Holiday Fair Craziness

Where have I been, you ask? I bet you thought I deserted the blogosphere--NEVER! First there was Thanksgiving, which quickly flows into the December holidays and, in between those, the holiday craft fairs. This was the first holiday season where I did more than just 1 small fair and so I put a lot of extra time and effort into my made things and display.

I flexed my design muscles a little and designed a few new cards on the computer and made polymer plates for the first time in over a year. They came out pretty well, if I do say so myself. 

The first fair was Bazaar Bizarre, where I perfected my display, which was greatly enhanced by some nifty wooden card holders my partner made.

Next was the San Francisco Center for the Book's Annual Holiday Fair; my best fair of the year. After that was Renegade, which was super fun, but, unfortunately, I seem to have lost all the images I took there. 

I learned a lot from all these craft fairs and came up with about a million new ideas for projects and products. I can't wait to put them into action but for now I'm kicking back in Colorado and enjoying a little family and football.

Journals Galore!

Though I've been making simple book structures for years, in 2011 I learned how to bind multiple signature hard cover books. As a result of this new skill, I got my first-ever commissioned job and I've decided that all my relatives will get journals for the holidays. Here's a chronicle of the journals I've been making over the past few weeks.

 All books start out as folded paper

My friend's daughter is a freshman in college and enjoys journaling so I was asked to make a journal for her. I got to use bright colored and patterned materials, which made this project a lot of fun.

First, all the pages had to be trimmed down,

then they were sewn together. I used a link stitch so the spine was a bit wider, in case anything was going to be glued inside in the future.

I added bright end bands and a marker ribbon for added flare.

After lining the spine, it was time to make the cover...

The spine cloth and corners get added first. My friend asked that the spine and corners were different, to maximize the colors on the book.

Some grey hounds tooth, Japanese paper completed the cover.

All that was left was to glue in the book block and voila, a finished journal. (the newsprint hanging over the edges was a temporary blotter to absorb the moisture from the glue)

While I was shopping for materials for this journal, I found some other great papers and couldn't resist buying them and putting them to use in books for my relatives.

Sewing the yellow argyle book

Yay, argyle journal complete!

I had some leftover orange book cloth so I decided to make a shiny green and orange journal.

I think the turned-in corners look like fish tails!

The finished book...

with some hot pink end sheets as a nice surprise when the book is opened.

SF Zine Fest, Day 1

neon sprinkles studio (that's me) half table

Today was the first day of SF Zine Fest and, I must say, it couldn't have been more amazing. I debuted there as neon sprinkles studio selling my artsy wares. 

Some of my cards and zines

Bookmarks made from paper scraps: fun and cheap!

The foot traffic was great and my sales were more than I had expected for my first time selling. I managed to make back my table fee! Customer feedback was encouraging as well and I can't wait to get back into the studio and make more stuff.

My mini journals

Though I didn't sell any today, my mini journals in their cute French basket from Daiso Japan, wound up being great attention grabbers, drawing in folks who ended up either buying something else or at least taking a business card. 

My neighbors across the way

Fellow vendors to the left

Fellow vendors to the right

I wasn't the only vendor, of course. I only managed to visit about half the vendor tables in the room I'm stationed in but everything was amazing. My fellow vendors were also super supportive, offering constructive feedback while being amazing craftspeople. There's inspiration a plenty at this event.

View from behind my table

While I mostly only saw the back of my own sales table today, I can't wait for Day 2 tomorrow and I hope I have a chance to sneak off and visit more of the vendors.