Kiley's Handmade Books

3 Year Etsy Anniversary!

2010-02-20T17:46:00.000-08:00

My 3 year Etsy Anniversary is two days away, I am amazed at how fast the last 3 years have gone by and how much my life and goals have changed over that time. Watching this date approach has caused me to step back and look at my shop & business and do some serious evaluating of priorities. I am very thankful for the business I have and customer base I have built making my DVD Folio's, however I am not sure it is the direction I want to be focusing my energy. I have been contemplating trimming my customer base and only working with a few photographers so that I have time to be making books again. Walking into my studio no longer brings me feelings of joy and stress relief as it used to. It has actually been a cause of much stress this winter and I think the stress has contributed to my catching several colds this season.
I've decided that for the next 2 months I will not be taking any new folio orders as I finish up what I have and start working getting everything in order for April.

March & April will be very busy months for me, that I hope will return my love for my studio. In April I am teaching 5 classes at M.E.C.C.A. and will be part of a Book Arts exhibit they will have in the gallery all month. My goal is to have 2 recycled materials books for the exhibit and a display of my recycled book earrings-plus I will have to get models made and the materials prepped for my classes. Phew, just reading that makes me realize I've got a lot to do!

The classes I am teaching are;
Introduction to Bookbinding; Saturday April 3rd 2-5pm
Star Books; Saturday April 10th 2-5pm
ATC Albums; Wednesday April 14th 6-9pm
Leather Journals; Thursday April 15th 6-9pm
Coptic Journals; Wednesday April 21st & 28th 6-9pm

I'll be posting pictures and descriptions of each class over the next few weeks.

Always up for a swap

2010-01-30T10:38:00.001-08:00

Many months ago I signed up to participate in a Girdle Book swap on the Book Arts Forum. Somewhere in the back of my head I filed away that it was due to be shipped in January but never actually put it on a calendar.
The deadline sneaked up on me (and luckily a few others) and I thought no problem this is going to be easy...
Famous last words right?

I picked out a fun piece of yellow leather, tied a knot in one end and measured out the other end to give a nice hang. Then I untied the knot to make casing the book in easier, finished the book and popped it into the press.
A few days later I took the book out of the press and tried to tie the knot back in.... Much to my surprise and dismay the leather left on the end of the book was now too thick and short to tie into a knot!

It's back the workbench with me tomorrow, to prep a new text block and work on getting Hilke her book in the mail for the swap.
On the agenda for the future is what to do with this book. I know I can save the leather, the text block might be a loss.

Craft Hope for Haiti

2010-01-17T18:24:00.000-08:00

I know I've been silent for awhile, but I promise you I've been hard at work here! I have two orders for folio's currently in process and I've finished a book for a swap on the Book Arts Forum.
I promise to do a more detailed check in soon, right now I'm trying to fight off a cold and wanted to share something with you.

I am sure you have heard about the devastating earthquake in Haiti on January 12th, 2010-today I was introduced to Craft Hope for Haiti, which is an Etsy shop filled with wonderful items that have been donated from crafters & artists from all reaches. Craft Hope is donating 100% of the proceeds to Doctors Without Borders in Haiti.
If you're an artist/crafter interesting in donating something to the shop information can be found here.

Star Books Class!

2009-12-10T10:17:00.000-08:00

I wanted to share the exciting news that I'll be teaching a quick holiday class at M.E.C.C.A. in Eugene next Thursday (17th) from 6:30-8:30pm!
I'll be teaching how to make 2 styles of Star Books and we will make templates so you'll be well equipped to go home and make an army to decorate your house in or give as gifts.

The class is $12 with all materials included. If you're intrested in registering for the workshop give M.E.C.C.A. a call at (541) 302-1810 and they can take care of you. You can also leave a comment here I can email you the registration form.

Breaking the silence

2009-11-28T10:44:00.000-08:00

Rhonda of My Handbound Books was encouraging me last weekend to break the blogging silence, and I am now finally sitting down to do so! I really must apologize again for my lack of dedication to blogging these last few months, life has been such an exciting whirlwind with a new job, new house, and a new puppy that I just haven't had a lot of time to take it all in-let alone share it with everyone else.

I've been hard at work making lots of bright & colorful star books, which make fantastic holiday decorations!

I think one of the reasons I love making these stars so much is I love the paper I have been using to make them-Lokta- Lokta is a handmade traditional paper of Nepal. Lokta is a native fiber which is a very long and has remarkable strength. Each batch is hand dyed and normally a sheet has a different color from each side making each star unique. Lokta is sustainably harvested & has no impact on the forest eco system of Nepal. I could go on and on about the paper, but I can't tell you how happy it made me to buy several sheets in all the colors they had! I've been slicing them up and making lots of different color combination's.

There is new section in my Etsy store with an ever growing collection of star books. The star book craze came about because I was looking for something special to send for my contribution for the BEST Holiday Book Event. I was looking through my example book box and was just delighted when I found the one of these I first made in June.

Speaking of the BEST Holiday Book Event it is being held Nov 27th - Dec 5th.
If you purchase books from participating shops during this time, you have a chance to win prizes from BEST team members and gift certificates to participating shops!
A drawing will be held with the winners announced December 7th on the BEST Team Blog.

For every $10 you spend in participating shops, between Nov 27th - Dec 5th your name will be added to the drawing. For example, if you purchase something for $50 your name goes in 5 times! If you put "BEST Holiday" in the note to seller box then you can have an extra ticket in the drawing!
Here is a list of the participating shops:

ParksideHarmony

NatalieAsIs

LadyArtisan

Kiley's Handmade Books

BookWraps
Re:Paper

Three Gift baskets, each with 9 great prizes, will be given to three winners! Click the picture below to see all of the prizes. The separate baskets will be highlighted in three different posts on Monday-Wednesday.

You could also win one of two $30 Gift Certificates to the participating shops above!

Wow

2009-10-21T20:43:00.000-07:00

As the title of this post says, wow.... I can't believe it's been a month since I've last posted it really feels like it was just a few days ago! Thanks to everyone who is still with me, I am going to try to get back on a once a week schedule.

While I haven't been around online I have been working away in my studio and at my day job. Things in both the studio and my day job have been very exciting lately. As I think most of you know I work for Luna & Larrys Coconut Bliss and things have been a buzz with our Night of Bliss preparations-which in retrospect I feel terrible for not telling all of you about.....
If you live in Eugene you should clear your calendar for Novermber 7th to attend our local Night of Bliss event, because we have a rocking party planned. Actually it's a community benefit/party with endless Coconut Bliss Sundaes, so if you are in the Eugene area be sure to spend the evening with us from 5-9pm enjoying some Bliss and helping out some great people at the same time!
In other work related news you follow my Twitter feed you may notice from time to time that there is a tweet in there that probably should have gone out by @lunaandlarrys instead of me. One of the many reasons I have one of the best jobs in the world is that I get to work from home a few hours a day while my puppy grows up and gets used to being alone for long periods of time. So please bear with me while I get used to having two accounts on my home tweetdeck, I promise to be better about it now that I'm over the flu :)

Back to the studio, the last few months has found me working on an order of 50 wedding dvd folio's for Rich & Alyssa of Nickle City Studio & a smaller order of 10 for Leah of Leah Lariccia Photography. The photo on this post shows the folio's I made for Leah. They are an elegant black silk case with a translucent white paper that has a silver flower and vine pattern on them. I love these folio's to me they feel like a timeless idea of what a wedding was to me when I was a little girl.

I promise to get back on a more regular schedule and to have pictures of Rich & Alyssa's folio's in the next post!

Folders

2009-09-20T11:51:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes! I had a great day with my toes in the sand :)

As I had said in my last post I got a new teflon folder from Dennis Rudd, it is the boxmakers tool that he sells. I really enjoyed the one box I made and am hoping that having the new folder will motivate me to make some more.This is a picture of all the folders in my possession as of now; the three cream colored tools facing the white tools are my actual bone folders and the white ones are my teflon folders.
The bone folders I purchased at various craft & hobby stores in Eugene & Portland. I had just these three until about 2 months ago and love each for different purposes. The one in the middle is my favorite for scoring, it has a very fine sharp edge on the front of it. I used it to make all the little boxes for my wedding and took a chunk of out it. I can't remember where I found it and thus far have been unable to replace it.
The teflon folders I am still honestly getting used to! They don't feel anything like a real bone folder, they are much slicker and take some wrangling for me to hold on to. The closer of the two tools I purchased from Talas and was the first in my collection. I've come to love it for smoothing out the covers on the folio's after I've cut the slots for the ribbon. The advantage of a teflon over a bone folder is that it doesn't leave shiny marks on your paper or book cloth like a bone folder will.
While I'm still getting used to the teflon I think it time it will become my preferred tool because it really doesn't leave a mark at all. I have plans to purchase a mircospatula from Dennis Rudd to add to my collection very soon.

Happy Birthday to Me!

2009-09-12T22:22:00.001-07:00

Yes, it's that time of year again :)I always love logging on to Etsy and seeing that at the top!
Actually it's not yet my Birthday here in Oregon, t-minus one hour- however it is in Etsy Standard Time (NY) so I'll take it :)

I opened one of my birthday presents early this year because it got here and I knew what it was, it's a new teflon folder from Dennis Rudd, which I meant to take pictures to share with you today but by the time the hubster and I got the photography box built it was time to go to MECCA for the Object Afterlife Challenge reception. I arrived there to fantastic news that my piece had sold at the Eugene Celebration! Which is excellent pre-birthday news, I hope I get to meet the new owner at the Bring opening.

Tomorrow includes breakfast plans, a trip to the coast for some Agate hunting and puppy shenanigans. This will be her first trip to the coast so I expect a sandy happy puppy, lots of plenty towels will be packed :)
After we get home we'll be meeting up with friends for dinner and a few cocktails.

I promise to check back in later this week with lots of pictures for you! I just sent the first round of folio's to Nickel City Studio and I can't wait to share them with you. After a long day in the studio another 8 folio's are in the press as we speak, however it's currently raining so I think they'll have to stay until Monday just to be safe.

Celebration!

2009-09-03T19:24:00.000-07:00

The Eugene Celebration is this weekend and while I don't think I'll make it this weekend (we have a vet visit Saturday) I will be there in spirit! I have a book in the first annual MECCA Object Afterlife Challenge which will be on display at the old MECCA location for the Celebration this weekend, after that it will be at the spiffy new MECCA location and then in October it moves to Bring! The opening of the show will be at Bring on October 10th if anyone local wants to stop by and chat with me.

This book was really a challenge for me, I don't often thing of my self as an artist and almost never put content in a book. The materials also really threw me for a loop for a long time, I received a large plastic burlap like bag, some plastic packaging, and a bunch of the tear off ends of tractor feed paper. I ended up using all but the tractor feed pieces, I wanted to use them to decorate the covers with but it made the book way to busy so I went with a wonder scrap of green Bugra paper and earth tones for the confetti.

The inside pages are the bag cut up and then I glued scraps of torn paper on to the pages in hopes that someone will use the book for an altered art journal. I'll be honest that while I'm intrigued by the idea I just don't have the time right now to start. Hopefully in a year when Penny grows up a bit, right now she's very demanding of all most all of mom's free time :)

Thanks for sticking around!

2009-08-16T12:49:00.000-07:00

I would like to start by saying thank you for all the well wish about my poor thumb! I'm finally almost all the way healed, I have a nice new pink patch of skin that is about the size of a dime on my thumb and is still super sensitive!
I would also like to say thank you for sticking around! I haven't been a very active poster over the course of this summer but it's been a really busy summer!
We moved, I had my first book binding accident, I got called in for jury duty & assigned to a jury, I've started working for a second awesome local company, I've got some really awesome folio orders on the line, and I'm now training a dog on top of it all.

Let's start with the dog first, she's an adorable Red Heeler Jack Russell mix and her name is Penny.
She is about the cutest thing ever and we couldn't say no when we were asked to bring her into our life. We don't know why but we are her 4th family and are happy to give her a place to call home.

I'm having a great time working with 3 photographers right now designing folio's for them, the first and largest order is for Nickel City Studio. We chose a green color that isn't as bright green as their logo for the cloth and a fun white cloth for the spine that almost a wood grain pattern to it. The paper I found to coordinate with it couldn't have been a better match and so far I'm totally in love with it. It's a handmade hand silk screened Indian paper with what's called a basket weave pattern on it. I have a little teaser shot here to show you;

The picture isn't the greatest and I've realized that since moving I need to break down and build a light box. Our house has great windows that let in lots of light, just not in the right places or angles for photography. As much as I hated our old skinny kitchen I do miss the great lighting it had for photography. Also while that stack of paper looks big, it was bigger! I got about 30 of the pockets folded when I realized I should take a picture of the huge stack of paper.

Hopefully in the coming weeks I'll be a lot better about posting on a regular basis again. Once I figure out some lighting in the house I promise to have a tutorial up on how to make Kumihimo cord so stick around for that!

Hey look, it's a book!

2009-07-30T21:02:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling rather accomplished this evening, as I've managed to complete a book up to my standards without using my left thumb! As I'm left handed this started out as quite a challenge but after the first signature or two I was almost sewing at normal speed.
I really like this sketchbook-It's 8.5"x10.5" which I think is the largest leather book I've made to date. Secondly I love the buttons! They came from the customer & are vintage WW2 buttons, they come down the page in a wave with the natural curve fo the edge of the hide. It looks fantastic and sadly I don't have a good picture of it. I lost the fantastic lighting in my old kitchen & had I haven't gotten a light box built yet...

Thanks for all the well wishes about my poor thumb! I'm a slow healer but so far I'm only about a day behind schedule on the after care sheet they gave me so hopefully I'll be able to get my stitches out next week and get started on the tutorial I keep promising!

In other news this weekend I'll be at Sushi! Sake! Sumo! in PDX serving Coconut Bliss. I'm really excited about going, because well I don't like cancer! It's a really run fundraiser for the American Cancer Society and hopefully I'll have time to slip into a sumo suit!

Also going on this weekend is the Bookbinding Team's summer BBQ!

Summer is winding down in some places and a distant hope in others, but members of the Etsy Bookbinding Street Team are ready to celebrate the hottest season by hosting a Virtual BBQ Scavenger Hunt. Next weekend starting Saturday, August 1, through Monday, August 3, browse participating shops and locate hidden photos of items associated with the venerable tradition of the summer backyard barbecue. Not sure what that means? No worries! We'll provide a list of items so you'll know exactly what you're looking for. Find them all and enter to win a $30 gift certificate good at any participating shop. AND win bonus chances to win with each item purchased from participating shops during the hunt!

