Holiday Crafts at Morristown wrap up

The second (and last) craft show I did this season was Artrider’s Holiday Crafts at Morristown.

I usually exhibit at Artrider’s Holiday Crafts Park Avenue, but the show was canceled this year (major bummer). I exhibited in Morristown once before, back in the spring of 2006. I honestly had no idea what to expect this time around.

Overall, I had a pretty good show if you ignore the super-evil snowstorm that blew into town around 2:00 p.m. on Saturday. I was actually doing pretty well up until that point. Had the weather been better, I think I would have had an awesome show.

Stupid nature.

What can you do? At least we were able to amuse ourselves for the rest of the afternoon – I had awesome booth neighbors!

Hey, that's me!

The funniest moment of the show went something like this (it’s not as creepy as it sounds, hang in there):

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A man comes into my booth and reads my sign that indicates I’m from Vermont.

He says, “Hi, where are you from in Vermont?”

I reply, “Montpelier.”

He says, “Oh really, where in Montpelier?”

I reluctantly tell him the name of my street.

He replies, “No way! You’re in that house with the basement studio…we live three houses up from you!”

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Turns out the guy’s wife is glass artist Amy Bazis, who was also exhibiting at the show.

I went all the way to New Jersey to meet my neighbors.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Vermont, a neighbor isn’t necessarily someone who lives right next door to you…they can be really, really far away.

At this show, each exhibitor’s space was marked by pipe and drape and really ugly grey drapes. Sadly, the greyness left me with a particularly blechy “Craft Show Carcass” shot:

Ick.

Tata to craft show season 2009.

Hello to craft show applications 2010.

Bonefolder alternatives and Twitter awesomeness

Every now and then, I just want to give Twitter a hug.

Over the past year, I have come to really love the Twitter bookbinding community. After leaving a full-time office environment for the solitude of my studio, I found camaraderie in my Twitter friends – they became my studio mates. These folks are so generous, so creative, so intelligent – ask them anything and you’ll get a wealth of responses.

Today, while working on handout for a workshop, I asked the Twitter bookbinding community for ideas on bonefolder alternatives. I got so many great suggestions that I just had to share them:

• @gnewfry: you can use the back of a spoon as a bone folder.
• @stormfilled: Toothbrush handle!
• @skynash: lipstick if its a solid case (love that one)
• @DingbatPress: a fingernail? or maybe for those nail-biters out there, the butt of an xacto blade. Or sometimes I take the pen part out of a bic ball point pen and it works good for scoring.
• @hilkekurzke: The back of a (horn) comb could do for folding, a (horn) hair pin for pinching and maybe for scoring.
• @pinsandpaper: When I taught Elem., we used 6″ plastic rulers since the edges were tapered similar to a bone folder. Only $.25, too.
• @neustudio: No bonefolder: use a pen with the cap on. or the flat edge of a plastic ruler
• @evolvingblue: heh. in my experience a soup spoon isn’t bad, but the edges had better be hella dull.
• @lackriver: hmm i’ve always used the backside of a butterknife

I received all of these responses in around 20 minutes.

These folks rock. Seriously.

Free Make-and-Take at Frog Hollow craft gallery

Come visit me today at the Frog Hollow craft gallery and make your very own origami accordion book ornament!

This make-and-take is suitable for both kids and adults (sorry, dogs aren’t good at making books) – and it’s FREE FREE FREE!

I promise it will be super-fun. If it’s not super-fun, then I’ll give you your money back. *

Here’s the scoop:

Date: Friday December 18, 2009
Time: 4:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Location: 85 Church Street, Burlington, VT
Phone: (802) 863-6458

Hope to see you there!

* Obviously, since the workshop is free, the refund doesn’t get you much.

Craft Vermont 2009 wrap up

I can’t believe that I haven’t written a blog post in two weeks. I think I’ve had a longer than usual recovery time after my craft shows ended. Even though it’s nice to be past the stress, I still go through a period of loss when my shows end.

Last November I exhibited at my first craft show of the season, Craft Vermont, presented by Vermont Hand Crafters.

I was in the same spot as last year, which I call my “home”. Some of my neighbors had changed, but my block was still full of friendly faces.

I had several repeat customers, which always makes me happy. I feel very strongly about nurturing my customer relationships and make a point of treating them well. I had many visitors from the Book Arts Guild of Vermont and also roped in a few new members.

