Leather food chain


My table at The Handmade Market on Saturday was right across the aisle from Noelle of oelle m. She had a beautiful booth display and was selling her paintings, handbags, and embroidered pillows. (You can see more examples of her work on flickr.) But her leather necklaces are what really caught my eye. 


After staring at these gorgeous necklaces for a few hours, it dawned on me that I might have some supplies that Noelle could use.  When I make my leather journals, I often have scraps of leather left over that I just can't use.  Oftentimes these pieces of leather or suede are fairly large, but if I can't cut a rectangle from them large enough to cover my pages the leather bits will just end up in my scrap pile.  (And as my husband will tell you, I have a hard time parting with my scraps.  I have several boxes, bowls, and bags filled with scraps of paper, fabric, and leather sitting around my studio just in case I find a use for them later.) 

So I offered to send Noelle my extra bits of leather, thinking it would be a win-win for us both.  She'd have some extra materials to make new necklaces, and I'd be able to clear out my studio and send my leather to a good home.  And as we were leaving the show, she generously gave me one of her necklaces (the prettiest one, too!) to thank me.


I absolutely love my new necklace, and I've been wearing it both yesterday and today.  I received several complements on it at work today, and I got to share the story about how I got the necklace with my co-workers.  I have all of my leather scraps packaged up to send to Noelle tomorrow, and I'm glad to know I have someone to send my extra pieces to as I continue to make more leather books. 

The Handmade Market


Yesterday my husband and I headed down to Raleigh, NC for The Handmade Market.  We woke up at 4 a.m. and hit the road soon after, coffee in hand.  It was foggy and raining when we left Virginia, but by the time we arrived in North Carolina the sun started to peek out from behind the clouds and it turned out to be a beautiful day.  Setting up for the show was a breeze since the tables were provided and we didn't need to worry about bringing a tent.  And thanks to my busy month of bookbinding, I had more than enough books to fill my display table.  


Those who stopped by my table at the show really seemed to enjoy flipping through my sculptural vintage map books and my "Cortona Clothesline" artists books.  My leather journals and wedding guest books were also quite popular.  And I almost sold out of my little pamphlet books (below), so I'll need to make some more of those before my show in Athens, GA next month.  


I met some fantastic people at the show, including the women of Paper Mojo (the online shop where I purchase most of my decorative paper).  The vendor at the table next to mine was photographer Mary Doherty, who had some photos of Charleston, SC on display (a place that's near and dear to my heart).  I also saw some earrings made from vintage postage stamps, sea creature themed ceramics from Cephalopod Ink, and some gorgeous leather necklaces. 


This was the first time that Tony and I had visited Raleigh, and although it was a whirlwind one-day trip we both really enjoyed the city and The Handmade Market.  Before heading out of town, we had an amazing meal at The Remedy Diner (vegetarian tacos for Tony and a warm goat cheese salad for me), and spent the four-hour drive home chatting about our day at the market and listening to a few episodes of Radiolab.



Want to see more photos from the show?  Visit my facebook page, or The Handmade Market flickr group. 

On the front page again!

I'm thrilled to announce that one of my handmade books made it to the front page of Etsy again!  I was working in my studio yesterday evening making covers for some new photo albums when I happened to glance at my computer screen and notice that I was on the front page.  While my first front page appearance was certainly exciting, I found out about it after the fact.  This time I actually got to see it live up on the site.  (My delay in posting about this on the blog had nothing to do with lack of excitement; my hands were just covered in glue last night and I wanted to keep them away from my keyboard!)  

The treasury below, which includes one of my Italian longstitch books with a rust colored suede cover, was the curated collection featured on the front page yesterday.  A huge thank you goes out to Martata for putting together this gorgeous treasury!


'Rust can be Minty' by Martata


$25.00

$5.00

$30.00

$70.00

$15.00

$795.00

$20.00

$30.00

$50.00

$15.00

$30.00

$30.00

$190.00

$20.00
                        

New products, new show, new newsletter


New products
I'm excited to finally debut my new line of spring journals. I stepped away from my more rustic leather and suede journals for a bit, and instead selected some bright shades of teal and butter yellow. Paired with vibrant thread and colorful papers inside, the result is a truly cheerful collection. Visit my etsy shop to purchase a spring journal.


New show
I just found out yesterday that I was accepted to participate in the Athens Indie Craftstravaganzaa.  I'm so excited to be heading back to my college town of Athens, Georgia.  Aside from what I'm sure will be a great show, I'm looking forward to seeing lots of great friends while in town.  The Craftstravaganzaa is just two weeks after The Handmade Market, so I have lots of new books to make over the next few weeks to get ready for these two shows, where I'll be unveiling my newest collection of wedding guest books and photo albums.

New newsletter
The newest linenlaid&felt e-newsletter was sent out this evening.  Are you on our mailing list?  If not, click here to see what you've been missing.  If you like what you see, you can sign up here or enter your e-mail address in the "join my newsletter" box in the right hand column of my blog.  My husband Tony is the mastermind behind my newsletters, and I can't thank him enough for all of his hard work putting together these quarterly e-blasts.  

Taking over the house

Since Saturday, our dining room has looked a little something like this.  

For three days, I'd been busy cutting down sheets of decorative paper for the covers of my spring line of photo albums and wedding guest books. Since the work tables in my studio were already covered with other projects, I moved everything into the dining room and enjoyed spreading out on this big table.