Stop by the BEST Blog Friday, July 31, for a list of participating shops and complete details. Just follow the smoke!

Another Quick Update

2009-07-27T18:31:00.000-07:00

I have internet at home now but won't be up to much for the next week or so as I had my first bookbinding accident yesterday. I was cutting board on my mat cutter yesterday and somehow left thumb got in the way.... I'm left handed....

I've got 4 stitches, a cut nerve, and a lot of choice words- but with my dominant hand out of the action I'm not up to much. Which is a large disappointment because I have a very large order folio order that needs to be worked on, which is what I was doing when I tried to take my thumb off. Maybe in a day or two I can get a teaser shot of the cloth swatches and paper together, I can't believe how perfect of a match I got and how well I think it suits the photographers personality. However that will have to wait until I've got at least a semi functioning second opposable thumb :)

Quick Update

2009-07-15T13:44:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to let everyone know I officially survived the move yesterday! We now have a cute little duplex & a yard!

We won't have internet access at the house for another week so I'll probably be silent for another week or so. Hopefully the lack of internet will motivate me to go unpack my studio and get back to work!

Officially on hiatus

2009-07-03T22:07:00.000-07:00

Well it's official, I'm on hiatus. The last of my studio went into boxes last night and of course right after wards we got news that the duplex is behind schedule to be ready for us to move into. I'll now be without my studio for over a week!
To top off the bad news I messed up my foot quite badly today at work- well on the way to finding lunch. I was walking with a co-worker (the awesome Chris G) down to Friendly Street Market to get some accouterments for lunch and walked right into a huge pothole and did something awful to my foot. At the time it was just a little twinge, but by the time I left work my foot was huge and I could barely walk on it.
My ankle oddly enough is perfect, I messed up something in my arch and I'm hoping it's not something that's going to require a cast. Just a light sprain rather than something torn or worse. Either way my long holiday weekend has been shot and I'm on the R.I.C.E (rest, ice, compression, & elevation) plan along with some Chinese herbs for injuries of this type.
I am hoping to be mobile enough for planned trip to Portland this Sunday, it's a $2 Sunday at OMSI and I want to be able to walk around and explore!

As it doesn't feel right to leave my blog with such a somber post let's look at something cute and fuzzy!

That my friends is a 3 week old lion cub from the West Coast Game Park in Bandon, OR. We took a road trip down last weekend and it was fantastic! I held both Bella pictured above and her brother Simba. I also got to hold a 4 week old spotted leopard cub Bentley, but he was squirmy and is pretty blurry in most of my pictures. They have many more of other fantastic animals for petting and viewing but the cubs are a pretty special thing. I also held two Opossoms, two farrets, and something else I can't remember or find in my photos... out for petting was a baby fox, baby wallaby, a baby black skunk, and an adult golden skunk (both de-skunked) and a few other animals- plus the heard of deer and goats that run over small children to obtain food.

I'll leave you with another picture my husband and I with Bella. I am going to make my way towards bed and contemplate unpacking some of my tools.

A different kind of book for a different kinda swap

2009-06-24T15:12:00.000-07:00

In my slew of creative work last week I also finally completed my swap book for the Book Arts Forum swap! This book went to Billie and she kindly provided the pictures as I was so excited to get it in the mail across the pond I forgot all about taking pictures to share!
The cover is made from old x-rays, this one is of a chest. Kinda hard to tell from the pictures, but trust me it's a chest :) The theme of the swap was to use materials we had never used before. I received my book from Rhonda and I think it's already packed in a moving box but you can see pictures on her blog!
The x-rays of course came from MECCA my favorite craft reuse center, and in exciting news I'll be teaching classes there again in the fall. I'll be teaching an introduction class, probably a coptic class, and a class on ATC albums as they do a monthly swap. I also just signed up for their summer artist challenge and should be getting my materials next week. I'm a little frightened as I've never let someone pick my materials for me, but it should be a lot of fun.
I have enough x-ray left to make another book, maybe two. I haven't decided if they would be good for the shop or if they would be too strange...

I haven't made any new books yet this week, almost all of my creative energies have been going into my CSA box and finding wonderful new things to eat. While I haven't been taking pictures I think I'll put up a post later with all the tasty things I've been eatting and links to how to make them.

Hey look, crafty stuff!

2009-06-18T20:23:00.001-07:00

After my last post I realized how much I missed working in my studio and how I needed to get back to work ASAP before I lost my sanity in this whole moving process. The good news is that I now have a cute little duplex to call home and I got some quality studio time in!

I had an extra white case left from the first order of folio's I made and I had found this awesome heart paper after I shipped Brie's order.

This was stop numero uno on studio time, I had been wanting to put the case and the paper together for a long time. Pockets were made, ribbon was attached and I am really happy with the results. This lovely little dvd folio can be found my shop!

This lovely star book is my first attempt at the structure, I asked Amanda to teach it at my local bookarts meeting this month!
I love the book and color combo's, but I'm not thrilled with the holes I punched in it... at this point I think I liked it better without the holes. However I also only own a star punch, a 4-leaf clover punch, and my screw punch so my punching was kind of limited....
I'm very excited about making a bunch of these to use a Christmas ornaments and maybe just some an ornaments to hang in my new studio space. I never decorated the current studio space I'm in and I really want to remedy that when we move this time.
I also got a fun blue flower celtic weave finished a few days ago, but don't have it photographed yet.. coming soon!
p.s. for those of you who visit the site I think I'll be playing with the set up over the next few days so don't be alarmed if things look different!

Yes, I'm still alive

2009-06-12T11:41:00.000-07:00

Holy cow, life has been a crazy whirlwind around here and I think it's only going to get worse for a little while!
I found out the day our lease was up that it was up and we've been searching around for a new place to live. After two weeks of an exhausting & time consuming search we have an application in on a place and hopefully we will have a nice little duplex to call home soon.
Things you've missed due to my crazy life, I've created yet another style of wedding dvd folio like my fold up brag books, I was interviewed for Billie's Craft Room, and I bought an awesome seat bag for my husbands new bike!This awesome picture is the packaging for Dark Roast Photography who I made the chocolate and ivory folio's for. You can see one of the 3 dvd folio's unfolded up front and one folded up lurking with the boxes. I still love these folio's and I really love how great they look with the rest of her packaging!

Stay with me over the next month or so as we prepare to move and actually make the move, I promise to try to not fall off the map quite so badly!

Graffiti Blizzard Book

2009-05-20T21:05:00.000-07:00

As I said in my last post I made a Celtic Weave Sketchbook for a trade. What I traded for was some graffiti sketch work on a book I made. My local book arts group had our meeting this week and our swap theme this month was Graffiti. I made a blank blizzard book out of craft paper and filled it with 6 atc's for him to decorate any way he wanted too.
Below are several shots of the book in it's finished state. I still feel bad that I didn't get any pictures of the sketchbook I traded him, but I've been told he loved it!
On with the book porn!

A Tasty Give Away!

2009-05-19T11:06:00.000-07:00

As I have said before I work for Luna & Larry's Coconut Bliss and we make fantastic coconut milk ice cream. This week the wonderful Coconutgal has been reviewing our flavors and we decided to join in the fun and give her some coupons to give away for free pints!
You can find her blog here, and details on the contest here. Sorry to all of my international readers but Coconut Bliss is currently only available in the US. We are still a very small company (7 of us work here in the office) and have just recently gone nation wide here in the states.

In other news my laptop is now back in my hands, much sooner than expected and as I got it back I didn't get much work done this week. I made a celtic weave to trade yesterday but forgot to take pictures of it... Hopefully I'll have time to get some pictures of what I traded it for before I have to give it away too! Other than that this week I need to finish the rest of Leslie's chocolate and ivory folio's as I've been taking my dear sweet time on it.

A Short Pause

2009-05-13T20:42:00.000-07:00

My laptop and I are going to be separated for what will hopefully be a few short days. My case has cracked in the exact same spot again and it's been leaving marks on my wrist so I decided it was finally time to send it in to be repaired. Sadly as I'll be mailing her off tomorrow I know she won't reach Apple until Friday so at the soonest I would have her back on Tuesday of next week. I'm expecting it to be more like Wednesday or Thursday in reality. The good news is that without the interwebs to distract me I am expecting some time next week to do some serious binding.
Next week you ask? Why not sooner? I have a graduation in Portland Friday evening, a reservation at the Grand Lodge Friday night, and an appointment with the tide pools in Cannon Beach on Saturday morning :)
The bad news, I can't imagine the number of post that are going to be in my reader that I'll need to catch up on!

In the mean time I'll leave you with a few photo's of the DVD folio's I've been working on. The first is a gold and chocolate 1 pocket. While you can't see the paper inside it's a sparkly chocolate paper that matches the ribbon and cloth perfectly. This photographer wanted an elegant simple folio and I think this works fantastically. I'm also working on a few new designs for her that hopefully will involve a flap.
The brown silk and ivory folio are also very elegant and simple. These are still in production but as I said the other day I was staring at the piles of materials and I had to see what one looked like finished.... and they are stunning! I love the flocked ivory damask fabric and the silk cloth, it's a wonderful combination and in retrospect I should have taken a photo of the inside for you to see as well!

Well with that it's time for Lost so I'll see you all when I get my laptop back!

Happy Mother's Day!

2009-05-10T16:15:00.000-07:00

To all the Mom's in the world Happy Mother's Day! Now that I know my Mom has opened her box I can show you what I sent her this year!
It is a Kusudama ball made from the tutorial on Folding Trees; it's a two part tutorial part 1 and part 2.
I cut each of the 60 squares by hand from coordinating scrapbook paper, I had the right sized origami paper but I really wanted the color to be the same overall with different patterns on the petals. I'm really pleased with the results and my Mom loves it so it was worth all the work.
I really enjoy folding the flowers and have a few of them around, but I think I need to create a ball for myself to take to work and hang by my desk. I have a very small desk so I don't have a lot of desktop space to put things on so this would be perfect!The past few days in the studio have been spent doing lots and lots of prep work, mostly cutting and measuring things. This photo shows everything cut and prepped for the order of folio's for Dark Roast Photography. I have one 3 DVD Folio in the press right now as I couldn't wait to see what they looked like! I love these folio's, they are simple, elegant, and I think a great way to preserve such a wonderful day. This picture can also be found on Flickr with notes about what is strewn around my desk with some commentary. As I said awhile back I moved to google reader to keep up with all the wonderful blogs out in the world and they have a recommendations area in the home page. I had never really noticed it until today when low and behold I found myself!
It makes me wonder how many people out there have found my blog via a reader recommendation and how many people actually have my blog on an RSS feed. The blogger gadget says that I have 3 followers but I would like to think there are many more of you out there on RSS readers.
Ah the things I think about while I'm working away in my studio. I also discovered today that while I work much better with music on in the studio I don't actually listen to it. I spent 4 hours working today and when I finished I realized I had been listening to the same album for the whole time!

Head Fog & Pictures!

2009-05-07T15:06:00.000-07:00

I've been falling behind in sharing some of my newest creations. Mostly because I've had a sinus infection and have been living in a serious state of head fog. I'm staring to come out of it today but am still feeling very scattered. I had this whole list of things I was going to accomplish today, I got up at a reasonable hour and just did random things until noon!

Around noon I contemplated lunch and saw an old crochet project laying in the corner and picked up determined to triumph over it. I've got a good hand on it now, I need to make more "yarn" before I can finish it... I realize that is vague I promise to share photo's when I'm all done!

See what I mean about scattered I'm already way off topic! Back to the new books and pictures! Above is a new portable photo album! I love this green velvet paper, the texture is so fantastic and the organza ribbon is the perfect touch!
Next up the new style of folio I'm working on! This one is currently for sale in my shop as it is not the materials I will be using for the next order. This was a trial run to make sure that both myself and Leslie liked the way it looked. The new ones will have the same linen cloth along the spine, but will have a lovely brown silk cloth instead.

This green journal was the first in my "A Couch I Was" series of books. Remember the couch I tore apart in the fall? Well I'm finally starting to use the leather from it. I say was because almost immediately after I listed this one I got a request for a custom order for this journal larger and in sketch book form! The sketchbook is happily on it's way to it's new home but I think I will create another like it as I liked the look of the two buttons!
Phew... 2 more stay with me! This one I also love, I've been making thicker books lately and this one clocks in at 1lb 6oz (.62kg) which is awesome. I think I've said it before but I love holding a good thick book. This book also features a great handmade paper for the covers, I find that I'm becoming more of a snob when purchasing paper. I have been buying more handmade papers and less commercially printed papers. Lastly we have a fun pair of earrings! I love the gold hoops with the little hearts in them and I love how it brings the paper and the hearts together as well. They are from an Italian handmade paper (again see the handmade part) and I love the different shades of blue.

Ok now that I've overloaded all of you I'm going to run to twitter so that I overload others :)

Twittering

2009-05-03T13:59:00.000-07:00

I can now be found on Twitter under KileysBooks. I would love to follow any of you out there on the webs, you can either add me on Twitter or leave a comment here.

You might also notice that I've been working on the side bar on the blog. I have temporarily removed all the links I had as my blog reading is out of hand and many of the links on this page were not current or sites I frequented anymore. There are currently 31 blogs in my reader, but I expect that number to grow. Tulibri has a fantastic list of bookbinding blogs on her blog, and I keep finding more and more blogs to read via her recommendations! I'll work on bringing the links back when I've caught up on a few other things.

I'm off to finish my mothers day present, I had planned to share photo's with everyone but I just found out that my mom reads my blog from time to time so that has to wait for a week!

Folio's Away

2009-04-30T09:47:00.000-07:00

Tuesday morning I pulled the last of Brie's dvd folio's out of the press, shot a few photo's and sent them on their way. It was really rewarding to see them all lined up and finished.

I always try to send a little something extra with all my packages and sales from my shop. If I have the time I always try to personalize what is going into each package as well. For Brie I used a strip of paper that was used to make one of the folio's and her pink book cloth to make a business card holder. The card holder is a Blizzard Book which is a fun little structure, the way this one is put together you can fold it up and tie the ribbon to keep it in your bag, or open it up and lay it on a desk or a counter to display your cards. If I decide to do any shows this summer I will be making one of these to hold my own cards.

