Aren bi yandan kursla olmuyo o isler der… Hayir ona ne oluyorsa? 

Yapicam iste. Kim ne derse desin. Istediklerimi yapmam ve yapmamam konusunda beni ozgurlestirecek, biliyorum. Yapmiycaksam da ben yapmiycam. Derdim bi tek kendimle olucak. Saga sola niye yapmiyorsunuz diye saldirmiycam. Zira vallahi yoruldum. Hayvan gibi para, onu da biliyorum. Gittim bebegim screen printer’imi sattim gecen hafta. 1800’e almistim, 3500’e sattim. Az cakal degilim ama! Su bazli boyayi kurutmak icin Aarongillerin curumeye biraktigi konveyor pizza firinini kullaniyordum. Onunla birlikte paket yaptim. Yeni yilin ilk gunu de garage sale yaptik. Gereksiz, kullanmaya vaktimizin olmadigi bir suru esya, sigarayi biraktiktan sonra ustume olmayan bi suru kiyafet, canak comlek. Ha, sigarayi da birakmistim. 4 ay falan surdu. Sonra yine basladim. Simdi yine birakicam. Aslinda bugun birakcaktim ama bugun Pazar. Galiba yarina birakicam. 

Ben geliyorum sen Adelaide’a gitmissin ya! Neyse, en azindan Kaikoura kadar uzak degil. Iki haftaya Aaron ooraya gelip vinc operatorlugu ehliyetlerini yenileyecek. Ben burada fish and chips tukkaninin patronlugunu oyniycam o yokken. Ha bir de vizeye basvurmam gerek tabii. Kurs level 4 oldugu icin ogrenci vizesi alamiyorum. Zaten kurs formunda liseyi hangi yilda bitirdiniz sorusuna 1995 yazarken icin bi fena oldu. Aaron’in henuz orada bir isi olmadigi icin partnership vizesine de basvurmuyorum. Zaten orada kalip kalmak istedigimi de bilmiyorum. Kaikoura’ya donmeyeyim yeter! Cok uzdu beni bu yer. Ugursuz mudur nedir?! Sanki ustumde kara bulutlar var buradayken. Bir gunlugune baska bir yere gidince yine umutla yeni fikirler yeni heyecanlarla doluyorum. Donunce yine her sey ters gidiyor. Aman, az kaldi, dayanicam. 

Ne diyordum? Hah, turist vizesiyle gelicem. Zaten kurs haftanin bes gunu sabah sekiz aksam bes; haftasonlarinizi da workshop’lar icin ayirin falan diye uyarmislar. Calismak istesem bile vaktim olmayacak gibi. Sevgili eline bakicam. En sevmedigim sey. Ben de karar verdim, Istanbul’a dondugumuzde Aaron’i Cam Ocagi’na gondericem. Ay evet evet diye heyecanlaniyor ne zaman soylesem. Aslinda “ivet” diyor. Bildigi Turkce bes kelime, hepsini de yanlis soyluyor :)

Iste boyle. Her sey yolunda giderse beni Subat’in 15’i gibi Brisbane’de bil! 

Once yanaklarindan sikar, sonra sapur supur operim. 

Ayca 

Aaron told me a story. Couple of days ago, a customer at Coopers Catch was looking at our postcards that were resting on the counter. He took one, and put it in his pocket. Aaron said: Hey mate, they are for sale.

And he replied: Oh, I thought they were free. Because, here, it says ‘Literally Yours’. 

I laughed. Not because I was surprised but because that was exactly what I had in mind at the start. I had planned this brand to be literally Selva’s one day because at that time she was making plans about quitting her job as a copywriter and moving to Brazil. I was afraid for her, she would be all alone in an brand new country. That’s why I got so excited when we came up with the note bag / shirt list idea because once I started doing the Kaikoura and New Zealand versions, the layout would be tested, Etsy store would be established, logo and the wordings and the packagings would be ready to be implemented for the different parts of the world. She could easily be writing the Brazil version and be selling the t-shirts to pay for her long accommodation in Itacare. 

