Oops, Been a While

Sorry, I didn't mean to fall off the face of the blog.  I think I'll play catch-up in bullet points (Oh nooooo! Not bullet points!), which are not necessarily in chronological order:

• Click to embiggen pictures.
• Found a contact for what appears to be Anime Midwest's parent organization, and poked that. That finally got me a response, but not a very useful one, essentially "we've got some apps we still need to review, don't know when we'll get around to it".  I poked again as they completely ignored the question if they had our app, and finally got an answer that they do. Feh.
• Poked the grommet supplier, poked them again, and finally a third time. They showed up this week, a month after they were ordered. The excuses are plausible, although the delay was certainly annoying.
• I finished the map case in time for Boar's Head. Its very nice:
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• I've started on a black (saddle) valise from the same leather. So far I only have ends, so there's not a lot to say about it. This one will be simple - one-piece body/flap, no inner rain flap, no liner. It'll be a lot like this one:
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• I also finished some pouches. Not sure if you can tell from the picture, but I discovered that the construction is good enough to hold water:
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• I was actually soaking them so they could dry stuffed with newspapers, so they'd hold their shape better, instead of wanting to bow in, because I store leather rolled good side in. The wetting and drying were successful.
• One of the pouches I finished is based on this replica of a WWII-era Japanese small map case. Mine, which I forgot to photograph, seems taller, and I didn't add the pencil/pen pockets on the sides.
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•  I also dyed it black, because black sells, and prototypes sometimes have the odd bug that being black can help overcome.
• The book-keeping?  Don't ask.
• Working on a new product line, letterpress printed cards. Because on the mumble-th time of being tempted by letterpress I mentioned it to Ron and we both failed:
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• The bigger press is mine, the smaller one is Ron's. See my personal blog for lots more letterpress natter. 
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• I also have plans to print signs (prices, etc.).
• And steampunk calling cards. 
• Boar's Head went pretty well. We sold a little bit of everything. I don't think the map case got a lot of attention, but it wasn't displayed as well as it could have been.
• The weather was cold for Boar's head, but clear and dry. So I didn't complain about the snow on Sunday.
• Sunday we got new rollers for the small press with some of the Boar's Head proceeds. 
• Regarding Boar's Head food, the lunch sounded like it was going to be pretty much inedible for Ron and I (hard to swallow/digest), as well as high-carb and pretty questionable in an overall attractiveness, but we didn't check that until Friday evening, at which point it was a little late to contact the group running the event and try to get a medical pass on the "no outside food" rule. So we went to the grocery store, stocked up on meat and cheese, and took turns going out to the truck to eat lunch.
• The very cold weather was a bonus, as we left the food in a cooler in the truck overnight both Friday and Saturday nights with no worries, and the cooler only acting as food containment. 
• The Pippin containment measures mentioned in the last post continue to be effective. 
• On the other hand, last night while Ron and I were out running an errand and Robin was upstairs, he stole a jar of printing press roller cleaner. Fortunately, he was either distracted or decided it didn't smell very interesting once he got it outside, so there's only some superficial teeth marks on the outside. 
• Plans for this weekend: Belt piece that I ordered the grommets for, printing Christmas cards, Cookie Lab. 
• I probably should be working on pouches, but, oooh, shiny, printing!