Next on my plate is an order for Leslie of Dark Roast Photography her folio's will be designed differently from Brie's and I hope to have a mock up completed this afternoon. Her book cloth has is in transit and I am anxiously awaiting it's arrival. Leslie chose a chocolate brown silk cloth and an ivory damask paper, the combination is going to look fantastic together and I am really excited to get started on them!

Busy Girl

2009-04-27T21:46:00.000-07:00

I realized the other day that I didn't say much around here last week, but that's because I was a busy girl! I spent most of the week working on the first folio order and when I wasn't working on those I was working on these fantastic watercolor journals.
These were custom order for a specific paper and I love how they came out. There is always something to be said for a book with some girth to it and watercolor paper is great for girth. This was also my first time sewing the Celtic Weave stitch with the same colored thread. Having 4 needles all with the same color thread was quite a challenge. The first book took me a little over two hours to sew up, however towards the end of the first book I devised a system for managing the 10 needles on the book. The second book greatly benefited from the learning adventure of the first :)
The pair are happily on their way to their new home, if you want to take a peek there are more pictures here.

This week finds me contemplating doing a local show in June, from what I've been told the show is hit or miss and the crowd will either really like or really not be interested in my stuff- no one is really sure which will be the case. I'm going to go check out the May show on Friday to see what I can dig up.
I also have another order for folio's in the pipeline, I'm waiting for the cloth from to arrive. To keep me busy until then I picked up a box making kit at Paper Source this weekend and hope get is assembled to share soon.
Tomorrow I'll be photographing the folio's as a set so hopefully I'll have some fun photo's to share!

Etsy Day!

2009-04-24T11:27:00.000-07:00

Today is Etsy Day! Yay!

I love Etsy, the community that is has grown, the friends I have made, and all the wonderful opportunities it has given me. Today I gladly celebrate Etsy day, and invite you do to the same!

Presses and Beach Trip!

2009-04-20T17:10:00.000-07:00

I had a fantastic weekend that I didn't talk about at all yesterday! Saturday my husband and I took advantage of the first nice weekend and ran to the coast. We packed a picnic lunch and used our picnic set for the first time. I think we've had it for two years and never remembered to bring it with us!

After lunch we cruised up 101 looking for an area with tide pools as tide was out. We almost never make it to the coast on days when low tide is in the afternoon so we were very excited!

We spend a larger part of the afternoon at a park I can't remember the name of as we had never stopped there before, but we had a great time. We found a few pools and stuck the camera in the water proof case and got some really fantastic pictures. Once we finished with the pools I went back to the beach and dug around in the sand by the river for agates.

Sunday we got up to another wonderful day and got to work outside making me some much needed larger presses for my folio production.

For years I've had two small book presses that can press one or two books at a time as that is all I have ever needed. As I said one of my two presses is too small for the 3 pocket presses so a trip to the man's mall fixed my problem!
We bought two 2'x4' pieces of MDF and sliced them in half to give me 2' square presses. Once we had the 2' boards we drilled 6 holes in each and put in carriage bolts and wing nuts and voila, new presses!

What you can see in the pictures are my two new presses next to my old "large" press. The middle press is currently pressing a round of folios the other two had just been emptied and quality checked.

The box is full of folios who so far have been quality checked, which means I've stuck a DVD in each pocket, closed it up, and tied it closed. I can't wait to have them all finished so I can take pictures of the large stacks all tied up and pretty. Although I do like the look of all the ribbon loose in the box as well!

Sorry for the picture jumble... I guess that is the problem with making the pictures bigger, I now have more images than I have words for!

Building Cases

2009-04-19T16:04:00.000-07:00

The last few days in the studio have been spent making color selections and building cases. I had a lot of fun matching up papers to book cloth and it actually didn't take me nearly as long as I had originally thought it would. I built a case out of each of the 4 colors I had to choose from; white, black, off white and pink. I put the cases together in a four corners kinda thing and put a pocket on each color and did process of elimination until I ended up with my favorite combination.

I ordered my cloth from Talas and then was headed through Portland a few days later so I bought my papers before I had samples of my cloth to take with me. I was a little bit nervous when I started matching everything up but it all worked out beautifully in the end.

Once I matched a paper to the color cloth I was going to use I paper clipped some scratch paper with the number of pockets and the color cloth on the front and started to make a list and piles of pockets. I was pretty proud of my organization once I was done with everything and staring at my list and piles :)

Once completed with the list I picked everything up off my bench and got to work making the set number of cases that I needed.
This is only my second very large scale order so I'm still working out a process for production work but I think I've gotten a pretty good rhythm down now. I did learn that I needed more equipment to make larger projects, I usually only have 1 or 2 books in my presses at any given time so the two that I've had served my needs just fine. One of my presses was too small for the 3 pocket folios and the other only held two at a time, so the solution of course was to build new presses!

I'll share some pictures of the new presses, and my fantastic trip to the coast yesterday tomorrow! For now I'll leave you with a peak of the first pink folio out of the press this afternoon!

The sale has begun...

2009-04-16T10:30:00.000-07:00

A few posts back I said that I was going to be starting a bit of a sale in the store, and it's slowly starting to begin. There are currently 5 items in the Sale section of my Etsy shop with more to come over the next few days. The discounts are deep, with only 1 less than 50% off.
If you've been interested in something that's been hanging around the my Etsy shop take a peek and check back as it might find it's way in there.

Happy Dance!

2009-04-14T17:53:00.001-07:00

I hit 75 sales in my Etsy store today!
I had actually planned on offering some kind of a promotion, but 74 happened earlier this week and before I could think of it, 75 came right around the corner... actually while I was at the post office mailing out order 74! I guess that means I need to get to work so I can have something brain stormed for when I approach 100 sales!

I'm off to wrap up the order so I can drop it off at the post office tonight and avoid the tax lines tomorrow!

More Pockets!

2009-04-12T19:02:00.001-07:00

I finished pocket construction last night, and only after I had finished did it occur to me that pocket folding would be a great tutorial... Maybe in the near future I'll work getting that together. Right now I present you with 75 folded pockets from 19 different sheets of paper. The two that I think are my favorite happen to be right next to each other, they are the white with pink cherry blossoms, and the pink & brown stripes. I love how the lines meet up perfectly even though there are two flaps making up the pocket!

The next step in pocket construction will be cutting all the board needed to get ready for case construction. I got a third of the board cut this afternoon. The cutting starts with finding the grain along the parent sheet. The direction of the grain is very important in every step of bookbinding, and everything in bookbinding has a grain to it. Finding grain on book board or mat board means taking the whole sheet and flexing it back and forth, this is easiest when the sheet is still whole in a big sheet. Once I find the grain I take a pencil and mark the grain direction every few inches so once it's cut into smaller pieces I'll always have the grain direction market.

Once I've found the grain it's time to get the board on my table and get it measured to size. I've never met a bookbinder who enjoys cutting mat board by hand as it's a chore. My mat cutter is on the fritz, but I would still say that using it is still cutting by hand as it's still a lot of work. However that's a conversation for another day, today is about making pockets! Today I cut one sheet down into 28 squares that will make up the case and the base that the pockets rest on.

I started by cutting the board into long strips that were then cut down further into squares. I plan on cutting one sheet a day for the next 2 days until I have all 75 squares that I need. As I said I really don't enjoy cutting board and it wreaks havoc with my wrists so I try not to have marathon board cutting sessions. Once the board is all cut I'll sand all the edges so they are nice and smooth for the cloth to cover. I highly advise sanding board outside or with a painters mask on, it creates a lot of fine dust that hangs in the air.
Over the next two days I also plan to make a case in white, off white, black, and pink over the next few days to put the pockets against to judge which pockets go with what color book cloth.

Also on the work bench for this week are two custom watercolor sketch books for a client. She contacted me looking for a specific paper, and I was luckily enough to find a fantastic deal on it in Portland so instead of taking just one, she ordered a second for gift for a friend too! They are going to be Celtic Weave with just white thread so the stitching won't be as noticeable on the page. I'm actually really excited to get started on them as I love that sewing and I've never done it with the same colored thread. She also wants eyelets set in the sewing stations and I love playing with my crop-a-dile, so as you can see it's a very exciting project as well.

Not a big change but I made the pictures larger today, anyone hate it? The pocket pictures were so small you couldn't really see much detail at all.
And to make myself look like the biggest geek in the world anyone out there playing Animal Crossing on the Wii? I just picked it up and have been visiting a few Etsy sellers, I would love to play with any of you that have the game!

Lazy Morning, Treasury Love

2009-04-09T10:49:00.000-07:00

I'm have a very lazy morning today, however that seemed to have turned out for the best as I was able to snag a Treasury this morning! The Treasury features artists from both my local Eugene street team as well as the Bookbinding Team. I drew the inspiration for the colors for all the bright and vibrant spring colors outside my studio window making me Sneeze! The list will expire on Sunday morning (April 12th) so make sure to stop by before then.

I'm almost done with pocket production so stop back soon for that update!

Teaser Shot

2009-04-02T16:06:00.000-07:00

I've been inspired by the blogging work of Hilke of Buechertiger on her Smiley Oracle production, and am hoping to try to do the same here with the first production of my wedding folio's. I am here today to give you a teaser shot of what is to come, today I finished cutting all the strips of paper to make the pockets with!
I think it's a whole lot of pink, however my husband insists that it's because I'm not a large fan of pink... I'm not sure who's right but either way as I said before it was a lot of fun to buy so much paper in one stop! I have a few sheets of left over/back up so the finished products might vary slightly. Christmas (otherwise known as my order from Talas) should be arriving tomorrow so I can start paring paper to book cloths. I am hoping that I am here to get the shipment as I have a wedding to attend Monday so that will delay my receiving the shipment until Tuesday, and I don't know if I can wait that long!

Next on folio production is matching papers to cloths, and then cutting all the board to size to start making the folio's. I've been putting off cutting board as it's my least favorite thing to do and my mat cutter isn't working properly. I called logan and a replacement piece is somewhere in the mail system so hopefully I won't have to cut all 75 pieces by hand.

Stay tuned for a "fire sale" coming next week, I've got some items I'm tired of seeing around the studio and am hoping to move out. I did a major photoshoot this afternoon after completing the strips and now I need to get through the editing and my Sister-in-law's wedding before it can begin.

Let them eat cake!

2009-03-29T18:30:00.000-07:00

After spending the better part of this morning cutting paper for pockets I decided to spend the afternoon playing in sugar. This is my entry for this years edible book festival! Let me start by saying that I am by no means a professional baker so please don't send these pictures to Cake Wrecks. I meant to take pictures of the entire process but that didn't really happen as I got too excited and starting working away.

It's based on the title of one of my favorite books, House of Leaves by Marc Z Danielewski. It's a fantastic book, however I would venture to say it's not a book that everyone will like... it's a little unconventional with words in different colors, words swirling around a page, or only having one or two words per page, there are footnotes, and footnotes for footnotes that sometimes reference things that don't exist.... If you are still interested click on the wiki summary above for a bit more information and go get yourself a copy!

His sister is Poe; her Haunted album is inspired by or a reflection of the book. It is a fantastic album on it's own and is even better once you've read the book- listen to it with headphones on as you'll pick up so many little things....

Back to the cake! It's made totally from scratch, I don't know if I've ever said anything here but I'm deathly allergic to soy in almost any form... which means no cake mix or store bought frosting here. The leaves are made from fondant which amazingly enough I can actually eat (but probably won't, it just doesn't taste good). The cake is a yellow cake made from this recipe and the frosting recipe can be found here. I owe my husband a huge thank you for helping me with the two cakes, mixing the colors into the fondant and frosting, and shaving the cake down.
It's two 9x13 cakes cut in half, centered, stacked, and then shaved down to make the pitch for the roof.

I haven't decided what I really think of my cake yet... In retrospect if I had to do it all over again I would do it all in green, frost the house in green and make all the leaves green... have the doors be blue ... but that is the thing about doing something once, you get all kinds of great ideas about what you could have done better.
For now I'm off to clean up my sugary mess, have some real food, and go get back to my pockets.

Spring Has Sprung!

2009-03-28T16:53:00.000-07:00

The grass is green (although it stays very green here all winter...) our nesting ducks have returned, and I have spring fever! I was so excited for spring this year I ran out and bought a new bike! I am now the very proud and very pleased owner of a KHS Mocha, which is an adorable folding bike. I saw it last weekend before we went on vacation when we dropped off my husbands bike for a tune up. I thought about the bike the entire weekend while we were gone and when we went to pick up Mike's bike I took it out for a test drive. I feel in love, folded it up, and brought it home. It's a fantastic fit for me and I've been zipping all over town on it for the past few days and been ignoring the things I need to be doing.

I'm still waiting for my large order from talas to really get started on the folios but I think pocket production will start tomorrow. I bought around 30 sheets of decorative paper, which if you have never done before I highly recommend. Not only is it a ton of fun but people stare, ask questions, and you get to hand out your card. The sheets are almost flat now, they traveled from Portland in my tube and I forgot to unroll them the night we got home.....

The BEST Team is hosting an online edible book festival and the deadline of April 1st is rapidly approaching. I went and rounded up all my supplies today, and will hopefully get most of the project done tomorrow. You can find more information about the festival here, BEST is hosting our event on Flickr and giving awards for best overall, best bookbinding technique, and best entry by a child. Mine will not be an actual book structure but based on a title of one of my favorite books.

I decided to list the folio with the glue on the front so if you are interested in a folio on the cheap here is your chance! I really like the look of this one and am still quite miffed that I got glue on the front cover.

In other handmade news my husband and I have started home brewing! We made our first batch a few weeks ago and are just starting to drink the fruits of our labor now. Our first batch was an Irish Red Ale and the batch we are in the middle of brewing this afternoon is a Ceibo Pale Ale, which is named from the Argentine hops in it. Right now we are using recipe's from our local home brew store Valley Vinter & Brewer to get a feel for things before we become brave enough to try coming up with our on concoctions.

Pockets!

