Renaissance Art

Today Only: $20 off RARB Messenger Bags!!

Discount Code: 721BAG2010

follow us:

Number 12, Sharon, won Giveaway #42, our  Medium Buckle-style 120-page Journal. Please send us your address so we may send your gift!

Arthur just got a new Android from Verizon and has been showing us the zillions of things that it can do. My mind is now a flurry of apps, screens and shiny colors. One device to rule them all!

When I was searching for today’s Giveaway, I found something similar…but leather! A Pocket-Sized Moleskine Cover…not only does it cover your journal–it holds your pen (high-tech pen loop)! AND holds 3 X 5 cards!

Whoa.

What is your favorite non-electrical multitasking device? Tell us in your comment for a chance to win: click HERE to read the rules of this Free Giveaway but DO NOT comment on that link to enter. You enter by commenting on THIS post.

Remember that the winners need to contact us with their address and phone number in order to get their gift.

follow us:

Through July 4th only, save 20% when you buy a new

iPad Messenger bag

Specials Code: JULY42010

A great sized bag, with or without iPad!

follow us:

Our “house” paper is Arches Text Wove. Arches, once a mill in the town of the same name in present-day Raon-au-bois in the Vosges in Lorraine, has been producing is papers for over five hundred years. While Arches is a favorite of water color painters and sketch artists, Arches was once used for for something kind of unexpected: banknotes (read: money).

Under the management of Jules Perrigot, Arches produced a type of paper used to make French currency. Arches is universally known for the “quality of its watermarks,” which made its paper perfect for such an fiscal purpose.

for more information about Arches, visit their website.

One of our young customers was sweet enough to send us pictures of how she put her Renaissance Art products to use: for her school projects.

Her mother said that our young customer “got a 99/100 on her Gold Rush Project. . . .Thanks again for the quality work. The journals and books covers make such a difference when submitting class projects. We love the originality.”

She used one of our Giant Small Journals with personalization for her Levi Strauss and the Gold Rush project.

She also won best design/creativity for her Principia Mathematica Redux 2010 science fair project and received 99/100 on her research paper. Her mother said, “She’s writing her Laws of Motion experiments/results in a simple lined journal I got from Borders. The Renaissance Art leather book cover adds such a touch of class and personality to this project.”

The cover she ordered was one of our Sunflower and Molasses Quarterbound Book Covers (you can see it on the left in the above picture).

While we like to think the Renaissance Art book and cover helped her find an edge, we’re pretty confident that our customer has brains and an awfully bright future : )

follow us:

Renaissance Art’s second iPad Case is now available for sale with a
20% introductory special.

This one is the same slipcase design but with a strap closure.

follow us:

Our first iPad slipcase is available (in 12 different colors and 144 combinations, no less!). Order now through the weekend and receive a 20% discount. Use the code IPADINTRO when you place your order.

More (with intro discounts) are following hot on the heels of this one…

follow us:

In his special instructions, one of our customers recently asked if we would document the creation of his Laptop Messenger Bag. We were more than happy to oblige. If you have ever wondered the what the life of an order at Renaissance Art is like from start to finish, check out Part II of this three-part installment:

At the end of the last entry, Tommy had just cut the gusset, strap hanger and strap parts and began to skive (a process to split leather in order to make it thinner) sections of the bag pieces to prepare them for assembly. To provide the laptop case with stiffness, the bag needs edging. To fashion it, Tommy measures and cuts a thin piece of skived leather. She marks the placement on the wall of the bag where the edging will go.

She then tapes the wrong side of the piece of edging and carefully folds a quarter of that onto itself.

She then places half of the now folded edging along the long side of the wall. She folds the other half of the edging into the back of the wall. The edging wraps around the raw edge.

In order to keep the edging firmly in place and to create an attractive stitch pattern, Tommy sews the edging along the top and bottom to the wall of the bag.

After finishing the edging, Tommy starts working on the flap pocket. The flap pocket is the piece on the inside of the flap that gives it stiffness. She has to skive the edge and roll it over to provide a nice, finished edge.

Tommy then tapes three edges of the flap pocket and places it firmly on the flap.

Stay tuned for Part III: the Final Build

follow us:

Yesterday we did a simple slipcase. Today we have a version with a strap closure. The color combination of this is one of our favorites, Molasses on Sunflower.*  Both yesterday’s and today’s version will be available with some outside pockets in case you prefer something a little more utility-oriented than slim and sleek.

Next week we will be working on incorporating the iPad into a messenger style bag.

*View all of our colors or order leather samples here.

follow us:

We are currently working on iPad cases and modular cases…everything from simple to modular, rustic to elegant with our colored leathers. We hope to release the first of these iPad cases late next week.

