A big part of running your own small business is experimenting with different venues and modes for marketing your product.  For artists and crafters there are many options: craft shows, galleries, teaching, online etsy shops etc.  I started this year with one of my bigger experiments; to solidify my line of wedding books and to participate in Asheville’s Wedding Festivals Expo.

I walked through the expo last January and was well aware that, not only were there no other book makers, but that the only other “hand-craft” based business in the entire expo (besides photographers, caterers and cake makers of course) specialized in hand-built, rustic arches under which you could say your vows.

“Hmm…,”I thought, “this could be a good thing or a bad thing.”  On one hand, if you are one of many artsy vendors at an event like the Big Crafty customers expect handmade work and are able to compare you with others who do similar work.  On the other hand, if you are offering one of the only hand-crafted items in a sea of Mary Cay, Interior Design and wedding DJ booths your work will stand out that much more.  Being always open to learning along the way and despite the large expense to a small producer like myself, I decided to go for it.

The theme was LOOOOVE (of course) so my mother, who was assisting me for the day, and I dressed in red hand-sewn dresses with red tights, pink cheeks, lots of smiles and an abundance of hearts cut from snazzy decorative paper.

The day came and went.  We talked with hundreds of brides and interested mothers, sisters and friends of brides.  Many people had questions and took my printed pamphlets of wedding book information and  business cards.  Surprisingly enough, my most immediate customer response came from photographers and wedding planners who were also showing at the expo.  All of the sudden I had to think about wholesale prices for my wedding line which is somewhat new to me.  I’ve spent the last five years doing custom work directly with customers and my retail sales are consignment agreements.

So, in conclusion, only time will tell whether the Expo was a successful business move on my part.  In the end, it’s up to me to respond to interested customers quickly, be clear about the ordering process, send out mailings to the registered bride list, make high quality work and to follow through with a pricing structure that is supportive of the bride’s budget as well as my own. Though it takes alot of time, followup marketing is where it’s at.

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A.Fain Books Custom Wedding Book Options:
*12×12 Large Photo Album
*8×8 Medium Photo Album
*6×8 Accordion Fold Album
*Guest Book/Memory Album
*Dos-a-Dos Love Journal
*Vow Brainstorming Journal Set
*Mini Origami Star Book

“Annie Fain’s approach to book making is unusual in that she involves her customers in the design process.  She wants to ensure that your album and guest book set is truly “yours.”  Together you’ll discuss the style or theme of your wedding and your color palette, to develop a wedding package that reflects both you and your special day.”

For Wedding Book Examples go to: Wedding Books .

Here are a few projects from the past year:

Dea teaches all over the place and juggles life both in Massachusetts and Western North Carolina.  The most dependable place to find her classes in marbling, book binding, restoration and leather work is the John C. Campbell Folkschool:

Dea Sasso is a professional hand bookbinder, sole proprietor of Light of Day Bindery since 1988, and custom leather designer since 1970. She works on private collections; repairs and restores old books; and designs and creates new books, editions and miniatures. Dea has been teaching in art institutes and privately since 1991. She has an MSPH and has studied and worked for numerous nationally-known hand binders and conservators. Many of her students have gone on to start binderies of their own. She is the Folk School’s Resident Artist in Book & Paper Art, Printmaking, Marbling, & Calligraphy.

Happy Holidays!

“Once upon a time… storybooks held a special place in our lives, filling our hearts with wonder. Thanks to this extraordinary crafting anthology we can experience that magic again in a marvelous new way by recreating and reinterpreting the picture book. An overview outlines a variety of structures and techniques, from simple collage to gluing. But above all, these highly visual pages offer ideas and inspiration, with talented artists presenting lovingly designed story spreads and covers. Take a fantasy vacation via a travel booklet fashioned from vintage, nostalgic postcards. Follow The Queen of Tarts in a story that unfolds in a miniature puppet theater motif. And two different artists offer their revised versions of a classic: The Princess and the Pea. ”

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Susan McBride and I collaborated on a hand-made storybook which is featured in a new book titled: ArtfulStorybooks: Mixed-Media Artists Create Handmade Tales, published by Lark Books July 2008.  Simply put, I made the book and she filled it.  Its called Old Hickory and is a commemoration to happy childhood vacations spent by Susan McBride and her good friends at a cabin in the Allegheny mountains of western Pennsylvania.

Susan gave me a sort of “care package” of memorabilia that reminded her of that time in her childhood and the cabin itself, my favorite being two wonderful old book covers.  She wanted a house, or rather cabin, shaped book and after some brainstorming I decided on a multi-needle, Coptic stitched, gatefold book structure with two salvaged buttons as a book closure reminiscent of door handles.

