Comfortable Shoes Studio

Dispersion, Mini moleskine page 13

Dispersion, Mini moleskine page 13
Originally uploaded by Alkaline Samurai

Lovely pattern.

Gary Reef

A little Gary Reef for inspiration this week. Love this guys work and his videos.

doodle time!

I am a long time doodler. I wish I had some of the notes I did in college from my Psych 101 class, which was essentially a repeat of the Psych course I'd had in high school. I used to bring a big spiral bound notebook with me to class and doodle, when I wasn't falling asleep. I aced the course and learned noting I didn't already know. I really wish my high school had offered that course as an AP... Then I wouldn't have wasted my time in the class. Anyway, I wish that I had those doodles.

I spent the last 2 days in meetings for work. Most of the meetings were reviewing information that I already knew. While the review was good, I spent a lot of time doodling. Anyway, check out this article on how doodling isn't bad!

Liquor and Lotto

Liquor and Lotto
Originally uploaded by no way 77

I love hte background on this image from no way 77 on flickr!

shear doodles

A little studio update here:

The paper shear continues to be a source of happiness and amazement as aI wonder why I didn’t just pony up the bash I needed to get it before now. Seriously if there are any book artists reading this thinking of a new item to get for your studios, I’d recommend that you put a paper shear to the top of the list. I got mine on eBay for a little over $200, shipping included, it will cut 12 inch high pieces of paper and a stack 2 inches high. And it will cut that stack of 300 or so sheets in 2 seconds. Literally taking the time it used to take me to cut my books and laughing at it.  Seriously I made something like 20 sets of jotters one weekend in the time it would have taken me to make 5 or sets in the past.  The best part about it? The cuts are perfect, square and the books are better because of it all.

I had a bunch of meetings for work last week and spent a lot of time doodling. Yesterday when I was back in my own office I rehashed in my notebooks everything that we had learned about, some of it was already review for me, but I found that I retained a lot of the info though I had not strictly taken notes, but paid attention while doodling. I’ve always been a doodler and meeting sketcher and my anecdotal evidence suggesting that I learn well if not better while doodling is now supported by research. Anyway I got some cool pen sketches of my coworkers and some neat-o doodles. I’ll have to try it out again.

So on my etsy site I’ve got some great deals. I’ve got my destash sale going on, rock bottom prices on some stuff I’ve had but never listed or stuff I listed and never sold or re-listed.  I’ve also got some new large sign vinyl sketchbook and journals, large jotters and lots of pocket sized jotters. All have new lower prices due to the economy, the shear and because I can!

Anyway, check out the etsy site and doodle!

Studio Update

In more studio news, I'm offering repeat buyer discounts. This has often been asked for and I've never been able to coordinate it but now I am able to do so.

So in each batch of orders sent out there will be a business card with a label on the back with a reordering code for 10% off an order. All you'll need to do is enter the discount code in the buyer's notes on etsy, pay, and then I'll refund the 10% through paypal. It's fast and easy.

I'm pretty excited about that. I'm also really excited about eh larger jotters. They measure 5.5xX 6.25 high, just like the larger moleskines. I find them the perfect size, they also have JUST enough pages for about a month's worth of journaling. I'm considering making slipcases for a years worth of them! How cool would that be!

The Destashing Begins and some other random stuff

Alrighty! The de-stashing has begun!

I've got 4 items up right now that I'm listing as a de-stash sale, prices are rock bottom to move them out of my storage. Got to move them, I need room for all my new recycled items. I'm stitching up new big 240 page notebooks with recycled sign covers and hemp stitching. As they are bigger they need more room. Also the larger size of jotters takes up quite a bit of room too.

Also going through and working on the older stuff gives me ideas for newer items. Exciting.

Another exciting thing is that there is another Etsy seller out there who likes my books enough and is making another style of cover. The appeal is for a totally different set of people than GoodKarma's covers and the cover is totally different in style. I'll post more about the covers when I get a cover in my hands.

Let me give Bren of GoodKarma a little shout out here. Her work rocks. I'm absolutely abusive to my notebooks, wallets and other items. The wallet organizer that she made still looks wonderful and is standing up to my abuse. When I was first starting to make books, before I would sell a new design it had to stand up to a month in my bag, that is how hard I am on my books. The wallet organizer has done that and more. So check her work out, she makes a stunning all cotton covers that perfectly fits moleskine cahiers or my jotters.

