Panama Concrete wall blocks, the patterns therein

Recently I enjoyed visiting Panama. I noticed that their concrete divider walls and windows had more variety of patterns than I find in my part of the world. I sketched as many different ones as I could when I was there.  I used Paper 53 as my notepad. Then for this composite image I used Photoshop Touch on the iPad. These patterns might end up in future soap caddy bags. also here.

Hey I don't know if anyone actually reads this blog, but I moderate comments because it seems like most of the comments I have been getting are linkback spam.  That is, the comment doesn't seem to have anything to do with the blog post, just general flattery, or something to do with a key word in the most general way, and the purpose of the comment is to generate traffic for their own website. That's fine with me as long as it's a legit comment. 

Soap Totes at The Beehive Calgary in Kensington

 Soap totes now available at The Beehive Calgary in Kensington, on 311 10th Street NW. Free parking behind the building, accessible from the back alley.

While I dropped off the soap totes, I purchased some Midnight Jasmine soap and Grapefruit Vanilla. Thanks so much Sandra for giving this retail experiment a try!

CD player decals for the vision impaired

My mum has macular degeneration, and so she reads books on a CD player. The buttons on the edge are black on black. Hard to read, even for a sighted person.  Product designers should ask themselves if their buttons can be read by a person over the age of 43, when close-up vision becomes more of a challenge.

So, I dug out some black adhesive vinyl and made some decals for the functions. Their positions on the top surface corresponds to the location of the button on the edge.

As usual I used my Cricut expressions machine with Sure Cuts A Lot. [But you can't get that combination any more, if you were to start out now you'd have to get a different cutter if you wanted to use SCAL.]

I will create a pay-it-forward listing on my etsy shop for the decals at cost if you want to do the same for your vision-impaired loved one. 

Soap Tote = A Niche Market

I talked to someone today who was like, "No offence, but...." and then she proceeded to run down my product. "You can get it at the dollar store," she said. No, you can't. "People just use hotel soap." Really? All people use hotel soap and there aren't any people out there who have special needs and preferences who would like to take their own soap? Or even people who would like something to take that wonderful hotel soap home?

I've heard those arguments before, and while I acknowledge that while the soap tote is not for everyone, it may not be even for most people, but it is for some, and it is for those people I make the soap tote. 

In fact I have heard from those people; they happen to be my customers. Here's another comment from one.

The real question I am now asking is, why did I stay involved in a one-sided, unfruitful, conversation for so long?

Plant Hanger

Here's another project that would work with recycled billboards. Many leather projects will also work in recycled billboards.  If the particular billboard is not thick enough, perhaps two layers glued together would be stronger.
 

Link

Red and White Comic and Toy Expo

Hi if you are visiting me from the link from the Red and White Comic and Toy expo, my comic and fine art is actually at this website, http://alisonlait.yolasite.com/

This particular blog is about my adventures in recycling vinyl billboards. If you are interested in my recycled billboard products, check them out here and here.

Thanks for visiting me at the comic expo. I had a nice time and I got some good feedback on my ipad art.

Boxed Corner bag for sheet music

Sheet music bag

My dog likes to chew cardboard and paper. I needed to get my sheet music protected from him. Before we had that tiny table ON TOP of the piano. Didn't quite look right up there! So I made this boxy-shaped bag out of an old billboard.

I needed it to fit in the space under the small table which meant the space was 9X9X13". 

There are only 4 seams on this bag, I will reveal the secrets of the box corner bag in my next post. Maybe I'll even make a little spreadsheet so you can enter the dimensions of the bag/box you need so you can make your own.