We had a great time with this collaboration and, feeling that our work looked good together, ended up doing a joint show in December 2007.  After the publication of Artful Storybooks we were asked to teach a Mixed Media Storybooks class at Asheville Bookworks in the Spring of 2009 inspired by this piece.  (The class description is below.)  Its wonderful when one thing leads to another so smoothly; particularly in the collaborative art world.

Thanks to Susan for including me in her creative endeavors and to Lark Books for supporting regional artists and crafters through quality publication.

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MIXED MEDIA STORYBOOKS
Asheville Bookworks
Tuesdays, 6-9pm
April 28, May 5, 12, 19, 26 & June 2 2009

In 2007 Asheville artists, Susan McBride and Annie Fain Liden, collaborated on a book making and story telling project that was recently featured in The Artful Storybook: Mixed-Media Artists Create Handmade Tales published by Lark Books 2008.  Their collaboration also inspired this workshop.  They will share their combined skills in mixed media illustration, story development and book construction to guide students through the exciting process of developing their own story book.  Students will choose from 3 interactive book structures, make the book from scratch, learn to use a storyboard method to plan the tale and use linoleum block printing, painting, drawing, collage and simple book closures to illustrate and embellish their own unique storybook.

]]> http://afainbooks.com/blog/2008/10/01/once-upon-a-time/feed/ http://afainbooks.com/blog/2008/10/01/once-upon-a-time/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/afainbooks/~3/GlFKw104qYo/ http://afainbooks.com/blog/2008/06/26/bookbinding-on-local-tv/#comments Fri, 27 Jun 2008 01:39:14 +0000 Annie Fain http://afainbooks.com/?p=191 A couple of weeks ago I was approached by Ursula Gullow, producer of our local Art Seen Asheville cable tv slot, to participate in an upcoming episode. Her projects typically feature artists, musician, writers and performers of Asheville. Her theme for this project was needles and her chosen artists were a tattoo artist, a DJ and a bookbinder. Can you guess which one was me?

As you might expect I felt a little shy about diving into my first tv experience, but it was actually lots of fun (luckily my performer within kicked in and left my shy self in the dust). Ursula is herself a painter and very involved in the rich artist community here in Asheville. Her goal is to create a show that is sensitive to artists and produced in a down-to-earth style that’s meant to be engaging and informative. The result was just that.

To checkout the 8 minute “bookbinder” portion of the show:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVUjRp61kWM

*For the complete version, tattoos and all, go to:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-316171183701447997

*To find out more about Art Seen Asheville visit www.myspace.com/artseenasheville or write to artseenasheville.

*If you are curious about Ursula and her fabulous paintings check out www.ursulagullow.com.

I began teaching at the school last year; book arts and beginning clawhammer banjo. Part of an instructor’s pay for teaching at the school is a free class. I was missing home and decided to cash in my free class and while I was at it, surprise my mother who was teaching a Sheep to Shawl class the same session. There began my week of silk paper making with Kathy Hays.

The exciting thing about silk paper making, besides the bright colors and sculptural potential of the medium is that the actual process of making the “paper” is rather simple both in terms of tools and materials. All you need is: silk roving (white or dyed), two pieces of tulle, a piece of fiberglass screen (what you would use to repair a screen door), soapy water and watered down Liquitex Acrylic Gloss medium.

First, sections of the silk are drawn out in small feathery sections that overlap each other on top of a piece of screen and tulle. Overall design and color combinations are determined at this point. Next, it is important that the silk fibers are completely wet through and through with soapy water so that they will accept the adhesive. The wet sandwich of screen, then tulle, fiber and tulle are then blotted dry and adhesive is confidently applied to the front and back with a brush, ensuring that each fiber is coated so that it will stick to its neighbor. It is then hung to dry and later the layers of tulle are pulled away to reaveal a completely flat, not fuzzy, colorful, almost interfacing-like in texture “paper.” The last step is to iron it between sheets of parchment paper which returns the silk’s natural gorgeous sheen.

Once we had the basic paper making down Kathy encouraged us to add other elements to the silk sheet while it was still wet, such as feathers and pressed flowers and also to add embellishment once the sheet was dry, stitching, beads etc. I am, and probably always will be addicted to hand stitching and also really love transparent layers, bits of fabric, dusty colors and such. The following images are examples of my experiments.

Thanks to Kathy for her organized instruction and color. Thanks to the Folkschool for supporting people of all ages in living creative lives and upholding their inspiring yet humble motto, “Sing Behind the Plow.”

Our monthly Sewing Circles are a relatively new addition to our home studio gatherings and workshops. Though we are sewing books the idea is similar in sentiment to a bunch of ladies gathering around to hand-stitch a quilt (of course men are invited too). We typically meet in my home studio the first Monday evening of each month from 5:30 to whenever. The intention of these book socials are:

#1. to provide special time set aside to complete unfinished and/or anxiety ridden projects in good company

#2. for former students to continue their development in bookarts without having to pay for yet another class

#3 to have show-and-tell; share your current work and be inspired by the work of your peers

#4. a chance for problem solving and sewing assistance from Annie Fain or anyone present

#5. to stockup on materials (waxed linen, text paper, bookbinders glue)

#6. in a nut shell, to provide a gathering space for budding and advanced book artists alike and to continue to strengthen our arts community simply by getting together on a regular basis

Best of all, we always have tea and treats! Feel free to come by if you are a book artist who has happened upon this website and/or visiting Asheville from somewhere else.

