P is for Pinwheel

Besides teaching and working, I've also spent the past couple of weeks working on a new product/project that I'm calling P is for Pinwheel.

Inspired by the Altered Book show at the Marin MOCA, Kayte Terry, and the idea of how books are read and interpreted, I decided to put a letter P encyclopedia, found at a San Francisco Public Library book sale, to use.

I cut down pages from the encyclopedia and pasted them on solid color paper, did some folding and measuring, and cut them just so, so that they could be twisted and pinned into a pinwheel shape.

The finished paper wheel was stuck to a straw for a lovely twist on an old favorite. These are a bit more fragile and don't spin as freely as your standard pinwheel but I think they're more fun and informative.

Some of you may be wondering how a book lover such as myself could sacrifice a book in this way. Let me explain. This particular reference tome had been orphaned. This means it was separated from the rest of the set it came from and, not being a first edition or otherwise rare or antique, it had no historic value. Having lost its brethren, it had little to no value for resale and would have been destined for the trash or a creative reuse center had I not purchased it. I enjoyed being able to give it new life and look forward to sharing the pinwheels with others to see how they interpret this book in its new form.

If you're interested in having an encyclopedia pinwheel of your very own, I'll be selling them at my booth (neon sprinkles studio) at Patchwork Oakland on May 12 (Mother's Day).

Lately

Things have been quiet on the blog because I've been quite busy in the real world. 

At the end of April I taught a session of Introduction to Bookbinding at the San Francisco Center for the Book. I say this after every class but, April's workshop was the best one yet! One of the things I really enjoy about teaching bookmaking is that it's such a universal object form that everyone can understand (even the e-reader folks). In this particular workshop I had the pleasure to teach bankers, lawyers, art students, and even a database manager!

A few days after the workshop I was back at the San Francisco Center for the Book for an evening of simple bookmaking demos at the grand (re)opening (a big open house celebrating the move to a bigger and better building). 

I spent the night teaching visitors how to make maze, or meander, books. These are fun, simple structures made out of a single sheet of paper. I like them because they can open in any direction and have all these secret little spots to discover and they can also be flattened to view a single image all at once, instead of page by page (like this one, made out of a photocopied map of Michigan). 

Just some of the happy folks with their aMAZEing books!

Not sure if I remembered to mention it but, on Mother's Day, I will be a vendor at Patchwork Oakland! It will be the first time I have an entire booth space to myself and I couldn't be more excited. I've made some new products for the show (just wait until tomorrow's post) and Charlie even built me a folding wall to ramp up my display.

I've been working hard to get the word out about the show (I hope you'll stop by!) and one way I decided to invite folks was by seinding out customized event postcards. 

With scrap paper, washi tape, scissors, a hole punch, and some kitchen twine to tie it all together (craft pun alert!) I made these fun little invites. I have a few left over, if you'd like one of your very own, let me know!

A New Table Top

As I work more and more in my studio, it seems I need more surface space to work on. The other day, a new table was made from two sawhorses and an Ikea table top. 

Now, I don't like anything to be boring, and the dull black of the table was not working for me. So, with some paper, contact paper, a ruler, a pencil, and an X-Acto knife, I set to work 'redesigning' the top.

And voila, a fun new table top for my needs:

Gathering Sunsets

I've got an idea for a new book project which involves collecting sunsets...well, photos of sunsets, to be exact. It will be quite a while before the project is ready for the next steps but I thought I would share some of the first sunset images I took. 

The Road from Ventura

As the fog rolled in this evening, reminding me of the rain storms scheduled for tomorrow, I felt myself reminiscing about the lovely, sunny drive home I had from Ventura a little over a week ago. 

I started off on Highway 101 North, but I decided to make the trek more scenic by taking CA Route 1 from just north of Ventura to Santa Barbara.

Then I picked up 101 North for a hot minute only to get off and take CA 154 through the beautiful San Marcos Pass for about 30 miles until it connects back with the 101.

(that's Santa Barbara way down there, by the ocean)

Then I was on the 101 until until sunset, when I connected with the routes closer to home in Oakland. It wasn't as easy to stop for photos on the 101 but I'm glad I had a leisurely beginning to my drive home, it's made it much more enjoyable.

Craftcation Contacts

One of the many great things about Craftcation was all the super awesome people I got to meet. Everywhere I turned there was a new friend, someone interested in learning about what I make and willing to share their own story. My notebook pockets were jam-packed with business cards and I thought I'd share some with you. 

I had the pleasure of having dinner with Lauren and Susan of Creative Outlet Studios one night. They are an awesome mother-daughter team with a new studio and workshop facility in Orange County. I can't wait for a good excuse to head down there and see the space (and maybe even teach a workshop or two!)

Trudy of The Quilters Studio was one of my eager students and she even let me test one of the Bernina sewing machines for it's paper sewing abilities (I later bought one!). Tiffany Han is an amazing life coach. If you're a crafter and in need direction/motivation, she's the person for you!

Matthew William was the photographer extraordinaire for the conference. Check out all his great shots of the event at matthewwilliamphotography.com. Marlo, of I Make Cute Stuff, was fun and knows her stuff when it comes to business planning and Etsy.

These lovely ladies were all involved in my first workshop. Annelies works at Attune Foods, my sponsor and an event sponsor. She is also a darn good food poet. Dawn of Thrilly Frills and Michelle E. Black ended up being folks I hung out with throughout the entire event. They're talented and I hope we stay in touch!

Kaitlin, or Stunningly Strange, stuck with me through many a panel discussion and the 80s Dance Party. She makes mixed media pieces and gorgeous dolls. She and her husband also recently opened a gallery in Edmonds, Washington. Anne of Crafty Diversions is super fun and even formed an impromptu knitting club with me a few other ladies one night. 

A lady with 2 business cards, now that's my kinda gal! These are from none other than Steph Cortes, of NerdJerk. Making geeks cool one by one, she's also got great ideas to help your Etsy shop flourish.

And now for these two charming folks! Julie, over at Rotten Cupcakes, is an enthusiastic and energetic graphic designer and knitter of brightly colored 'floppy berets'. Maggie Hannon is a fun, bookish person into crafting and many other things.

This collection of business cards is just a sampling of what I came home with and the folks I met. I'm sorry if you didn't make it into the post, I still love you, and feel free to contact me so I can include you in a future post. 

Notebook Spotting

After teaching Networking and Notebooks at Craftcation last week, it was fun to spend the weekend 'notebook spotting'; seeing how folks were using the notebooks I helped them make. 

Notebook, ready for action

 Full of notes!

 A little dinner note taking

 A few happy notebook makers

A handmade cereal box cover notebook taking center stage alongside a store bought journal