Small Success on Etsy

I'm so encouraged by the success I've had on Etsy my first month. I fully expected to join the ranks of the many talented people who have to wait months for their first sale. But God has really blessed my efforts! I've sold all but three of the thirteen books I listed! A tremendous boon occurred last week when this little journal was actually selected to take a turn on the Etsy front page. I had no idea why I made four sales in two hours (nothing for some but HUGE for me!), until one of the buyers told me later what had happened. I feel so honored! So now it's nose to the paper cutter to make some more books pronto!

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Coffee-Stained Papers

I had a lot of fun last week trying out a new technique I saw in a magazine. It has that great layered look we all love so much, and it starts with a lowly cup of coffee! I started out very tentatively, but by the end I was slinging coffee all over the place! I ended up leaving one side just stained, so you can see the effect of just the coffee in some of these pictures. I especially like the effect I got when I sprinkled a little salt on the coffee. Very crystal-y where the salt chased the coffee away!

After the coffee, the paper is glazed with cream colored acrylic latex to soften all the edges. Then color can be added. Here I've added a couple of shades of soft aqua. I did another in peach tones. Some I left plain.

The finished result reminded me of illustrations in an old French textbook, so included some of those pages in a couple of little square journals I made with this paper. You can see the at my etsy site. www.usefulbooks.etsy.com

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Open Door Coptic: Class Sample

Thought I'd post pictures of the open door coptic or triptych book I made in the class with Annie Fain Liden a couple of weeks ago. The text blocks came out a little too far apart in the middle, but other than that, it's pretty close to how it should be. The back cover is a magazine illustration and some dried leaves that have all been stitched for some continuity.

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Books for Sons 2 & 3

These are the books that I made for my other boys. As it turns out, their books fit their personalities pretty well. Nate's is the old French book--kind of quirky and light. I brought home the second year of that same French textbook recently, thinking I would rebind it to list on Etsy, but Nate immediately laid claim to it, even though he hasn't written a word in the first one. Clay's is the one with the old encyclopedia illustration--a bit morose. He's science-y and wants to go into nursing, so it fits him.

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Book for Sons

One of the great joys of making books is that I finally have something that I can make for my sons that they actually like! This is the one that I make for my oldest from an old (very old) math book. He's a writer, so his is already getting full. I'll add pictures of the others another time.

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