2009-03-18T22:02:00.000-07:00

I got just what I needed the other day to knock me out of my funk, an inquiry for a custom order! Once I had a feel what the person was looking for I jumped into my scraps bin and got to work and loved every minute of it. It took me most of Wednesday to finish my final project for my nutrition class and it was hard not spend all afternoon in my studio prepping board and playing in my paper (which was reorganized last week!). Prepping board is all I can really to do get started at this point, as I can't get the cloth colors I want locally. So I just placed a monster order with Talas and it will be like Christmas when the boxes -yes multiple- get here, I ordered the cloth I needed as well as some fun things I've wanted for awhile but didn't have a large enough order to make the shipping worth it.

The project I'm excited about is making custom DVD Folios for U Designs, which is a wedding company. I've been working with Brie who is their head photographer and I am in love with her work! There is one picture of the couple making fists at the camera with their rings on... I just love it!
Anyways back to the project at hand- DVD Folios! I'll be starting by making some 2 pocket folios and some 3 pocket folios, I get to have some artistic freedom as far as matching papers, ribbons, and cloths so I'm thrilled with the arrangement. The 2 pocket folios will work just like a normal portfolio while the 3 pocket folios will be more like my fold up travel albums that will wrap up and then tie closed. I goofed the ribbon placement on the 3 pocket folio but I think it was a good learning experience to remember to watch where the larger "spine" is. I actually really like the 3 pocket folio and am a bit sad to be parting with it... however the samples need to be sent by tomorrow and I really don't have a need to keep one.
I also managed to fling glue everywhere today and have one 2 pocket folio with a glue spot front and center...again... I'm starting to think I need to add a "glue mess" section to my Etsy store.

My local book arts meeting was St. Patties Day and our swap theme this month was luck. Last month I was visiting with one of our members and she was kind enough to give me a few real dried 4 leaf clovers to use to play with on the project. I had been racking my brain for away to use them without glue and then it came to me.... Pockets! I was working on the mock up folio and had to stop part way through and make the pocket for my shamrock! I made a little 3" square portfolio with the a pocket, it was so cute I almost didn't want to give it away. However it was worth it because I received a fantastic blizzard book in return, it is filled with red Chinese New Year envelopes and inside each has a symbol for luck and it's meaning printed on a card. I really enjoy all the creativity the group has and the fun we have each month. Our mini workshop this month was on pop-ups, I'll share that another day.

In non book related news I just finished my last term at school for awhile. It was a tough decision not to enroll in classes for spring term but circumstances as they are we (my husband and I) decided it was for the best. This should give me more time to be a more dedicated book binder and blogger as I'm still only working limited hours at Coconut Bliss. Working there still rocks and I'm really enjoying the new atmosphere and finding my place as I go along.
I'm also going on a mini vacation this weekend across the state to see my Mom, finger crossed it stops snowing at night so we can make a safe trip over the pass on Saturday. I'll be back on Wednesday next week with some pictures of the trip and other news as this post is way too long already!

In Search of Inspiration.....

2009-03-09T13:46:00.000-07:00

I've been in a bit of a funk lately, and I am not really sure why or what's going to break it but each time I walk into my studio I just seem to walk right back out.
Last week I started working at Coconut Bliss which makes fantastic ice cream from coconut milk that is soy and dairy free. As I said it's fantastic so if you see it where you shop give it a try! Most of the company was out at a trade show last week but I really like the woman I am going to be working with and she made me feel right at home on the first day.
I also apologize to those of you who are used to having me comment on your blog, I started using google reader as my blog reading was getting out of hand and I was missing posts and frequenting others that never updated.... well I've solved all that now but it doesn't import the comments or the links to comment! I'm trying to remember to click into each blog and comment so just be patient with me as I adjust :)

Going Green

2009-02-21T14:20:00.000-08:00

Well not in the way that most of us think of when we hear the phrase, but all my projects this week have involved the color green. I also have a project in my head for the next local book arts swap that will involve green....
Up first are my wonderful new wrist warmers, I made them from some sage green fleece I had around the house and used a blanket stitch on them. The blanket stitch took forever to sew around all the openings on them plus the side seam but I'm happy with the results. I didn't want the seam on the inside of the warmers so the blanket stitch solved the problem and looks nice. The photo I took with iphoto using the colored pencil effect, which it doesn't really show too much detail on the warmers I rather like it :)

Next on the green list is the book I made for my nephew! Monday I became an Aunt as my brother welcomed his son into the world. I didn't want to make a book that was overly baby looking and found some fantastic earth toned card stock packs at Ben Franklin. I cut up 4 sheets of each of the lighter colors and some spacers and made a stab bound album. Which despite the structural issues with the binding remains one of my favorite for photographs. The pages are 6"x12" which should give them lots of room to use the album for a scrap book if they so choose. I really like the dimensions of the book and am thinking I might make a second using the darker colors for my Etsy shop. The linen book cloth I bought for another book I had been working on the last few days but it was the perfect choice for this book as well.
The last book I was working on is fun case bound book but I must of had glue dripping from my elbow (or who knows where else) as I have two glue spots on the front cover and one on the inside end sheets as well. I'm pretty disappointed that a) I made such a mess out of an otherwise awesome book and b) that I didn't notice that I made such a mess of it until after I pulled it out of the press. I'm still trying to decide if it's bound for my shop as a straight to sale item, or if I would actually use it if I kept it around. I'll give my disappointment a little while to fade while I chew it over and see what I come up with.

Gone to the birds!

2009-02-17T15:44:00.000-08:00

The theme for my local book arts group this month is crows. I stewed this one over for a long time and really struggled. One afternoon I went out and hit the craft stores in town on my very last stop I finally found something I was excited about. I stumbled onto a product marketed towards scrapbookers called In Stitch'z. They are little templates that you poke into you paper and then sew the design on paper. I found a great little bird and took the pack home with me.
I then promptly sat down poked all the holes realized that I didn't have a clue how to embroider and the directions that came with the pack said "use your favorite stitch". I didn't think rationally and go get my laptop to google a solution, nope I sat there and stumbled my way through figuring out away to make it work.
With a practice bird under my belt I started in on the final project. I had originally planned on sewing an accordion to make a more formal book structure but came across the Venetian Blind Book while flipping through Creating Handmade Books by Alisa Golden. It solved my problem of hiding the stitches on the back and looked like a fun structure to try out.
Each bird is sewn black embroidery thread and they sit on brown embroidery thread branches. The yellow paper accents is a thin handmade paper with some sort of long grass/fibers in it.
I think my next step is to try sewing one into book cloth.

Wonderful Treasures!

2009-02-15T10:06:00.000-08:00

I need to get into the habit of cleaning my studio more often! I had let my studio go beyond the point that I was willing to share a picture of.... There was no usable floor space and my work bench had about 6 square inches of space on it, it was bad so I spent a full day reorganizing and cleaning up a few weeks ago.
While I was in there I found this fantastic stamp box that I forgotten I had! This is one of the few things I kept from my Dad's pile of art things when he passed away a few years ago. I brought it home, put it in a corner and forgot all about it. I would guess he picked it up yard saling as it was one of his favorite things to do. The inside says "-suggestion makes sales- the aristocrat sign marker- an up-to-date outfit for printing window and show cards, price tickets, streamers, bulletins, etc, etc, operation simple and rapid, results attractive. Sold by Russell J Hogg. Chicago".
The whole kit is in a wooden box that contains complete set of upper and lower case letters, two sets of complete numbers, two sizes of dollar and cents stamps, some punctuation stamps, and two arrows. I don't think it's complete but it's complete enough for me. There are two wooden ink pads that show use, some cotton padding, and several used charcol pencils that read "No. 365 1/2 Made in USA Dixons very soft" the two flower and leaf drawings in the top of the box look like they were made from rubbing the stamps with the charcol and coloring around with colored pencil. Sadly I don't have the flower or leaf stamps but the vine is in the box.
The grey box is full of thin metalic letters and numbers that snap together for clean straight lines. I don't think it was part of the kit originally but like the stamps you can tell it was used.

My other fantastic treasure is my valentines gift from my wonderful husband, he got me a mini camcorder that is kinda like a flip, but mac compatable! I haven't actually tried it out yet other than recording my husband being goofy, and he'd kill me if I shared that. Hopefully I'll be sharing video with you more often. This weekend I've done lots of crafting but no book binding. I'm working on two pairs of wrist warmers at the moment. I made the pattern off my own hands and the first pair I didn't quite leave enough seam allowance for so I redrew the pattern and tried again. I don't have the second pair sewn up so I'll let you know how it goes once I'm finished. I also have my exchange book for my local book arts group completed. I'll share that next post, too many pictures for one post!

Modern Nag Hammadi Book Swap

2009-02-10T16:28:00.000-08:00

One of the members of the Book Arts Forum recently initiated a book swap with a modern interpretation of a Nag Hammadi Codex. Astrid's has been posting on her blog with the history behind the books if you would like more information about them! She posts first in German and then in English so be sure to scroll down for each post. My book was sent to Rachel and I received a book from Astrid.
I made Rachel's book using all recycled materials. The green leather is the first piece I've used from the couch that I stripped in the fall, the inside pages are trimmings from a project a local conservator was working on, and the liner paper is a piece left over from a custom order I made.
I decided to stay close to the original structure as I had never put ties on a leather journal or paper backed leather. I had a lot of fun attaching straps and was pleased with the results. Paper backing leather was a learning experience and one that I think I'll repeat again. I was surprised how stiff the paper made the leather. The couch leather was thin and I used a thin handmade paper was well, when the two dried it made a very stiff book cover. I'm not sure if it was combing the two together, the pva, or a combination of all but I had to press the book for two days to keep the cover flap closed!

The book I received from Astrid is fantastic! It's made from bonded leather which looks and feels like cork but smells like leather... mmmm... It has fantastic detail stitching and 3 pen loops on the inside. It's held closed by a belt buckle and has a bright orange elastic band around it to function as the side straps that my journal has. The paper inside is a mix of white, grey, and tan, the grey paper is 100% hemp which is exciting as I've not seen hemp paper before. I've stolen the pictures Astrid's book from her blog, you can see more detail of the book there as well!

CPSIA- Call Your Senator!

2009-02-06T19:44:00.000-08:00

Many of us in the craft world in the US are all aware of the impending CPSIA regulations and the implications it carries for small business and the craft market. The good news is that our voices did not go unheard and Senator Jim DeMint has come up with a plan to try to fix things before people are forced out of business. You can read his message on Etsy, or stop by his blog and read about his plan. The number for the Senate switch board is (202) 224-3121 tell the operator you want to speak with a Senator from your state ask them to support Jim's legislation and tell them how it's going to impact your life or the life or so many you know. Our voices have gotten us this far, we need to make sure that we continue to be heard!

Thanks to those of you who commented on the hat! It made my day yesterday and I was forced to pull the Firefly dvd's off the shelf and get nothing accomplished! Well almost nothing... I did find those buttons I was mumbling about and finished this fat little leather journal. I wanted to keep it, but I already have two books I've made recently that I decided I couldn't part with. I just really enjoy the heft of it, I need to make thick books more often!

And now for something completly different!

2009-02-05T10:23:00.001-08:00

I finished the hat in question in my last post, and it's awesome. I'm hoping it fits Dan's head as it is a perfect fit to mine.... He wanted a huge poof ball and while you can't quite see it in this picture it is massive! Making the poof ball took me almost as long as the hat did, but it was worth it.
I know that I said I might have a prize if you can tell me where the hat is from but I can't resist putting the name in the tags so it will come up in searches. That being said the name won't give it away unless you know what it's from... so feel free to leave a comment if you know where the hat is from or if you did the google leg work, either way you'll earn some geek points with me :D

I spent some time yesterday working on photographing a new fold up album that has a fantastic cherry blossom paper that makes we wish for spring! Actually the weather here has been much like spring lately and it's a little scary. Normally by this time of the year we've had pouring rain for at least a month or so and it's been very very dry. On the days the fog burns off it's sunny and almost 60!

I'm almost done with a new leather notebook as well, I just can't decide how I want to finish the it. I'm on the hunt for some buttons I have a vague memory of purchasing, I cleaned my studio last week and now I can't find anything! However it is good to see the carpet again and I bought myself a stereo system for my studio as I am enjoying spending much more quality time in there. I've also been struggling with a concept for the exchange theme for my local book arts swap this month, it's ravens or crows and everything I keep thinking of is super complicated. I'm headed to the craft store shortly so hopefully some inspiration will strike!

Contemplative Silence

2009-02-02T07:44:00.000-08:00

A lot has changed in my world since my last post, most notably I've become a statistic in the economic downfall in the US. The loss of my job has affected me more than I thought it would, I lost a large part of my life very suddenly and it set me a drift. At first I tried to pour more energy into my Etsy shop and opened accounts on other sites thinking I would use the opportunity to make this really work for me. That lasted about a day before the drift pulled me in another direction, which lasted again about a day and I've been moving rapidly from one idea to the next without any clue where I'll stop.
This morning I finally managed to put my feet down long enough to realize that I don't really have a lot of control over my path for the next few months. My application to grad school is hanging in limbo and until it becomes a done deal one way or the other it's almost impossible for me to make solid plans. I've applied for a few great jobs locally and we'll see how that pans out over the next few days. Hopefully deciding that I can't really decide will lift my spirits and give me the boost I need to get over this bug living in my chest.
Yes, I am still sick from whatever I picked up in Germany and am currently on round 2 of antibiotics and narcotic cough syrup. I'm under a threat of a chest x-ray if I don't sound better by Friday so my goal for this week is lots of sleep and some book making when I'm awake.

Which is much like last week, if you haven't been by my Etsy store in awhile I am very proud to say that for the first time ever it has more than 20 items listed! I have been slowly adding the fruits of my labor over the past few weeks so keep an eye out for more items coming soon. The stock up started with the album shown in my last post, the turquoise and chocolate mini album and was shortly joined by another blue mini album that holds ATC's or wallet sized photo's. I was very excited to take the photo shown here filled with my fantastic ATC's from the Book Arts Forum swap!
I also added the Celtic Weave I kept promising pictures of as well as a new case bound book wrapped in paste papers I made last summer as well as a few new pairs of earrings!
I have also been doing a lot of crocheting and working on a hat for a friend, I promise to get pictures of it posted before I give it away- we'll see how many fellow geeks I have reading the blog, maybe I'll have a prize if you can tell me what it's from :D

Tag, I'm it!

