Wednesday Worktable 18th May

Wow, I'm impressed... I have managed to keep this Wednesday Worktable thing going for 5 weeks now!  I think it may be becoming a habit!

So, what was on my desk today?

First Thing this Morning:

In the middle of my messy desk, was my binding board, with this book on it.  This is another Coptic-stitch binding, with 10 threads in 2 colours.  It is almost identical to the peachy-coloured Birds and Flowers book I showed on yesterday's post.  When it is completed it will look like this:

Birds and Flowers, Coptic-bound book.

I love this paper; the photos I've taken never seem to really show it off properly - it is much prettier in real life.  I have sold several books covered with this paper and hope the new one will sell quickly (once I finally finish it!).

I removed the binding board from my desk and put it to one side; today I didn't have time for that book. 

This is what I did this morning:

A second London-themed Sketchbook...

Pair of London Sketchbooks, with fabric covers, Japanese stab-stitch binding in black linen, leather strip and button fastenings in two different styles.

This is my "London" set of books!

Together with the "Autumn" set of two notebooks and a mini-album, these will be taken to the shop tomorrow, where I am teaching a bookbinding workshop in July. 

They will be on display, to encourage people to sign up for the workshop - which is making books with fabric covers. 

I'm excited! 

Later I'll post about what I did in the afternoon... :-))

Stopping to Catch my Breath...

Well, I am so busy, I'm permanently out of breath just now!  I posted that I had lots of books on the go, with various orders to complete.  Since then, I have posted off three of the Custom orders, plus a few "ready made" items.  But I still have loads to do! 

** I'm writing notes for the Sock Monkeys workshop I'll be teaching on Saturday.
** I'm making Monkey-samples, for the same workshop.

** I'm making book samples, for a Books with Fabric Covers workshop I'll teach in July (the samples need to be displayed at the shop in advance).

"London Phone-Boxes" 6"x4" notebook, with fabric and red paper cover and red ribbon tie. 

"London" Sketchbook, soft cover, with red paper lining and back, red cotton edging; Japanese stab-stitch binding in black linen; leather strip and button tie closure.

** I have two of my original Custom orders left - waiting on customers to answer a couple of queries, then ready to go - one is all but complete.
** One of those customers has asked me to make a second custom order also.

** I had an order for a Wedding Guest book, from a friend who recently got engaged.

** The same friend also wants a photo album, to match one I made her last year.

** Yesterday I took an order for a Visitors' Book, from a UK artist, to use in his studio/shop.

It will be like this except with a Coptic stitch binding (this has a hinged cover, for a Japanese stab-stitch binding). The binding will be in chocolate brown linen.

** This morning I took an order for another Wedding Guest book, the same as one I mailed to USA last week.

This will be the last Wedding album order for this paper (unless I can find more!) - I have run out now; it has been so very popular!

** I still have a Coptic stitched Guest Book on my Binding Table.

I'm binding another book like this one.

** I completed another Guest Book, plus a couple of mini-albums and listed them in my shop.

"Birds and Butterflies" Guest book, Coptic stitch binding, 8" x 6"

Mini 6"x6" Scrapbooks, in "Nonsense" papers, by We R Memory Keepers.

** There is a pile of pages and cover boards for Photograph Albums on my table, waiting to be worked on.

These will be large and small photograph albums (one day!).

