Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Envelopes?

Today I had a new thought. I've always been one to cut up old calendars and turn them into envelopes. I have all these calendars saved up in my studio. Could I sell envelopes? So in an hour, I turned two wartime airplane calendars into envelopes. They're all huge, but I think someone out there could appreciate them.


What do you think? A dollar each? A set of 8 for $6? What would you pay for a set of envelopes of all different sizes but you could pick the theme? How many would you put in a set? Would you expect them to be lined, so the gridlines of the actual calendar wouldn't show?

Also today, I finished the piece I'll submit to the Art & Science Exhibition. The piece is entitled Anatomy of a Collage, using a scientific diagram to make it "science-y." The collage itself is called Fortune. Click on the photo for a closer-up look! I'll know by next Sunday whether I make it into the show. You'll be the first to hear. (And if I do get in, I'll share my "artist's statement" with you. Fancy!)


What I loved most about this was that I worked on it over a long period of time. A month full of Wednesdays? I like how the time allowed my brain to process it, and I came up with new ideas throughout. Also, I matted the collage myself, which was a great learning experience, and helped me to see how I can inexpensively frame my work! It produced a cleaner-looking collage, helpful for making it look less elementary, more sophisticated.

Please leave a comment with your take on the envelope questions!

4 comments:

Olive Knitting said...

The famous Heather!! This Anatomy of a Collage is great. I'm so impressed that you worked on it for a month. I find that really difficult but can see that it really pays off. Ambra's got me into altered books and I'm really suffering from my lack of stick-to-it-ness for any one page. Sorry your piece didn't get accepted but seems like the challenge was beneficial since you ended up with this piece.
I so totally want to take your cute apron class!

katie said...

I love seeing the end product of The Anatomy of a Collage. It turned out so great and has lots of intrigue. I love the envelope idea. I wonder if you could theme the envelopes with the cards? A piece of the envelope is in a part of the collage on the card. I would buy the card/envelope combo, but I am not sure if I would buy just the envelopes. Just thoughts. Way to put yourself out there, I'm proud of you!

flaming head said...

I would buy envelopes in various sizes for sure! But I disagree, I think it is neat that the inside is alreAdy lined essentialy, because of the month grids on the inside!! I make these myself and enjoy that aspect alot... But I suppose that it seems slightly more cost worthy with additional linings... It is hard to say though because sometimes liners take up unnecessary space and waste more paper.. My two cents! :)

Ashley said...

Heather, your piece for the art exhibition is amazing... I would so buy that from you if you want to sell it! It's beautiful. I agree -- sorry you didn't make it, but I'm proud of you for putting yourself out there.

On the calendar envelope idea -- I think it's great! How to make it marketable? I agree with the others. Maybe line the inside and include them with some very simple cards. Sell in sets of 5 or 10. I would buy a set of 5 cards for $5-$8 and maybe the 10 card set for $8 or $10.