Blue Lubok Cat, Q. Cassetti, 2010, sharpies and prismacolorsSetting stuff up. Knocking em down. Got the holiday lists taken care of. The holiday cards are selling(!) on Etsy so much so that I am a thinking about valentines and how do I do a few more for February on GotPrint. Its too late for holiday cards (so hopefully we will clear out our inventory). Next year we wil be offering laborador cards and laborador holiday cards along with that of cats. I think a buffalo card might be great too…? But, this is very interesting and I will be buying promotional space on Etsy to take it further.
Have posted more of my moleskine images on My Moleskine and gotten some nice commentary from folks (particularly Russians who like my Lubki inspired work!). Evgenia suggested my Lubok Cat reminded her of Koschey Bessmertny. Koschey the Deathless is the male counterpoint of Baba Yaga in Russian tales. Wikipedia says:
“Koschei cannot be killed by conventional means targeting his body. Hissoul is hidden separate from his body inside a needle, which is in an egg, which is in a duck, which is in a hare, which is in an iron chest (sometimes the chest is crystal and/or gold), which is buried under a green oak tree, which is on the island of Buyan, in the ocean. As long as his soul is safe, he cannot die. If the chest is dug up and opened, the hare will bolt away. If it is killed, the duck will emerge and try to fly off. Anyone possessing the egg has Koschei in their power. He begins to weaken, becomes sick and immediately loses the use of his magic. If the egg is tossed about, he likewise is flung around against his will. If the egg or needle is broken (in some tales this must be done by specifically breaking it against Koschei’s forehead), Koschei will die.”
There are more images from sketchbook project #2 for this month here>>. There are new Lubki inspired cats, demons, maw, and a winged woman/bird (Sirin) inspired by my Lubok book. I am still prisma and sharpie gal…but am feeling a bit constrained by the small size…but maybe “its good for me”.
Rumor has it that the new operation on Main Street in the old Pourhouse space is opening this week? No rumor on this one, Good to Go is open—our new small grocery and prepared foods store. Very exciting.
I love the templates on MSK for folks to customize their content and construction of their moleskine books from calendar formats to flow your calendar into, to address books to even cool pockets to build into the book. They are on MyMoleskine and can be a good resource if you are a Moleskinner.
We are putting family projects behind us (with the back porch in the finalizing stages), dead wood being cut and turned into firewood for the winter, and plans are being made for the next steps. I am going to run a few errands this p.m which is very exciting as it gets me away from my desk for a minute or two.