However, you can always get a completely customized case now by ordering a Custom Laptop Bag.

http://renaissance-art.com/catg135/categoryMaster.aspx

follow us:

Just a quick note to let you know that our Book Cover Line will be going up in price this week. So if you notice when you order that the price may not be the same as last time, don’t be alarmed. The prices are still pretty darn reasonable, considering the covers will last you for life and are made in the United States.

We apologize in advance for any inconvenience. We look forward to continuing to handcraft your custom leather goods in the future.

Number 15, Kevin, won Giveaway #35, our Medium 108-Page Journal. Please send us your address so we may send your gift!

One of my very favorite gems of advice came from my 7th grade teacher, Mrs. Radke. She said “The dullest pencil is sharper than the sharpest memory.” Ever since, I’ve always kept 3 x 5 cards and a pen with me, just in case. With this primitive method, I’ve been able to avoid the disappointment of being unable to retrieve the exact phrasing of a pretty good idea from my memory bank (most of the time). My problem then transfers from one of recollection to one of organization and storage: where do I put all these cards?

Please welcome our new giveaway…

Our Traditional Closure 3 x 5 Binder is perfect for organizing 3 x 5 cards, recipe cards, wine logs, etc. The one we have up for grabs handcrafted from Flight Jacket (exterior) and Avocado (interior) Rustic Elegance leathers.

What kinds of notes do you you keep? Tell us in your comment for a chance to win: click HERE to read the rules of this Free Giveaway but DO NOT comment on that link to enter. You enter by commenting on THIS post.

…to email us your Horrible Love Poem* for a chance to win a His or Her Limited Edition Valentine’s Day Journal (with your poem in it, of course!)

*We want the cheesiest, stinkiest, most horrible love poem you can think to write. Send it in the body of an email with the subject line “Horrible Love Poem”

This is Artbeast, Arthur, and…. one of my great passions is Chinese Tea, specifically gung fu tea, tea served with great care.  This is not at all like the more formal and lengthy Japanese Tea Ceremony.  Gung Fu tea is informal and centering and with a group quite social.  I practice it daily.  Anyway… this being one of my passions, I am working on a new venture, finding local potters to develop with me a unique line of handcrafted teaware to bridge the Chinese and American/European tea cultures.  I am calling this new company Tea Hardware.  One of the potters I am working with is Ray Morales.  He sent me 19 sample cups the other day and I have been sitting with them, drinking tea in the dawn hours in my tea room.  I thot I would share a picture of what he sent me and see what other people’s life passions are.  This pic is taken on the table in my tea room.

So….. What are some of your great passions in life… those things you love to do by yourself or with a group? Another one of mine is playing the Shakuhachi flute… maybe a future post on that one.

Ray also has a Facebook Fan page HERE
As does Renaissance Art HERE
As does Artbeast HERE

If you haven’t heard yet, it’s February. V-Day. You either love it or hate it and whether you celebrate pro or anti-Valentine’s Day, Renaissance Art has got a gift for you (and it’s not a box o’ chocolates). We’ve got new Limited Edition 2010 His-n-Hers Valentine’s Day Journals.

Both are lined in black leather with Cranberry covering Hers and Flight Jacket covering His. A snap closure keeps all the Frankfurt Creme pages (our premium paper) safe, and a three-letter personalization comes free with the purchase of the book. Also printed within each book are four love poems. See the first of the four below:

Dream Girl

by Carl Sandburg

You will come one day in a waver of love,
Tender as dew, impetuous as rain,
The tan of the sun will be on your skin,
The purr of the breeze in your murmuring speech,
You will pose with a hill-flower grace.

You will come, with your slim, expressive arms,
A poise of the head no sculptor has caught
And nuances spoken with shoulder and neck,
Your face in a pass-and-repass of moods
As many as skies in delicate change
Of cloud and blue and flimmering sun.

Yet,
You may not come, O girl of a dream,
We may but pass as the world goes by
And take from a look of eyes into eyes,
A film of hope and a memoried day.

So, what’s in it for the Valentine’s Hater? A Horrible Love Poem Contest*.

The world is filled with love poems. We want the cheesiest, stinkiest, most horrible love poem you can think to write. Send it in the body of an email with the subject line “Horrible Love Poems” to service@renaissance-art.com by February 14. Winner will receive their choice of a His or Hers Valentine Journal with his or her poem printed on the front page.

*Yes, I know that we have not yet announced the results of the Jingle Bag Rock Contest yet (you guys sent us a ton of GOOD CDs. Needless to say, we’re still fist-fighting over the winner).