Here’s a little photo essay of my booth setup:

And a one...

...and a two...

Note: There is no way my booth would ever get done without some major hubby help. Seriously. I’d be laying my books out on a towel.

I love love love my plastic shoeboxes!

Ta-da! It's like magic!

The sign in the center of my back wall is new this year – I updated my logo and got a new sign to show it off. The two photos that flank the sign are new as well. My hubby is a wonderful photographer and he created them for me. Love.

Here are some of the books that I was happily able to debut at the show – combination Coptic stitch and Celtic Weave journals.

The cover papers were all made by paste paper super-genius, Claire Maziarczyk. These precious papers were stashed away after my visit to Claire’s studio this summer. I’m telling you – these papers were hard to cut up – but so worth it in the end.

Overall, I had a pretty good show. I did better than last year and in this economy, that’s a really good thing.

I leave you with my favorite shot, which I’ve mentioned before – the “Craft Show Carcass”:

Nothing like setting ‘em up and knocking ‘em down.

Off to Holiday Crafts at Morristown

I still can't believe that my entire booth fits in a van

In a few hours, my hubby and I will be leaving for New Jersey – tomorrow, in the wee hours of the morning, will be our load-in for Artrider’s Holiday Crafts at Morristown. I haven’t done a show in Morristown since spring 2006. I’m excited, but nervous because I don’t know what to expect.

If you’re in the vicinity of the show, come by my booth for a visit. I do love to talk about books.

Here’s the scoop:

Morristown National Guard Armory
430 Western Avenue
Morristown, NJ

December 4: 5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
December 5: 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
December 6: 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Artrider puts on a really impressive show and the exhibitor list for Morristown looks good. I’m looking forward to checking out Noi Volkov’s fabulous teapots in person.  Seriously, they’re insane. In a good way.

Tickets are $7.00 and you can print out a $1.00 off coupon on the Artrider website. Click here for directions to the Armory.

I plan to write full reports of both of my holiday shows next week. Stay tuned!

Something to be thankful for

As a birthday gift, my hubby and I gave our niece and nephew a field bag that each of them could use when exploring the outdoors. At the last minute, I stuffed one of my journals into each of their bags.

We handed them their wrapped packages after arriving on Thanksgiving Day. They each opened their bags and found the journals. To my surprise, they tossed the bags aside and started drawing in the books.

By the time we headed home, many of the books’ pages were full of scribbles and my heart was full of joy.

This is what I’m thankful for.

A Bookbinder’s Black Friday

I don’t know about you, but I’m a total Black Friday shopper. I will get up early and fight the crowds to get a good deal.

My name is Elissa and I’m a compulsive bargain shopper.

Thankfully, I’ve been notified of some great online sales that may be of interest to you bookbinders out there.

Volcano Arts is a book arts paradise owned by Christine Cox. I’ve been drooling over her bookbinding classes for years. She has a great selection of basic bookbinding supplies, such as waxed linen thread, paper, bookcloth, tools, etc. In addition, she has created a fabulous resource for artists – The Muse. The Bookbinding Idea Center offers lots of tips and tricks for book work.

Christine has jumped into the Black Friday ring with her Thanksgiving sale. The discounts are applicable to the purchase of gift certificates, which is awesome. Her sale is running now through 11/30/09. Here’s the scoop:

• Buy $50 and get 5% off
• Buy $100 and get 10% off
• Buy $150 and get 15% off
• Buy $200 and get 20% off
• Buy $250 or more and get 25% off

Paper Mojo is one of my favorite sources for printed papers such as those by Snow & Graham. They have a great selection and the prices are reasonable. I try to keep an eye on their clearance section – there are some really good deals to be found.

Just in time to lighten your wallet, Paper Mojo is having a 15% off sale on everything in their shop from now until 11/30/09. All orders over $40.00 receive a free Chiyogami scrap pack.

Hollander’s is another bookbinding superstore with a great selection of decorative papers, bookcloth, leather, bookbinding tools & supplies, and many other things you don’t realize you need. What you may not know that at Hollander’s, if you place an online order over $100 and ship via UPS Ground to a location in the contiguous United States, you will receive up to a $10 shipping credit at checkout.

