Paper Pocket Book – 3 Packs!

July 9, 2010

Just listed in the shop!

Three packs of paper pocket books, which were only available at my shows.

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Now, you can order them online!

& Free shipping to the Continental United States!

New Photography, continued.

July 1, 2010

Been working hard to get more Bonsai Collection books ready.

Here are some more shots.  I’m really excited about working with natural light again.

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Happy July!

New Photography

June 25, 2010

I’ve been working on a new Bonsai Collection these last couple days.

I’ve finished ten of them.  I thought you’d like to take a look.

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I decided to use natural lighting instead of the light kit and tent.

Mainly it was because I was being lazy, but also because I wanted a different look.

I’m really loving how these are turning out.

cucchiaino.

June 19, 2010

During the spring of two thousand and eight, I lived atop a hill in Tuscany.

For three months, I studied art, bound books, and wrote poetry.  It wasn’t until at least half way through my three month stay that I discovered two of my two very best friends.  All three of us fell in love with Italy.  The place, the people, and the food all found their way into our hearts.  By the end of the trip, we were binding books together, making paper, and hoping by some miracle to never leave.  In truth, in our hearts, we never did leave.  Our dreams of opening our own bookbinderies stayed in our thoughts, constantly creeping in every time we walked into a paper store or had a cup of cappuccino.

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Now, two years later, we still itch to go back to the place that helped us dream and believe that the impossible could be possible.  I opened To Boldly Fold in September of last year, and now I want to share something that is very near and dear to my heart.

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Little Spoon Bindery.

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My best friends, Miss Bobbi Pinkston and Miss Casey Berry are two exceptionally talented individuals.  One with a love of literature and another with a knack for art history, they traveled to Italy not knowing what to expect.  When the left, they were expert bookbinders, and never looked back.

Their wit and excitement culminate into this amazing energy that could keep even the most exhausted fingers binding books for hours.

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Living in three different time zones, we manage to video chat on a constant basis.  I miss them daily, but am so proud to see how far they’ve come.

…And don’t worry, we plan to return to Italy very soon, but more on that later!

*All images property of Little Spoon Bindery.

Too beautiful…

June 16, 2010

At craft shows and markets, I’m often complimented on the beauty of my work.  While this is very flattering, it often comes in this way:

“This is just too beautiful to use!  My words aren’t important enough for these books.”

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At an early age we are often told that we are or are not something.  Children are encouraged to be creative, but somehow during the transition to adulthood this encouragement changes.  Freedom of expression is often seen as immature or not serious.

Why do adults feel that their words aren’t important?  That their story isn’t meant to be written?  Just because you write something down doesn’t mean that you must be the next Mark Twain or John Steinbeck.  Your words matter.  You story matters.

Furthermore, just because you are not a trained artist does not mean that you cannot draw or paint or create.  Most trained artists don’t go on to become famous or well known or even make a career out of it.  Creativity is in all of us, and more often then not we just need to let ourselves be creative.

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When I first began making books, it was purely for myself.  As an artist I couldn’t find a sketchbook with quality artist paper and a binding that could hold up to strenuous daily use.  As my interest in bookbinding grew, I began to realize that it wasn’t just about the physical book.  I want people to have a place to write down their thoughts, jot down their dreams, and scribble down some sketches.  I want creativity to be a constant in everyone’s life, not just for an artist or a writer.

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I think I need to think of some good responses to these comments about my work being too good to use.  I usually just smile and say, “Oh no, of course you should use it!” but I think I’ve come up with something better.  I think I’m going to say, “If a cake was made too beautifully, would you not eat it?  Would you let it sit there and turn to mush just so you could stare at it?”

Too harsh?  What would you say?

Where have I been?

June 14, 2010

Oh, hi.

It’s been a exciting and busy couple weeks.

I’ve been figuring out where I’d like this business to go, and have been making books constantly.  I’m hoping to get some new work up on the site soon.  So, stay tuned!  I’m currently finishing up a second Juniper Collection, and have begun work on two new Bonsai Collections.

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In other news, hilariously enough, a product that had started out as just a little notebook for myself has turned into an integral part of my business.  I’m working on a couple wholesale orders for a lovely shop and a super cool online store.  Throughout this process I’ve had a lot of ups and downs.  I discovered that I had received invalid information in regards to the copyrights on some of the decorative papers I had been using.  So, I had to pull all of the the books with those papers and have been giving them away as gifts.  It seemed like a big hassle in the beginning, but now I’m so glad that I went to the lengths that I did to get the right information.  Copyrights are a tricky matter.  I’d be angry if something I’d created had been used in a manner that I did not approve of and without my permission.  So, think about the materials that you use and where they come from.  Even though I’m just one person, I’ve been learning how to run a business, and it’s been very rewarding.

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For June and July, I’ll be spending my Sundays at SOWA.  Yesterday was my first day there.  The weather was gloomy, but thankfully there was no rain.  There were a huge variety of amazingly talented artists. (AND I met an Etsy Superstar!)

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More exciting news to come!

New Work

June 2, 2010

It seems like this time of year is always busy for everyone.

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Here’s something new that I’ve been working on.

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Tired

May 27, 2010

Lately, I’ve been feeling – worn down. (exhausted, even.)

I’ve got a million projects going on with the business,

and then there’s life – a hundred places to be at once, a billion things to get done.

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Some days I wonder when time will slow down again.  When will I have time to play and go on adventures again?

Maybe this business and this life will be my great adventure.

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For now, I leave you with this lovely blog I came across today.

I wish my life were as calm and clear as these images seem to be.

Cross Country.

May 24, 2010

A weekend spent in California.

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Congratulations Luke!

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Evaluate and Evolve.

May 18, 2010

It’s been quite quiet around the blog the last week.

Life has been anything but that though.

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Craft shows have been in full swing, which has brought on a lot change.

My plan for this year was to do as many inexpensive, small-ish indoor shows as possible.  I thought that it would allow me to get my name out without too much of a financial burden.  This turned out to be not as great a plan as previously thought.  The booth fees for these shows are very low, but often so is the customer base.  They’re also far too exhausting for the trouble that they’re worth.

So I’ve decided to change gears and plan the rest of the season differently.

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I’ve slimmed down my show schedule.

I’ve decided to do a lot fewer shows, but stick to larger shows where my work will fit in better.

I’m hoping that this change will be that I’m looking for.

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