New Name, New Packaging

In my characteristic Cart before Horse style, I made all the changes to the shop name etc and then forgot that I would need to update my packaging to match - most importantly the little label I attach to the front of each package with my shop name prominently displayed...so short of scribbling 'formerly' in front of the Paperpennies labels I had left I quickly put together this alternative:

I quite like it! I say that in mild disbelief because my amateur attempts at product testing - leaving it lying around where random family members will see it and noting their reactions - haven't been great...Maybe in time I will see what they see, or they what I do, or maybe the label wasn't the problem at all - it was presented alongside my new packaging which (cart followed by horse remember) I also threw together at the last minute. I need the rigid board backing, so kept my reclaimed cardboard covered in coloured paper, but instead of leaving it at that with a band of matching paper wrapping around to hold it all together as before, I attached the board to a small piece of white tissue paper, and that to a larger piece of green tissue, creased the tissue so that it would open up like a present, and then used my paper 'belt' to keep it all together, topped with my new label as 'buckle'. 

Again, dare I say it, I like it! I wouldn't have chosen the green, as it is very dark, and I think the two pieces of tissue should be the same size to avoid that dark band down the middle, but otherwise it looked neat and inviting, and didn't take too long to do (so many of my orders are for single cards, that's a big consideration.)

Must say, just writing that last sentence made me wonder if it's too much for one card...Oh, good, more to think about!

Meanwhile, the thank you card I included cheered me up - I made a full sheet of handmade paper flower heads on one of the very VERY few occasions when I planned in advance, and they are now very handy to stick onto blank cardstock when I'm strapped for time.

And the final product, Irish Element's first sale:

Everything changing and remaining the same...

Just like a swan, I have been paddling away furiously under the water while appearing calm and unruffled on the surface. Unlike a swan I have got lost a few times along the way, got my feet caught in weeds and rubbish, forgotten where the brake is and gone ploughing into mud banks...etc. My point is for the past few months, as well as promising updates of new card ideas, resin jewellery making, and virgin screen printing attempts, I have been toying with the idea of dividing the Etsy shop into two separate entities - one of which would be a continuation of Paperpennies, but under a new name (that wasn't confined to paper, and didn't make people think of pennies!), and which would focus particularly on an Irish American audience (so my central product would be the embossed Claddagh Ring cards and prints...strictly no Leprechauns though!). This new Paperpennies is now called Irish Elements, and I even bought my dotcom, so www.irishelements.com will bring you to the Etsy shop-formerly-known-as-paperpennies-designs. The not parallel but perpendicular shop I am hoping to develop alongside this one will be Raurta Crafts. Raurta is a phonetic spelling of the Irish word Rabharta, which describes an exceptionally high or Spring tide, and also a burst of music or singing. In my case, I love it because it gives a nod to my location, surrounded and very much influenced by the Atlantic ocean; it incorporates the Irish language without making people trip over their tongues and start gurning in an attempt to get the pronunciation right! And I love the idea of a burst of creativity, unleashed - here's hoping!
However, I actually think I will leave this blog as Paperpennies, so that it can incorporate both shops and maybe be a more personal insight into what goes into making this all come together (again, hopefully), before the products appear all polished and primped on the Etsy shelf!

Anyway, apart from picking the names - which absolutely literally took me all summer, no lie - my only other tangible evidence of progress is my new shop banner and avatar for Irish Elements. You were warned, this is an embrace your Irishness shop, so it is all quite green and ethereal looking. But there is a slightly more subtle note in the little diamond shaped logo - meant to represent the four provinces of Ireland, mirroring the 4 classical elements of air, earth, fire and water, and also the fact that I hope to offer little 'elemental' nuggets of Ireland in paper, resin, print or supply format...See?! Here's the shop as of this morning:

Never Rains But it Pours

I have been tinkering with a new series of cards based on the Irish weather (naturally, it being an all-consuming topic here). There have been a few incarnations, over months and months now, but finally with Inkscape in my life I thought I was happy with the images, and just needed to print...

Sigh. Something still seemed wrong! I decided that it was my home printer - and since I didn't want to outsource the printing, and couldn't afford to train in and buy the equipment for something really gorgeous like Letterpress printing, I thought I could make the Paper my USP (unique selling point!).

I wanted the really thick almost fluffy card, but could only find suppliers outside Ireland which meant shipping costs were awful so...I thought I'd make it myself! I tried white pulp, newspaper pulp, and mixes of both.

Then printed as many variations of my images as I could.

But I can't help but think it still isn't working that well...

And bizarrely, they are improved in the photos!

Not sure where to go with this next, but actually really like the newspaper ones with the white pulp strategically positioned so might make up a batch of these and offer them as supplies on Etsy. A few of my efforts were thwarted by my printer's rollers leaving marks on the uneven surface of the handmade paper, but I'd say someone who uses stamps and other embellishments might like them as cardstock...

'Course then my USP is gone out the window! Frustrated!

Inkscape Epiphany!

