Giveaway #33: Small and Awkward
Number 89, Ken, won Giveaway #32, our Classic Size Modular Cover. Please send us your address so we may send your gift!
As one of the craftspeople at Renaissance Art, I can attest that each item is wholly unique. I hand-tear pages of artisan paper and cut covers from myriad hides with textural and color variation. Each book, bag or cover fashioned in the studio is different from any other of its same product. However, sometimes an item may be different to the extreme…and a bit awkward.
Unfortunately, over Christmas, a Small Journal slipped by that had one signature (one of the folded sections of pages in a journal) that was 1/2 an inch shorter than the other two.
Other than having crooked teeth, so to speak, the rest of this Small Journal is lovely: black leather wrap and tie with blue antique endpapers.
If your idea of perfection is a little bit off-kilter, enter to win this Small and Awkward journal: 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. Tell us about your favorite awkward possession.
Good luck!
Remember that the winners need to contact us with their address and phone number in order to get their gift.
Tags: free giveaway, Oops, Signature, Small Journal
January 13th, 2010 at 8:49 am
Hello, if small and awkward is how you describe it, then we might have a lot in common. would love to win. Cheers.
January 13th, 2010 at 8:55 am
Please sign me up. Even though “small and awkward”, it looks like a piece of art.
January 13th, 2010 at 8:59 am
My hand writing is pretty awkward too. A good fit.
January 13th, 2010 at 9:07 am
The awkwardness you describe is what makes a handmade journal that much more fun to have. This way you know someone’s time and effort went into it and not a soulless machine.
January 13th, 2010 at 9:32 am
It’s not awkward… it just has added character!
January 13th, 2010 at 9:40 am
I’m also a little off-kilter. Seems perfect.
January 13th, 2010 at 11:35 am
this look like a perfect size. been wanting to try this format as opposed to what I am working with now.
January 13th, 2010 at 12:24 pm
One of my New Year’s resolutions is to work on being less of a perfectionist, so this journal would be … perfect?
January 13th, 2010 at 1:10 pm
Awkward possession… I worked overseas on excavations for a while, and for some reason, the Mickey Mouse pillowcase I have had since I was wee always had to come with me. Explaining, in various halting foreign languages, that the pillowcase really, no *really* belonged to an adult was awkward. What was more awkward, though, was trying to find it after it mysteriously disappeared from our communal wash one day. Poor thing, never found again, been gone these 12 years.
January 13th, 2010 at 4:27 pm
Perfectionism is the bane of my existence. What better way to challenge myself than a visible reminder in my daily writings. You folks do wonderful work, this “small and awkward” gem being no exception!
January 13th, 2010 at 5:53 pm
I like the endpapers on the notebook. My current Renaissance notebook has red endpapers, but I may opt for blue in the future.
January 13th, 2010 at 7:26 pm
Crooked teeth? No problem, it just needs braces.
January 13th, 2010 at 9:14 pm
Sounds all right to me… it just has more character! Sign me up!
January 13th, 2010 at 9:37 pm
Each person is unique . . . just like everybody else. But extra unique = extra great!
January 14th, 2010 at 6:06 am
Hmmm–favorite awkward possession. Let me think. Maybe the little herb-garden in a pot that I had when I was little. My mother had to explain that calling it a “pot garden” might not be the best idea.
January 14th, 2010 at 10:14 am
This would be welcomed by my brown leather small journals (they are very accepting of individual differences). Plus I am large and awkward. My favorite awkward possessions are my feet.
January 14th, 2010 at 10:34 am
Dear Ren-Art,
I would be more than willing to provide this journal an environment free of terms such as “small and awkward”. With proper love and a steady supply of nourishing ink, it could develop into a very nice journal. If, of course, it is raised away from society’s stigma concerning its stature and symmetry.
W.
January 14th, 2010 at 12:09 pm
“Small…awkward…crooked teeth…” Sounds like me before I had braces back when I was a young ‘un!
My grandmother handcrafted presents for everyone for many years — it’s actually the dropped stitches in her plastic canvas that makes them more precious because it shows they weren’t something programmed on a machine.
Bren
January 14th, 2010 at 1:00 pm
Old world knitters intentionally added imperfections to their work, only the work of God was perfect, they did not want their work to be an offend God. In this case I guess you didn’t have too try. Mistakes are easier left and appreciated than fixed.
January 14th, 2010 at 1:01 pm
I really liked what everyone has said, I almost don’t feel worthy of making a request for this when so many of you have done it so eloquently.
