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!

Newsish.

Whoo... what a week. Most of you begin your week on Monday and end on Sunday. My week is all over the place - never the same days off. Tuesday was my Monday this week. And what a week it was. So much to do and think about.

Most likely the big mommy station wagon will be going away soon, and I will be glad to see it go. It has served me well, but I'm done with the broken air conditioner, done with the anemic engine and the DVD player I have never used, the aircraft carrier-esque handling, and the American engineering. Sorry, but I actually need all the parts on my vehicle to function as they should, and last more than a few thousand miles. Plus I have to work on the car, and I can personally assure you all that there were zero mechanics on the Saturn design team. 

And I will be getting into a lovely, tiny, light, efficient little Miata. What a relief that will be. For one, I won't be spending so much on gas. And for two, I might actually enjoy driving around. Since I drive roughly 800 miles per month, that is rather important. 

So anyway, I had the Etsy front page feature the other day, which was thrilling, and I've had two showcase spots recently, but those last three journals are just sitting around in the shop. I think it's bare shelf syndrome. People get uneasy when a shop only has a few items. I know I do - I always wonder what's going on in the seller's life that they only managed to list two or three things. Fortunately, I had a rather productive evening and I have two new casebounds to list, one possible coptic (I might keep it), one mini coptic, and the two eeny teeny longstitch journals. 

Since I found paper mojo the other day, I have been browsing an awful lot. I decided to sit out the labor day sale, since I am still not sure exactly which papers I want to order. Such a wide selection. There are a few chiyogami papers that I am eyeing. We shall see. 

I don't have any photos tonight - I may have some tomorrow, but I will leave you with ridiculously adorable photos of Max. Enjoy. 

He does this all the time. He just loves that rug. Silly cat. 

Welcome and bienvenido!

Hello all you future Pied Crow blogreaders! ...Or at least, I hope that at some point there will be more than just me reading this blog. Well, me and Max, but I don't know how much attention he's paying. I think he's upside down in the sunshine right now. Which explains why I'm not working on new journals. See?



This is Max. He is the Pied Crow/Eventual Invention mascot. He's the reason I am constantly buying new pencils (he steals and hides them) and why I'm obsessive about picking up all the bits of ribbon, thread, and paper that cover the desk and floor when I finish a journal (he eats them).
Max is a Very Mean Kitty, though I'm in the process of changing that. We go for walks, we go to the park, and slowly he's improving. He was never socialized properly - although that makes him a Very Good guard cat...



Anyway, being as this is the very first post, I should introduce myself.

I'm Iris, and I live in Simi Valley, California.

Our home houses eight goldfish, 40-something aquatic snails, one cat, one fiance, and myself. Here we are on our annual camping trip:



We live in a little townhouse, which we have painted yellows and greens and browns. It's a charming little place, and a lovely place to make journals. I have a nice easel/desk under a big window, and every journal in the shop starts as bits of ribbon and fabric and paper stashed around that desk.
I'm a photojournalist by trade, which takes up a lot of my time and is usually the reason journals get listed in bunches and gobs all at once. I'll probably post photos up here from work occasionally.

So what's the story behind Pied Crow Press? It began with Etsy, of course. I saw all the fantastic handbound books by MyHandboundBooks, Geraldine Newfry, grimm, Ort Bindery, Karleigh Jae, paperiaare, NightJar Books, Twin Gypsy Journals, TheBlackSpotBooks... I could go on and on.
And I thought, hey! I love books! and hey! that looks like a great way to get out this creative madness without ending up with lots of projects sitting around my house! and hey! I think I can do that!
So I spend ages on bookbinding blogs (I have them listed in my links, they're all fabulous) looking up the basics. Each book was a learning experience. I started listing them on Etsy in eventualinvention, PiedCrow's sister shop (which was originally really just a destash/jewelry shop) and I got a great response. But eventualinvention isn't such a great name for a bookbinding operation. I was working on the Spots and Stripes book (currently in my shop) and I thought I might like to stencil a black and white animal on the cover, in keeping with the theme. So a few google searches later, I stumbled upon pied crows. What a cool bird, I thought! And it hit me. So that's that.

I have a ton of bookbinding links in my blog and I'm going to slowly go through them and explain where I found all the information that I used. Because Etsy is about community and sharing, and it took me ages to learn some techniques because they're impossible to find online. But perhaps I can help you out with that.

So here are a few of my past creations:









There are tons more in the Etsy shops right now - you can see them in the sidebar on the right - and I've got about four more still in the works. So check back soon! I have tons more to share. :)

-Iris