2009-01-16T21:58:00.000-08:00

Barbara of Moon Bindery stopped by and tagged me, the rules are:

Link to the the tagger, list 7 random book facts about yourself, and tag 7 more friends...well lets get started:

1. I don't keep a journal, I've tried a few times but I'm awful at it. I make beautiful books that I almost never use.
2. The books of mine that I do use I use for everyday things, shopping lists, to do's, reminders, phone numbers, ect. Who says beautiful books need to be filled with beautiful words?
3. I don't read for pleasure very often, I get too wrapped up in a good book and I put everything else on hold to finish the book. Which gets me in to trouble.
4. I put post-it's in my books..... as an ex-librarian I know it's bad, I know the glue leaves acid marks (I've seen lots of them) but I just can't help it they are just so handy for flipping back and forth!
5. I can't read hardcover books with the dust jackets on, and I can't stand watching other people use dust jackets as bookmarks.
6. I try to avoid buying paperbacks because I feel bad when I see the crease line on the front cover.
7. I'm left handed and hate using 3 ring binders or spiral bound books as they are constantly in my way.

I'm gonna tag Billie, Ali, Iris, Rachel, Jackie, Emily, and I'll cheat for my last one and tag Rhonda. It's cheating because Barbara has already done so, so hopefully she's already hard at work on the questions!

How to use a paper knife

2009-01-13T17:29:00.000-08:00

A very long time ago I promised my good friend Billie that I would show her how I use my paper knife to get a rough or deckled edge on my signatures. This is my first time using my camera for video so be kind!

It is a little dark, which is funny because my studio is very bright as I don't like to sew in the dark.

I know in my last post I promised you pictures of a new Celtic Weave book but I didn't get that photographed today.... I've been so excited about a trade I was working that I lost track of time! The results of that trade will be a spanky new wallet for me!
I love, love, the work that Sally of Dogwoodlane produces. This is my second wallet and third purchase from her. Each of my purchases have been custom orders and I'm always surprised how lightning fast she is! I'm replacing my old wallet not because it's fallen apart but because I've treated it poorly- aka it's a stained mess and washing it has proved fruitless....

She's getting a fantastic new leather journal for her half of the trade. I used my favorite brown/yellow leather with the blue hand waxed linen thread. This journal also features the rough edge of the leather that I just love. It's a 7x7" square so she can both journal and store photos in it. I hope she loves it as much as I love my wallet!

Home, but not quite setteled

2009-01-11T21:26:00.000-08:00

It's been a week since I arrived back in my apartment from the subarctic cold of Germany. The trip was fantastic, I could go on and on about all the cool things in German culture that we had here but I'll spare all of you. I took a million pictures (well at least almost 2 gigs worth...) and I'll share a few of the book themed images with you!
Both of these images happen to be from the same cathedral in Bamberg. The cathedral is also home to the famous Bamberger Reiter or Bamberg Rider, which I somehow did not manage to photograph.

The last week has been spent trying to readjust my sleep schedule and frantically finish my application for grad school. I'm in full freakout mode now because my file is showing that my letters of recommendation and transcripts have not been received and they are due in a matter of days. I'll be up early tomorrow making frantic phone calls trying to figure out what I can do as I know they were sent in a long time ago.

I'm happy with the finished product of my book, I'm not sure if I will get it back or not, but I hope I do. I went with the covers I had posted awhile back and put the same purple paper without any printing for the inside covers. Each section has the same tape screened on the bottom right cover, it's 9 sections with the tape at 3 different angles repeated 3 times. I put bright orange eyelets in each hole on the cover and I think they tie the book together really well. The only thing I wish I had was purple thread instead of black for the stitching but not much I can do about that given my local resources.

School is off to a good start and work has slowed down dramatically so I'm working a lot less now. Hopefully that means I'll have time to post on a more regular basis. I have another Celtic Weave that I have finished but it's not been photographed yet, so look for that later in the week!

Long Scary Day

2008-12-15T18:47:00.000-08:00

For those keeping track of my life today I took my GRE, my scores were not close to where I would have liked them to be but in a strange twist my math score was higher than my verbal. That means all the cramming I did over the last week paid off in the math, but seemed to have harmed my verbal score I scored significantly lower than I had on previous practice exams I had taken.

Today was a rare day here in the Southern Willamette Valley- We got snow- lot's of it. Overnight we had more than 4 inches fall, which means what I wanted to be doing was make a snowman or at least play in the snow! However I got up at 5:40, showered, ate some quick toast and trekked down the icy hill we live and trudged over a mile to catch a bus to get to my GRE appointment. Why not drive you ask? Well you see as it is rare day here when it snows the people who grew up here or have lived here for a long time have no idea how to drive in the snow, and I love my car too much to take it out. I was also worried about my car having the guts to make it back up the hill to our little apartment. I'm glad I left the car at home as the hill was a solid sheet of ice by the time I returned home this afternoon. That would have meant leaving my car at the bottom of the hill, which brings images of this video to mind.... which proves my point that Western Oregonians don't have a clue how to drive in the snow and ice.

In more grad school admission news I decided to go with the covers from the previous post. I made the inside covers the same purple paper but plain. The inside of the book will be white with metallic purple tapes screened at different angles on the bottom right corner at the begining of each section. I promise that I'll add images when I have it finished. I did some of the screening for it today but messed up a few of the pages I had here so I need to go buy more paper and do more screening before I can start sewing it all together. I really love those covers, it could because I'm child of the 80's... or it could be because I made them... either way I hope they to just the trick.

This will probably be my last post until after the new year. I head to Germany this weekend for 2 weeks in a winter wonderland that will include a visit to a German gummy factory, Prague, and many other unknown wonders. I'm looking forward to a wonderful vacation and getting away from the concerns of life here for a few weeks. I'll be working on my essay for grad school and then hopefully when I get home I can mail everything away and get back to life as normal- which means I might get a chance to restock my poor store. I also have a book swap deadline coming up soon for the book arts forum so hopefully that will get me back into the swing of things for binding.

Cheers and Happy Holidays to All!

Opinions?

2008-12-11T09:02:00.000-08:00

I need to start this post with a little hurray! Last week I received the Kreativ Blogger Award from Billie! I'm going to cheat by accepting the award without doing any of the work in passing it along... But she keeps a fantastic blog with some neat paper and wood creations so go check her out!

As I'm sure you can guess by my absence that I've been busy. This week was finals week, luckily I had both mine on Monday morning and got that over with quickly. I came home from my finals and dug into my application for grad school and my GRE's which are on Monday. The application process is where I'm asking for some opinions, I've started working on my book for submission as well and I've already tossed out the pages that I spent time working on Monday- they were way to busy with the covers and would be way way to busy with an exposed spine stitching.

However the covers I can't decide on. It's hard to tell under all the ink but the paper is a royal purple with a white pattern screened on and a neon orange tape on the side (click the pictures, they get bigger). I think I like the covers- just not sure if I like them for the purpose they were intended for. The submission of our 3-D object is to show our manual dexerity so I started off by thinking I wanted to have as much of the project as possible done by my little fingers. Now I'm starting to chicken out a bit and am thinking I should go with something a little more conservative. So I ask all of you who still stop by- what do you think? Do you like them, love them, hate them?
I don't have anything on the inside of the covers yet because a- I haven't decided if I am going to use them or not, and b- haven't deicided if I do use them what color paper the inside pages will be. If I do use them I'm leaning torwards the same purple and white pattern for the inside cover with white paper and a purple tape at the begining of each section all sewn up in a celtic weave.

Now that I've shared some of the neurocies that I've been having I need to get to work and get payroll processed. Hopefully a few of you will leave some feed back!

Rapid Movement

2008-11-30T20:10:00.000-08:00

I seem to be in a constant state of motion when I am not asleep. I get up go to school, go to work, the gym, do homework and repeat. Sometimes I spend a few minutes working on my grad school application or making a small piece of a book as my schedule allows. I'm not as far along as I would like to be for my grad school application but this is dead week- which isn't dead at all 3 papers, 1 "mid-term", and my final portfolio all happen this week and then finals next! After finals it's full speed ahead with my GRE's, making my book for submission, and cranking out my essay- phew.

I was hoping to be better prepared for the holiday season on Etsy but I'll make due with what I have. This weekend was good for me and I hit a milestone of 70 sales! I did managed to get 2 new journals completed and listed this weekend, one already has a new home and the other is a lovely burgundy recycled leather journal.

This Friday the company I work for will be hosting an opening for a show of a friend and coworker of mine Percy Appau. He's been working on an exhibit of Dogon Fusion African Art work. If you live in Eugene the reception will be this Friday the 5th from 5pm-9pm at the 5th Street Market on the upper level at Swahili. Percy will be on hand to answer any questions you might have and we will be serving African Wines and Teas. Click on the flier for more information if you are interested in joining us for a good evening!

Sweet Music

2008-11-16T19:39:00.001-08:00

Music is the theme for my local bookarts exchange this month and as I've always wanted to learn to make a piano hinge book, so I did! My first attempt is the top book with the music notes on the cover, that one is going to the exchange, the bottom I'm not sure what I'll do with. I'm still not happy with the cover attachment on either book. For the first I looped a skewer through just the cover and for the second I folded in the extra sections. I don't love either but can't seem to find a work around that I like- I'm also not sure which I like better at this point either.
Anyone out there have experience with these and care to chime in with advice?

In other book happenings I got another pair of my book earrings photographed and listed in my Etsy store. For some reason they are an absolute bear to photograph. Even with my macro lens they aren't in focus or comeout over exposed and washed out. The black backdrop seems to help some with the over exposing but as you can see from the little pic here it still happens pretty bad. It's on the agenda of things to find a work around for later this week. I've got to make it through midterms this week first!

I've got reaction mechanisims to get back to, I just wanted to share my piano hinge books despite the cover issues I really like them!

It's like Sunday....

2008-11-11T20:49:00.000-08:00

For those of you not in the US it's Veterans Day here, which means for me a day off from school! Which makes it almost like a Sunday as I have to go back tomorrow, which makes this almost like my Sunday update!
I finally finished up a cute little leather journal I had been working on for ages and got it listed on Etsy today. I think it's blue, my husband thinks it's more a green color. The first one that I sold at Bringfest the man who bought it also said it was green- maybe it's a male/female color issue. Either way I really like this journal. This particular remnant has stitch holes across the top flap and a small pen mark on the inside right flap. I think it gives it a nice recycled feel.
Next week is the tools of the trade sale at the UO Bookstore if you are local, it's 25% off anything in the basement (the art section) and they have lot's of vendors on the ground level doing activities and demonstrations. It's a fun time, so stop by Wendesday or Thursday if you are in the area.
In unrelated news I just got a phone call that I'm going to be an Aunt! That means that 2 of my good friends will be parents in the next year... I am in no rush at all but it does make me feel a bit old none the less.

Small Interuption in Regular Programming

2008-11-04T22:17:00.000-08:00

Sorry to interrupt the regular programming on this blog but I'm just too excited to let this slide. I would like to send my warmest welcome to the newest President of the United States- Barack Obama!
I've had my two official campaign buttons for ages and I made myself some other unofficial buttons with my awesome button maker. The company I work for hosted an Obama party at our store and everyone I know has been a strong supporter of this campaign for change.

It's past my bed time here, but I'm still too excited for bed & I had to share my excitement with someone- or the world! It's just my husband and I here and we popped the champagne as soon as it was official and are both pouring over the interwebs to excited to sleep.
Hopefully I haven't scared off any readers....
I promise books next time!

Sunday Girl

2008-11-02T21:05:00.000-08:00

It seems that Sunday seems to be the day I'm finding myself having some breathing room to do the things I need to be doing that aren't school realted and some of the things I actually enjoy doing! The lovely new book to the right is one of those things I enjoy doing! This book is a wonderful treat for the fingers as the fabric is silky and soft, but as it's embroidered (not by me) it also has a wonderful texture.

I also cleaned my bathroom (yes I'm human after all) and spent a good portion of time today tearing my hair out trying to reconstruct and dust off my resume- It needed a good dusting, I had one version that had been updated to a .doc file but all the rest of my resume related files, job histories, references, and the like were all in .wps files. I also lost another patch of hair on trying to start my statement of purpose.

This frantic spur of work was brought on by a wonderful symposium I attended yesterday on the University of Oregon campus at the Jordan Schnitzer Art Museum. It was the Conservation Symposium Northwest 2008. I sat in for the first three sessions and had lunch with some bookarts friends. I was totally engrossed in the discussions of the ethical and moral dilema's presented in treatments and the treatments themselves. It was a moment of, Yes! I am really excited about this!

After that I called my Mom and worked on finishing up some covers for the folded brag books. They need to be reinforced and I need to match ribbon to them but I really like a lot of the paper and mat board choices I made :D
I also listed another mini frame album earlier in the week, this one is purple and out of no where I had a flash back to childhood tv shows and named this book "The Purple Pie Man". I'm trying to be more creative in the naming of my books and stop giving them descriptions for titles. We'll see how long it lasts....

Mmmm Studio Time

2008-10-26T12:07:00.001-07:00

I finally got some studio time in the other day and just finally gave my Etsy store a little life. I just listed the first in a new line of mini photo albums.
I don't know why but I just have a thing for anything in miniature form.
These little books are 3.25" tall and have 4 little frames inside to hold photos. I was feeling rather bright and chipper so the one with the cherry ribbon got listed first. I have 3 more completed and even photographed. I just need to finish getting everything ready for Etsy's image requirements and they will be going live.

This morning also brought completion to a leather journal I had started ages ago. I still need to photograph it before it will go live. Now that I've had my fun I need to crack down and get to the homework. Just wanted to share my excitement in my new line of photo albums!

101

2008-10-19T21:36:00.001-07:00

Fitting that post #101 should be brought to you by the highway with the same number. Today was a wonderful solo trip to the coast with my camera and tripod in hand. I'm learning the limitations on my camera and that a road trip by yourself isn't as depressing as you think it's going be as you kiss your husband goodbye for the day.

The shadowy figure on the bench is me, and while you can't really tell I'm rocking my favorite pair of baby blue headphones with the new Oakenfold release playing on my ipod. I'm sporting my black and green poofy vest- I love my poofy vest, it's down with a hood, and about the most comfortable thing I've ever owned.

I love the coast and found today to be just what I needed to get over some serious anxiety over my impending midterm on Friday. There is nothing like some salty air and crashing waves to put a girl a peace. I'm feeling rested despite all the driving I did today. I only had my ipod on for a few of the stops that were still close to the highway or had other people chatting and intruding on my serenity.

I'm off to bed, just wanted to share a glimpse of my day and how awesomely unproductive it was.