Email me with any questions: anniefain

I took into consideration what any paper consumer might when choosing what would become their new standard text paper; weight, color, dimension, texture and how ink/paint acted on the paper. I did the math to determine the number of sheets I went through in 2007, how much I expected to use in 2008 and I was shocked to realize how much paper I had actually used; 1,000, 28×40 inch sheets or more per year. I was making and selling hundreds of custom designed and retail books and based on the current trend I would be making and selling more all the time. Good news.

Like many people in the last couple of years thanks to films like The Inconvenient Truth and books such as The Ominvore’s Delimma by Michael Pollan, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver or The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays of Wendell Berry, I have been hit over the head again and again with what I already knew; our natural environment is in grave danger and every decision we make, down to the food we eat, has monumental repercussions. It is so important to consider our own ecological footprint on the world. It has become very clear that recycling our newspapers and cans and carpooling to work sometimes is not enough. Even though I am a small producer and a very small business I realize that my choice in paper, over the years, would add up. So much chlorine is used in paper production and whitening and most of it goes right back outside into our water sources. Artists and designers who are producing on a larger scale should also be considering the environmental impact of their work; their art making eco footprint, shall we say.

More and more well respected, even conventional, publications and media venues are willing to confront this world community conversation. Even the very corporate based Martha Stewart Living magazine does not want to miss out on possible marketing opportunities intertwined with this general shift in American thought and awareness. In some cases it has become chic or high-end to celebrate families who choose green-built homes, eco-friendly home decor, non-toxic cleaning supplies and local, organic vegees. However, these are still the ways of a minority. A recent article, “Sitting in Judgement: Why Discerning Consumers Should Pay More for Less” in Issue 20 of Selvedge magazine comments that, “Greed has replaced need; consumption of goods bears no resemblance to the quantity we actually use. One sweater will make you much happier if you’re cold, three jumper (even in different colors) will not make you three times happier.” They point out that “consumers have 10 times as many conversations at farmers’ markets as they do at supermarkets.” They state bluntly that if you want to be happier buy locally, from small porducers or the larger companies that support them, plain and simple. Selvege encourages you to “rediscover the art of saving up. Buying beautiful things can and should go hand in had with helping the environment and individuals. Pay what something is worth because we’re all worth it.”

Face to face consumer/seller contact is not your only option. Etsy is a perfect example of an online community that allows tiny makers to sell goods to an appreciative market while retaining a personal feel. The “shop local” button on their homepage gives you the option to sort Etsy sellers by whether they live in your town, many of the crafters use recycled materials and last holiday season they encouraged customers to “Pledge to Buy Handmade.”

The end of my paper buying adventure landed me with an entire ream of natural colored, Classic Laid, 100% post consumer recycled, chlorine free processed text paper. Though I feel it is a huge improvement in terms of how the paper itself was treated, I don’t know how far the paper had to be shipped or of any other hidden evils. In the end we must forgo enormous amounts of stress and guilt to simply do the best we can do at that point in time, but we can always do better. We have to do better.

Interested in learning more about your eco-footprint?

Check out American Public Media’s interactive game, Consumer Consequences where they will ask you a series of questions about your lifestyle, and as you play, it will show you how many “Earths” of natural resources it would take to sustain all 6.6 billion humans… if everyone lived like you.

Congratulations to my Monday night class for completing your very first ever Coptic bound journals!

We are having a grand time in our Book Arts Sampler: Primer workshop at Asheville Bookworks. We have the luxury of meeting for six weeks starting from the very begining, making a book by cutting and folding a single decorated page, moving on to the classic, non-adhesive pamphlet and accordion fold structures, to multi-needle Coptic binding and finally, softcover Long-stitch journals. This is a playful and attentive group. Even though most are just entering the world of books we are already discussing good options for buying decent papercutters, where to get affordable supplies, and lots of care for detail and craftsmanship. Good job ladies! May there be happy and bountiful bookmaking in your near futures.

Welcome to A. Fain Books and my very first blog entry ever. This will be the place to find out about upcoming workshops, stories and images of good times had in past workshops, art and book related events, to answer bookmaking questions, as well as to reflect on the overall ups and downs of my works in progress and running a small home-made business. My intention for this blog is to be informative and supportive of you as a customer or interested bookmaker, not as an outlet for personal journaling. Check back regulalry to see what’s up and feel free to get in touch anytime.