Valentine's Soap Totes

Here are a couple of Valentine-themed soap totes. I'm not sure if the heart-shaped one is as successful as the traditional shape.

Thread Collective Show

Here was my table at the Thread Collective show at Tracy Murray's studio downtown Calgary. There are some bicycle handlebar bags, maps of downtown Calgary, and soap bags. It was pretty cold so that affected the turnout.

Making Hanging Soap Bags for Thread Collective Show

I'm thinking a lot about what to call these. Soap dish is not quite right, nor is Soap-on-a-rope. The Soap Hanger? I'd love some suggestions. The Soap Tote is good and catchy, but they seem to be taking a while to catch on. The soap makers like them, though.

New Soap Saver Designs

I decided to revisit some mesh designs I had filed away and get them out there. It has been a rejuvenating experience. I like the process of finding or creating a font that goes well with the mesh. I've been calling them soap saver bags since no one really knows what a soap tote is.

Ipad Case Design, Continued

Here's my completed Ipad case. I used three layers of glued-together coroplast for the frame. I thought the coroplast looked ugly so I wrapped the pieces in vinyl. I used coroplast inserts for the cover and twill tape for the edging. Finally I glued the frame to the inside cover. I have a few new ideas for the next one. I might add a velcro closure to this one.The loop in the spine is for my homemade Ipad stylus.

I realized I had covered up the speakers and other ports when I got a Skype call and we couldn't hear anything. So I'm going to try a design where I keep the various ports exposed.

Ipad case design

Since we got an Ipad at the beginning of summer, it is growing indispensable. I have drawing, cartooning, and svg software on it. I can read articles while lying on my side thanks to the aspect lock, and I listen to bedtime stories from various content suppliers.

I've been looking at Ipad cases that seem to start at $45 and go up from there. I've been waiting for our city's municipal election to score some used coroplast. Thanks to the Wayne Stewart campaign for their generous donation.

The design I'm pursuing has a few layers of coroplast built up to make a snug-fitting frame. Here's my work-in-progress. I'm using Vynabond to built up the layers.

I'm also planning to offer my Ipad cases with a stylus if I can get metal pencil extenders at a reasonable price.

Cutout map

I made a Cutout map of downtown Calgary using TouchDraw on the Ipad. Plus a lot more steps as well. The reason for many blocks not getting cut out was that I was experimenting with the pressure on the Cricut Expressions during the cutting session. It seemed to need maximum pressure on this particular piece of vinyl. The challenge was with the high pressure the piece was looking like it was going to shift off of the cutting mat.

Cutout/cutwork maps seem to be a trend, here's one in paper of Madrid. Mine has nowhere near the accuracy of Karen O'Leary's work however; I just wanted to see how it would look. Also the underlying map I was using did not have a lot of detail. The advantage of making an svg file is that I can make many copies. Each one will be unique due to the underlying colors of the vinyl.