At the same time in another ad agency in Istanbul, Seda was making plans to go to New York to study the latest web technologies; and Asiye started searching fashion MBA’s in London. Hey, if they wanted, we could make the London and New York versions of these stuff too! That’s how we found Literally Yours, a brand that would be literally ours whenever and where ever we needed. 

Of course this was before I found out how much capital is needed to earn a half a decent profit from the sales of t-shirts that were printed by someone else; still how expensive it would be to buy your own screen printing equipment and actually how hard it is to screen print, maybe not for an art director, but for a copywriter who was not even allowed to cut the brochure dummies back in the agency. 

But everything changes. Selva met with a man with a handsome moustache halfway to Dali’s; Seda & Asiye decided to establish their own design agency in Istanbul, and I, who does not know what she wants and where she wants for such a long time that she does not remember since when she wants, ended up moving into this new house two weeks ago.

And though I had a roller coaster relationship with this brand child of mine for the last couple of months -you can say it from all those non-existent blog posts here- and though most of the time I was inclined to pour gasoline over everything than trying to put more energy to it and, despite the fact that pushing this brand harder was on my “I Should Be Doing” list rather than my “I Am Gonna Do” list, here I am, totally by coincidence, somehow own one of the best spots on our world as a design studio, inside a clean huge empty two car garage opening its doors to the main street of Kaikoura with incredible sea and mountain views!

How could this happen? I was making interviews with tvnz in Auckland just two months ago. Was not me who believed that writing copies for an agency in Istanbul till 3 in the mornings were way more important than printing t-shirts in Kaikoura according to my “Can I Save the World Scala” just 3 months ago? What in the world did I do to deserve such a cool studio?!

But then, maybe it is not for me. It is for you. Just as the name suggests, this is Literally Yours Studio too. 

So dear friend, if you live close to Kaikoura, or planning a visit down here, please do know you have a place here. Maybe all you want is to sit for a couple of hours, listen to the waves and think, or you want to discuss an idea feverishly, or you always wanted to put your hands on a screen printer just like the old me 6 months ago but didn’t know who owns one and afraid to ask the professional printers who you knew would be answering no, please come. I have equipment here that is sitting idle most of the time. 

if I come to the postcards, t-shirts and tote bags, yes they are all literally yours too. But only if you are willing to buy :)

See you soon. 

Literally yours,

Ayca 

When it comes to environmental issues, Kaikoura has lots to offer. First, there isInnovative Waste Kaikoura, where a group of concerned residents banded together with a common goal of reducing waste being landfilled in 1996. Then there is the Kaikoura Recycled Trash Fashion Show, one of the most iconic events of Kaikoura, which is unfortunately held only every two years. I was there in 2010, had lots of fun watching the show the hat I made from a vinyl record.

And also there is this Eco Art Fair, the exhibition of art and craft made from recycled materials. Last year I had wasted (in a good sense) a whole month to get ready for the exhibition. This year I was so busy with myself, I didn’t even notice it was near until the last minute.

If I may start from the last year, I have to say it was a challenge. The closest I got to creating something useful from trash was finding an old radio junked right in front my apartment in Istanbul, and using it as a high table.

I never got briefed about the subject too, I doubt anyone would be in an ad agency, so I was totally clueless. This is in fact the best suitable environment for creativity. Being new to the subject. I grabbed my notebook and my Aaron, and we started our daily trips to Innovative Waste Kaikoura, trying to see things differently.

 - Hey Aaron, look there is an old tire!

 - Eer, yeesss…??

 - We can make a coffee table out of it!

 - How?

 - Finding out how is your mission. I am here to find the ideas! La la laaaaaa : )

 - ?????!!

Of course we could not end up doing everything we noted down as can be done, but these are what we came up with for the Eco Art 2010.

A Coffee Table Out of a Tire

I knew it could be done! Aaron found the base from the dump site too, and decorated it with some bicycle chains to his taste. The problem was fitting the wood inside the tire, in which we got some help from a tire technician who supplied us some greasy material. I had to jump on top of the tire at some point, but after a struggling half an hour, we made it!

