In and Out

Out went this journal, finally... I was so excited that someone finally bought it, but in a way I am so sad to see it go. It was only my second try at a two-needle coptic, and the only one I've ever sold. It's been in my shop quite a while now, and while it got tons of hearts, nobody seemed to like it enough to take it home. Sad... it was so much fun to make, so graphic and really cool. But it finally found a new home - in Canada! Very awesome. 

And.....

Into the shop went this journal! I didn't think I would have any time this weekend to make journals, but I was having such a craving to create... and I had this lovely squash-colored cardstock. It went so well with a lizard skin piece that I had been saving for so long. I just love the texture of this piece of leather - the scales start out black, round, and small, near the spine of the journal, and progress to large, wide and brown near the opposite edge. 

The wooden bead matched the spine protectors nicely and so it all just came together. I had just enough paper left over from the last journal I made, Grey Winter, so I used that. A little pocket-sized autumn number. I almost want to keep it, I just love the color and texture of the skin. 

So good stuff! And... coming soon, I have cyanotype fabric that I've been playing with lately, and I have two covers that are needing journal guts to complete them. So soon I will have some cyanotype-cover journals for you to see! Hooray! :D

And I recruited my kitty Maximus to have a look at the Etsy shops. He wanted to know if anyone sold organic handmade kitty food on Etsy. Sheesh, it's all he thinks about. 

I think I will get him a spiked leather collar for Xmas. We went for a walk and he hissed at the Scary Black Birds. Then he hissed at the Mean Neighbor. Then he hissed at the Evil (teacup) Maltese Puppy. Then he hissed at the Terrible Garbage Cans.
He seriously needs to relax.

Anyway, that's all for now!

Fun Stuff.

I recently visited my old elementary school, and found a ceramic tile that was part of a school project. It's still there, mounted in the mural on the wall! How neat. It's funny how my young self portrayed my family members. My dad look sort of strong but stern, with those big yellow eyes, and my mom is almost ridiculously cheery and whimsical - big curls, big round eyes, flouncy dress. I don't know what the devil I'm wearing -flowers, stripes, blue, purple? I was kind of a fashion-confused child, so I guess it fits, hahaha.

I just put up a BUNCH of new items in both Eventual Invention and Pied Crow - and I already sold one of them! This little journal went home already:

And I finally put up those cairn pendants I mentioned a while back, like this one:




Clickables - they take you to the listing, where you can see more photos! Or you can check out all my new faux stone jewelry or the other new journal... :)

Progress, finally!

Well, I finally got all the unfinished books finished, put a few disconnected ideas together into books, and got everything photographed. It took me all day, but it's done! :) And anyway, a day spent bookmaking and Etsying is a pretty awesome day. 

This is what my desk looked like this morning: 

And here is one of the results:

 

It's so bright! I've been working with black so often that I wanted to do something fiercely bright. I wanted to do a little stenciling, and I wanted to use rich, deep colors. I also wanted to try using colored signature reinforcements. It came out so well, I'm definitely going to make more of this kind of journal. I had really missed using cotton fabric. It's so much easier to work with than leather. I'm particularly happy with this journal because I was able to avoid glue smudges anywhere. I am continually plagued by glue smudges.

Here are a couple other recent listings:

A black leather casebound with gold. This one has hand-sewn headbands, which I'm going to do a tutorial on soon. They're really satisfying to make. It's a really nice touch on any journal.



My little lizard minis, which you saw a few days ago:






A square coptic lizard skin mini:



Black leather coptic with lizard skin under windows. The windows were so hard to get right - the flaps of leather that curl to the inside are so small and hard to glue down. But it did come out nicely.

So there's what I've been so busy with lately. I have one more to list, but that can wait until tomorrow. As Lilli Von Schtupp might say, let's face it - I'm tired! :)

Adventures in case binding.

AUGHHH. What a frustrating morning.

Here's the problem. I can do coptic binding all day long, I can longstitch like crazy, but case binding... I always have issues with case binding. I can never figure out how to structure the spine. When I have my cover boards cut, and I have the hard spine piece cut, I always have problems deciding how to glue them to the card that makes up the spine hinge. So I don't have the right amount or shape of space for the book block. Then when I glue the book block into the case, I end up with a book that either won't fully close, or won't open all the way. It's a real bummer to have a beautiful book put together, with leather covers and hand-sewn headbands, sanded paper edges and snakeskin leather quarter binding - to then have the whole book be a throw-away. Curses! So frustrating.

I never have these issues when I don't use that third piece of bookboard for the hard spine. And I can't seem to get the right French groove going when I use a hard spine piece. I'll have to post up some photos so you all might be able to help me figure out what I'm doing wrong.

Left this week...

I went paper shopping today, hoping to find a source for more interesting - and hopefully less machine-made - paper than I can find at JoAnns and Michaels. So Google Maps found me two possible sources - one of which is Kelly's Paper, in Westlake Village, which is near my workplace. I stopped by on the way home. 

Unfortunately, I was sorely disappointed. Instead of the lovely retail paper wonderland on their website, I found a cavernous warehouse; inside were tall, beefy metal shelves stocked with boxes of inkjet paper, envelopes, and cardstock in varying shades of off-white. It was like a giant Staples stockroom.

What a let-down! 

The only other option around here is Papyrus, which I will duly visit, but I don't have high hopes. 

Happier news, here's what left the shop recently. So far, the reviews are great! I'm so excited their new owners are happy. 

Books and bobs.

Two more journals will be leaving for a new home today. Which leaves both shops rather empty! Fortunately, I have lots of fabulous ideas for new books. Last night I only had a moment to work but I did make a couple of teeny weeny lizard skin longstitch journals. I think they will be listed as pendants. 

I like the mini journals that are so popular right now, I must admit I could make them all day long, they're so fun and easy. Something so small is nice for instant gratification. It only takes about twenty minutes from start to finish (if you work from start to finish, that is. I usually don't). However, I always end up wondering what in the world they're good for. They're nice for little teeny works of art, like this one from meowstro....

Perhaps as handy illustration portfolios, like this one from behappy... 

As earrings, if light and sweet enough, like these from KupoKiley... 

Or as thank-you gifts, or goodbye presents from coworkers or friends... 

Or as love letters, all wrapped up in one place... 

I always like my journals to be practical, not just interesting to make or look at. So I think their best use is for pendants in my case. Mine are a little bit bigger and heavier than Kiley's, and I'm not nearly as talented as behappy or meowstro. 

Anyway. So I have some bookmaking to do in the near future. Hooray!