On Negativity: A Rant

Be forewarned: this is a giant rant. A rant which you might not want to read as it's going to be lengthy and doesn't have any pictures to break up my whining.

Are you ready? Still here? Well, you should go away, because I might just be ranting about You.

This is your last chance.

I mean it.

Fine. You've chosen to stay. I hope you don't come to regret it.

Do you know what's nice about owning an Etsy shop? Basically, that I get reimbursed for a hobby, that I have a chance to cover myself entirely with glue, and that it's like the first day of kindergarten when they give you those crayons and tell you to color a picture of farm animals--as an assignment!

What I don't love about Etsy? Well, really, it's what I hate about myself: I'm not the most business-minded person alive. I'm that girl covered in glue, not the one giving power-point presentations about profit margins and gross-net-what's-it. Here's the truth: I don't naturally assign monetary value to things, especially not something I've made. Use and sentimental values aren't really that big on my radar either. So, most of the time, my natural inclination is to give it away for free. Unfortunately, I've come to rely on things like my apartment, food, water, and school books. That means I SELL stuff I make. That means I've had to learn to value my time and effort and craftsmanship. Granted it feels strange to me, but I have to do it.

Now we come to the crux of this rant. And that is negativity--especially as regards either my pricing or the quality of my books. Let's start with the pricing.

I've heard a lot of competing views about pricing, and about mine in particular. Many on Etsy say to keep your prices high, because it denotes the true worth of your object. Depending on what book I'm making, it can take anywhere from a few hours, to a few days to complete. Since I've been on Spring Break I've had the opportunity to spend a lot more time on bookbinding, and I just finished the Tyrion Lannister journal an hour ago. It took me through an entire Ocean's Eleven marathon (all three movies) and the first Twilight movie to complete. That's nearly 8 hours, a full work day. If I'd worked a normal shift, earning as much as I did for a glorious summer job I had a few years ago ($10 per hour), I'd have made 80 bucks (minus taxes, of course). Now account for the cost of my materials: leather ($14), thread ($2), PVA glue ($1), davey board ($1), artist paper endpages ($3), sketchbook paper ($5), cord ($1), and kraft paper ($1), that comes to $28. So, this book should cost about $108. (Oh and this does not even take into account the time I take to photograph, edit, and post information about the book on Etsy, or how much time I spent learning the techniques needed to do it in the first place).

The real problem, though, is that I need to sell this book to earn rent money (hence the name of my shop) and often I'm plagued with the idea that, oh yeah, no one wants to buy a book for $108. So, I end up reducing my prices hugely. This one I'll probably list for 60 or 70 dollars, despite the fact that, even then, people will still see it as not worth that. Goodness it's frustrating.

I suppose that if people think my work is too expensive, then they just won't buy it. But nooooooooooooo. That's not all they do. Some friends and customers (who you'd think would be supportive enough to say I need to increase my prices instead of lower them) have put me down by saying that my books are too expensive. It's one thing to say that you don't have the money; it's another to say that they aren't worth it. I understand that not everyone wants a journal that costs so much, if they even want one at all. I get it that there are other, less expensive alternatives, which still look awesome. And to those who want such journals, I say "go buy those and stop complaining about mine" (read "f#*k off").

Here's the truth: I'm not a press. I'm not a manufacturer. I don't make things whole sale. I bind each book individually. I don't have a tool more advanced than an awl or needle. My entire process occurs at my 3'x2' desk in my 10'x12' bedroom. I sleep a few feet from my glue collection. I'm the epitome of small-business.

So, if you want something cheap, made by machines, wrapped in cellophane so that the first human hands to touch it are yours...by all means, go to Barnes & Noble and buy one of their lovely mass-produced journals.  In the mean time, I will continue with my absolutely unique, one of a kind, imperfect journals that have my cooties all over them.

B.E.S.T. Book Swap

On Etsy, I'm a member of the Bookbinding Street Team and we occasionally do a swaps, since we're AWESOME. And it's free.

This is the book necklace I'm giving to TheOrangeWindmill.

Check out our Team blog!

Book of the Week: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

You might recognize this cover paper from the marbled paper porn post a while back. It's deliciously nautical. The seafoam green, the sandy tan, the white floating bubbles....the intermittent squid ink swimming about in the current.

When we were little, my sister and I read a lot and our mom would occasionally give us each books from her shelf. Well, my sister got 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne and I was insanely jealous; I can't even remember what book I got. Well, this one was one of those 50's style covers with a weird illustration of a squid trying desperately to eat some kind of sea vessel. Yum.

So here I do homage to the book I never got. I hope Jules Verne isn't rolling over in his grave yet, because I happen to have ideas for two notebooks inspired by Journey to the Center of the Earth and Around the World in Eighty Days. Yay adventure! Hmmm....maybe some Nancy Drew or something too. That's an idea!

Anyway, you can read any of Verne's books here or find this specimen in my Etsy shop here.