A Lamp From Old Record Covers

Actually this idea was not new. I had made something similar on 2009 as a New Year present for someone I didn’t know. It is a long story, and I better write about that later. Anyway, this lamp was a version of that original idea. I had seen some junk records at the dump, which I wanted to use to create some jewelry. But what would I do with all those colorful and cool record covers? Then I decided to make a lamp shade with them, calling it “The Light Music”. The final touches were painting the lamp base with blackboard paint, and chalking the name on it.

Candle Holders From Old Vinyl Records

Making stuff, especially bowls by heating old records is something well known all over the world. Just google “record bowl” and you will find hundreds of images as well as some very nice tutorials. Because of my unbending “Never do the same thing if it is done before” custom coming from advertising, I tried to find a different angle to the subject and came up with these candle holders.

If you want to create these on your own, I suggest you first to watch some record bowl tutorial videos on youTube to have some idea about the practice. Then, get some 45’s, shape them to a bowl. Get another record, heat it, cut into strips long enough to cover the candles. Re-heat those strips, and quickly shape into a ring around the candle, and keep it firm for 30 seconds or until the record strip becomes stiff again. Then all you need to do is to glue the rings to the bottom of the bowl.

Some bracelets and rings from Old Vinyl Records

After my google searches, I also realized that creating jewelry by baking vinyl records was not something new. But it was new to me, so I did some anyway! When I was playing with them, I wanted to see if I could be fast enough to make a knot to the record strips. I was planning to cut those knots to create some earrings. Then I discovered I could use the knot without cutting it to make some bracelets and rings.

The trick is being very fast to tie the knot. But if you are not, you can always re-heat the vinyl for a couple of seconds and try again. I also used a fine nail file to smooth the edges.

A Mirror From an Old Computer Screen

Last year, I was working at the internet café, Global Gossip, surrounded by computers. That’s why the first ideas I noted down was all about creating new stuff from computers. Turning a screen to a mirror was one of them. So I asked my boss Dom at GG if he had some screens that were broken or not working anymore. He gave me three. What I did was, opening the screen, taking out everything including the wires, and the screen itself. (I later took those mechanic junk to the dump and found out that if you want to leave a whole computer screen you have to pay a little fee, but if you want to toss only some parts of it, it is free!) I washed the remaining case, dried it, sand it, and finally spray paint it. Then I took the case to a glass man where he measured the screen and cut a mirror for it. What was left to do was gluing the mirror inside, and reassembling the screen with the nuts I saved at the first place.

One last thing to add. When I came up with this idea, I of course wanted to check it first to see if it was done before, since I was attending to an ‘art fair’. I could not found a similar example, but I came across a legend that was linked on thousands of web sites. One point in time, someone asked a question on a web forum. “How can I turn a computer screen to a mirror?” When I first read the title, I thought damn, it is done before! But after I read the rest, I was both relieved, and could not believe my eyes! Because he also added: “I tried to scan a mirror but it didn’t work!”

Of course it is not all about me me me! Here are some of my favorites that are created by very talented artists attended Eco art Kaikoura in 2010.

The badges and jewelries created by Jennifer Kemp. The one with the “SOLD” sign in fact bought by me!

A mixed media. I unfortunately forgot to note the name of the artist :/

And my al time favorite, the beautiful paintings of Karen James on old rusty handsaws!

I already wrote I could not attend Eco Art 2011. None the less, this week I visited the exhibition to enjoy new recycled art pieces.

I loved the works of James Baker from Monkey Business Creative Carpentry. This one is called “Soundwave”.

These two pieces are called “Nature is my Entertainment” and “Nature is my TV” respectively. Very cool, isn’t it?

And here James is explaining Aaron how he made the Soundwave.

I adored these puppets made out of socks by Mare Simpson.

Among these peg dolls I tried to decide which one is me and ended up with the third one from the left in the middle row, lol!

Also, Karen James was there with her new paintings. One day one of them will be mine, I promise!

Before heading up to the studio to do some screen printing today, I would like to add some eco art/recycling ideas that lies on my notebook since last year lacking the courage, talent and the time on my side, but may be useful for you, dear friend. They are all literally yours to carry out!

A Key Board Out of a Keyboard

The idea is simple and lies within the name of the product itself. Take a keyboard that’s not working anymore, and turn it to a wall hanging that you can hang your keys. This could be super cool for a backpackers with lots of keys for their rooms.

