Thursday, May 26, 2005

A Set Back

I had an amazingly long day at the day job today. I won’t go into details but let’s just say that I was tired when I left work. I had a light meal and washed it all down with a coke, and sometimes I’m amazed by how much a soda is reviving. It’s that little shot of caffeine and sugar.

It also prepared me for a major set back on the custom journal I’ve been working on. I had noticed last night that the leather on the cover was acting a little odd. Today I noticed that this hide is starting to have the separation problem that the black hide was having. This is the 2nd hide where I’ve had the issue. I’m not happy about it. I re-cut the hide from a different part of the hide and I noticed none of the issues. The other problem was that I had double reinforced the spine and hit it with too much heat and the tyvek melted. Really not good. Instead of a soft flexible but super strong spine I ended up with a hard stiff spine. Not good.

So I’ve re-cut and re-punched the new cover and I will sew it tomorrow. I also have some plans for advertising my work at the store. We have these little cards that we can post on the bulletin board and really the only time people see them is when they are waiting for the bathroom or for a class. I’m going to design a little book style advert that will hold my cards and let me post them easily at the store. It’s just an idea. I’m also thinking of spending some cash and advertising in some writing magazines. It could be worth it. Though I did notice that in some cases a tiny little classified ad could cost $150! Too rich for my blood but maybe someday. I think that branching off into handmade books of people’s first novels would be fantastic and great business.

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