Trip to Ikea

We had a trip to Ikea today to get a desk and chair for my studio/spare room. Got a great desk, the right size, along with a matching bookcase for £50, yay. The chair is great too, it's a lovely green one on wheels. We put the desk and chair together when we got home and we'll get around to the bookcase another day. I can now get all my tools and supplies sorted out in a permanent home.

I bought an online course yesterday, it will help me with my technique with the decorative parts of my bookbinding. It will be really quite unusual and it will add another string to my golden bow.

Off to sort some paper out.

Talk soon

love & hugs
Angela
xxx

Notebook Covers

Last night I finished doing two notebook covers. It's something relaxing I can do while watching television, well, an Inspector Montalbano DVD actually. One of the covers is for an A5 coptic binding, the other is for an A6 case binding. The paper has been cut and folded. The smaller book has the bookblock ready to go. I'll get onto that today.

On Monday, I'm doing a pamphlet workshop at the Etsy meeting. I'll show the guys how to make a  basic pamphlet and then explain to them the various things that can be done while making them (I'm not taking glue with me, so I'll just be explaining). Should be fun. Then they can make their own booklets for advertising their crafts, etc.

Anyway, got a couple of books to bind.

Talk soon

love & hugs
Angela
xxx

Pieces of Leather

I've decided that I've had enough of using my fingers as pin cushions while needlefelting, so I've purchased some leather offcuts on eBay and I'm going to make myself some fingerstalls. While needlefelting, you can't always keep the project on the felting brush or foam (stopped using foam, I hate getting bits of it felted into my project). Sometimes the needle goes straight through and pierces flesh, then you have to dump the wool as it's stained with blood. My bag of offcuts was a bargain, about £7 for 600g. I've noticed that there aren't many people selling fingerstalls for needlefelters, so I might make some for sale. Some pieces are actually big enough to make A6 size notebook covers, if I wanted to get into that, I'll see (stop it, mustn't go off on tangents, must focus on business plan, focus.....).

Last night I cut enough materials for 2 more books and folded the paper, now just to decide on the features. These will be more coptic bound notebooks, after those, I'll do some case bound. The notebooks have been A5 size, maybe once I've done a few A5 case bound notebooks, I'll do some A6 sizes for variety.

I've got photos to take for my shop on Etsy, so once they are up, I'll put them on here too.

talk soon

love & hugs
Angela
xxx

Red Sky at Night

Started a new book on Friday afternoon called Red Sky at Night. It's a country landscape with a couple of sheep. It was really fun to do and I finished binding it in the evening.

I've decided to put the McLean Book Arts signature honey bee emblem on the back of every notebook I make, either felted or embroidered, I'll see how I feel at the time.

Spotted an A3 guillotine on eBay, could really do with one of those for my paper. It would be much more cost effective to buy bigger sizes and cut it down myself. I would also like a bench press drill and a book press. I'll get them all eventually, but first, I need to get my studio sorted out. It will no doubt take a few days as I get tired easily. It will be great when it is done though. Oh yeah, I also need a table/desk & chair. Actually, I need to buy some combed unspun wool or I won't be able to make books.

Talk soon

love & hugs
Angela
xxx

New Book Finished

I got the first book of the new venture finished today. It's called "Honey Bee". It has been completed with Coptic stitch binding and is ready for it's close up. I have decided to wait until I get a few more books done before I take some photos though and wait until I get good natural light coming in.

I started on the second book "Bubbles" a couple of days ago. The bubbles are finished, paper is folded, just need to get the cover done now. I've learned a great deal doing the first book, it has been an interesting experience.

I'm going to start adding photos to the posts soon, some to older posts too, to brighten them up and make them a bit more interesting. I'm really quite tired, so it won't be today, but I'll schedule something in for next week. I was supposed to be doing some voluntary work today, but the lady that I befriend cancelled, so I'm glad I can get a rest. I met my friend last night, had a wonderful time catching up.

talk soon

love & hugs
Angela
xxx

P.S.

Unfortunately, Bubbles isn't working out as planned. Oh well, onto the next idea.

Courses

I've just booked another bookbinding course with a bindery in Partick called Downie Allison Downie (aka DAD) for July. I'm really looking forward to it. A Saturday at the bindery is really relaxed and there is no pressure. I left with 4 lovely books and I was delighted. These guys are highly recommended. I've planned to do at least 4 of the courses this year. I love the machines they have, I could play there all day.

I also need to get a more advanced needle felting course. I've found one on Etsy that looks great. Making the little mice will let me practice the techniques I need to make my own creations. I'll buy it next month.


This is a case bound book, again, done at the course. It has been personalised with my initials. Talk soon

Love & hugs
Angela
xxx

Meeting my Mentor

I met my Mentor for the first time yesterday in a Costa cafe late am. What a brilliant meeting, it was buzzing. She is such a lovely person and full of ideas of what I can do with my projects. It's great to have such a knowledgeable person to help me with this, as I'm not sure I would have considered doing this on my own. She is going to be with me a quite a way through my journey, so I'm sure we'll get to know each other well. It will be a couple of weeks before I meet with her again, so I'd better get my head down and get on with the binding.

talk soon

love and hugs
Angela
xxx

The Honey Bee

Why a honey bee in my banner?

I love bees, last year I kind of started looking for and trying to photograph bees in my local area for a survey on the Bumblebee Conservation Trust's BeeWatch website. These guys are mapping bumblebee species distributions. Well, I'm going to have the bee as my totem animal. Some characteristics of the bee are ones I would like to have where my new venture is concerned. They are always busy, focused, amazing architects (just think of the creation of those honeycombs), they gather the raw materials and create honey. They are amazing creatures, it's a disaster that their numbers are in decline. If you want to contribute to the survey in the UK, here is a link to the Bumblebee Conservation Trust website.

The banner I found on Etsy. It's designed by a graphic designer I found on Etsy called Accentuate from Colorado, her work is terrific. I intend getting  my business cards designed to match the banner too. Such a great idea, she sends her graphics to me by email and I will either print the cards off myself or send the graphics to a printer to do it for me.

Here is another book I made at the course in the bindery in Partick. I'll be putting this one on Etsy when my shop launches.

Talk soon

love & hugs
Angela

My First Business Venture

McLean Book Arts is my very first foray into self-employment and I am so excited. I think I spent over 8 hours yesterday just getting things set up. There was Etsy, Paypal, my blog on Blogger, not to mention all the social media I've signed up for. I hope I can remember it all.

I have so many ideas, though I think I'm going to have to put a pen and notepad on my bedside table, as most of them appear in my dreams. I'm sure I had a few last night, but they're gone, hopefully to return.

Tomorrow, I meet my Enterprise Mentor, she sounds brilliant on the phone and I'm sure her enthusiasm alone will carry me along the path of being my own boss. Can't wait.

This is a photo of one of my Japanese Stab bindings using Chiyogami paper. This one was done at a course at Downie Allison Downie in Partick. I love doing these, just need to get myself a bench drill for the holes.

I've just thought of a few more social media sites, so I'm off to join up.

talk soon

love & hugs
Angela