Coptic Books 284-287

Over the weekend I had my first holiday craft show of the season.  Usually on the day of the show I have a couple books that I just couldn't finish in time to put on display.  Fortunately, this gives me something productive to do while I'm sitting at my booth during the show.

This time I brought along 4 unfinished coptic journals to finish over the course of 2 days.  Usually I finish the covers, fold the signatures, punch all the holes, and cut a length of thread while I'm home in my studio, then I just need to sew the books together at the show.

I like doing this because it takes some of the pressure off the night before a show, is a great conversation starter at shows, and gives me a boost on inventory for that particular show, and a head start for future shows.  With these four journals, I am up to 287 of my 365.  That leaves me just over a month to make 78 more books!  I better get back in my studio...

Minibooks 262-283

I made this batch of minibook jewelry in preparation for my first holiday show.  The earrings have been selling very well during shows, and by special request.  That's why my last several posts have been all earrings!

I made the books for the necklace sets months ago, but never got around to stringing the necklaces.  Since my challenge only counts items finished in 2013, I had to finish the necklace before I could count the book.  The pink pair of earrings is part of a jewelry set too.  At one of my summer shows I sold the earrings without the necklace and never got around to making another pair of matching earrings.

Recycled Minibooks 242-261

One of the shows I am participating in this year is the Collective Upcycle Holiday Pop-Up Shop.  Everything being sold in the pop-up shop is handmade using at mostly recycled or repurposed materials.

For the show I made a special batch of minibook earrings with recycled papers for the book pages.  I think this is a nice variation on the blank book earrings I usually make.

The other books I have for sale at Collective Upcycle are the recycled box books seen here and here.  This batch of earrings brings me up to 261 out of my 365 books for the year (although there are still several books I have made but not blogged about yet.)

Baby Sweater and Gloves

A friend in my art books group recently had a baby.  While she was pregnant we had a conversation about crafts and she mentioned that it would be great to be able to knit and make things for the baby.  I chimed in with something along the lines of "I love knitting baby things!  I wish I knew more pregnant people so I could make more baby things!"

So I pulled out my knitting needles and whipped up a couple adorable baby things.  First was a sweet little baby sweater.  I used the Baby Boy 5 Hour Sweater pattern on Ravelry.  It was an easy pattern, but it did take longer than 5 hours... (Mostly because of interruptions and figuring out a pattern for the first time.  It took less than 2 weeks which is quick for me.)

The second thing I made was a pair of teeny tiny boxing gloves for the baby.  (Link to the pattern here.)  My friend named her baby Sylvester because of the Rocky movies, so I thought a pair of boxing gloves would be fitting.  I was finally able to deliver the baby things over the weekend, and it looks like the little guy loves them! 

Minibook Earrings 224-241

Recently I had a couple special orders for minibook earrings.  One person was looking for browns and neutrals, and the other person was looking for blues and greens.  In a situation like this I typically pull out lots of different papers in the requested colors and make multiple pairs so the customer can choose.  This way the customer can pick out exactly what they are looking for, and I have some extra pairs to sell at shows.

If you enjoy my book jewelry and live in the Cleveland area, I am teaching a Minibook Jewelry Workshop at Small Studio in Westlake on Saturday, November 9th.  Check out their website or call the store to sign-up, 440-808-8599