I'm feeling slightly better about the chances of getting everything done in time. I've started putting the film together and it's shaping up OK I think and I managed to make Mum and Dad a lovely book for their 50th wedding anniversary which was another thing on the list last week.
I managed to print lots of cards last week which were all dry enough to pop the stamp on the back of and pair with an envelope. Over the weekend I tried putting them in the port boxes I use for the display and they looked awful as they won't stay shut by themselves. I don't want to use cello wraps as they're such a faff, no one else seems to use them any more and even though mine are compostable its just another bit of packaging that could be done away with. I spent some time researching low tack labels that I could print myself - I couldn't believe what some people were charging for them ready printed! I like being able to print my own so I can play with it a bit. I finally found them for a little under £1 a sheet of 84 which seemed reasonable. I printed them all myself just putting my logo on the front fold and decided I could probably use some of our lecture to do some sticking when we were just chatting rather than in deep discussion. I couldn't resist taking a picture of my desk just before the lecture started... it looked like some sort of card explosion!
I worked my way through lots of them and got the stamp put of lots more this afternoon, then came back to it this evening. The seagulls all need their beaks painting, I managed to do one batch, I'll save the rest for some other time when I can't do anything else. I'm so pleased with the little card stickers though. They make them look so professional and they're SO much easier than trying to stuff each card on one of those awful cello bags! I just have to hope there are no sticky fingered children that want to touch things now!!
I've got all the framed prints packed into two huge plastic boxes and a load more in art bags and other wrappings. I really hope it all fits in the car! I can only get the car one once for the unloading slot, after that I think I can wheel a trolley in through the good entrance so I'm planning on worst case having to make a second trip on Wednesday which is the set up day. I'm sure it will be ok though. I'll stack all the bagged frames on the back seat and belt them in. The boxes should go in the boot and anything else will be on the front seat (I have a feeling my press might end up there!).
I really can't wait to get there and get it all set up. I went for a walk with the silversmith who lives in the village and encouraged me to apply, she's in charge of organising the festival of silver tent so I she's got far more to do! She did make me quite worried that I might sell everything though. She seemed to think 400 cards might not be enough - eek! Apparently new people do exceptionally well on their first visit because a lot of the customers go to the fair every year and so are on the hunt for something they haven't seen before. It's an exciting prospect and did make me think about how many browsers to wrap. I decided to put two of each in the main browser and have a folder in the background with a third wrapped and ready to go in when both the first two sell. There's nothing more annoying than selling something and realising you have more at home but didn't bring them so I decided I'd rather have back ups. I've also noticed that quite often prints seem to suddenly be popular - I've often sold two of the same one at a fair on the same day and none of many others so having multiples of each seems sensible.
All I've really got to do now is properly prep the demo print. I've decided to do a vague repeat of the bluebells and beech trees print from a couple of years ago.
I managed to get the first layer on 24 pieces of 60gsm kitakata which the Awagami Factory were selling off really cheaply. It's lovely paper but not as smooth as the other kitakatas so the surface is slightly hairy which was unexpected. I think it might add a nice texture to the surface though. I'm planning on leaving one unprinted at each layer to show who the layers are built up so hopefully, if I can manage to get them all done I'll have an edition of 20. I think if I get a few printed early in the morning each day then I should be able to pop another layer on the remaining 10 or 12 throughout the day and then do a little cutting. That's the plan anyway.... fingers crossed!
