Boom Box Bindery is underway! In January I signed up as a seller on
Etsy.com. Yesterday
Josh did a bang up job on the Boom Box logo and today I posted my first item. For about three years now, I've been mulling over what the name of my bindery should be. Boom Box Bindery came to mind during some brainstorming this past September and it has had some staying power. The product focus of the store will be books, boxes and cards.
As can be seen in BBB's first posted item, Josh and I will be collaborating a bit. He did the screen printing on this book. I came up with the idea for these little books when I was thinking of a shower gift for two of our friends who are getting married next month. They will be getting the two books pictured in the middle ground of the photo below. One of them has the same cover, with the word "lists" on it, while the other has the word "ideas" printed on it. Josh and I have written down many lists and ideas in our few months of marriage, and I thought it would be nice for our friends to have official books for this purpose that are easy to keep handy because of their size.
One of the many neat features on Etsy can be found under the "Custom" tab on the navigation bar. This brings the craft shopping patron to "Alchemy," a spot where they can request custom items. The requests come in varied specificity. You'll find a post in which someone is just dying to have the very same brown sweatshirt as so-and- so in such-and-such a movie, next to a post for a general gift for grandma. I have put a few bids on projects for those people looking specifically for books or boxes. I also bid on projects that are vague, where people describe the person they are trying to find something for, and request any and all suggestions. Most of these have upwards of 20 bids on them, so I'm looking at my bid writing as an opportunity to gain some experience interacting with clients.
Now that my online selling presence is somewhat of a reality, I am increasingly excited to make new work and get selling! In addition to working on items to sell on Etsy, one of my new goals is to join
Orange Blossom Ink in sharing a table at the upcoming arts and crafts show to be held at
Cottage Industry. I heard that there was going to be a Sailboat consignment event going on across the street on that day and decided I'd try to work some nautical themes into one or two items. When I actually read about the event I realized it is
Sale Boat rather than Sail which turns out to be upscale children's consignment... so children's themes it is!
It's just a giving couple of weeks here in Blogland! There is one whole day left to enter the BEST Holiday Book Event. Chances are earned with every ten dollars spent in participating shops. If you do make a purchase, add "BEST Holiday" in the note to seller box, for one extra entry. The prizes are incredible! There are three separate gift baskets full of books and related goods, as well as two gift certificates to spend in any participating shop. A person could have all of their holiday "shopping" done in one fell swoop!
I've updated some of my listings this week and plan to add some stocking stuffers to my shop today, little books that would be great for stockings as well as last minute entries!
When this flag book was posted on the Bookbinding Team blog, Olive Art commented with a question of how I attached the button and thread. I gave a short description; I attached the button and string by punching a hole through the cover board and the valley of my first accordion fold. I used one length of string, with the ends knotted underneath the button.
Here are some photos of the flag book I made for the Bookbinding Team Swap in September. Here's a link for the entry about it over on the team blog, and here's a link for all of the books involved.
I've been working on a diagram to illustrate how I attached my button and closure thread, and will post it later this week.
I loved setting this little book in the sunlight and observing all of the shadows that danced around it.