A Container for Socks

Old big Coffee tins glued together and hanged on your bedroom wall for storing socks in it. Of course it is called “Life Socks!”

An Arm Chair

Take the arms of a display mannequin, and place them to a retro arm chair instead of the original arms.

A Pencil Box Out of an Old Laptop

Take out all the keyboard parts from the laptop, maybe paint the inside, and use it to store your pencils. The moment I find a junk laptop, I will do this for sure!

A Mirror from a Bicycle Wheel

Cut a mirror at the right size, and glue it behind the metallic wheel.

A Smoke Alarm Clock

I should be doing this years ago! Get a smoke alarm and implement the mechanic parts of a clock at the back of it. This could be a great present for my dear old art director friend Murat “Abi” Lafci, who used to set his watch’s alarm to limit his smoking to once every hour. : )

If you want to open a store specializing on recycled design, here is a brand/domain name idea: USED TO BE A.COM

You can implement it by dividing your new recycled products to what they used to be once. Used to be a tire, used to be a computer screen, used to be an alarm clock, used to be copywriter, etc. 

And finally, here are some very useful websites and online stores from all over the world I came across on recycled art and design. Some found ways to turn trash into hard-earned but definitely well-deserved cash!

y-town

lockengeloet

inhabitat

terracycle

bike furniture

eco artware

Literally Yours even disposed at the dump,

Ayca 

Finally the day I have been waiting for over 20 years arrived. I always wondered how would I be when I am 35, where would I be, would I be famous, successful, how many children would I have, how many books would I write, or even, don’t laugh, how many life’s would I rescue? Since I was grown not like a plant with the background memory of exactly how far it could reach the sun, but like a naïve human being, without a clue, believing I can be what ever I want. Yet, even in my wildest dreams, I could never foresee myself being in a small coastal town of New Zealand, establishing a design company, getting my hands dirty with screen printing ink, thinking new ideas full time, working at a fish and chips shop part time, and being the copywriter of a new born agency in Istanbul as I am trying to create time for it by waking up at 5.30 in the mornings.

Now I am thirty five and here I am!

So, my present for me is not feeling that old at all! : )

For almost 25 years, I have a tradition to celebrate my birthday with the same three people. With my oldest friends, Gokcen, Ipek and Fusun. Ipek and I was born on the same day, Fusun is a couple of days later, and Gokcen have two birthdays, one with us, and the real one in September because we always wanted to include her to the party too! So, my presents for them are three “Sweet as what?” tote bags. The answer is obvious, duh! Sweet as Ipek, Sweet as Fusun, and Sweet as Gokcen, of course. I had hand painted them by using two laser cut stencils. They are very rare and special because they belong to the old days –actually 6 month old days – I had no experience about screen printing. Happy birthday babes! :)

My mom’s present for me was a 4 colour screen printing press! I said was because I had it a couple of months ago. And I said present because I don’t want to confess that I lent money from my mom to buy a screen printing press at the age of almost 35! 

Aaron and Dan’s present for me was carrying that huge baby and setting it up for me.

My present for mom is spending more time with her. When I was in Istanbul working insanely as a copywriter, we could see each other every month or worse, every two months. Now I am thousand miles away yet we can talk almost every day.

My dad’s present for me is being a dad, asking me when I will be returning back all the time, calling me ‘by beautiful daughter’ and asking me write a report every months on what I have been doing. My present to dad is one of the first t-shirts I printed. It should arrive Istanbul at the Father’s Day. Good timing! : )

Coffee’s present for me is being such a good dog! My present for Cof Cof will be a huge bone and a chewy toy. Good girl!

Seda and Asiye’s present for me is making me write the copies of a plumping brochure on my birthday! Arggh! My present for them will be forgetting it is my birthday and writing it.

My present for my brother who used to charge me a fortune to look after my cats whenever I went on a holiday is a revenge! I will arrange the details with him privately. His present for me is being super passionate about his private project “Playing for Nature” and waiting for me to get out of the country before he became famous!

