Country + Continent Cards

I've been making a lot of cards recently from maps and recycled paper - take a look at some below - showing map shapes of countries and continents.

I love how recognisable some countries and continents are, simply by their shape. But I also wonder why some countries are not?

Next Saturday morning, I will be selling these cards - and my Christmas and Valentine map cards - and notebooks at a table top sale at The Dog House pub in Kennington.

The sale is in aid of people who have haemochromatosis, so do come along and say hello.

Notebooks are go

Remember the notebooks that I'm selling on Folksy? They're made from unused envelope paper, and covered in lovely old map paper.

I'm going to be selling them at an eco-event called New Gallery Jumble this coming Saturday 20 August - it's at 92 Peckham Road, sort of between Camberwell and Peckham, from 1pm until 5pm.

All the details can be found on facebook here, so do drop by if you can!

About notebooks

About 18 months ago, I realised that I was recycling a lot of envelopes.  I was about to start working at Waste Watch, a charity that encourage people to think about their waste. Most of those envelopes I was recycling were blank bits of paper.

It was good, of course, that they were being recycled, but they actually could be used again.

So I decided to keep them, and convinced colleagues to keep their envelopes. When I gathered them all together, I bound them into notepads. So I got busy with a letter opener, slicing every envelope apart.

At that time, Borders bookshop was going out of business. They had ridiculously low liquidation sales, with maps of all types selling for very little money.  Thinking "I'll find a use for them!", I bought some (well, lots actually).

Those two ideas came together: the maps could be nifty covers for my envelope notebooks.

And since then, I've gone through a series of different versions (proper designers might use the terms 'iterations' or 'prototypes').

The first type was very basic, still showing the ragged, cut edges from the letter opener.

So I brought the notebooks to a printing company, who nicely trimmed the edges. Lovely.

Later, having given some to friends and colleagues, I realised that a different type of binding would be better. So I brought some new notebooks to a binder, and had them ring bound. And they're lovely.

And so now, my staple-bound map notebooks are on sale on folksy, and I have a decision to make.

I'd like to keep this idea alive, but I don't really want to spend hours and hours making these notebooks. A lot of the stationery that sells online are luxury, high-end, artisan notebooks, but, to me, these notebooks are just notebooks. They're to be used and not treasured.

So I'm looking for ideas, inspiration, a partner, a way forward. Your suggestions are welcome.

The Stationery Club

I went yesterday to Stationery Club, a sort-of book club for those who like stationery. Yesterday's theme was notebooks, and it was all very interesting. I brought along my two lovely notebooks which have a map of Barcelona and a map of Milan on the covers.

It started off a bit English, no sign to say who they were, newcomers welcomed with bashfulness, and a sort of sense of being a bit silly.

But things soon heated up to a rather furious debate about Moleskins and votes on the best type of notebook - ruled, plain or squared paper, ring bound, stapled, glued binding?

I abstained from the voting - because I like all stationery - but it was heartening to see how animated people could be about stationery.

I also brought some notebooks which I have made from spare envelope paper and lovely map covers to do some 'market research' and see people's reaction to them. Happily, those that saw them were positive and enthusiastic, so it's off to etsy and folksy I go.