My Life in Film

2008-10-18T16:30:00.000-07:00

Photography has been taking all of my free time. I got the first assignment done and now I'm buried in work for our second assignment. The bulk of the assignment is a series of self portraits that show who we are and what's important to us.

I started with my first few photo's in my studio. Being a binder is a large part of who I am and I hadn't had a chance to take any photo's of my birthday present to myself. My lovely finishing press!
The second photo is the beginnings of a book. My jar of tools, a weight, my 3 most used tools on the book block, some thread, 2 curved needles, a block of bee's wax, and my favorite center finding ruler- all on my cutting board.

Hopefully one of these days I'll be able to bind the book in the second photo. I'll be teaching Tuesday at our monthly bookarts meeting. I'll be teaching a small double needle coptic like Rhonda at My Handbound Books posted about last week, which is funny because we planned the meeting two months ago. I've been using her photo's to try to explain to some of our newer members what we are going to be doing. I'm excited about the meeting as it will allow me some time to bind. I've got my first "midterm" Friday as well as the self portrait assignment due so maybe next weekend I'll have some time to spend in the studio without my camera and with my tools in my hand....

Photography not made simple

2008-10-11T22:00:00.001-07:00

As those of you who are close to me know and the rest of you may have figured out I'm a perfectionist. A total perfectionist- which is why I was so happy when I got my first digital camera! No more shooting and developing an entire roll to find out you hate every photo.
I'm taking photo 1 this term to reacquaint myself with how to use my camera. To relearn what an fstop, shutter speed controls, etc and in general to become a better photographer. We got our first assignment last week and so far I think I've shot around 100 photo's and I have 1 I like- the picture included in this post. My teacher assigns projects in 24 images so that students who are shooting film cameras fill an entire roll for one assignment. If I only had 1 roll to work with I would go crazy!
It's hard to see in the itty bitty thumbnail here but the picture rocks! With the light coming in from behind you can see the outline of the back leaf on the leaf wrapping around.

I've been burried in homework so far this term, spending hours shooting photographs and relearning how to name organic molecules. I've been wanting to get into the studio and get some binding done but it seems that something else always seems to come up. I've got a custom order that needs to be finished this weekend so it's on the front burner tomorrow morning while the fog burns off so I can go shoot more pictures to finish this first assignment tomorrow. In the last week I also became the proud owner of an old leather couch that I'm going to strip down for the leather as it's no good as a couch anymore. It's a dark green leather that has great wear and age marks on it. When I get it done and some pieces to lay out I'll try to show you- it's gonna add some great depth to the journals.
For now I'm off to bed while visons of spaghetti monsters dance in my head.

Lost in Thought

2008-10-05T21:11:00.000-07:00

This week has been very busy and I've been doing lots of thinking. School has started and my brain is in full speed ahead in all the wrong places.

The thing I can't seem to stop thinking is about how my classes went. I think they went well, and my students had fun- but I feel like I failed as a teacher. I spent a good amount of time talking about paper grain and why it's so important. Then for the second workshop a woman showed up with a journal she made with computer paper folded in half and I cringed and explained again in great detail that paper grain is really important. Somehow I feel like them seeing that it's actually possible to make a journal with bad paper grain and it all went down hill from there. I'm not really sure why I can't seem forget it and move on but it's really bothering me.

In other news I finally finished the last of my bicycle books. This one is a concertina made with a thick print making paper. After a long debate I decided to part with it and you can find it in my Etsy shop.
I think I've also decided to keep the apple page as I really like the set up and now that school has started I don't really want to put the effort into purchasing a domain name and finding a hosting service. Yes- O-Chem is that hard already.

Small Update, Big Week

2008-09-28T16:20:00.000-07:00

Where has the time gone? September slipped in and out faster than I think it has in years. I guess I have been very busy this month but I think I could use another week before school starts to get some things finished up.

While my camera and I still seem to be at odds with my mini earrings, I did get this lovely book to the right photographed and in the Etsy store for sale. I love the fabric it's made from and have been thinking about going back to get more to make a skirt out of, but I don't think it will hang right it's kind of a stiff fabric.... but I'm still thinking about it.

School starts Monday and I'm starting to get the first day of school jitters! Tuesday will end my current series of classes at M.E.C.C.A, which has been a great experience for me. I am thinking about offering the introduction class again as well as class on the ribbon hinge books. I need to get a hold of my school schedule first and see how often my exams are spaced out.

I've also started to work on my Portfolio for grad school application. They have changed the application criteria since I've last looked, you only get to submit 1 object and then build an image showcase of your work. You can either send a CD with images or a website- I've started work on an online gallery. I'm trying to decide if I want to keep it hosted with Mac or try to buy a domain and pay for a hosting service. The good news is I have a month or so decide before my trial with Mac is up.

Smoke & Aces

2008-09-18T20:15:00.000-07:00

Well mostly smoke and not a lot of aces around here. We have two major fires burning in the Southern Willamette Valley and unfortunately I'm very sensitive to smoke- killer headaches and super nausea has been the story of my week. It's rather amazing in the 8 years that I've been here I've never seen anything like this, every morning I get up and brush a layer of ash off my windshields.

I feel like a total slacker but all I've gotten done lately is a few pair of earrings and for the life of me I can't seem to get any good photo's of them. I'm blaming the smoke, maybe the camera....

I got my ATC's off this week for the Book Arts Forum Swap this week, they are titled
"A Tale of Two Fishes" I will share pictures once I get my packages back as I don't want to spoil the surprise for those of you who also participated. ATC's were an interesting challenge for me, as a bookbinder I don't consider my self an artist. I struggled for awhile but finally came up with something I was proud enough to send off.
I've also been working on some new silk screen designs. I have one design with flowers I sketched up in illustrator that I'll be burning as soon as we get some sunlight again. I haven't decided if it's going to be books, bags, or both!

Success!

2008-09-11T09:08:00.000-07:00

My first class was a smashing success! We had more people than we had spots for so I think it's safe to say that I will be running the intro class again. I have the two night leather class coming up on the 23rd and 30th and I think there are just a few spots left!
After I get my school schedule I plan on running an advanced ribbon hinge class which will have the intro class as a pre-requisite. Either way I am extremely excited.

In other exciting news my birthday is this weekend! I still don't have any solid plans, just excited! I already have my first present- and I opened it- because I knew what it was... My mom has this thing of making us pick out our presents now... I got volume 5 in the Keith Smith series Quick Leather Bindings. That leaves me needing volume 4 only, which I am actually quite interested in as I will be taking photography this term and will need a way to bind all those single sheets.

As some of you may have devised from the comments a few posts ago I have been having problems with my carpal tunnel and sadly it's kept me from doing any work in my studio or much of anything at all. The good news is that it's getting better and hopefully I'll be back to work with in the next week or so!

Jitters

2008-09-06T08:49:00.000-07:00

I know I said it was time to slow down in my last post... and I did as far as blogging and binding were concerned but that doesn't mean I haven't been busy!
Last week was spent getting my husbands classroom ready for school. We built and installed new whiteboards and built him a new podium and worked on decorating his room a bit too. He was a roving teacher last year so the classroom is very exciting.

I've also been busy gearing up to start teaching! Eek! I start Tuesday and last week there were a sad 2 people signed up for my first class and no one signed up for my second. Last night was the First Friday Art Walk in downtown Eugene and where I will be teaching was right in the middle. We decided very last minute (Thursday afternoon) that to drum up some enrollment I should come down and show.
We might have been a bit too successful and are looking at having to schedule a second introduction class!

Fall has had quick entry in to town this year, the mornings are crisp and we have had a few mornings where the fog was settling gently on the hill around us. The leaves are just starting to turn color and it's a wonderful time of year. It's a hard time of year to be inside working as you know the last of the sunny days are limited and that the rain is not far off.

I have been doing just a little bit of work in the shop. I got a great new recycled leather journal listed and have been struggling with how to create a book strap with a cross strap. The long strap I have plently of ideas for, its the cross strap that's throwing me for a loop. Anyone have any experience making them?

Time to Slow Down

2008-08-27T13:15:00.000-07:00

I've been working pretty hard the last few weeks and now I finally have the pictures to prove it! The pictures in this post is part of the wholesale order I've been feverishly working away on. I love the picture of all the leather journals. The red one in the middle is by far my favorite. I didn't purposefully mean for it to be centered and the eye catcher of the picture, but it's funny how your subconscious works like that.

In other news I need to start getting ready for the classes I'll be teaching in less than 2 weeks! I have all the materials set aside at Mecca, I just need to go in and do some prep work so the covers are cut and the pages are all the right size.

It's been grey and kinda rainy since we had our heat wave and it's been kinda nice. Not to hot and surprisingly not to humid either. It's been a nice change, albeit rather strange. One of my brothers ended up in town on business yesterday and had a long lunch so we went to play some disc golf and I ended up with totally soaked shoes as the course was covered in standing water.

Now that I've completed the large order I need to go restore order to my studio and get some work done for my own store!

Another Busy Weekend

2008-08-24T20:53:00.000-07:00

I had another weekend where I went into my studio Friday evening, blinked and it was bedtime on Sunday again.
The good news is that I've almost completed the wholesale order! An hour or so of work left and up onto Etsy it goes.

I had been working on an interview for the BEST blog slowly for the last few months and finally got it completed this week as well. You can learn my guilty pleasure.... if you dare....

I also finally decided that it's time for me to part with this lovely book I teased you with a few weeks back. I've had my fill of drooling over it and it's time to let someone else love and fill it. You can find all the details for the book here.

I'll be back in a few days with some pictures of the wholesale order!

Productive Weekend

2008-08-17T20:48:00.000-07:00

I've had a crazy productive weekend! I have all the leather and cloth covers completed for my wholesale order, half the paper for the text blocks folded and punched, and all of the brag and chopstick books done!
I also sold the build your own kimono book listing on Friday so I got that book constructed and finished as well!
It doesn't end there...
Have you ever spent an entire weekend locked in your studio to look up and find that every surface is totally covered in stuff and absolutely none of your floor can be seen?
Well thats exactly what happened to me. So I decided to clean the studio up as well.
Should have stopped there... but I didn't. I'm working on my first set of ATC's for a swap at the Book Arts Forum and I have been wanting to try coffee staining for some time so I boiled up some water- I don't actually own a coffee pot- and threw some coffee in. I crumpled the pages hoping that the "bruised" paper would stain darker. Sadly that didn't work out as I had hoped and the pages aren't as dark as I thought. I think I'm gonna dunk them a second time tomorrow to see if I can get them darker.

Sometime in the middle of all my crafting today I also got a new book listed on Etsy! It's a lovely recycled leather sketchbook. You can see the upclose detail of the part I love above. It has this one little corner where you can see the layers what went into tanning the hide.

I'm off to see if the kimono book is dry in my press yet and hopefully get some photo's of it before I'm off to bed.

Success!

2008-08-15T20:31:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling pretty darn good right now. I sold my first pair of earrings on Etsy!
To celebrate I listed another pair! The second pair of earrings I love just as much as the first. I almost kept this pair for myself to wear to school in the fall to match the lovely orange the tree's turn here. Then I remembered that I never actually wear the first pair I made for myself and decided that someone else would be much better off with them instead of myself.

In other crazy news for today I cut my hair off to my chin, in a little bob. No pictures yet as I had it done by a co-workers daughter while I was at work today and I can't seem to style it right. Haven't decided if I love it or hate it yet. I'll keep you posted.

Home Again Home Again

2008-08-13T17:00:00.000-07:00

I'm home from what I think is the last of my long weekend trips for the summer. I went back to where I grew up for a late wedding reception for my "second family" and all of us kids were home so it was a good weekend. Lots to eat and drink, and all were merry!

Lot's has happened on the crafty front over the weekend as well! I'm hard at work on my first wholesale order which I am very excited about- and I'm now the proud owner of a button maker! I don't have any parts to make the buttons yet, but I've got the machine and thats the first step.
I've also becoming involved in a movement to get more people excited about shopping local designers/crafters. More details on that as they become available...

I also took my first venture into the jewelry category on Etsy. The lovely earrings above have been listed as I've had requests from non-locals for them. I have several more pairs ready, I just need to finish doing the photo editing.

Bookbinding Team Sale

2008-08-07T08:00:00.000-07:00

The Bookbinding Etsy Street Team is having a sale this weekend! As I'm leaving town for the weekend I'm a little ahead of the game and have everything already set up and on sale!
My sale for the weekend is 15% off my case bound books, which includes this lovely recent addition to the right!
I've already marked everything down so no need to wait for an adjusted invoice or a refund!

If you've been lusting after one of my case bound books this is the weekend to pick it up. My sale will run today August 7th- August 11th, the teams sale runs the 8th-10th.
Stop by the BEST Blog tomorrow for more details on specials from other shops!

First Round of Classes!

2008-08-05T11:33:00.001-07:00

The MECCA newsletter went out over the weekend with the details of my first two classes in it! I couldn't be more excited!
They spelled my name wrong- most people do- so if you got the MECCA newsletter that's why it looks different...

Intro to Bookbinding with Kiley Gwynn. Tues Sept 9 from 6-9pm. Class cost is $20. Member cost: $15.

In this class you'll make 4 different books, from the pamphlet stitch and an accordion or concertina book with variations on those structures. This class teaches the very basics, folding techniques and simple sewing, and prepares students for an intermediate class.

Leather Journal with Kiley Gwynn. Tues Sept 23 and Tues Sept 30 from 6-9pm.

Class cost is $40. Member cost: $35.

This class will teach a version of the long stitch binding. Long Stitch Bindings are beautiful and practical bindings that can be made with no specialized equipment and only a few hand tools. Constructed without adhesives, the sewing thread connects the sections directly to the spine of the covering material. Traditionally these bindings included a fore-edge flap and a tie to keep them closed. Workshop participants will fold and punch sections, measure and cut recycled leather for the cover and a tie, and learn the binding. If time allows participants will be allowed to embellish their journals.

Scrumptious Leather

2008-07-31T18:44:00.000-07:00

The award giving caused quite a stir around here yesterday and I couldn't be more pleased! I had a record setting day for site traffic and possibly for comments as well!
Which could be viewed as the motivation for today, but it isn't- today I have this scrumptious leather journal to share with you. This journal, along with all the leather journals I will be posting and making for the next few months, are made from upholstery scraps. Which while they are luscious leathers sadly I have no information about them. I don't know what kind of animal they are of what kind of a finish they have on them.
This book is the structure I will be teaching in my upcoming classes at MECCA. MECCA should be releasing more details soon, but the first class will be September 9th and the leather workshop will run September 23rd and 30th.

