I’ve been considering for some time if I would like an eBay store in addition to my regular listings. This would open up a variety of options for me. I could list an item for an indefinite period of time and it could be buy it now. Someone could look at the item for a very long tie and then decide to buy it, rather than having only 7 days to decide if they like it or want it.

There are many positives to this approach but the drawbacks are large amounts of money. The initial insertion fee is only 2 pennies but the final fee is 8 percent of the final value, up to $25 and then it’s 5 percent on any money over $25! So the book that I sold for $75 would have had $4.52 in fees, in addition to the $16 that I would have to pay monthly for the store. The usual amount in fees is $3.60, including the listing fee! That’s nearly a full dollar difference.

The major thing I would be paying for is the huge AMOUNT of time a store lets you leave items up, they can be there for 30 days or as long as it takes to sell. If I were selling 100’s of books that were identical I would find this format useful, however as it is now it’s not a good fit for me. I’ll continue to poorly utilize my website.

If eBay were to make the fee less, I’d think about getting a store, if it were $9 or so, I just can’t use the store effectively and pay as much as it is currently. It’s just too much.

In other news I’ve been sketching out a lot of designs in a hedgie I made for the purpose. I carry it with me at all times, even at the DayJob. When inspiration strikes I’ll run and take brief break and sketch out an idea. It’s also a good way to think out ideas for the books.

And example:
I’ve been working on a medieval inspired design for someone and I was going to stick with something very simple, no ornamentation, and simple long stitch sewn into stations. I liked the idea- it would be very faithful to the medieval books. BUT, medieval books often were very ornate. I want to get the simple rustic feeling in there but with a little ornament. Thinking this through and looking at images online and in books I came up with an idea. In my little book I sketched it out and then worked it out in sketches and words. My thought process became evident through 5 pages or so of sketches. I then drew up a template and cut it from kraft paper and worked it so it was exactly what I was looking for. This I traced to cardboard and then used it to cut leather. I’ve been working ideas out this way for years but I’ve always done it Joseph Cornell style on scraps of paper which I would later gather and toss into a box, eventually tossing it out (very unlike Cornell). Now I’m making an effort to either think things out in this little book or to save the scraps and paste them in. If I find odd “thought Scraps” around my studio I’m pasting them in.

Now I’ve got a whole series of little books to think in.

(I’ll scan in some pictures of my little notbooks.)

I’m really sorry to have to do this topeople, but the SPAM-BoTS have found my blog. I”m putting comments on word verification. If you leave a comment (Which I welcome and want) you’ll have to verify that you are a person and enter in a word that will appear on the screen. I’m sorry to have to do this, but I’ve become very tired of deleteing 90% of the comments onhere and than not being able to find half the spam comments.

Hopefully you won’t be detered byt this, and you’ll also be happy that when you click on a comment link that it will be content rather than either a “This comment hasbeen deleted by the administrator” or some spam.

I had a request for a reporter style hedgie. So i made it. these are exactly like my other hedgies, sans bookmarker. These are lined per the request of the gentleman who requested them.

I also made 10 hedgies in 3 days. I sped the process up by using the pre-cut paper. It greatly increased my efficency. I found that I did make a few mistakes in regards to gluing, but those were easily remedied. The one mistake I made that could NOT be fixed was when I cut holes in a navy hedgie and also cut throught he book mark. That one will go up on ebay. Sigh. I was tired and should have stopped working about an hour before i cut those holes.

Here’s the family shot:

This is a pretty simple hack but I thoguht I’d post about it anyhow.

I bought a photocorner punch a few weeks ago. I thoguth it was a corner rounder. Much to my surprise I grabbed the first hedgehog I got my hand on and it produced this:

So I shoved a business card in there. i punched a few other pages and if I fold a sheet of 8.5X11 paper just right it fits beautifully into the slot and I can carry it inside my hedgie.

While I was at work I had a messy note shoved into my pocket and I really wanted to put it into my hedgie just the way I had done with my business cards and my map (to the blick store in Boston!) but of course I didn’t have my punch with me. It got me to thinking how I could carry a punch with me but not.

Here’s my solution. I cut a corner off a priority mailer envelope, about an inch and a half on each folded edge. I then measured against it- roughly a quarter inch from each side a business card. On here I measured a series of 4 holes along the edges of my card. I punched them with my screw punch, and connected the dots on 2 sides.

What i edged up was this:

This slides over a corner and I can cut through the pattern and create a slot to hold material in my hedgie. IF I’m careful it doesn’t go through the pattern backside and into the next page of my hedgie.

It creates a straight line rather than the delicate curve of the punch but it’s quite nice and holds a decent amount.

