Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Marketplace: Ailurobibliophile Tote Bags on Sale

Ailurobibliophile tote bags.
Ailurobibliophile tote bags.

I’m down to five of my original Ailurobibliophile tote bags, one in each color. The images on these five are, well, less than perfect, not quite centered, not evenly printed, possibly a little off kilter, most of it apparent when you compare two side by side.

I’m also excited to make plans for a different way of printing them and other totes after this, and I know they’ll look a little different. For one thing, I’ll be printing on flat fabric and will be sewing the bags myself. I’ll have a wider range of fabric colors and types as well as detailing, and a different size.

So it’s your chance to get the design, slightly imperfect, at a big discount because my tote bags typically sell for $15.00 each. I’m offering these five totes at a discount of $5.00 each plus $5.00 shipping. Order two and it’s $10 plus $5.00 shipping! Stop and pick it up and there is no shipping at all.

About the totes and “Ailurobibliophile”

About that word, “Ailurobibliophile”. Yes, I made it up. It popped up in my design consciousness about a decade ago when I was photographing my cats in the cat book library, on the books, in the books, napping, bathing, posing, and I held it there until I had such time to really work it out. Finally, I can let the world know about “ailurobibliophiles”!

What does it mean? Just what it says. My initial idea was just “lover of cats and books”. Then I photographed Basil in August 2017…

Basil Will Be Reading
Basil Will Be Reading

…and knew the time had come. This was why it was to be introduced September 2017, back-to-school, that sort of thing, but had to wait a year.

As with all my designs, this one is based on a real cat, a cat you know, a cat just being a cat. I started playing around with this photo and others I’d taken that morning at my desk. I really wanted to screen print it, but adding one more element to my studio in terms of materials and equipment and I’d be falling out the window, so I decided I would be stenciling this design to start, much as I dislike stenciling more than a word or two of text.

I worked up a few designs, and in doing so found more fun things to add to the text because Basil was “on” the books, and several of the books were “on” cats. Likewise with my photos of cats in the cat book library, and I was just beside myself with the possibilities. I finally managed to edit it down to three statements so I didn’t go on and on.

I settled on one design for layout and used several text variations, then chose two that would work well for stenciling. I couldn’t decide, and I especially wanted to be certain the “new” word was understandable, and the text clarified it, and nothing made anyone think overly hard so it lost its fun and whimsy. I sent it out to several trusted friends for feedback. I preferred the heavier font. I think it balances Basil’s dark shape well. Not so the friends I asked for feedback.

We came around to spring when I’d intended to finish off the design and start printing and found I had more work to do than it seemed. I really did want to start selling the totes in spring 2018 but kept running out of time for the product development phase. And once I finally did get to that the next autumn I realized that a stencil just wouldn’t work.

The final Ailurobibliophile design.
The final Ailurobibliophile design.

I finally found a company who would actually make a screen for me for a reasonable price (I’d been looking for a company who would do this for several years). They are wonderful, affordable, and have a cat rescuer on staff. So I have the screen, and I haven’t fallen out of the window for lack of space! I decided to move all my printing to the basement despite the water coming in the walls because I need access to water from the faucet while I’m working, lots of it. Mariposa was still in the bathroom at that time, but even if she wasn’t neither the sink or tub would work to wash the screens. I can’t work in the kitchen because my cats would be all over it, and I’ve been intending to turn my basement into a print shop for these reasons and more.

Purchase one of these five tote bags, or two

Ailurobibliophile tote bag is screen printed by me in black ink onto a canvas tote bag. Bags may vary slightly in size, but are just about 13.5″ x 13.5″.

Here are the colors (only white and camellia pink are left):


See other tote bags, and browse my Handmade Gift Gallery.


Marketplace

Basil napping and being an inspiration.

Take a look at other new merchandise and featured artwork.

Marketplace is a feature on The Creative Cat to share the latest coming out of my studio with my readers. Once a week on Thursday I feature something new in my “shop”.

Read about creating custom items

Find out more about creating custom items for your own home using the images you see here. Visit the “Ordering Custom Art” page to see samples and read bout how to order.

Find out about events and festivals where you can find me and my work.

Sign up for my e-newsletter (below), check the widget on the sidebar on my home page, or sign up to receive posts on Portraits of Animals Marketplace. I plan on plenty of events this coming summer in the Pittsburgh area.

It’s all done under the close and careful supervision of my studio cats!


Copyright

All images and text used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission, although links to your site are more than welcome and are shared. Please ask if you are interested in using and image or story in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of an image or a product including it, check my animal and nature website Portraits of Animals to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit Ordering Custom Artwork for more information on a custom greeting card, print or other item.


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© 2022 | www.TheCreativeCat.net | Published by Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Weekly schedule of features:

Sunday: Essays, Pet Loss, Poetry, The Artist’s Life

Monday: Adoptable Cats, TNR & Shelters

Tuesday: Rescue Stories

Wednesday: Commissioned Portrait or Featured Artwork

Thursday: New Merchandise

Friday: Book Review, Health and Welfare, Advocacy

Saturday: Your Backyard Wildlife Habitat, Living Green With Pets, Creating With Cats

And sometimes, I just throw my hands in the air and have fun!

 
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Bernadette

From health and welfare to rescue and adoption stories, advocacy and art, factual articles and fictional stories, "The Creative Cat" offers both visual and verbal education and entertainment about cats for people who love cats, pets and animals of all species.

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