twist and shout...

these are the pics i've been wanting to do for ages and ages, but the weather has been so dull and 'orrible - i'm learning everyday where the good-for-pics nooks and crannies are in the new house, i discovered that at around 2pm the landing is a pretty good place - not too bright, not too dark. anyway, i've got lots and lots of new covered books to list on etsy, but i couldn't wait to post them here first (will do tomorrow)...and i've printed a new fabric! it's called 'twist' and it's only available on the notebooks at the moment, but of course i have plans to release it as a fabric for you to make lots of yummy things with it :)

A5

when i made my paper collage sketchbooks i used to get asked for larger sizes quite often. with this in mind, i've sourced some A5 (8.5x6 inches) sketchbooks (and notebooks too, just got to put an order in for those) and got jiggy with it printing some new covers. i'm going to enjoy experimenting with combinations of different screens and colours - the books are wider than my screens and rather than having some dodgy hand/eye registration going on, i thought i'd be a bit more inventive. this is the first one, and so far i'm a-likin' muchly. do you think if i went even bigger (A4) they'd work? what say you? opinions gratefully received :)

stuff

lots of stuff going on 'round here these days...i'm out of the habit of blogging which is awful, i feel out of the loop with everything. i've been a busy bunny though, i've finished my galison commission and i can't wait to see what they do with the work i've produced for them. it's a bit naughty i know, but i'm sneaking a peak just for you...i was messing around with my scans and love the effect of putting them into negative - so what you see here is not how it will look on the products, but you get the idea...

i've also put into practice something i've been thinking about for ruddy ages - my cotton fabric screenprints on hardback books. it isn't often that something ends up exactly how you imagined it would in your head, but that's what happened here, these are lovely to make and i love the end product, really clean and fresh looking. they'll be available in a little shop update this evening, done! and of course if you have any requests for colours and designs, sling me an email (luciesummers{at}yahoo{dot}co{dot}uk) and i'll see what sort of sketchbooky delight i can rustle up for you ;)

what else? i'm sure there's something else i need to tell you...but i can't think right now what it is...oh well, if i remember i might even post twice in two days, now wouldn't that be a shock?

eureka!

the other day i read francesca's post about inspiration striking in the most unusual of places...so today i had tons of fun messing around with my millions of paper punches, self adhesive vinyl and the pile of soft backed sketchbooks that i deconstructed (took out the staples) then reconstructed (stitched the spine.)
anyway, my point is that my inspiration struck, rather uninspiringly, while having a bath...frank had stuck up an alphabet freize (sp? blogger won't let me check my spelling lately, should that be i before e?) of those spongey letter shapes that stick to your tiles when wet...i looked up, saw them and thought how cool it would be to have those shapes all over a book cover...so i had a go. it was fun.

sketch in it, baby!

after all the excitement of being on sfgirlbybay (hello if you're still popping in from there) yesterday, i thought i'd better knuckle down and get some work done. at last, after faffing about with my new printer for a while, i've produced 2 limited edition runs of sketchbooks...the first is called 'red honesty', (up in the shop now) and the second, called 'flaggon', which will be up in the shop later today. each run is an edition of 10 and is printed using archival inks...they are printed from images of my original paper/mixed media collages and they also have little envelopes in the fly leaf made from vintage bingo cards.

purpose

i like the title of this new sketchbook...it's all sort of, well, purposeful for the new year ahead.

i'm afraid i've had a price increase on my sketchbooks for several reasons, the main one being that they take me a long time to do. a lot longer than the £7.50 i was getting for them if that makes sense, and every one is a complete one off. but to counterbalance this price increase, i've added a ribbon bookmark, vintage ruled fly papers and a little envelope for important bits.

i still haven't opened my digital printer! my plan once it's up and running is to print my collaged sketchbook covers in a limited run of say 10 or 20 of each design...i feel this will help in further developing my plans to expand into wholesaling...i've had a fairly exciting enquiry, lots of to-ing and fro-ing with the buyer since way before christmas. can't say too much yet, but as soon as i can, i will.

busy, busy, busy

i've been kept busy the last couple of days making, you guessed it, some new sketchbooks for the shop. try to curb your excitement.

this time 5 years ago...

