I love Andrea Joseph's work on flickr.
I've decided that I'm not going to give up my Etsy shop after all. I figure that the exposure is better if I have both shops running rather than just one. I'm going to "divide them." I've not decided which site will get which items but one site will get all the leather and handmade paper covered journals the other will get all recycled.
I'm thinking of going with Artfire with the recycled and etsy with the leather. My partner informs me that if I crunch the numbers that doesn't make sense fiscally. In that I'll end up paying more money to etsy by percentage where I need the higher dollar sales to go through artfire to pay for the monthly fee. Not to mention the higher the dollar sale the more money comes out of the item. Technically C is right. But when looking at the design of the 2 sites it LOOKS right and while I know mentally thats not the best way to go about it, it's what my head is telling me to do…
Yet another blog I love and found via Twitter: Doodlers Anonymous fan-freaking-tastic. Great art, great content and awesome images! Head over and check them out and folow them on twitter to know what they update!
I meant to get his post up last night but I was too tired after editing all my etsy and artfire items for the new postal rates. I’ve been shipping items off partially on my own dollar because I forgot to change shipping rates when they first changed. Damn. Anyway.
These journals are made of old advertising signs, the large vinyls banners you see outside of businesses, that’s these. I cut them up into small pieces ready to be turned into journals. I stitch pockets inside, those pockets are made of cardstock posters, the same stuff my jotters are made of. I then use natural hemp to stitch the paper into the book. I use Wausau 24lb, 25% cotton laid textured paper..
MOst are up on my artfire account now.
I like these images so much I'm posting more than one item from that artist. Really like sparkleface's imagery. good stuff head over to flickr to see more.
I rather like this, though the subject is sad, the image is really neat, love the colors and texture, by sparkleface on flickr.
Mandy is a poet and a zinester. I "met" her online years ago through LJ, i'm not sure how long ago. I've been the recipient of several of her teeny tiny chap books and delight in them. Her most recent adventures include some really sweet collages overlay with her poetry and that of her friends. Check out her work on flickr, it's well worth the time. It may give you some ideas for your own journals.
I try not to shill my stuff to aggressively on here, to try and keep it real, you know, whatever that means. BUT. I need to replenish the coffers. I need to make a few sales. So if you support Comfortable Shoes Studio in any way shape or for head over to either my etsyshop or my artfire shop and check out what I’ve got to offer and show your support.
I splurged this weekend when I found reams of paper on sales and ut my reserve moneys in half by buying a ton of paper. That means a lot of new product in the long run (did I mention it was a LOT of paper) but right now it means I’m strapped for cash. SIGH.
I've been working in the 100% recycled journal for a few days now. I've filled a few pages,but I've been working it in my usual manner of actually working on 4 or 5 pages at a time and working ahead and cleaning my brushed out on future pages. It's a style that works well for me in thicker journals and less well with journals that are jotter thick. The beauty of this journal is that I'm not overly concerned with using up the pages, they aren't precious to me in any way say like, fabriano or stonehenge even.
That being said I've found tha the gesso is a pain in my arse. Pure and simply it didn't adhere overly well to the super slick and glossy pages of the Nat Geo mag i used to make my pages. The culprit as I've found it- hte brush I for application. I used a watercolor brush (an old one, calm down) and it put on a very thin layer that dried fast, which was my goal. I should have gone for better coverage and covered fewer pages. the pages that I applied a thick coat have less of an issue with scraping and weird behavior. the thin pages the gesso scrapes off, which can lead to some very cool antiquing effects but wasn't what Iwas really looking for.
Don't get me wrong I love this journal, but I had to learn how to use it.
