Kreativling

Baklava. It’s love.

Renate — Wed, 16 May 2012 12:56:57 +0000

Tomorrow I’ll have the real thing in Istanbul! But today I finally went into the turkish bakery we have in our town now. So good! When I’m back then, I’ll know where to get my fix …

On Holiday

Renate — Tue, 15 May 2012 07:55:51 +0000

I’m going on a little trip to Istanbul on Thursday. My next possible shipping trip will only be on Tuesday next week. May 22 to be precise.
Very much looking forward to meet some friends, have a good time and discover Istanbul together :)

My shops will stay open, but I’m not sure whether I have internet access to answer emails and such …

My latest obsession

Renate — Sun, 13 May 2012 21:12:47 +0000

My latest obsession is bringing together my love for growing things and symbols. I do have a lot of fun with it, yes. More ideas are boiling in my head already …

Spam

Renate — Sun, 13 May 2012 06:45:42 +0000

I’m getting lots of comment spam from the blog lately. Will turn off the comment option for now …

Diabolic Chilli

Renate — Mon, 07 May 2012 10:21:19 +0000

I like it hot. But these little suckers ruined just another dish. Think it’s Habanero Chili. I used not even half of one for a Risotto. Too much already. You have been warned!

Don’t like …

Renate — Sun, 06 May 2012 13:19:31 +0000

Was asked to make a cover for DIN A5 notebooks. I did that already, but never was very happy with the results. With this request now, I decided to give it just one last try. And again - I don’t like it. Even if the “wrap over” piece wouldn’t be too short (as this one is), it just doesn’t feel good. It’s too … Ah, I don’t have the right words. My usual books, I love to hold them in my hands, touch them, use them. Not so with this one. Think that was it now. No need to try it again. Just not my thing.

Getting serious now because I want it all.

Renate — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 14:52:36 +0000

My guitar obsession is still strong, but only playing the few easy pieces I can play will not bring me any further I fear. I want to be able to play this:

But I just can’t. I need to go back to the start. What I learned 30 years ago is all gone. And I never ever learned to play Blues anyway.

Of course I also blame my old guitar for my poor playing skills! Hehehe…
If only one could buy talent and skills! It’s the same with painting and drawing. “Better” artist materials don’t make me a better artist. I fear, a better guitar would not make me a better player. Still, I want it all. The artist stuff and the new guitar, yep! One can wish …

Tales from a Scatterbrain

Renate — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 16:26:51 +0000

Today I had to drive to the next city for my physical therapy. I started good in time I thought. Became a bit nervous when the city streets where full. More nervous when I saw the long queue in front of the parking garage. Because if I can’t get a space there, I’m doomed. With my poor parallel parking skills …
But, I made it just so. Ran to the center, ran to the waiting zone I was expected at and .. waited. And nobody called me. I checked with the people whether they have heard my name, but nope. And yep, only when the other waiting people there told me … I realised that I was there an hour too early. I must have made a very stupid face. At least I made all the people laugh heartily with me :)

So, I had an hour to pass. Decided to stroll the city a bit and found a music store! (Am still obsessed with my renewed guitar love). Oh my … all the beautiful guitars. And the music books! What saved me was that I didn’t have my wallet with me. For once, Scatterbrain did something good. I probably could not have resisted. Chatted with the owner about guitars and sausage fingers and all that - until I realised that I would be late (for real) again. Made it back timely enough to get my treatments.

I DID remember where I had parked the car (but only because it’s a very small garage), but had to run from paying machine to car twice, because I first didn’t have the ticket and then, yep, the wallet.

I tell you, beeing a Scatterbrain doesn’t make life easier …
And I tell you another thing. I so love this back massages! I only got my first ever earlier this year. And now I’m hooked. Already feel sorry that I will get only 8 more so … I’m very happy with my free single life at the moment. I don’t plan to get into a relationship anytime soon (or anytime at all). But if you are a trained masseur who is single, I may change my mind … ;)

More Bookbinder’s decisions

Renate — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 20:19:55 +0000

So, I finally found a paper company here in Austria with paper I like. Smooth paper, acid-free, off-white, different weights available. Perfect. Only - it comes in sheets of 70×100 cm. I can have it cut into “my” size. But that would be a waste somehow …

If I’d use the paper as it is, the pages in my journals would be bigger. The red rectangles show the size they are now. My standard sized journal pages would have 2 cm more width and 2.5 cm more height. A nice size. I like it, and I think my customers would too. But my “bigger” sized journals would be very big then. Not that I like to make the big ones anyway …

It’s a hard decision for me because the more paper I buy at once, the lower the price. And as we all know, that’s a very important factor. And then all the other stuff that comes with it. Bigger paper also means more leather is used, the finished journal weights more (important for shipping), it will probably not fit into the envelopes I use now and so on …

I simply can’t afford a mispurchase. Ack, I hate decisions. And it always takes me so long to decide! But yes, you probably know that by now …

Thicker paper or more pages?

Renate — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 16:18:48 +0000

I’m looking for new paper to use in my journals. Got two nice ones to try. But now I can’t decide.

The choices are:
Off-white, 70gsm (or g/m2), would make my usual 240 pages in the journals
White, 200gsm, would be only 120 pages

Both are very nice, acid-free drawing papers. 70gsm sounds little, but it’s “voluminised” and it feels good. For writing with usual pens, even fountain pens, it would be sufficient.
The thick 200gsm one is of course great too. You can do everything on it, glue stuff on it, draw, paint, not even the thick marker really shines through … But it feels more like cardboard than paper.

Now, I will continue to look for the perfect (and still affordable) paper in the 120 to 160gsm range.
But I’d really like to know - what would you prefer, what is more important for you? More pages? Or heavy paper?