Another Art Show How To (or this is how I did it; packaging edition)

If you're just finding this post and haven't read my previous post where I focus on creating an eye catching display using mostly materials I already had on hand click here and catch up. I'll be adding a link there to this post so you'll be able to find your way back.

The drawers we used for display, the one in front is
filled with our ornaments, tissue
and our packaging

So while I was spending the last few years making mental notes about the best ways to do a craft/ art sale some pretty cool ideas were filed away in the back of my head. One of my favourite blogs from an artist who has some pretty fantastic ideas and tutorials for this type of stuff/ not to mention just in general is ArtMind. She's posted tutorials on making your own scratch cards, contemporary price tags, adding your brand to your packaging and of course recycled bags. Mitzi of Artmind is someone who I would love to emulate. She spends her days being super creative and artistic, she's major organized and she loves sharing her ideas.

Our folded envelopes and Tissues

While I was sitting down on the computer to find her tutorial on making the recycled bags (which is something that I will be using in future, when I have way more time and a lot more energy to plan for a show) I started to think about other options that would be less time consuming, use less materials to create and would be self contained. Add in the Peanut's recent obsession with origami and I decided to look up folded envelopes as an option for creating packaging. I came across a tutorial for a simple origami envelope that was self contained, required less than half a minute to do for each envelope and was self closing.

I played around with different paper sizes to get the best package size and decided to use the holiday themed scrapbooking paper I had got on sale last year and that full 12"x12" sheets that were the best bet. They were a little bigger than the ornaments but if I was factoring in tissue to cushion the glass and business cards the larger envelope was the way to go. Also using a full sheet meant I wasn't spending my time measuring and trimming paper before getting down to the business of folding.

Detail of the branding we attached to each envelope

The packages we wrapped our ornaments in looked elegant and charming which fit with our branding and were eye catching to boot. I wrapped each ornament in it's own envelope so that they could be given away as gifts without further need for wrapping. They will look beautiful placed on a tree branch filled with our ornaments or another charming little gift. I used the clear ink jet sticker sheets to print off our shop name and web address and attached them to each envelope as well so the person who bought the ornaments has another reminder to check out our online shop and the person receiving the ornaments can check us out too. One of my customers even asked if I was selling the envelopes which may not have been a bad idea...

To keep the ornaments safe once we sent them off with new owners (to be hung on trees, attached to floral arrangements or gifted to someone special) we used gift wrapping tissue paper from the dollar store. Also from the dollar store we picked up a booklet of receipts to give to customers as well as a decorative book to collect names and email addresses to use in future marketing.

 Next post will talk a little about money and payment options. 

Sad News

Last weekend we packed up the girls and headed over to my sisters place to celebrate my nephew's birthday. It was a beautiful day, the sun was hot, there was a light breeze and there was the prospect of cake and ice cream.

As well as watching my nephew squirm in his new Vancouver Canucks T-shirt (he's an Oilers Fan) the day was also marked by the arrival of a fire truck and then the search and rescue hovercraft on the river in front of my sisters place. News spread in her small neighborhood that someone had seen someone fall or jump (which one it was, was not clear) off the railway bridge that goes across the Fraser River. The afternoon was filled with the sound of the giant engine on the river and talk turned to why someone would be on the train bridge, how the rescue was going, if it was a rescue at all with how swift the current is in that area of the river and then we had cake.

I've mentioned it here at least once that the husband (Lyle) recently joined a band who has just released an EP. He first had visions of making a record and playing the Whiskey in LA when he was a teenager. Since joining the band he's seeing those dreams come true (he's playing the Whiskey in August as well as a number of other notable clubs in the area) and within weeks of joining The Twitch, he was in the studio for the very first time laying down tracks on bass lines  had written. Not only that but he was doing it with Todd Simko the guitarist for the 90's band Pure. Recording with someone who the husband had listened to on his discman on perpetual repeat while in college was both daunting and such an amazing experience for Lyle. Amazing because Todd was a genius at what he did and because Lyle walked away from the experience feeling like he had grown leaps and bounds as a musician.

On Thursday Lyle got a message from his band's manager that Todd Simko had passed away. The news was shocking, even more shocking was the report that he had gone missing on Sunday and had been presumed drowned in the river while on a low level bridge near his home; which is across the water from where my sister lives. It hasn't been confirmed if search and rescue were out for him that day or if his drowning was accidental or not. Personally I don't think it's important, what is important is that Todd was a talented, caring father and husband any thing beyond that is just gossip. Lyle had met Todd's wife briefly while at his studio and we were both sad to think about what she and their daughter are going through right now. Having lost my Dad at a young age I can guess some of it.  It is obvious from all the tributes and posts that he was a wonderful person. We are keeping Todd, his wife, daughter and family in our thoughts; if you have a moment send some their way yourself.

It's a sensory deprivation thing

So I've noticed that a lot of the photographs I really like, are the ones I take when I'm out of town, traveling, visiting. These are the ones I've posted on my Etsy shop. I guess it's because I'm seeing things with a fresh eye, noticing things that, if I lived there, would just be part of the background.

Part of the problem is that I work primarily in digital now, and spend no time in a dark room what so ever. I miss the dark room. I really do. When I was working in film I found that I had a different eye. Shooting and developing your own film means that you spend long hours in the dark or in deep amber lit rooms, with negative images flashing in tight beams onto light sensitive paper.

If there's a developing machine to print with, your images go in one end and slide out the other. There's a lapse where you are waiting for one thing to end, in order to move on to the next. It's a methodical way of working that forces you to slow down. Working with trays, you have the sound of constant running water and the sloshing sounds of chemical agitation. You keep a careful eye on the timer or clock. There are brief forays into the light to check your exposure, the focus, the contrast, and then it's back into the dark to get it right or start all over again with another negative.

Once you leave that environment, you begin to see your word differently. Time in the dark causes you to look on your environment as a new comer. Things catch your lens and before you know it you're back in the dark again to see what you've captured. It's a sensory deprivation thing.

Digital is different. There's no sense of surprise in seeing what pops up in the developing tray, but depending on the number of memory cards you carry with you an almost unlimited number of shots at your fingertips and you know what's working and what isn't. Your time is taken in front of a computer screen and there's no emergence from the dark once your image is printed.

Don't get me wrong, I love my digital camera, it's served me very well in my photography pursuits. I'm just longing for a little time in the dark and a chance to view my world in that way again.