Chensio

Originally uploaded by chensio

Great moleskine drawing on flikr.

Sign Vinyl Journal, more pages

Sign Vinyl Journal, more pages
Originally uploaded by lessherger

I started making the large sized sign vinyl journals agian. These are 6x9 inches. Each side of the cover has a large pocket for storage of what not. I've upped the number of pages from 160 to 240 and it's filled with ivory Wausau acid free paper. It's 24lb and perfect for writing on with a variety of instruments. I"ve stitched the spine with natural unbelached and lightly hand waxed hemp. It's rugged and sturdy for everyday use and travel.

You can see it and others like it here on my etsy shop.

Destash- Sign Vinyl Jotters Funny size

Destash- Sign Vinyl Jotters Funny size
Originally uploaded by lessherger

These odd sized jotters-5x6 are nice and chunky ready for writing of any sort. They are filled with great paper and are 100% recycled. THe covers are a soft flexible smoothly textured sign vinyl.

See them on etsy here.

Destash- New Old Stock Jotters

Destash- New Old Stock Jotters
Originally uploaded by lessherger

Clearing out some old stock that I had in the bottom of my etsy drawer. These are all pretty cool little jotters, back from the days when I first started making them.

Find them on my etsy site here.

Destash- Hand Painted Jotters

Destash- Hand Painted Jotters
Originally uploaded by lessherger

These are up on my etsy account. You can see them here.

These are small sized jotters with hand painted and stenciled covers. They are acrylic paints with some spray paint stencils on them.

Up on etsy for a steal.

Sunny Yellow and Pink, Signs of Spring

Sunny Yellow and Pink, Signs of Spring
Originally uploaded by lessherger

Spring has sprung, in some places but not here in the northeast. I put a mass amount of jotters up on etsy this weekend, 12 sets. 3 different types of paper, the 1984 IBM computer paper in green and white, then Strathmore in white and gray. All sorts of colored covers too, pinks, yellow, blues, greens and gray.

These colors remind me of spring, bright cheerful and with leafy flowery patterning on the covers.

Bright Big JOtters

Bright Big JOtters
Originally uploaded by lessherger

Introducing BIG jotters. Yeah, you heard me big ones. Same recycled covers, great paper inside, but measuring 5.25wx 8.25 high, just like a large sized moleskine cahier. 48 pages of 24lb 25% cotton cream colored paper. The covers vary from bunch to bunch but are larger representations of the small jotters I usually make. Priced to move at $11.99 for a 6 pack.

Something else interesting in the works, I'm going to de-clutter and de-stash my stash during this coming week. I've got an assortment of books like I haven't made in awhile, some more seconds and a variety of other items I need to get rid of, so I'll be listing those over the course of the next week or two, some exciting things that I haven't made in quite some time will be list and it will be awesome!

ThirdPersonPossesive: January 9, 2009

January 9, 2009
Originally uploaded by thirdpersonpossessive

If you haven't checked out Nicole's blog here you are missing out. It's a brilliant idea.

Tram Ride

Tram Ride
Originally uploaded by robobop

Great pick from robobop on flickr.

Quick Update While My Car Warms

It's 17 degrees up here in Mass and My car needs warming so I don't freeze my fingers off. So while I warm my car I figured I do a brief update.

THe paper shear continues to be my most significant purchase, ever. I suspect it has cut the time I use to make books in less than half. (Pun totally intended.) I'm able to run through jotters and matchbook notebooks so fast it's amazing. As a result I've lowered the prices on my  jotters, I'm now offering a 6 pack for $7.99 plus shipping. I'm still working out a new price for the matchbook notebooks, but you can expect to see a drop in their price as well.

I picked up some great paper for hedgehogs a few weeks ago at charette. I snagged several hundreds of sheets at a great price and I've stitched up 10 blocks so far. I trimmed them and will be gluing them this weekend and maybe even adding a few covers. I had stopped doing hedgehogs because to get them trimmed I had to take them to staples and it cost 50 cents a cut, which sounds like not alot until you realize each block takes about 3 cuts and I could only get one of the guys to stack 3 blocks in the machine the other would only do 2 at a time. So as you can guess it was pricey. Again the shear to the rescue. In less than 10 minutes I was able trim all 10 books to the right size with great straight edges.

Anyway you can find the jotters with he new price in my etsy shop. I hav a ton more in different colors and papers, email me to find out more.