Book of the Week: The Burnley FC Journal

My friend Stephanie commissioned a book for her man-toy last week, so I had to do a bit of research on the Burnley football team (nicknamed the "Clarets") who were the theme. What a blast! 

Honestly, the only trivia I knew about British football I got from watching Bend it Like Beckham, and reading Harry Potter. So I was surprised to find that the fanaticism attributed to British football clubs is just as crazy, if not more so, than American football fans. But, luckily, that meant more information for me. 

Looking over the club's official site (find it here) I discovered that--like most everything culturally British--history, loyalty, and tradition diffuses even something as simple as fandom. So I tried to make this journal very traditional by covering it in "claret" colored bookcloth and light blue endpages. Then, I drew a little sketch of the Burnley FC crest and stuck it to the interior. I hope the man-toy likes it!

Also, it's interesting how much music or background entertainment influences you, isn't it? I mean, my memory of a certain book is usually tied to what I was watching or what I was listening to while making it. For this, I watched Cold Comfort Farm while sewing up the bookblock, rounding the spine, and covering the case; then, I watched Ramona and Beezus as I cased-in and drew the little sketch of the crest. I'm not sure if the kid's movie, in which Ramona's dad is constantly drawing up funny cartoons, made me draw the crest so cartoon-y or if I'm just predisposed to drawing funny pictures. 

Book of the Week: Gwendolen Fairfax Journal

Every week I want to showcase an item from my Etsy shop--in which i'll describe my inspiration, what went into it, how it was made, etc. This week, the first, I've chosen the Gwendolen Fairfax Journal I made a few months ago that's really become the symbol of my shop. 

A while ago, my sister and I were watching the Importance of Being Earnest (the one with Colin Firth and Rupert Everett) and I was enthralled by Gwendolen's line: "I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read on the train." 

And that idea really stuck with me. (Actually, her tiny little journal was one of the reasons I started doing a collection of mini journals too.) But it was also the idea that a journal should capture the spirit of the person who writes in it. Gwendolen's journal, I thought, should be completely feminine, and immaculate--as if one had to be a real lady to simply keep the dirt from getting to it. So I used flowered paper and white-cream colored bookcloth to cover the journal inspired by her. 

From that idea, many more journals arose. I've done ones based on Pinocchio, Wendy Darling, Marie Antoinette, Teddy Roosevelt, and more. And really, that's become the central idea of my shop. Make books that will reflect their future owners, if not by style, than by the characters that inspire them. 

Interested in this book? Find it for sale: here. 

Or find something else that inspires you here. 

Yawn

Goodness, my blog is boring. I actually do more than make books. I read them too. So I've decided to do a Summer Reading Challenge. I've asked my friends to recommend some books, and I'm going to read them. ALL of them. And some of these are...well....I mean, yeah. So, here's a brief taste:

I have "A Book Lover's Diary" to keep track of what I read. Find one for yourself here.

My First Sales

Tomorrow I'm sending the first books I sold on my Etsy shop away to their new homes, so for now, I'm going to write them a little farewell.

This little burlap covered book is landscape oriented and filled with Strathmore sketching paper. The pages are hand torn and the endpages are upcycled brown paper. The feeling I was going for was completely natural, and transforming the mundane into art.

The next book is a bit different than any I'd made before. It's covered in weathered leather, and bound in the traditional Coptic Stitch, which bares the spine. The spine itself is hand-sewn with waxed thread. Inside there are white sketching pages and beautiful Florentine paper which I glued to the wrong side of the leather with archival bookbinder's glue. To finish it off, I attached an ornate nameplate on top to allow it's new owner to designate it's use.

The third journal I sold, is one of the best hard-back, casebound books I've made, which was themed in Jane Eyre. Jane is this quiet, staid, and very Victorian heroine, and I tried to capture her character in the muted, neutral colors incorporated throughout the journal. However, the cream filigree of the cover paper is still very feminine and beautiful. On the cover, I placed an artist's rendering of the final reunion between Jane and Mr. Rochester, salvaged from a reader's digest edition that was falling apart. 

I used traditional binding techniques to make this journal: by hand sewing the signatures of Wausau stationery with bookbinding thread, and using PVA (bookbinder's archival) glue. It's finished with white headbands and camel colored cardstock for the endpapers.

The fourth book I sold was my all-time favorite. For this mini leather journal, I was inspired by the scene from Disney's Pinocchio when he carries a belted stack of textbooks to school. I wondered what kind of journal Pinocchio would carry, and I decided on this smooth tan leather with black leather straps to incorporate the belted look. 

Each page is hand-torn Wausau Astroparche writing paper with an antique parchment finish, which are hand-sewn in the limp binding method with waxed thread. The end papers are hand-made turquoise paper with a bit of a sheen. 

Well, more to come later. I will surely miss all of these beauties, but I'm sure they're going to good homes!