i was the size of not just a whale, but a whale family...my biggest little boy is 5 tomorrow. five. five years old. i can scarcely believe it. anyway i might be light with posting tomorrow, i've got a combine harvester shaped cake to create (with chocolate frosting, couldn't find vanilla to colour with yucky yellow; "doesn't matter mummy, brown is fine, it'll look muddy", bless.) but i'll try my best to take a pic of the cake masterpiece (hmmmm...)

in other news, i had a run on sketchbooks yesterday in the shop so here's a peekof two more that have just been listed...'once upon a time' in brown & 'come to stay' in red.

soul & duty

i've just listed the pink sketchbook, 'soul' in the shop, and i thought i'd just let you non-uk people know that the last date for posting to the usa & canada is 10th december and to aus, new z & s.africa is the 7th, so if you've been wanting to buy one as a gift for the holidays, time is ticking by!

i'm posting a re-do pic of 'duty' because the little boy makes me laugh...he looks like he's really concentrating on staying balanced ;)

if you're sick of sketchbooks, don't read this post

i'm embarrassed to post this, cos yes, it's another one. it's all i do, make sketchbooks. drink tea and make sketchbooks. that's it. that's my life. sometimes it's interspersed with changing a pooey nappy, just to make it more exciting.

more red

just popped in to let you all know that the above sketchbook has just been listed in the shop. a vision in red, it is called 'boy', and features an illustration from the 50's of a little boy watching some boats. cute. you can buy it here, if you wish!

another stack

nothing exciting to report today, just listed this sketchbook, called 'pieces' in the shop. that's it. my whole day has been pretty dull. arthur's been a pain in the bum and has taken to saying "no, i'm not." to everything with a really stubborn note in his voice, which is driving me bonkers. oh yeah, and biting his brother hard enough to break the skin. so yeah, fun times.

but...there is light at the end of the annoying toddler tunnel...tomorrow is thursday, and the day my lovely mum takes over all childcare responsibilities. yay!

stack

i've been working on some new sketchbooks in a landscape format (i've run out of portrait ones, am expecting delivery anytime now) because the hard sell post worked! who new? sold those two and others. i think the poppytalk handmade market stand is working, as i've had some nice sales lately that i'm suspecting came from that.

oh yes, and the three 'pay it forward' people from my last post are going to be alice (raspberry), zoe (a to z) and christine (paper and cloth). thankyou ladies, as soon as i have all your addresses i'll get going on your goodies. and remember to 'pay it forward' on your blogs asap!

take note, this is the hard sell...

for i have posted these charming new sketchbooks at the lusummers at the blu-shed shop. (top one is 'waving', and the bottom, 'two birds'.) marvellous value at just $15 (just £7.50 roughly) for an entirely original mixed media sketchbook. you'll never see another exactly the same. perfect holiday presents for loved ones.

there, i'm done, it's all over now. thanks for listening. happy weekend.

9 out of 10 dogs...

prefer sketchbooks designed and made by lusummers...now available you know where.

hope you all had a happy sunday, i really had a nice day at the park with sam and the boys and did some general mooching around the shops. i bought a pack of sepia coloured drawing pens and rather pathetically, i keep getting a little thrill of excitement every time i remember them. so then i have to get them out and stroke them. ye gads, could i be any sadder?

bright idea

this is a new sketchbook idea and it has actually sparked off a huge light bulb/eureka! moment for a series of these...i love moments like that. i've been feverishly plotting more in my head all afternoon whilst ferrying the kids around between mine and grandma's house. i can't wait to get stuck in, but i've got sooooo much else to do. i'm working on a commission for a printed notice board, (pictures tomorrow) and i must get some other promises completed...not to mention two pieces for an exhibition that are to measure 2 feet by 5 feet by december. oh my god. i hate being behind, but life has an annoying habit of getting in the way of creativity at times.

two more...

sketchbooks for the shop the black one (shown as a detail in yesterday's post) is called 'dart' and is already up for sale. the pink is called 'charge'and will be posted this evening.

heart-felt thanks go to alice who emailed me to let me know that my fridge magnets had made it on to a treasury list, yay!

sorry about this...

more stock in the form of sketchbooks for etsy. i know, i know, it's all i go on about these days.