Solace in Menial Work

It's been a funny week, The Loved One (TLO or hubs, no I didn't mean coffee) has been feeling and connecting very much with people on the other side of our havenly fences in Gaza. In the midst of preparing weekly comedy sketches for a popularity contest show, he hasn't really been feeling up to it, and I don't blame him. But, as usual his sense of commitment to work pushes him through, and I have yet to truly influence him with my belief that sometimes, it's okay to walk away. 

And although I share his sadness and frustration at the genocide that is being committed in the name of real estate, I feel I have already run the gamut and depths of emotion, particularly as I was closely following a friend's progress during her journey to Gaza on the Freedom Flotilla the first time it went out.

Also I have been preparing (for years, it seems) for an upcoming bazaar which Panini signed us up for in December. 

Right now, my biggest priority is ridding my house of unfinished work and finally testing the viability of my, until-now, hobbies. THe possibility of having a shop of some kind and being busy with something that pleases me creatively is very appealing.

So, although I won't be around that day, I am busy trying to organise the myriad of things and unfinished projects I have amassed during my hobby times, for sale at our booth.

Our purpose is to see if our things are sellable, desirable and ultimately worth spending time making (i.e. profitable). It will also be our coming out as a small brand, and we have such an eclectic range of homemade products, from accessories to bags to candles to clothing items, and only a small quanitity of each. It is the testing of the waters, and we want to make some sort of impression that will stick (in the minds of the casual bazaar shopper looking for trinkets and gifts. We think we have a great range of stocking stuffers for Christmassers looking for gifts while avoiding the dreaded consumer binge of the season.

So without resorting to huge printing and packaging costs, we wanted a way to give buyers their items in a repurposed baggy, while having our name or logo easily recognisable or readable. Since the bazaar is in the vein of recycling, repurposing and reusing items, we thought we would make our own paper bag.

If you aren't following Pinterest, then you probably haven't committed to yet another level of internet addiction affecting our world. Looking for a way to repurpose old magazines, I found a solution to my packaging quandary: DIY paper bags. I know, I know, anyone can fold a little bag.

But once I got started, I realised just how much choice I have and control over the quality of the baggy each buyer would get. Design is something I have always been fascinated by, and even though most of us do not have the skills a qualified designer would have, our creative eye and choices are designing processes. And I get quite a lot of pleasure out of making nicer things out of something nice :)

SO here are some of the finished baggies (long tall and thin, and shorter), all pretty and gorgeous

     

Start with your page

Flip and fold edges in

Tape top bottom and middle

Fold bottom up

Open up bottom 

Fold flaps to middle and tape

The finished baggy.

Here I wanted the baggy to show mostly the vivid green of the cupboards, so I folded off centre to get that:

                                       

All in all, a very menial, mindless, necessary exercise that has kept me happy. It's a side of me that has always seen the appeal of handy or menial tasks, like stuffing envelopes or checking off lists. It's been keeping me a little sane in this off-kilter world.

Hoping the ceasefire never ceases, have a lovely weekend, 

C

FYI our stall will be at the Community Care Carnival at the Tropicana Medical Centre, Indoors, on 16 December. Check out the deets here.