The things I do.....

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

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

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?

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

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....

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!

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!