So, I am not a very techy person, and neither am I a professional artist or craftsperson, so when it came to getting my drawings from my pencil to my printer I relied, not a lot but ENTIRELY, on drawing-scanning-printing (at a pale setting)-drawing over-rescanning-reprinting-redrawing-rescanning-reprinting....ad nauseum. Finally I would print my image to an A4 size, painstakingly draw over all of the rough edges with a dark ink biro, rescan it and resize it, and that was the only way I could get all the lines to have a uniform, smooth black finish, with no 'pixels' or grey spots. I knew it was ridiculous, and tried to use photoshop even just to get all the lines the same black colour, but found it really difficult and frustrating.
And then I found a video on Youtube describing how to turn a bitmap image into a vector image using a free program, Inkscape (upload your image, select it, click 'Path' from the top menu, then 'Trace Bitmap'. It drops the new image right on top of the original, so pull it aside to see how it came out and fiddle the numbers until you are happy). Bitmaps and vectors mean nothing to me, but I realised that they were saying I could put my drawing into this program and with the click of a single button (kinda!) could make it so I would never have jagged, pixelated lines again, no matter how little or large I make my image. All I ever wanted were neat straight lines!
Well, Inkscape delivered. Here's a pic of the Evolution of an Image, from my painfully simple I-can't-go-through-all-that-again pre-Inkscape hand drawing, to the final Inkscape-tastic piece...and yes I do say so myself, just look how sad the first one is!!!

I was really surprised that I caught onto Inkscape 'so easily' = at all!, because as I say the trial photoshop frustrated me so much that if Inkscape hadn't been free I just wouldn't have tried it. Meanwhile I have been working on a design for a t-shirt - it was complex, detailed, difficult...and I enjoyed it so much I made a second as well. That's for a separate post though - I bought a screen printing kit online and have yet to see how well it works. Oh yeah, I have never screenprinted before either!

Belated Hello 2012!

Looks like my last post was April 2011, which is absolutely extraordinary! I've been doing well enough on Etsy, and very much enjoying it, but now I am making an effort to take it a little more seriously and start doing projects that I really enjoy and need to get out of my system! So hopefully, coming soon will be a new shop with it's own url, moving away from the embossing and focusing more on handmade paper, handbound books, and even some screenprinted t-shirt designs. It will be less Oirish, but definitely still Irish, as no doubt the wild west coast here in Connemara is a huge part of my life and so must influence my creativity, such as it is!
But Paperpennies will continue to fend for itself, as it has been doing these past few months, and will be the base line for my new experiments in slightly-less-amateur crafting! Here's a printscreen of Paperpennies on Etsy, today :)

Or, this card

Ooooh no. It's a shame the blessings card below looks quite well, as I've gone and changed it entirely... Well, the card is twice as expensive as the paper, and doesn't have the nice texture, and as I wanted to finish the set and would have had to wait an age to get more card I decided Paper wins. I also decided the thick black outline was a bit dominating, and reduced it...and because the paper is lighter I can't decide if an insert looks a bit silly, so for the time being that's gone...

Until I saw below pic. I am not a decisive person :(

Newest Card...

This is one of the newest cards - made with 300gsm card it is very sturdy and serious, with a delicate and flighty parchment style white insert to lighten things up a bit, and gold embossed message on the front as a crowning glory! I've meant to have a set of these blessings for ages, so I'm glad I have one down at least...next up: 'May the wind be always at your back'.

Finally: a card

Two cards actually, for Father's Day. Things have been a little busy and awkward for cardiness lately, so I'm glad I got these put together and listed on Etsy. I described them as being maybe good to give to a new father, as the saying Biodh Gra agus Cairdeas i Reim (Let Love and Friendship Reign) could be a nice blessing for a future father/son/daughter relationship, aw.

Another Treasury

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=99173

...and thank God too, as it's the only thing to happen Etsy wise in an age. Weirdly, views have been really good for me recently - and I mean relative to what I'm used to! - but there is absolutely NO love, and certainly no sales...smidgin disheartened, because I'd been making such an effort with listing and increasing my stock etc...Oh well, maybe this is the nudge I need to cheer up again :)

Treasury!!!!

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=130006

Yay!!!!

Although I'm often surprised at the pieces that are chosen (all what, 2 times now?!) - in this case it's one of the mother's day Flower cards, in an Irish treasury full of celtic knots and swirls...hmm!

Recycled Brown Paper Parcel Card

USA Ahoy

To be jealous of a bunch of cards? Sad, but understandable: California and Massachusetts in this case...

Recycling

So I reached the second page...and immediately ran out of listing steam, I am so predictable! But while I'm back to one page ( the good way, sale, yay!) I am in two minds about the second page in that I think the card that was shunted out there got all of a single view for the entire time I had two pages, I just don't think people are bothered enough. Hm, which has just made me realise I need to have better products :P!

Anyway, because I HAVE run out of listing desire I decided to come at the cards from a different angle for the moment - recycling the 'bronntanas/presents' cards...so here are some of the Befores...

SECOND PAGE!!!

My first time ever reaching a second page of listings on Etsy...seems like a Thing to be caps-locking about! YAY!!

Full Circle

The most recently expired and, now, relisted card - and where it all started...see, it IS a wind-warped, gale-stunted tree, not just 'blowing' in the grand little breeze!