Ask any guitarist about running out of picks and I’m sure they’ll regale you with tales of refashioning expired credit cards into guitar picks out of desperation. The process usually involves jagged cuts with scissors that eventually get smoothed down with age. I’ve had a thing for strange picks for a while, but now that I have a Pick Punch I can easily make picks out of any thin plastic I can find. I’m beginning to experiment with it now, starting with the pile of junk credit cards I’ve been saving up for years.

Next I’ll try fashioning my own pick designs using clear sheets of polycarbonate and color printouts. If anyone ever wants to borrow my Pick Punch, let me know!

But it appears that switching to day cleaners is not the only change they made to go green. They also added these compost bins to the side of each trash can in our office. Keep in mind that we already have a large compost bin in the kitchen… and that this small compost bin is just barely smaller than the waste basket that it’s hanging on. Adding anything to it at all makes it fall over… but I imagine they probably change the bag every day anyways.

The final change is the new automated paper towel dispensers in the bathrooms. I don’t know if these are related to the building’s new environmental direction, but they appeared the same day as the vinyl signs and pvc toys. Any swipe in front of these dispensers makes them spit out 14 inhes of paper. 14″!!!

I’ve just finished a small batch of coffee cozies and added them to the crafts section of my shop. You can see them here.

As many of you know, it’s been a really long time since I’ve made any of these beauties, that’s because of the amount of time it takes to make them. I estimate it takes just as much time to make one of  these cozies as it does to make a wallet. Since my costs are similar, I can’t really afford to spend the same amount of time making cozies and selling them at 1/3rd the cost of wallet or iPhone case.

Recently, I’ve been toying around with the idea of working with some local manufacturers, but I haven’t been able to find one that can work with my denim scraps (from the jeans that I have tailored for Self Edge), so they will be from newer denim supplies.

I still love the look of the selvage denim cozies, so I made this small batch and raised the price a little (to $11) to make it a little more worthwhile to spend the time on. These cozies are totally worth the price, just throw one in your back pocket and forget about it until your next coffee stop.

The bag was in great condition for being at least 15 years old (and spending most of that time with Puck), but Zo’s bags are well known for their long lifespans. It even came with a note. I believe Puck may have been only half kidding when he said “urine and S.F. street funk included for free.”. Although it looked pretty clean, it definitely could have used a wash.

As I mentioned, the bag was in great shape, without a rip or a tear anywhere. I really dug some of the patches it was embellished with including an old Lightning Express patch. The bag’s owner (I can’t believe I already forgot her name) also pointed out that in the left hand corner was an angel patch that was mysteriously embroidered over a pot leaf for some strange reason. It sort of reminded me of when someone covers up a tattoo they aren’t particularly fond of with another tattoo… but usually people just seam rip patches… not cover them up.

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You see the secret to the LOL-let is the appliqued (and embroidered) two “L”s and one “O” which are guaranteed to generate generous gobs of giggles and guffaws. [guarantee only valid in some scandinavian countries].

LOL-lets are available through my Etsy site or through the shop here on DocPop.org (check them both out for different designs and options). I’ve also updated both sites with new crafts and restocked popular items. More new-ness to come.

I haven’t been outside all day today. In fact, the last several days have all been spent indoors trying to build a store on my DrownRadio.com wordpress blog using e-commerce. It still isn’t working. I’m totally ready to rip my computers CPU out and jam it into my router (re: my neighbors router).

Monday was my birthday. Do you know what I did for my birthday? The coolest thing I did on my 31st birthday was that I finally learned how to embed YouTube videos onto wordpress pages.

Although shipping my Etsy sales has kept me busy, I really have no excuse for not being more productive with my craftmaking. Luckily I tend to do my work in large batches, so I still have plenty of merch for my site despite not working on any wallets since late November.

I try to work on my wallets “factory line” style. The first step is simply saving scraps from my tailoring gig for Self Edge. I usually collect 30-40 scraps a week from alterations, but less than one quarter of those are big enough for my crafts (5″ or more). After sorting out the usable pieces I then have to go through the process of seam ripping the cuffs and the seam on one side of the leg (where the selvage edges are).

That’s what I did today. It took me 8 hours to seam rip all of my scrap pieces and iron them flat. Doing work this way can get a bit tedious, so I like to watch movies as I do it (Stranger Than Fiction, The Kingdom, The King of Kong, and Last King Of Scotland). I ended up with 74 pieces of selvage denim scraps! That’s enough for 148 wallets in theory.

The next step down the “line” will be sorting my scraps into batches; coffee cozies (pieces 4″-5″), wallets (5″-6″), iPhone cases and other large accessories (+6″). In some cases I’ll also gather small batches of similar style jeans to make small runs of consistent wallet styles (ie SugarCane, Iron Heart). After sorting my batches, I’l start tracing my patterns (w/ sorting this should take 8 hours), then I’ll do all my cutting (another 8 hours?), and then sew all the pieces together to make the wallets (20 minutes each).

The factory line method may seem overwhelming at first. I mean after 3 days of work, I still won’t have made a single wallet. But using this method, I can average a wallet in 45 minutes or so, compared to an hour and a half each working individually.

To any other artists out there, I suggest that you re0evaluate your “products” and see if it isn’t possible to try a factory line style for them. After spending a day working on a single step, you’ll probably find that you understand the essential steps more and more. You’ll start to see what steps are necessary and how to improve your technique. Simplifying your work can often lead to more consistent and much faster results.

It’s Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year, and if you are anything like me you’ll be avoiding the stores for the rest of the year and doing your shopping online instead.
If you are looking for unique handmade gifts this year, check out my online shop DocPopCrafts.com

I make iPhone cases, wallets & wallet chains, and coffee cozies out of re-cycled materials. I’m especially fond of using durable upholstery and scraps from awesome selvage jeans like Samurai, Imperial, Nudie, Evisu, Sugarcane, Iron Heart, Skull, and some of Levi‘s better stuff.

Now for the SALE!

This weekend I’m adding some special new items to my shop, including wallets and wallet chains made from vintage neckties and selvage denim. I’m also including free shipping (within the US) from now until Monday evening (11/26 @11pm pacific time).

By now you’ve probably already seen me mention my iPhone cases a few times on this site and on my Etsy page, but I made a new one this weekend that I thought was worth a special mention. My friend Kiya recently purchased 4 pairs of Nudie underwear and gave me the awesome little bags they came in. Nudie Jeans is a very popular manufacturer of raw denim jeans based in Switzerland. I didn’t even know they made underwear.

I held on to the bags hoping to find something cool to use the material for. When I decided to make a custom iPhone case for my friend Baz, I knew these bags would come in handy.

Here is a picture of the case in progress. The denim I used is actually from a pair of Nudie Jeans. I used the bags drawstring to make the hoop for a wallet chain or for a key attachment. As an extra detail I lined the back of the iPhone pocket with the part of the bag with the sizing. It’s a subtle touch that you really don’t notice unless you are closely examining the insides of the pockets. I love hiding little bits of detail like this.

Here’s another picture of the finished case on top of one of the untouched bags. As you can see, the headphone still plugs in while the case is closed, but the speaker on the bottom of the is also uncovered too.

I have 3 more bags, so I’ll probably make 3 more cases to sell at craft shows in the Bay. Right now I’m just waiting to get 3 more pieces of Nudie denim to recycle. I will be selling some of my iPhone cases at the next Mission Indie Mart at 12 Galaxies in SF (on October 28th) and I currently have a few different models on my Etsy page.

If you’d like to see video of my iPhone case, I demonstrate one of mine on my Craft Catavlog.