My local Etsy street team held a meeting last night and we had a special guest stop by and I got some really fun toys. I don't have the energy or pictures to discuss it yet, but it's exciting. I'm packing up for a weekend trip to the Coast and Portland so I'll see you guys next week!

Busy Busy Me

2008-07-29T19:53:00.000-07:00

I haven't forgotten you all! I promise!

I've just been really, really busy. It's trade show season at work, and if you have ever worked in the wholesale industry you understand what I mean.
It's also summer craft show time and I've done two in the last two weeks. Which is CRAZY for me. While I don't see my Etsy shop as a hobby (it's more a fledgling business) I've never gotten heavy into the craft market here. I had the show I had posted about last time which was a good day with friends and other vendors despite the crazy wind and bugs. While there the opportunity came up for me to do a recycled craft fair the next weekend. I jumped at the chance as it was a new venue and more time with good friends.
I got home and realized my recycled item stock was lower then I remembered and had a week to get stocked up.
I finally got to working with the pieces of scrap upholstery leather to make some leather journals and sketch books. I also did some crazy silk screening and sewing to make some rockin' recycled tote bags (no pictures yet sorry!).
While all of this was a blast I was so tired by the time the show was over I was ready to fall over as I haven't had a day since we got home from vacation where I wasn't working all day. And that is why I've not said a word in over a week. I've been crafting like a crazy lady.

The good news is that as soon as my camera and laptop become friends again I'll have some great new items to post in the ol' shop.

In the madness of the last week I was also awarded the "Arte y pico" blog award by Rhonda!

Thanks Rhonda!

Here is how the award works:
1) You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award for, creativity, design, interesting material, and also contributing to the blogger community, no matter what language.
2) Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.
3) Each award-winner, has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.
4) Award-winners and the one who has given the prize should to show the link to the Arte y pico blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.
5) To show these rules.

Between getting this award, and finally getting around to posting about it I found out that it's not against the rules to give the award to someone who already has it! Which is great because I was starting to get stressed out!
My picks (in totally random order) for the award are:

Billie of Billie's Craft Room- Billie is a UK craft who does the most amazing things with ranger inks (don't worry I don't know what they are either!) and has recently joined the book arts forum and brings lots of great energy and ideas.

Chelsea of 88 Words- She's a very prolific blogger & her blog is always a good read and while I
don't comment as often as I should you can be sure I stop by everyday!

Bev of La Paperie & Cozy- Bev makes amazing leather journals filled with wonderful quotes and other things. My personal favorite of her shows my true inner geek, it had the Periodic table of elements in the front instead of a quote. It's sold, but I'm sure she would make you another one!

Aly of Bliss Monkey Studio- Aly's blog is a double dirty pleasure of mine- not only is her blog filled with fantastic stories of urban chickens and water ballon fights, but she has great stories about things in my own community I had no clue even existed!

Kevin of Library Preservation- Kevin probably doesn't know I read his blog on a regular basis. I've never left a comment but I love his blog. It's for the true geek in me, the one that longs to work on wet, damaged, well loved, or unloved books. I would love to have his day job "spends some of my time conserving rare and not so rare items. I also regularly teach book repair to Michigan library staff, and am a part-time faculty at Wayne State University, teaching introduction to preservation."
That is exactly what I aspire for some day.....

Ok not too bad, only one person that already has the award- but that's because I've been looking for a reason to share Billie's blog with you.

Hopefully I wont' be such a stranger between posts for the rest of the summer!

Ready to go

2008-07-17T22:13:00.000-07:00

I've always loved that song by Republica, it's..ahem... an older song now.... but it still rocks really hard. I should put that on my ipod....

Anyways now that I'm rocking out in my own head I would love to talk about this little lovely on the right side of the page. I *love* this book! I splurged on this paper awhile back and had been waiting for the right design at the right time. It's a ribbon hinge journal which is constructed like a traditional book, but instead of gluing the text block on to the case the ribbons tie on the outside and hold it in place. This book also features a matching tie on the edges of the cover to keep it closed. The inside paper is a rich royal purple paper with a fantastic metallic sheen.
See I'm so in love with this book I'm already writing an amazing product description!

I've got a really stuffed set up for the show tomorrow so lots of options for those who can stop by!

Home Safe

2008-07-14T16:02:00.000-07:00

Oahu was amazing and was exactly what I needed. I won't do too much rubbing it in, but I have to do a little :)
The picture of the Honu (Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle) I think is my favorite from the trip right now. We sat on the beach for awhile and watched them eat, then we dawned the snorkel gear and swam around with a few others that weren't sunning themselves.
All the snorkeling we did was awesome as the Oregon Coast is way too cold for getting in past your knees, let alone trying to snorkel. The water also isn't crystal blue so you probably wouldn't see to much anyways (I could be wrong as I've never stuck my head in the ocean here). I had a great time and didn't want to come home, but as they say all good things must come to an end.

Back on the home front I've been busy getting ready for a show we are doing locally this Friday in the lawn of the Oregon Community Credit Union on Chad Drive (next to Costco) so if you are local come on down and say hello! I'll be sharing a booth with Catherine of Bobcat Beads and lots of other local Etsy sellers will be on hand with lots of wonderful items for sale!
I've decided to try some chopstick notebooks for this show and they are a lot of fun to make. It's allowed me to use some of my smaller sheets of paper that I've collected, but I think I'll need a larger bead collection if I want to seriously get into making and selling these adorable little books.

I have one last thing to share before I get back to binding and prepping for Friday! I was over on Bev's Blog (La Paperie & Cozy) (yes I admit I was catching up on other blogs before getting to my own) and she has a great post up about what you can do with your own journal. If you needed any inspiration of what to fill a journal with stop by and read her post, it is filled with wonderful ideas!

Woooo!

2008-07-01T07:19:00.000-07:00

I just received word that my introduction class has been approved and they want to schedule more advanced classes in the weeks that follow the first class. More details to follow after vacation!

Oahu Awaits

2008-06-28T22:19:00.001-07:00

Do you see that ------>
I still can't believe that in 4 days that's where I'll be. Paradise....
The only coast I have ever know is the Oregon Coast, while it is absolutely breath taking it is not white sand beaches with water I can actually swim in.
I actually bought snorkel gear today. I'm going to have my head in the ocean and it freaks me out.
Maiko of Flurrsprite has been incredibly helpful in things to do and eat while I'm there and one of my clients from work lives in Maui- but her daughter lives on Oahu and she told me to call when I landed and she would have her daughter show us around, and to her fav shaved ice place. Which from the sounds of it might also be Maiko's favorite!

In crafty related news I've got panels cut for 7 new bags, two sets of bike covers screened for Celtic Weave books and two more sets of bike covers for little accordion books too. I made my first chopstick book this week and it was a lot of fun. Thanks again to Rhonda for the inspiration!
I have sent my first proposal in for teaching. Hopefully I will hear back soon as I am very anxious for feedback- and to start teaching. I submitted an outline for an introduction class this week and have a few ideas stewing for intermediate classes. I was in at MECCA today as they were having a large sale and over heard someone asking for large pieces of leather and the coordinator telling the woman they had set them aside for bookbinding classes so I guess I need to get started on a proposal for a long stitch class- which also means I need to learn the long stitch!

To end this I won't be back at my computer until the 12th, and will probably be too tired to post anything at all until the 13th. I promise to share some photo's and funny stories about our belated honeymoon (only a year late- and I am very exicted about having our first/sixth anniversary in Hawaii) when we return!

Treasury Love!

2008-06-18T16:10:00.001-07:00

That's me smack in the middle of second row!
I am so glad that Etsy listed the rule that you couldn't convo people about treasury listings as I would have never seen this as I would have been packing for Minnesota and had no Etsy adventuring planned for the evening.

So stop by and give the other great items in the treasury a click or leave a comment with green love!

I'll be back on Monday from Minnesota, have a great weekend!

Summer Vacation!

2008-06-16T18:24:00.000-07:00

I forgot how relaxing free time can be. This weekend all I did was things I wanted to do. My house is still totally trashed, my laundry still needs to be done, etc- but I did expose my first screen at home this weekend!
It took a few tries as I was using our newly found sunshine to develop the screen, but I had the time so I enjoyed the learning process. Eventually I will have to set up an indoor exposure for the 9 months of rain we get a year but for now I can use the energy mother nature provides. The lovely boards to the right are my first hybrid binding/screening project. I think I'm gonna have to screen two more because I wasn't thinking and if I bind these two together the bike on one of the covers will be along the spine, and I just don't think I like that. I also think I might screen a few of the pages that are going into the book too- because I can :D

I officially have started the ball rolling towards teaching classes in August. I need to write up the proposals for the classes and submit them for review. I think I want to teach one simple class with things like a pamphlet stitch with some variations like the dos a dos, the accordion fold, and maybe one other thing. I need to start looking into my books and see what I can find. I also want to teach a more advanced class with something like a case bound book but we'll see what they say about that as the resources are more complex.

I'll be working on that idea while I am in Minnesota this week. I've never been to Minnesota and it's where a large chunk of my husbands family lives, and where his parents summer. It's his dad's birthday this weekend so it seemed like the perfect weekend to take a trip- and the perfect time to write proposals about book binding!

¡slɐuıɟ ɥɥɥɐɐɐ

2008-06-10T20:27:00.000-07:00

I've got the first and the worst of my finals tomorrow. It's a double whammy of ochem and nuclear chemistry. Next week I have a whirlwind weekend in Northern Minnesota, home for a week then off for 11 days in Honolulu for a late honeymoon.

I've got a show scheduled for July 18th with my local street team. Trying to decide what I want to make and take, it's always hard to predict what people will be looking for on any given day. Which is what I love about Etsy, people get on there looking for a blue notebook- and if you can fill that need then they will purchase it. Craft shows don't have that same thing, people show up and browse not knowing what to expect,but probably not looking for that blue notebook.

I've been having a huge crafty urge but it might be a natural response to spending the last week looking at flying spaghetti monsters, counting lines, and working on the design of a nuclear reactor. Hopefully I'll retain that urge over the weekend and get some serious crafting done!

Crafty Overload

2008-06-07T09:26:00.000-07:00

This week has been good for nourishing my crafty side. It was the last week of classes here and while I'm totally stressed out for my finals next week I've managed to get a lot done that isn't related to school.

Ok so the first project is kind of related to school- The fabric pieces are a tote bag, and a tote bag in progress! I finally ahead of the game in silk screening for once and I got to play around with fabric for the first time. The bag with the cassettes is finished while the bag with the reels still needs to be sewn together. I screened the fabric during our last class on Thursday and everyone was really envious, I think mostly because I was done and could play around, might also be because I bought shiny purple ink to play with.

As you can see in the second picture I have lots and lots of ink to start playing with. I also bought myself a photo emulsion kit, but that will have to wait until I get a scooper and a bigger squeegee.

In other exciting news this week our local crafty materials exchange MECCA sent out a news letter this week saying they had gotten in some upholstery leather scraps so I ran in as soon as they opened the next day and took a large pile to start playing with leather again.
The topic came up of why I want large scraps of leather and I told Mija I was a book binder. She got really excited and we started talking about me teaching classes there over the summer! I think I'll be teaching in late July/early August, I'll keep you posted as I come up with more of the details! I'm really excited to have the opportunity I just need to come up with what classes I want to teach and how I want to structure them....

Online Trunk Show- With Me & BEST!

2008-05-31T10:17:00.000-07:00

The Bookbinding Team will be hosting an online trunk show at the Etsy Virtual Labs on June 2nd at 9PM EST.

We will be showcasing some handpicked creations through images and even via webcam so you can get a more up close and personal look at our books on Etsy. The creators will also be presenting why their shop (and themselves!) are unique, and you will have the opportunity to meet with them and ask questions in a session after the showcasing. There will also be some sales and giveaways, so this is definitely an event you don't want to miss!

A list of participating members:

yellowcraftychick
usefulbooks
thecraftykitten
kupokiley
myhandboundbooks
ladyartisan
flurrsprite
kristincrane
yatsu
thisisbexx

Brief Hello!

2008-05-27T21:22:00.000-07:00

Well the good news is that I survived the nuclear chemistry midterm! The bad news is that due to my faulty, totally warped screen I am totally behind in silk screening!
This lovely little book to your left just got some new pictures and a renewal. I'm hoping these pictures help a little bit- this fabric is a real bear to photograph. It ends up looking awful & grainy when really it's lush fabric that I love.

This second lovely book is my swap book, it's going to Canada and hopefully the new owner doesn't pop over here before she gets it!
I would hate to ruin the surprise but I'm not sure I'll get too many updates in before school is over and I wanted to share it. June 12th here I come!
Anywho back to the book! It's my second attempt at a ribbon hinged book. I really like how elegant they look but I'm having problems with the spines on the block slanting. I let this one dry for two days before I put it in the case and it still slanted. I love it none the less. I used the bike path map for Eugene to make both the inside and outside covers. On the inside pages I glued pictures and facts about Eugene and Lane county. It's probably the closest I've come to making an artist book, and I'm pretty proud of it.

Holding Pattern

2008-05-21T07:20:00.000-07:00

I kept promising myself I was going to get to a big blog post about the Street Faire, new books, and life in general and it's just not going to happen until this weekend- sorry!

These last two weeks have been crazier than I know how to describe so please hold and I promise I'll be back soon! I've also managed to misplace my card reader for my camera so when I come back I'll be back with a large number of pictures!

I did managed to get in a clean up my shop a little bit and a few books have been put on sale! Stop by and take a peek!

The things I do.....

2008-05-06T21:28:00.001-07:00

Last Friday I was working on finishing a local custom order before heading out to work and I was trying to remember why it was that I needed to drive into work.... I tried for a good 10 min while I wrapped the book up and packed my lunch. It was a lovely day and I really wanted to ride to work and couldn't remember why I needed to drive so I hopped on to my bike and enjoyed the ride!

I got to work and found the note "DON'T FORGET BANANA FIBER TREE". I had volunteered to bring a tree from work for people to hang purses off on in our street faire booth and we needed it for the dress rehearsal this weekend. I went outside and stuck a tree across the bike lane and it just fit inside. Score! The tree went on the rack, bungies went on, and I went riding down the road banana fiber tree in tow. I also learned that bike lanes are about 4.5 feet wide.