** I have pages cut for several other books, which need covers and bindings.

~~~~ Gasps for breath! ~~~~

I have now told family and friends that I am "Working" on Tuesday to Thursday.  These are my Studio Days.  Except for urgent appointments/problems, I am not available to give lifts, run errands, go out for coffee, go shopping, blog hop... etc, etc....  I have stopped answering the phone during "office hours" and allow the answering machine to do its job (it does very well). 

Some stuff is unavoidable - like the cat needing to see the vet for a check-up and it needing to be a "work day", as she was out on Monday/Friday;

or my osteopath appointments, once a month, which are always on Wednesday, since that's the only day that my osteopath is there (she works in Milton Keynes the rest of the week).  Otherwise, it has to happen on Monday or Friday!  

So far, this has been quite successful.  I have found that my own attitude has also changed.  Suddenly, it feels that I Do "Go to Work" on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.  I feel justified in leaving the housework between 9 & 4 (though I do sometimes put the washing on the line, or else it won't dry!).  I am definitely getting more work done - a lot more! 
So far, so good - until an "emergency" crops up, I suppose! 

Well, now I have got my breath back and it's the end of a day's work.  I have spent the day on queries and admin, as there was a lot to deal with (and the morning was half over once we got back from the vet).   Now it's dinner time...  off to my Other Job!

Blogger Issue - Update Link

** Updated 16/5, with last 3 messages on Blogger Buzz -  Looks like we will eventually have our comments back too:

Update (5/15 10:55PM PST): Blogger should be back to normal for the vast majority of people affected by this issue -- if posts are still missing, please check your drafts (you may need to republish). We are in the process of restoring comments made during the affected period from 7:37am PDT on 5/11 to 1:30pm PDT on 5/12. If you still have other issues, please contact us via the temporary form we’ve set up for this particular issue. Thanks again for bearing with us, we’re deeply sorry for the inconvenience we caused. We’ll share an incident report later this week.

Update (5/14 5:37 PM PST): We're making progress restoring comments, some blogs with a lot of content are taking a little more time. Thanks for bearing with us.

Update (5/13 7:46PM PST): Nearly all posts since Wednesday are restored, now bringing back comments from last couple days. We expect the comments to be back this weekend or sooner.

* * *

Dear All,

I noticed that lots of my blog friends were commenting on the Blogger problems from the last couple of days.

Just to let you know how to find out the current state of play:  If you go to your Blogger Dashboard, at the top, there is a box with text in it.  There are 2 links (in tiny writing!!), one of which says "Report Issues".  This takes you to the Blogger Help area / forums. You can look around for stuff you are interested in from here.  There is currently a box at the top of the main Help/Forum screen, linking to a Post from Blogger, which talks about the problems.  

This is the link, to save you having to do all the above just now: Blogger Buzz

The latest news, just now, is that they have restored the missing posts and are in the process of putting back the comments.  They hope to have that finished over the weekend, so those who were distressed about losing comments and/or special posts can feel relieved!

Back soon with a "Real Post"!

X

Wednesday Worktable 11th May

This is what I have been working on recently.  It does look very like two other recent projects; this paper has proved immensely popular and I have had several requests for Custom books, with this "Birds and Butterflies" paper on the covers.  There's yet another one, still on my Commissions List!

A Wedding Album, with "Birds and Butterflies" paper on front and back covers. 

Hinged cover, bound in Japanese stab-stitch, with red waxed linen thread. 

The book contains 15 hand-torn pages of heavy-weight Fabriano paper, with hand-torn page spacers, to allow it to be used for both photographs and writing. 

The covers are lined with chocolate brown Murano art paper.

This is the back cover.

There will be a book-plate, on the first page, with a hand-cut lino print of a Wedding Rings design, plus the bride and groom's names and wedding date.  I'm still working on the design of this book-plate and have sent some ideas to the customer, for her comment/approval. 

The book should be completed very soon, once we have sorted out the book-plate.  Then, it will be off to its new home, thousands of miles across the Ocean, to Australia!

Also, waiting to be wrapped and packed up, then on its way to the USA in the morning:

"Funky Nonsense" 6"x6" mini scrapbook.

This little scrap-book, which has fabulous patterned cardstock pages, on a concertina-folded spine.

 The buyer of this little book wants to use it for her engagement photos - I love this idea!

I made a tutorial about these albums, some while back. Find it here! 

The Story behind the Socks!

Hello All!

This should have been posted last night, but it was dark and I couldn't get a decent photo of the layout - pink does not photograph well in artificial light!

I made it at Scrap Club yesterday. It was partly for a Challenge on Shimelle's blog, for (Inter)National Scrapbooking Day, but also because I have wanted to scrap this photo since the end of March, when it was taken.

This layout is really about the reason for the photo, rather than the photo's content.  The picture shows 11 of the Sock Creatures created by my lovely group of girls, on 26th March, when I taught a day-long workshop on creating Sock Creatures. 

However, the story-behind-the-photo is more than that.  For a start, this was my First workshop. It was the first time I have planned and taught a class of this kind to children.  I've taught adults before, as part of my job; I also helped in school for 5 years, while DS was younger, assisting with general maths, English etc, hearing and supporting the children's reading, helping in the "Design & Technology" lessons - anything from sewing to building models with pieces of wood etc, etc...  But this was my first children's workshop, thought up, planned and executed entirely by myself!  I feel rather proud of that - so this page is partly to document that fact.

The other half of the story, though, is about the students.  They were a great bunch of girls, ranging in age from 9 to 14.  Their skills varied enormously, with a couple of the older girls being pretty accomplished needle-workers, whereas two or three of the others struggled - one girl in particular.  However, with one exception, all the children took home at least one completed Creature, with several having a part-completed one, to take home and finish.  The "exception" did struggle a lot; her sewing ability was very limited and she had problems with planning and visualising the process of creating her creature.  She made a fairly major mistake, which I helped her to work round and rectify.  She had to unpick and re-stitch (I helped a bit with that too).  However, I was so impressed by her determination and effort - she may have struggled, but she persevered.  I sent her home with several pieces of model, drawings to help her attach head, limbs etc and sufficient bits & pieces to make it look nice.  She said her parents would be able to help her - I so hope they did! 

So, I was proud of me, but also of my students.  One young lady found a striped sock and turned it into a fabulous bumble bee; another made a cute monster, with a bow on its ear; there were several rabbits - all starting with the same design, but all so different and all so cute!

It was just a wonderful day and I really wanted to record it. 

I'm going to print this Post out and stick it to the back of the page, as I didn't have room to journal all this on the front - the journalling just says "My first Workshop Day, teaching 9-14 year-olds to make Sock Creatures. It was a great success and the 11 students completed 13 creatures betwen them, with two or three more taken home, to be completed there.  We had Fun!"  - that's all true, but I want to record the whole story for ever!