So This is the set up I used before I started to makea lot of books and needed a larger paper cutter.

This is the Fiskars photo trimmer, it trims 2 to 5 sheets at a time and utilizes a fixed blade in a little plastic handle.

I start by lining my trimmer with a line on my cutting mat, if you line it up right you can usethe lines on your cutting mat to cut at specific sizes. I then use duct tape or in this case packing tape to hold the trimmer in place. I put them along the right hand edge.

After I taped the trimmer down I measured from the cutter to where the paper would end on the left side of the trimmer. I butted a piece of waste cardboard to where the paper would end and taped it down also using packing tape. I always tape on the outter most corners and top and bottom ofhte waste card. If the card isn’t securely taped down it will lift and allow paper to slide beneath it. Making it useless as a jig/cutting guide.

After it’s taped down you can cut away. I always did a few test cuts to check and makesure my measurements were correct, nothing worse than cutting aream of paper only to find out at the last mintue you didn’t measure right.

I’ve been asked about my paper trimmer jig. It’s a pretty simple piece. I have plans to further adapt it but that will have to wait.
I use a fiskars table top rotary cutter. I like rotary blades because they don’t pull and they cut in exactly the same place each time. If I over load the cutter, as I am prone to do, I don’t get pulling or hacked edges, it just won’t cut through the whole stack.

The jig was made with 1/4inch by 3 inch poplar I boughtit for strip framing a few collages on canvas and this was a scrap.

You may note that I’ve drawn a big red stripe down the center of the wood. This is so that I know which side is up on the board. It only fits in one way.

I measured my paper cutter bed, from edge to edge. I cutmy board 1/16th of an inch longer than that measurement. My bed was 12 and a quarter inches high. So I cut my board 12 and 5/16th. I used a fines sanding pad and razor blade to trim off minute shavings until I got my board to fit in so tight it wouldn’t move easily.

When i cut reams of paper in halves I take one sheet of paper and fold it in half and put it on the bed, measureing it against the blade. I then slip my jig into place. I end up with a ream of paper cut neatly in half and pretty near the same size. Reams of lower end paper tend to have a lot of sheets that are 1/16th to 1/32nd of an inch off which messes with everything. I had a hell of a time getting my Wausau paper the same size. I ended up cutting the ream, stacking the sheets and pulling out the nearly half ream that was a screwed up size and cutting a 1/16th of an inch off. It was a major production and it’s a reason I shy away from all the wausau branded paper- including astrobrights. Great colors but not worth the aggravation.

My finall adaptation is to cut 2 slots one at the top and one at the base and coordinating slots in my board. thread screws through the cutter and the board attach washers and wing nuts so that I have a removable but very secure cutting jig. I am however very afraid of damaging the cutter, so that it warps when I lean on it to cut. I dont have any issues with the jig I use now.

I’ve been binding all day and while i haven’t met my lofty goal of making 10 journals idid finish 5 large journals and one small. I still ahvetime to make a few more if I try. I did make it to the post office for shipping a lot of journals to Canada. I also made it to both Barnes and Noble to check out the journals and farm for ideas and to Michaels for cardstock.

While at michaels I realized that I need to find a better source for paper. paying the amount that i’m paying for cardstock is outrageous. Especially whenI know I could call a printing company and get the paper at half the price. ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!

So The journals that I worked on today are all variations on long stitch. Basically it’s sew on 2 signatures and then head back as if I were going to start a figure 8 bu angle back into the last signature. I ended up with some very elegant spines. Expect a whole slew more variation on this. i’m pretty excited to try this out with stations and not just slots.

Enough talk here you go:

The golden colroed journal is going up on ebay.

I’m getting back to loving the chunky weighty journals that have a weight in your hand that is unmistakable.

This is a journal similar to the Big Blue Journal that I have on my website. the difference here is that it’s a deep dark almost black blue colored deer hide. It’s so soft and smooth it’s amazing. I used natural Irish linen thread tosew it up. It’s sewn to stations in a pattern of diamonds and wings. The backing paper is a fibery paper that matches the navy blue almost perfectly. It has 340 pages of 24lb Strathmore paper. I love this paper. It’s perfect for writingand has a nice tooth for drawing and it will take a lot of abuse- light watercolor washes, glue and it will even handle my fountain pen.

Enoguh Jibber jabber, pictures below.

This is a 6x6inch an 2 inch thick watercolor journal. It’s got 144 pages of Fabriano Uno paper, hand torn to size. the leather is a foiled leather in raspberry color. I bought red eyelets to match the leather. i used black linen thread to sew. You may recognize the pattern, Iused itfor another watercolor journal a few months ago.

the extra 44 pages really make a difference in weight, this thing is chunky and heavy. i really like it.