As I’ve mentioned many times before, I learned how to make books while working at Paper Source during my grad school days. I have lots of love in my heart for this store, even though their paper selection has decreased in size over the past few years. Nevertheless, I can always find things I want there and to help us better afford what we want, Paper Source is offering free shipping on all online orders over $80 (excluding custom orders), now through 11/29/09. Use code SHIP80 at checkout to get the discount.

If you’re not familiar with the The Paper Place (great origami giveaway, anyone?), they boast a selection of over 1,200 papers. They’re pretty much the online mecca of Japanese paper and their selection is simply to die for. From now through 11/30/09, these wonderful folks are offering 15% off their entire online store. Use code handmade at checkout to get the discount.

Oak Knoll Books is a wonderful shop for those hard-to-find texts on bookbinding and related topics. They’ve got all the classics, both new and used. You just know there’s something on your wishlist that you can get here! From now through 12/1/09, get free standard shipping on all orders by using code BLACKFRIDAY09 at checkout.

I wish all of you a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

May your hearts and bellies be full.

The Paper Place’s Great Origami Giveaway

The generous folks at The Paper Place just announced their second insane giveaway…the prize? One of each of the origami packs they offer online – that’s 75 packs!

Um, mine please.

You can enter the giveaway here. The contest runs from 11/15 – 12/15, with the winner being chosen at random.

The Paper Place is located in Toronto, Canada. If you don’t live nearby, luckily you can shop online. I’m a sucker for their Chiyogami paper (a.k.a. Yuzen). If you’re not familiar with Chiyogami paper, it’s a Japanese paper that has each color silkscreened on by hand.

In addition to their fabulous paper selection, they also offer workshops – the Tsutsumi Gift Wrapping workshop looks particularly fun.

The search options on their website are awesome – you can search for Chiyogami by color, pattern, or color and pattern. This makes it all too easy to spend money I don’t have. Not that it’s ever stopped me from doing so before…

By the way, the contest winner? That’s me. You can congratulate me now.

Countdown to Vermont Hand Crafters…

In four days, I’ll be attending my first craft show of the season, Craft Vermont. The show, hosted by Vermont Hand Crafters (a.k.a. VHC) is in its 57th year. I joined the VHC board earlier this year and have enjoyed pushing my social media agenda on the organization.

[start shameless plug]

To find out more about the organization, become a fan of Vermont Hand Crafters on Facebook.

[end plug]

I swore at the beginning of the year that I would not allow myself to go crazy during craft show season. Yeah, like that had any chance of happening. Do I even know myself at all?

So I’ve been working like a mad woman for weeks. I’m not sure where the time went and I feel like I haven’t done anything at all.

This is the time when I force myself to look at what I have done. I can’t deny numbers.

I just tallied up my recent work and here’s what it looks like:

• 20 photo albums of various sizes
• 19 journals
• 69 accordion books
• 4 custom order albums
• 4 guest books
• 24 scrap bags (I keep these under the table)

And I still have work in progress, which includes more journals and accordion books.
Oh oh oh and my proudest accomplishment – I taught myself the Celtic Weave. Here’s a sneak peek of what you’ll find in my booth this year:

Okay, now that I remembered the binding, now I’m feeling better. Ahhhh…

If you’re attending Craft Vermont, you can find me in booth #7 in the Emerald Room. You can download a coupon to save $1.00 on admission to the show. You can then take the $1.00 you saved and buy me a coffee – I’ll need it, trust me.

I hope to see you there!

Ode to studio piles

I have a craft show in 1 1/2 weeks and I am stressed out. Anticipation of the first show of the season always makes me a bit wacky. The truth is, I’m in pretty good shape as far as inventory, but I’m not where I want to be.

And that’s located somewhere in the land of unrealistic expectations.

As my studio grows increasingly chaotic (I am not a neat worker during times of stress), I become more aware of the piles of papers that I’m not attending to.

Usually I like piles, but not these.

So I decided to stop and look around my studio for the piles I do like. Here’s sampling of the happiness I found:

Accordion book covers, basking in the sun

There's nothing like a precariously perched improvised press

Oh bookboard, you owe your existence to the Kutrimmer

Coptic journals, waiting for binding

Journal pages

Completed photo albums

I hereby declare a total ignore of all non-happy piles.

I encourage you to do the same.