The Going Green Store Granville, Ohio

I am so pleased to now be sold out of The Going Green Store in Granville, Ohio!  This quaint store tucked back into a cute little corner right off I-16 on River Rd. is really a must see if you are in the area.  Teresa who runs the shop is a very health conscious, eco-friendly, and sweet as a button gal! You must stop by and say hello and tell her Pulpa sent you!

They have everything from solar chargers and recycled bike tire back-packs to homemade soaps and the cutest little handsewn cloth critter ornaments and dolls for sale!!  Soon, Pulpa's paper products will  be on the shelf and available for you as well.

The Going Green Website

Featured Zibbeter Monday December 26th

Pulpa has just been informed that it will be the featured Zibbeter on Monday, December 26th!  How wonderful is that?  Pretty darn wonderful!

My shop on Zibbet can be found @ www.zibbet.com/pulpa


I want to thank Zibbet for picking Pulpa out of many other deserving shops!

If you are unfamliar with Zibbet here is a little information!

Zibbet is a fairly new online marketplace for artists, craftspersons, vintage goods, and art supplies.  It is similar to Etsy, but also unique in a few ways as well.

Zibbet is a much smaller community than Etsy. So you will find communiction with other shops and many of the "higher ups" is much easier.  To be found on Zibbet would seem to be easier as well, although I have yet to make a sale on Zibbet.  Keep in mind, I have only had this shop open for a couple of months.  So I feel good things are still to come. 

Etsy is a much larger marketplace and more well-known to the public.  I have made a quite a few sales on Etsy and my numbers are slowly increasing.  I have really been pushing the shop in 2011 by adding many more items and options to the customer.  This does help! People want options!  I am by no means in the thousands, or even hundreds, of sales yet, but I am working on it.

You can get lost in the crowd persay on Etsy.  If you do a search for paper products you may get 500,000 items flying back at you.  So you have to help promote yourself and be competative.

This really goes for either marketplace, or any marketplace for that matter.

Thank you again Zibbet for helping Pulpa reach out and share its wares!  I look forward to working together and creating a wonderful environment for those who love the unique and the handmade!

Peace, Love, and Handmade Paper
Signing Out
Erin

38th Annual Delaware Arts Festival 2011

The Delaware Arts Festival was a great beginning to a busy and hopefully very successful outdoor show season! Thanks to all who attended even during the inclement weather.  It was a great show, thanks to all of you Pulpa supporters. 

 It was the introduction of the new set up and I hope you all love it as much as I do. Thank you Steve Hartline ( my love, partner, and confidante) for putting it together!!!! Your talents never cease to amaze me.

Make sure to stay updated on the festival line-up @ www.pulpapaperproducts.com. New shows will be added throughout the next few months. 

You can go directly to shop Pulpa Paper Products @ www.pulpa.etsy.com.

Peace, Love, and Handmade Paper,

Erin Groff

Abaca

I did a pour method with 100% Abaca last night at the CS Shop.  They were exceptionally thin and had a wonderful beige color to them. I am so excited to see them dry next week!  I did a few 16 x 20's for sketchers, painters, and anyone interested in bookbinding.  I also did some 12 x 12 sheets for those wonderful scrapbooks out there!  Although, I think the 12 x 12 would do well for smaller pieces for painters and sketchers.  Sizing was added to these sheets to reduce feathering and bleeding of inks and paints.

Abaca

One of the strongest of the hard fibers, commercially known as Manila hemp. Abaca is obtained from the leafstalks of a member of the banana family, Musa textilis. The plant resembles the fruiting banana, but is a bit shorter in stature, bears small inedible fruits, and has leaves that stand more erect than those of the banana, and that are slightly narrower, more pointed, and 5–7 ft (1.5–2 m) long. The plant was domesticated long ago in the southern Philippines.

Abaca prefers a warm climate with year-round rainfall, high humidity, and absence of strong winds. Soils must always be moist but the plant does not tolerate water logging. Abaca grows best on alluvial soils in the southern Philippines and northern Borneo below 1500 ft (450 m) elevation. The plant is best propagated by root stalk suckers. There are about 75 varieties grown in the Philippines, grouped into seven categories, each of which varies slightly in height, length, and quality and yield of fiber.

The fiber ranges 6–14 ft (1.8–4.2 m) in strand length, is lustrous, and varies from white to dull yellow. As one of the longest and strongest plant fibers, resistant to fresh and salt water, abaca is favored for marine hawsers and other high-strength ropes. Abaca is also used in sackings, mattings, strong papers, and handicraft art goods.

Abaca is affected by several diseases, of which the chief are bunchy top, mosaic, and wilt. Bunchy top is caused by a virus spread by the banana aphid (Pentalonia nigronervosa). Mosaic is also caused by a virus spread by aphids (chiefly Rhopalosiphum nymphaeae and Aphis gossypii). Abaca wilt is caused by a soil or water-borne fungus, chiefly attacking plant roots.

The Learning Never Stops

I have just begun to understudy with another artist by the name of Daniel Colvin.  He has a fine arts degree in printmaking and paper making and owns Cobenick Studios in Columbus, Ohio. 
www.cobenickstudios.com

It seems although I have been making paper for years, my growth has been nominal due to the fact it's just me.  It has been great learning the techniques and tricks of the trade of another.  I am already making a finer sheet of paper. 

We are also going to begin some book-binding very soon.  The Coptic stitch is my new interest and I cannot wait to get this down and have a few journals under my belt.  The Coptic stitch allow for the book to open all the way and lie flat. This is optimal for sketchers, painters, and journalists.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coptic_binding