Thankfully, spring weather arrived in Virginia this weekend, so my husband and I were able to eat our meals out on our front porch.  And the local farmers' market just opened up, so we stocked up on some local meats and veggies and have been cooking up a storm ever since.

It's a good thing that our lack of dining table space hasn't hindered our gourmet cooking (and eating) because just as I had cleared off the table last night, I decided I needed to use it to cut down some leather for more Italian longstitch journals.  Hopefully by the end of the week our dining room will be back to normal and my studio will be well-stocked with new books to work on. 

All this is in preparation for the upcoming Handmade Market in Raleigh, NC.  You can read a Q&A with me on the Handmade Market blog to learn more about my newest creation, my most treasured bookbinding tool, and the tunes I've been grooving to in the studio lately. 

Fold, tear, glue, and sew


I recently taught a two-day bookmaking workshop at the Shenandoah Valley Art Center, and I wanted to share a few photos from the class.  Aside from casually teaching a few friends how to make some simple book structures, this was my first time teaching a class and everything went incredibly well.  


Before the class, I talked my husband and our friend into being guinea pigs for me as I practiced teaching the four binding structures I was planning to teach in the class and got a feel for how long it would take my students to make their own books.  I also cut down all of the bookboard, bookcloth, decorative paper, and leather ahead of time that we would need in the class.  This was a smart move because it saved a ton of time during the actual class, and allowed us to dive right into the fun part without worrying too much about measurements. 

I started off the first class with a little show-and-tell.  I brought in my collection of handbound books, both made by myself and other bookbinders I admire (like erinzam and minusplusminus), to inspire my students about the possibilities of bookbinding.  

Then we started creating ourselves by making two accordion books, while learning the basics of paper grain and folding and tearing paper.  The first book was a structure similar to this style, where the softcover books are assembled without adhesive or stitching.  Next, we took it a step further and created a double concertina book with a hard cover, like this. 


Day two of the class focused on sewn structures.  First we made a simple one-signature pamphlet book to get the sewing basics down.  Then we made Italian long-stitch books with leather covers, which were certainly more complicated but also more rewarding when completed.  You can see examples of my students' books in the photos directly above and below.  I've heard from several students who have continued to make a few books since the class, including one who just learned the Coptic stitch!  It was so much fun for me to introduce some new people to the world of handbound books.  

First craft show of the season

I woke up Monday morning to find an acceptance e-mail in my inbox for The Handmade Market.  I'm so excited to try out a new show, and I think this will be just the motivation I need to really kick my bookmaking into high gear.  Plus, this will be my first out-of-state show, and I'm looking forward to meet some new people and see some new artwork. 


The Handmade Market will take place on Saturday, April 23 in Raleigh, NC.  They have a round-up of the participating designers on their website, and it looks like I'll be in great company.  The show organizers are going to be putting together an artist spotlight series on their blog leading up to the event.  I can't wait to read more about the work of my fellow designers, and to meet them in person next month. 

Rusty but trusty

I've been on a roll making Italian longstitch books lately.  My goal for February was to focus on making these leather journals, as well as photo albums.  But once I got started with the longstitch books, I just couldn't seem to stop.  

I made some with rich brown leather (like this book), and more recently with butter yellow and bright teal leather covers, but my favorite has been this rustic orange suede.  I can't seem to get enough of the gorgeous color (especially when paired with mint green thread) or the soft texture.  And I think the journal looks especially lovely paired with all of the "rusty but trusty" items in the treasury below. 

Handmade treats for Valentine's Day


My husband showered me with handmade delights this Valentine's Day. First, I got a box full of cranberry-orange gumdrops, made by fahrenheitgoods on Etsy.  They are soft and delicious (I had to hide them from myself so I wouldn't eat them all this evening!), and the box was wrapped in a beautiful paper too.  I'm sure that paper will make its way into a handbound book in some way or another.


He also got me a beautiful pair of copper enamel earrings from tekaandzoe, and I couldn't be more thrilled.  (You might remember that I've been lusting over them for months...)  I already planning my outfit for work tomorrow so I can wear my new earrings. 
 

And last but not least, Tony picked out some handmade perfume for me from Sweet Anthem.  I've been obsessed with the "Anita" scent for the past month, after ordering a perfume sampler with a gift card my friend Chase gave me for Christmas.  All of the fragrances I tried were quite nice, but that particular one really stood out to me.  "Anita" smells just like a peppermint mocha, my all-time favorite coffee drink.  And as my sample of that scent was starting to run low, I'm excited to now have a full-sized bottle of it.  

Tony and I will be staying in this evening, cooking dinner together, and watching a movie.  On the menu: homemade chicken curry, chocolate souffle, and a bottle of wine we've been saving since our honeymoon.  It should be the perfect evening.

I hope you've all had a very happy Valentine's Day!

Sneak peek from the studio



This book likely hasn't arrived at it's new home yet, so I don't want to share photos of the completed book now and ruin the excitement. But I couldn't resist sharing a few photos taken in my studio while working on this custom baby book.



All of the pages were designed by me, and include spaces to record special memories and envelopes to preserve keepsakes. I even created handmade photo corners using the same paper used for the cover, so the parents-to-be can fill the pages of the book with photos once their little girl arrives.