What do you create?
Well, basically I create books. Books with lots and lots of
empty pages, screaming out to be Illustrated or written upon. Journals, sketchbooks and notepads all built
for a little prose, a lot of doodling or whatever takes the book lovers fancy.
The Little Bird Bindery books come in all sorts of shapes
and sizes. Hardcover and soft leather
journals. I’m even happy to make custom orders.
Why do you create?
I create because I must!
I’m one of those people that’s always making something. From a kid that knitted, a teen who designed
and sewed her own clothes, a Mum that made kids hats, to middle aged lady who
makes books. Knitting, sewing, cross
stitch, illustrations, painting, letterpress……..and the list goes on. As for book binding, well, I first learnt how
to make books about 3 years ago and love every single itty bitty moment of it.
That desire to CRAFT has always been in me. It’s an
intrinsic part of me and I can’t remember a day where I haven’t created
something, whether it’s a quick sketch of an idea or actually sitting down at
my desk and making and creating.
Do you sell your
creations? If so, how? Where? And is it profitable?
Initially I was very reluctant to put them out on the
market. Not because I didn’t think they were good but simply because I thought
nobody would want to pay for them. It’s
very easy to be highly critical of your own work so it took me long time before
I recognised that other people loved my books as much as I did.
So there I was with a room full of books that needed to go
to good homes and rapidly running out of places to store them. What to do?
Well, I started giving them
away. Birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas,
gifts for any occasion really. And then
something fantastic happened. I realised
that there were people out there who loved my books as much as I did and after
receiving some amazing feedback I decided ‘selling them” might be worth a go.
My books are now available to everyone on
Madeit.com.au. My little store is called
“Little Bird Bindery”. You can find it right HERE.
It’s been a great learning curve and although I haven’t sold
an insane number of books, I’m very proud of what I’ve achieved so far. It’s great to see them go to good homes and
treasured by someone other that myself.
At this stage my Madeit store finances my binding
habit. One day soon (real soon) I’m hoping
it will lead to bigger and better things (like stay at home and madly binding
all day long. Sigh!)
What mistakes have
you made or lessons you have learned?
Mistakes? Me?? Never!
Seriously though.
A person who never made a
mistake never tried anything new. (Albert Einstein)
When you’re a creative even a mistake is something
good. One mistake and what you began
with can result in something pretty spectacular in the end.
But, yes, if I think real hard I guess I have made a few
mistakes but by far the biggest would have to be not having faith in my skills
and talents and knowing that what I produced was brilliant and admired.
So for any fledgling creatives out there, just do it!
Give it a go! Nothing ventured. Nothing gained!
What, to you is
success? Have you achieved it yet, or are you on your way towards success?
Success for me is being able to be creative ALL of the
time. I don’t necessarily measure it in
financial terms (although some extra cash wouldn’t go astray), but in my
ability to spend time creating and learning.
Currently I’m spending more time designing covers than
actual binding so I don’t have a lot for sale at the moment (must fix that) but
it means what I have created, is very unique, not the same old stuff you’ve
seen before. And I’m truly, wonderfully
enjoying myself. That to me is success.
So what's next?
Next? Gee. I guess it’s to learn more skills and
techniques to enhance my binding skills.
Take some chances and design something a little crazy perhaps. Hit my blog a little more consistently,
populate my shop and show some strength in promoting myself.
