Strange Machines

Jack and I painted this Ikea step ladder with non-toxic Crayola water colours and sealed it with beeswax.

Sometimes I wonder if I am made for the business world at all. I have no urge to put my craftwork out there and sell them.

I feel content just hugging my sweet homemade softies, carrying my homemade bags, and staring for hours at the mini playsets I have been making for Biscuit and Gray and their brethren (yes, the final design for Blue Biscuit is complete! See pic on left).

Yes I even make toys for them! There’s something about creating a stuffed animal that makes me feel all motherly over them. Must be the act of creation!

But the idea of setting up shop has been daunting (especially since my personal time is from 11pm-4am, interrupted, and I spend most of it unwinding by snacking, reading, surfing, then think about crafting and maybe selling – a lot of it has been thinking).

Here’s the legwork:

1. Print business cards.

2. Design a logo and make fabric labels for bags, dolls, etc.

3. Stock up on shipping envelopes.

4. Make fabric bags to store items (for packaging – this seems the most environmentally friendly choice).

5. Plan trips to the post office (with Jack and pram in tow) through blinding heat and roads – at least we can walk there so it isn’t terribly environmentally unfriendly.

6. Making some merchandise that I won’t end up wanting to keep for myself or giving it to the first person who says, oh so nice, or as a present I think a friend whom I’m meeting tomorrow will like.

7. Designing a shopfront banner and crafting the text.

8. Updating the Biscuit & Gray website!

I already bought the weighing scale from Ikea… Ok, maybe I’ll start with #6 first then we’ll get the rest in order.

What do you think? Where’s the best place to start? Ahh!!! *runs away screaming*

I have a confession to make.

I am an Etsy addict.

I bought my craft supplies and that Singer 8280 and so far have made at least 15 bags and 5 plushies including a tree last night. I’ve given away 4 bags and 1 doll but have kept the rest for myself! How the heck am I going to sell anything like that (the same reason why I should never work in a bubble tea store – I can imagine me saying, “sorry, we’re out of pearls *burp*”).

After I gave her Big Blue Biscuit, Angie commissioned me to make a Biscuit & Gray pair for her baby nephew but I loved the Big Blue Biscuit (BBB) v2.0 I made (photo forthcoming) that I decided to keep her for myself. Okay, actually after I sewed on the face, Jack decided he liked it and has kept it for himself. He actually asked for his friends just now when he woke for the second time this evening. I gave him Biscuit, BBB2, and Gray. He grabbed the first two, turned around and slept.

I have a third BBB who hasn’t got a face yet. I will keep that nice soft rabbit for Angie’s nephew. I swear.

Then there are the bags I promised Carol and Sarah. If only I can stop keeping the ones I make. But they are just right. I use one set a week and wash the other. I guess I just need to make 2 more sets for my friends before I can start selling any. At least the girls agreed on Sunday that they’re pretty, especially the cat one. And I haven’t taken any plastic bags at all since I began making my own bags. That is 2 months now and at least 50 plastic bags saved. Not bad huh? <- good consolation for procrastination.

So those of you kind people who have gone to my Etsy page, sorry it is still empty. I wanted to make a few items before selling any. There is still the black and white cat purse I made which is my first “merchandise”, waiting to be placed for sale.

Meanwhile I should spend less time shopping on Etsy (see sparklerama’s too-cute Tiny Kitty driving Jack’s fave car on right) and making stuff. I’ll start tonight. Honest. Oops it is already 3.34am. I’ll start tomorrow. Really!

Gray looks awed by his tiny brethren, made by the super talented artisan sparklerama.

So the past couple of weeks I have been shopping at Spotlight and buying tons of crafting supplies. All fabric and threads are 100% cotton and ribbons I got for making tags (or there lack of) are washable satin (but still polyester). I’m thinking no tag or cloth tag. My feeble attempts at embroidery got even the cats laughing.

Anyway, out of laziness I picked up a rotary cutter and a cutting mat. It was some Birch combo for $39.95 so I thought why not. Then this evening I opened it and the smell made me sick all night. I have since packed it back into its packaging to be returned to Spotlight tomorrow. If they mention the opened packaging, I’ll ask them to take a whiff. Man, I haven’t felt so nauseous since I ate those 5 bags of chips at one go.

I spent the better part of an hour Googling for an answer: what the heck is causing that godawful smell? Nowhere do they tell what the cutting mats are made of. The closest hint is that some cutting mats are made of PVC. And yeah, we know that smells and is toxic. Apparently, some smell and some don’t. A forum mentions that some mats just smell and it most likely won’t go away or will take 5 weeks.

I don’t think I can wait that long. Already the smell was seeping into the hallway so I quickly put it back into the packaging and double bagged it in an Ikea bag. There is a solution though but I don’t I’ll survive the smell long enough to do it. I still feel horrible sick as it is. So no cutting mat for me. It isn’t very green, being made of plastic anyway – the smell made me think of vinyl. I think I’ll stick to the good old scissors.

After about 10 bags, I think I have one that is in a saleable condition and of a shape women will carry (I am still working on a shape a man will carry but the husband had very politely refused to be seen carrying all the other 10 I have made). It is made out of a lovely black and white cat fabric I got last week (made in Korea) with black threading and handles, which make it quite pretty.

