Friday, August 14, 2009

Friday-7am

Here are pictures from the papermaking session on Wednesday. Directly above the green chair is the shredder and my piles of shredded red paper are on the table ready for the blender.
This is the overview of our new setup. Kind of work our way down to the white folding table where the new damp paper is laid (holds 14 sheets). We now just keep recycling the water in the tub until we change paper color. You can see the videos on Soulcomfort's Video Corner (upper left on the blog).
Dagan stopped by for lunch. :)
Nuked himself something to eat.
It was sooo hot! When the sun was on their deck the couch papers were dry in less than an hour so we could make a second round of fourteen sheets. 28 sheets! I still can't believe that we made that many in one day! Much more efficient system. Awesome!
Then yesterday (when Leah brought me my memory card for my camera and I gave hers back) Leah worked on my laundry cart. She used toothpicks and wood glue to repair the wheels. I am leaving it in the hallway for a couple of days to dry.
All the weight is on the back wheels when I lift the cart to bring it up and out over the carpeting. Those were the wheels that broke when I didn't lift the back end and thought I could roll them over the carpet ridge.
So--I am going to put the repaired wheels in the front now when I load it up again...and hope for the best. :)
The mystery package arrived yesterday and it was my replacement plate--tada! In one piece! shipped with styrofoam around the inside of the box this time. :):)
Leah and I had a long discussion about her opening an Etsy account. I think that's a great idea!
Everything they sell is handmade on Etsy. We've discussed it before and Dagan thinks it's a good idea, too. What the heck! Now that all the papermaking supplies are over at her place and Leah can make paper whenever she wants to...she's thinking of selling handmade paper cards and envelopes. Just to see if it is worth the time and effort--dealing with mailing and the website and such, you know?
It is so much fun making paper. Especially when you're not mass producing a hundred sheets at a time. But she sure know how to mass produce them when she wants to--hehe! This way she could do both. Mass produce for sets of cards and also make individual, unique cards. I agree that she should try it. :)
And if I wanted to sell one of my handmade journals or cards or bookcards once in a while--she said I could just sell them on her site. I've always thought it would be a fun idea to have an Etsy account myself, but my output would be so low and unpredictable I didn't think it would be worth it for me. This would be great!
Leah loves to make paper and cards, but doesn't really need but a handful herself. She is not a letter-writer, either. This way she can make as many as she wants! :)
And I love making journals, but I don't need any more for myself. I have plenty! Haven't even been painting or sketching in journals for maybe maybe a year now? Guess I'm due for a rotation in that direction, eh? At my rate of productivity I'd probably be lucky to make 3 or 4 a year, to be honest. But at least I could feel free to make more sketchbook journals!! And somebody could actually put them to good use instead of them waiting patiently on a shelf here for snail master to show up--chuckle!
And I've been wanting to try 90 lb. watercolor paper...hummm? :):)
Anyways, I am back on days!! Ahhh! And speaking of my bookcards--finished three of them yesterday that I have to get down to the mailman this morning. :)
Miss Karma says hi.
My second video should be finished uploading by now on youtube. The sun is shining. Supposed to be another scorcher today (mid-90s again!) and I have to go get gas for the car (coupons to use) so I suppose I should get moving before it has climbed into the 80s by mid-morning.
Stay cool! :):)

7 comments:

Intense Guy said...

I've heard some people trying to sell things on esty and having trouble selling enough to pay for the account.

You might want to just get started with a blog site showing what you have for sale with prices. And get set up for "taking in the money" (paypal or however you decide to go).

Are you offering some sketchbooks for sale? 'Cause I know someone that might like a couple or three.

Rebag said...

hi Rita,

Oh paper making looks like fun and hard work at the same time.

Etsy accounts are not bad I have had one forever it seems, and have placed a couple of things on it...but like yourself I do not mass produce so makes it hard to make any decent money on there...but what you could do is research the site and stuff you make and see how they are doing on it and then become good competition! Just a thought, I love etsy, its just not in me to mass produce, even my smaller items I end up giving as gifts.

Stay cool...its hot here too

Rita said...

Intense--
Luckily, from what I have heard, Etsy is much cheaper than eBay. The trouble with setting up your own blog to sell items is getting the traffic, I think? With Etsy you have a focused group already who would shop there at least.

Leah and I had made an attempt to learn how to set up our own website a few years ago and it is much harder than we thought. If you were trying to make a living at it--whew! I think that would be quite diffcult and you'd have to know well how to interconnect in cyberspace in search engines and such. Leah's just going to try Etsy and see how she likes it. She already has a paypal account, too. Would be nice to earn some extra money--spare change even. She is still looking for work. :(

You can see the kind of watercolor sketchbooks and rice paper journals I have made in the past on my youtube and flickr sites. I have links on the upper left hand corner of my blog. I did make one for Ann--and it took me forever--hehe! As you know, my productivity level is pretty dang low these days. You'll know when I get to sketchbooks again because you follow the blog--hehe! Could be winter for all I know, but I will be making some more. :)

Rita said...

Rebag--
It is! Fun and work at the same time--you got it! hehe! Wait till you see when we get to playing with the new techniques we learned on the videos! Awesome! Not as boring as one solid color sheets, that's for sure. Have you peeked at the videos?

Aha! You have an Etsy account! I'll have to go and see if I can find it from your blog. Leah is just investigating how the financial end of it works. They take a much lower percentage than eBay does, I guess. I'm leaving that end up to her.

But I have already been searching thru the Etsy site to see what other people are doing with handamde paper and comparing prices, etc. I am good at that--lots of patience--hehe! Since I am not very physically productive, I can help with those kinds of things.

That was kind of my job back a few years ago when Leah was trying to start up a small craft company with the website and all. I wanted to help in any way I could. They do so much for me--and I just LOVE arts and crafts anyways, obviously. Anyways, it is such fun to look thru the website and see what all these creative people have made!! I am having fun already. An excuse to sit at my laptop and have a reason to windowshop!! :):)

Serena Lewis said...

WOW....what a great set up for the paper making!

i have an ETSY account but haven't listed anything for ages. it's free to open an account on ETSY and they only take a small percentage for each item you list. each item stays listed for four months unless it sells, of course...if you sell, they take a small percentage also which is much cheaper than what eBay charges. michelle, my daughter, has sold a few things through ETSY over the past few months and she seems quite happy with it.....though international postage can be a killer if you're shipping bulky or weighty items.

i think your sketchbooks would sell well too.

no harm in giving it a go and it would work out much cheaper than running your own website. :)

Serena Lewis said...

I meant to add that I'm glad the replacement plate arrived in one piece. :)

Rita said...

Hi Serena,
You have an Etsy account, too! That's right, I think maybe I went and saw your paintings on Etsy back when we first "met"--hehe! Four months is a pretty decent time to try to sell something, I guess, so that's not so bad. I'm sure Leah will know more by the time I see her next Weds. I am checking on the handmade paper items--types and pricing. Kind of exciting! :):) Yes--I'm glad the plate came in one piece!