I got some pretty funny looks and I hope that I made a few people smile as I zoomed past them stuck in Friday afternoon traffic. I think I'll take it back to work the same way :D

ps- Like my ride? I love her! The red velvet detailing is my favorite part

ASUO Street Faire 2008

2008-05-01T20:27:00.001-07:00

I'll be attending the ASUO street faire next week, and I'm getting nervous. It's spring time here and while it is amazing beautiful time of year it's also the time of the year where the rain comes down sideways and in drops the size of quarters- it's also hailed several times in the last week.
It's a three day outdoor show so I've been trying to come up with a way to display my books where people can still access them. I'll work something out....

Anyways if you live in the area you'll find me at the booth from 1-6pm on Wednesday, 8-10:30 am Thursday, and 4:30-6 on Friday. Even if you can't make it to say hello to me stop by and say hello to the rest of my local street team. The booth is on the University of Oregon Campus on 13th, our booth is right in front of the Journalism building.

Earth Week

2008-04-26T17:12:00.000-07:00

Eugene is an eco-minded town and there were all kinds of Earth Week festivities going on around town. Susan of Seh What! on my local street team works for Levi and they put out a call for handmade items from the team that were recycled. I admit that most of what I do isn't recycled but the cute little book earrings fit the bill perfectly! I sent the 4 pairs above and I hope they got warm welcomes!
I have had a busy week with school, work, and the like. I got my first project back from grading and am plugging away on my second. Silk screening is turning out to be much harder than I had expected it to be. Not sure why I though it was going to be easy, but I did. I'm WAY behind on my second project because I can't get my beaker to turn out... yes I'm a geek, I'm doing an art project involving chemistry. I promise to share a picture of one of the prints when I'm done.
Today is a nice day after a week of snow, rain, & hail so we are enjoying the fading sunshine and waiting for a few friends to arrive for the weekly Saturday dinner. We are setting up the ball game in the "back yard" which is really the grass we share in the back with the rest of the apartments that no one but us seems to use.
My prints are due Thursday so if I remember to pack my camera as I finish them this week I'll share by the weekend. If not I'm not sure when I'll get them back from grading.

Cheating?

2008-04-18T17:52:00.000-07:00

I was thinking about making a book for my shop tonight... I really was, and then I remembered the other 1 million commitments I already have and figured I should work on one of those instead. However I was still feeling terrible & awful about how neglected my shop as has been so I dug up and changed and old listing for a custom order Kimono book. I feel a bit like I'm cheating because I don't actually have the book done... but once someone orders it it will go on the list of things to accomplish by the end of the week and I'll have the motivation to get it done. The listing is live now so if you have any interest in one of these lovely books roll on over and check the listing out.
I'm gonna go find some dinner and then working on getting my stuff together for an earth day celebration display. Enjoy the weekend and hopefully I'll have some pic's of my contribution to the display up by the end of the weekend.

"Little" Update

2008-04-14T21:58:00.000-07:00

I still haven't adjusted to my new schedule and haven't had time to do much serious binding lately..... However I did find some time to make some absolutely adorable mini books. I made one pair into earrings and I love them. I wore them all day on Saturday which is a *huge* thing for me. I wear the same hoops 24/7, 365. I might have to start making an exception for these. Make a few pairs and change them out to match my outfit.

I also found a little time this evening to make a book for the Emerald Book Arts Monthly Swap (my local book arts group). Our theme was Spring, and with Earth day around the corner I wanted to use something recycled also. I drug home another sheet of Kenyan paper from work and made this lovely little notebook with a delicate flower stamp on the covers as well as each page.

As school this term is proving to be much more time demanding than my other terms I think this poor little blog will be reduced to a weekly updating. I really wanted to update this weekend but didn't get the chance as I was doing homework all weekend. My poor shop is just as unloved, so it's nothing personal. *fingers crossed* I'll adjust soon and be able to do more binding and blogging.

PS- I totally forgot to give credit where credit is due! As usual the inspiration for the little books came from Rhonda and I picked up the pattern in Dingo's store!

Time, I need more time....

2008-04-06T20:38:00.001-07:00

This past week was the first week of class and the first week of my new schedule and it knocked my right on my rear.
The good news is that I love my silk screening class so far, the bad news is it is detracting from my book making time. I had to bring my screen home this weekend to get it ready for the first layer of color on Tuesday- I'm really really slow and messy with painting screen filler. As you can see from my colored fingers and loaded glue brush. It's funny with books and pva/paste I'm the cleanest person but I get screen filler everywhere!

My screen is starting to take shape for the first layer. Our first print will be a reduction so this is the starting and the next layers will be smaller and smaller.
Everything assigned for class is going to be huge (11x14 printed) so if I want to do anywork for books this term it will have to be outside of class time. I've already decided that I want more than one screen so maybe I'll buy a few and start a side project for book covers in my non existent free time. I've been thinking more and more about printing right on to binders board instead of paper and then pasting it down. The more I think about it the more it grows on me. We have to keep a log book for class so naturally I just made mine.... (why I didn't photograph that I'll figure out later).... and I left it blank board so I could screen on it one day if I felt so inclined.

Mini Vacation!

2008-03-29T08:52:00.000-07:00

Spring break is drawing to a close and I don't feel like I've had much of a vacation as I've been working for almost all of it. My husband and I are going up to Portland this morning do spend today and tomorrow having a mini vacation before we start school again.
We have lots of shopping on the agenda, which includes a trip to Ikea! I'm hoping to find some fun fabric to make books with. The last time I was there I picked up the spirograph fabric.
There are also some good paper stores in Portland that I hope to get the chance to stop into. They carry my favorite end papers in colors that I can't get locally.
There are also several very tasty restaurants we like to frequent so I'm excited about eating lots of great food too.
We have a hotel that is on the Max line so hopefully we can leave the car parked most of the time we are there.
Ah vacation!

Back in business!

2008-03-27T16:52:00.000-07:00

I have to start this post with a very large hats off and thank you to the Apple support teams! I have my baby back! I'm very impressed with their service and turn around time. I called in late Monday afternoon to the service center, by 10 am the next morning I had my return box and packed her up and dropped it off in time for afternoon pick up. Apple got my laptop early the next morning, had fixed it and sent back to me by the end of day yesterday. This morning my laptop was back in my hands by 10 am again. Serious kudos!

While my laptop was being fixed I decided to try my hand at fabric button hair accessories. Spring term starts Monday and my new schedule is a polar opposite of what I had before. I'll be going to the gym in the mornings before school and realized that I won't have access to a hair dryer at the gym. My bangs will be all over all the time without a hair dryer so I decided I needed to invest in some cute hair accessories to tame them. I really love the end product and might have found a new crafting hobby. I don't think I'll be selling them, but don't hold me to it. The batch above is made from some fabric scraps I had from making books. I love this fabric and really love the clipies! I think I'll be trying some of my Kimono fabrics next....

Incommunicado

2008-03-25T11:20:00.000-07:00

I'm getting ready to pack my laptop into a box and send it out for service. She's got a small crack in her case that keeps getting worse and I can't let it go any longer. Hopefully she won't be gone for more than a week but I've got no promises from Apple.

I had a great day yesterday, made a lovely new book that I think is perfect for spring. It's another Celtic Weave featuring a Fabriano sketch weight paper. I love the inside paper almost as much as the outside! I also love the striking difference between the black and white thread in the weave pattern.

Yesterday also brought me my book from the second BEST swap! The books are slowly being revealed on the team blog, so hop on over there and take a look at all the great books! My swap book was the first shown so you'll have to scroll down a bit to find it.

The book I received I absolutely love! It is a long stitch with a really funky old laxative cover, the inside end sheets are from an old science magazine and are a hoot! The book comes to me from Jodi of Scodioli. She has more available in her store if you are interested one of your very own.

Well I think thats about it for a week or so! Have fun and if you need something to read please check out some of the blogs in the links section!

Big Makeover

2008-03-23T16:46:00.000-07:00

Continuing the theme of not actually getting any rest over spring break I finally managed to overhaul my business cards and banners today. You might notice that things look a little different here today. I would show you the new card but for some reason blogger wants invert and distort all the colors but you can get a good idea of the style from the banner. I love the Kimono Book I got the inspiration from and have to admit that I'm surprised that it's still in my shop. I love this book so much that I made one for myself that I use for my chem lab notebook. Along those same lines I'm surprised that no one in class has ever asked me about it.

Anyways back on top here! I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend! Today is actually my good friends birthday this evening and we will be headed to her house shortly for a wonderful dinner.

Spring (Not) Break

2008-03-22T22:39:00.000-07:00

This is the official day of spring break for the Husband and I. I got up feeling ambitious today and wanted to redo and clean up the studio. This first picture is in mid-redoing. I had emptied out and removed two of my old shelves and I was backed into a corner when I took the first picture.
The lovely second picture is my new organized studio space! I moved from 5 bookshelves/desks to two bookshelves. Everything now has its own proper home. The new bookshelves are located where I took the first picture from. The other half of the room is now empty which is great because we have company and going for the next few weeks and it will be great to have a space to inflate the air mattress. It will also be great for laying out paper to unroll and general space for whatever I need.

My first burst of productivity came last night. I sat in front of the tv and watched a political speech being broadcast live from Mac Court (local basketball arena) and folded a small army of Blizzard Books. There are 7 in all, the 3 red are the smallest, the green trio is only slightly larger and each a slightly different size as they were made from scraps from other projects. The middle book is the largest with my new Ex Libris stamp on the cover. The other books all feature other various stamps on the covers as well. I've decided that these books will be going out with my next few orders as thank you books. So if you've been waiting for a good reason to pick up one of my books now is the time!

A bit late...

2008-03-20T11:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday turned out to be a crazy day and I got nothing accomplished that I wanted to. The good news is that my first two tasks for today are out the the way and I'm working on #3- sharing my plaquette! It's a dark blue leather that has a finish on it that makes it a bit shiny as you can see. Although some of the shine has to be blamed on my tool work. I'm totally in love with it and I have another piece of pared leather to make another plaquette with. For the workshop on Tuesday night we were instructed to do angular designs as they would be easier to start with and we would all finish sometime before midnight. I thought K was a fitting first attempt, and another girl took the same idea and did an A for hers. Each time I pick this piece up I smile, the picture doesn't do it much justice- I'm learning that leather is not as easy as paper to photograph.
I need to get back to work so I can make enough money to start to afford the tools and the quality of leather I need!

#60

2008-03-18T21:47:00.000-07:00

This is my 60th blog post since starting this little adventure! I just got home from my monthly book arts meeting and I'm really really excited. Earlier this month we had a mini workshop on paring leather, tonight we had a meeting where we made leather covered plaquettes. For some reason working with leather makes me feel like a bonafide bookbinder.

Look for a picture of my masterpiece tomorrow.

I was going to tell you all about the adorable little sketchbook above but it sold tonight while I was playing in the leather! I just listed this lovely little number 5 days ago, and I have to admit I'm shocked it sold. Absolutely thrilled, but shocked. I've never had a book sell in less than a week before! The excitement of a sale has never lessened for me, I still do a little dance every time I sell something.
I'm off to try to fall asleep- probably won't happen as I'm still wound up from my excitement with the leather and the added excitement of a sale.

Where has the time gone?

2008-03-13T11:07:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how busy I have been this past week! Where to start... I last left you with the Blizzard book which I have had a blast playing around with. I took the business card holder to my local Etsy street team meeting and it was a huge hit.

I also have been fighting with the cold from a few posts back, the cold has gone but it left me with the lovely parting gift of a sinus infection and ear infections in both ears. I spent most of the weekend on the couch sipping milkshakes courtesy of my wonderful husband. I did however have my first adventure with the longstitch this weekend. As you can see I used some of the kimono remnant fabric I had around and I think all things considered it came out pretty well. I also recently attended a mini workshop on leather paring and I think I've decided that I'm ready to try leather for the first time. I think I'll start with a simple longstitch like this one and work my way up. I don't own the proper tools to start doing leather spines but it is something I am thinking seriously about investing in.

In between studying for my last test this week, and for my final next Monday I started work on a custom order that will match the photo album shown to the right. I am making a larger album to accompany this album. I also got a few other projects started using some wonderful Fabriano artist paper, look for more details on those books coming soon!

I also got new glasses and a very long overdue hair cut, if I get the time in the coming days I'll try to get a picture of myself up.

Blizzard Books

2008-03-05T18:30:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago Rhonda of My Handbound Books posted on her blog about a project she was working on involving the Blizzard and Crown Book Structures. I had never seen these structures before and needed to know more!

After some digging on her blog I found that Green Chair Press sells a kit to teach the binding.
The first little book in front is the one that came in my kit and the one in the back is a business card holder I made with the directions sent with the kit. The front book is tiny at 1.5" square! I can't wait to play with the dimensions and make some larger books!

Milestone!

2008-03-02T18:25:00.001-08:00

I awoke this morning to a lovely milestone in my little etsy shop! I have sold 50 books! It was the perfect pick me up as I've had a cold all weekend and have done nothing but sit on the couch and play Endless Ocean, which is an amazing game to begin with- but is super awesome when you are sick.
The premise is you are a diver, you interact with fish, whales, you have dolphins for friends and you swim around. This weekend I've found a ship wreck, sunken ruins, and a whale graveyard. I could talk about this game for hours (as I've been playing it for hours) but I'll spare you. If you have a Wii at $30 this game is worth it!

Anyways back to the business at hand, my 50th sale was my Spirograph soft cover journal and I couldn't be more excited!
If I was feeling any better I think I would go out to dinner tonight to celebrate, but I think my green goodness juice will be all the celebration I have in me. Maybe later this week!

It's been a little over a year since I joined Etsy and I've enjoyed all of it. I'm glad these two little milestones came so close together. Thanks to everyone who has supported me over the last year!

Frustration....

2008-02-28T20:20:00.000-08:00

I've spent almost all night sitting here at the computer trying to redesign my business cards.... Needless to say I don't have new cards... yet. I would love to see your business cards for inspiration!

On a much higher note I did get a new book listed in the shop today! I think it's a shop high for inventory for me! This is an adorable mini book with covers made from recycled scrap pieces of wood from work. You can find more details about this little gem here!