I like the idea of carrying cloth bags. The polyester ones, while strong, feel really plasticky against my skin. I have assigned one small black tote (which rolls up and ties on the side of my larger tote – now the main bag) for bread and those delish Spinelli oatmeal and raisin cookies. I usually carry another organic produce bag inside just in case.

Now the first cat bag I made I decided to keep for myself. The sewing was pretty and all, but I just wanted to keep that first cat bag for myself. And I just repeated myself repeating myself. That contains all the stuff I need when I leave the house. And that sweet tiny bag sits inside the main black tote, which incidentally was just finished today. That one was perfectly sized. Jack’s car bag (picture forthcoming too) with his diaper, spare clothes, wipes, snacks, and random toy sits beside that.

So when need be, I can whip out both bags, have Jack carry his cute car bag, I carry my cat bag, and the black tote bag can carry shopping! And won’t we look a hip mom and Jack pair. I haven’t taken a single plastic bag in 2 weeks! Feels great to refuse all those plastic bags they give at Bread Talk. The girl happily placed all the bread in my cloth bag.

Incidentally, I made a new large blue Biscuit out of lovely 100% cotton fleecy but since Jack “borrowed” the one we gave Amber, he is happy to give it to Aunty Angie when we meet her on Saturday. I used the Singer this time and the curves took a while to get used to but before long, I was swivelling the fabric like a pro. 3 hours on a machine instead of 8 hours by hand. Definitely a time saver!

Now, if I can only stop the nausea…

Biscuit with Big Blue, first rabbit made on my sewing machine.

She’s gone to live with my dear friend Angie who uses her as an eye pillow.

Here’s Gray with Blue Biscuit and Biscuit.

The Porsche Carrera S’s side mirror was poking his back.

Blue Biscuit came back for a week-long visit.

Biscuit & Gray have their own website now! Please excuse the mess while we hang the stuff up. But if you can’t wait, go visit them at Biscuit & Gray dot com.

Here’s a pic of Biscuit and Blue Biscuit, whom I made for Amber, my sister’s daughter for her 8th birthday. As you can tell, Biscuit was thrilled to have another rabbit friend and the two pals enjoyed 5 lovely rabbitty days together. (I think Gray felt a little left out.)

Jack was also ecstatic to have another Biscuit and was sad to let him go in the end. He still asks if I will make another Blue Biscuit and one of these days I will.

Today I brought Jack to town, hoping to snag the latest Aranzi Aronzo book Cute Stuff which is the best starter book for anyone who wants to sew their own bags. After the Kino 20% discount, it was $20.02, way cheaper than Amazon! V, whom I met for coffee today, agreed and mirrored my horror that shipping takes one month!

I have to say the Aranzi Aronzo books provide the best starter for any sewing novice with easy to follow step-by-step pictorial examples. It was easy to make Biscuit and Gray from their instructions, with some modifications to make them mine.

Anyway, I joined Etsy, a great site for buying and selling homemade things and have bought 3 sweet stuffed dolls already. Nothing beats homemade, which is why I stopped buying any stuffed animals for Jack since I read about all the damn toxic crap in our toys. And that sparked the interest in making them. So Biscuit and Gray were born.

Bookmark my Etsy page. I’ll be putting up my cloth bags and some small stuffed animals for sale soon.

Meanwhile I love my Singer. It is almost like driving that car simulator today at Best in Taka. Awesome!

To all those who asked, this is Biscuit (white rabbit) and Gray (gray cat), the two 100% cotton cloth dolls I hand sewed for Jack, inspired by the cute dolls by Aranzi Aronzo.

Now, before Biscuit came into our lives, Jack called all rabbits biscuits. I thought it was the cutest thing and interestingly enough, having Biscuit made the distinction between a “biscuit” and “Biscuit” the name.

Biscuit was made from an old 3 cats t-shirt of mine my Mom gave me. The front was stained with breast milk but the back was okay. So I cut it up and Biscuit was born, sometime late April. 28th I think.

Gray came soon after. 2 days if I recall correctly. April 30th. My fave Victoria’s Secret gray top had stretched beyond decency and its soft material made it perfect for a small gray cat. Victoria seemed rather stiff for a cute cat, so I called him Gray instead.

Biscuit’s pose in the picture was inspired by the bats on the last page of The Gruffalo’s Child. They sleep with us every night and Biscuit reads to Jack every night.

Anyhow, Gray needed a bit of surgery today.

I’d been staring at his uneven forehead for a month now and it kept driving me crazy (yes, Sab, my obsession with alignment even extends to live objects, not just webpages).

So this evening, while Jack obsessed about aligning (appeared to be inherited) his cars properly on his Tomy car park, I deftly took out my crafting bag, removed a needle, black thread, and scissors, and promptly gave Gray a lobotomy. Really, I unpicked the stitches under his right cheek, took out his stuffing, turned him inside out, unpicked the stitches attaching his ear to head, and restitched that part.

Jack turned to look at me some five minutes later, rather puzzled, then a little disturbed. I noticed his stare and told him, Momma is repairing Gray’s head. He glanced at poor Gray’s flattened head. Then reached out for Biscuit, his stuffed rabbit, and stealthily put her behind him.

Luckily his Dad was out of his shower and proceeded to distract him by playing with his cars and reading to him. Perhaps tonight he was too alarmed by Gray’s inside out anatomy that he allowed Dad to help Biscuit read his dinosaur book to him in a dreadful falsetto voice.

Gray’s head is now a beautifully aligned symmetry. I can sleep better now.