Aaron’s official present for me is a 3.5 hours beauty treatment package from Kaikoura’s awarded Indulgence Body and Soul. My present for him is stop being the old me for a day and not yelling “What? Am I not beautiful enough already!!” Hahahaha :) Aaron’s unofficial presents are putting up with my dark moods, being there for me, giving me head, foot, back and head massages without much complaint, and just simply being my best lover, like he always declares.

Shane’s present for me is having his birthday tomorrow. His partner Jo’s present for me is inviting us to their weekend party at Marlborough Sounds. My present for them will be not make their life miserable by nagging about why we could not bring Coffee with us. Honestly, I still don’t understand why in a country like New Zealand where everybody seems to have a dog, a holiday house would refuse us bringing her?

Fran and Shawn’s presents for me is looking after Cof Cof for the weekend. My presents for them will be “In New Zealand I” bags and t-shirts because they will be in a tour on October.

Tracey and Dan’s present for me is a vampire novel, which is the best present for a book worm like me. But to be honest, I was expecting a different present. The same present I gave them last year. To be off work on my birthday. Oh well, at least now we all know what they will not be getting for their next b days.

My present for the sneaky designer in me was letting her give a try to some of the ideas last week, including the “In New Zealand I”. Her present for me is, to my surprise, not doing a bad job actually.

Seda and Asiye’s presents are playing with these drafts and making them ready for screen printing. My present for Literally Yours will be burning some of the images to screens and printing them on tote bags next week! 

Literally Yours’ present is being literally mine, Seda’s, Asiye’s, Seden’s and Fusun’s. Who is Fusun? More information about this will be available soon.

Being endorsed, supported and accepted by the two cool design stores of Kaikoura would be a super great present, but unfortunately they chose not to. My present for them will be proving them wrong by working harder and creating better stuff.

Yet, Kaikoura i-Site’s super cool presents for me are placing Kaikoura postcards & tote bags on their shelf’s, and wearing Kaikoura t-shirts in Canterbury colours on the biggest international tourism fair they attended couple of weeks ago! They told me they got lots of good comments and everybody loved the t-shirts! : )

Since the subject turned to t-shirts, The West End Shop’s present is putting all Kaikoura t-shirts I printed on display! There are not much, less than 40 actually on various sizes, so if you are in Kaikoura or will be here in a couple of weeks, find them at the 64 West End, at the right just at the entrance. My present for them was using the postcards as price tags ;)

Even after all these beautiful presents, I still have some birthday wishes. My wish from Mr. Blood is to be my creative director for one day and honour me with his feedbacks on “In New Zealand I” idea before I start printing. After all I am just a Turkish copywriter who only saw maybe one fourth of the whole country in two years but still wishing to capture the essence of whole New Zealand and squeeze the lot in one single design. The perfectionist in me is screaming for an insider opinion.  

My birthday wish from the secret billionaire who does not know what to do with all that money is to send me to Shillington College of Australia. They have this brilliant graphic design course which lasts only 3 months, unfortunately costs AUD 14.000! Otherwise my and Aaron’s present for this stubborn designer in me will be taking her to Auckland early in the next year and securing a privileged space at the Media Design School, hopefully not as a part timer for 2 years, but a full timer for 8 months.

My wish from the crazy scientists is to beam me up to Istanbul for a couple of hours. Come on! I have been waiting for this my whole life! I just want to see mom, dad, and the girls.

My wish from the strongest sorcerer is to work out his magic and make me a guitar player right here right now! I definitely lack the discipline to be one on my own.

 Well, these are my birthday wishes. The birthday fishes are the same and available at Coopers Catch ;)

Ayca 

Literally yours since 09.06.1976

Today is the birthday of Literally Yours art director Asiye! The last time we were working in the same agency, side by side, she was a spring chicken in her very late 20’s. Now she is 31.

Ehehehe :)))))))))

Here comes an uncompleted lyric for this special day:

Dear calendar, you are thirty one

I told you thirties would be fun

Show me when you’re ready to turn the page.

But this time I won’t change the subject,

Cause it’s fine or gonna be perfect,

Cause this time I’m the subject of the change!

Literally yours copy and lyric writer,

Ayc.