I know I would keep it with me at all times sharing it’s natural beauty to all those that may find themselves drawn to it while it is being carried or just held on it’s daily journeys.
January 14th, 2010 at 4:54 pm
Doesn’t look like a big problem to me - I’d definitely put it to good use.
January 14th, 2010 at 7:03 pm
Awkward? I think not. It’s special.
January 14th, 2010 at 7:50 pm
Thank You for being one of my favorite sites. Sign me up.
January 14th, 2010 at 7:52 pm
If I had to name my favorite awkward thing…. it would have to be my dog. Rex is amazing, IN PART DUE to his funny drooped left ear. When something suddenly catches his attention, his eyes are suddenly alert and his ears both try to left to get a better listen. Only the right one does as it’s told. The left stays leisurely behind.
January 14th, 2010 at 9:35 pm
My favorite awkward possesion is my old baseball cap. It has desert camouflage coloring with my favorite basball team’s logo and I have been told that it looks like a duck hunting cap. Of all the nerve! I wear it everywhere. I will be coming to Santa Fe in March for the first time and I will try to look you guys up! I love your products and old world styling.
January 15th, 2010 at 6:27 pm
When I began in art school, the standards for everything, all the art and projects, were very high. We were being taught “not to make mistakes” and then if absolutely necessary, to be able to correct them in a professional way. But I soon learned the “mistakes” are indeed what creates the beauty so often in art, the symmetry which is just a little off kilter, the drop or blob or cut which then is made to look like part of the plan and only becomes an enrichment. Since then, I have let that become how I create my art, not an accident, but the bit of sand which creates the lustrous pearl…. something to play off of and allow to enrich the whole.
January 15th, 2010 at 9:03 pm
Sign me up. Off kilter definitely fits into my world.
January 16th, 2010 at 10:25 am
Sign me up.
(In comparison with all these eloquent responses mine sounds… awkward, doesn’t it?)
January 16th, 2010 at 11:33 am
I have an old writing desk that my granddad made for me - “because an artist needs a place to be creative” - he said. Sadly, he passed away before it was finished and so it remains a little lopsided. I love this desk dearly. It has moved with me from one continent to the other and will continue to do so in future.
January 16th, 2010 at 5:02 pm
My favorite awkward possession is a stuffed bunny made by my son in school.
January 16th, 2010 at 9:06 pm
My favorite awkward possession is an autumn maple leaf that a dear friend gilded for me with real gold leaf which finally (after many years) lost one of the tri points of the maple leaf. There was always something wonderful about the delicate beauty of his gift — but now that we are a little older (and more battered) by life, it has become one of those treasured awkward possessions….
January 17th, 2010 at 10:42 pm
i have two favorite awkward possessions one is a piece of clay my best friend sculpted for me by wrapping it around her thumb and painting it pink and green. it’s affectionately known as “luna”. the other is my grandma’s old rain cap. its basically an old piece of rectangle plastic with plastic strips to tie under the neck. we used to make fun of my grandma for wearing them when it rained instead of using an umbrella. she pasted away 8 years ago but i still don’t have the heart to throw that rain cap away.
January 18th, 2010 at 5:53 pm
I have a slab of marble that has moved with me (many times) for over 25 years. It’s jagged on the ends and a friend once offered to even the edges for me. I could only stare in disbelief at someone who would want to change my imperfect, perfect piece of marble! I politely declined without explanation, for I knew he would not understand.
January 19th, 2010 at 7:28 am
My Favourite awkward possession is my fountain pen, it’s brilliant, however you have to know how to hold it, or it leaks and it doesn’t like mornings either…!
January 19th, 2010 at 11:45 am
Aww, cute!
January 19th, 2010 at 1:18 pm
We all have character flaws, why not celebrate them!
January 19th, 2010 at 6:02 pm
My great-grandmother used to make handmade Christmas ornaments every year. Only, she never was very “crafty” and they were always a little different than what she had intended them to be. She passed away this past Thanksgiving and I received her last handmade ornament in the mail a little while later. All these imperfect ornaments will always have a very special place on my tree.
Anything handmade will never be picture perfect - but they are always the most beautiful.
January 19th, 2010 at 9:25 pm
small, awkward, imperfect
sounds like me
it would be a wonderful match
January 19th, 2010 at 9:45 pm
My most awkward possession is my security blanket. I cant sleep without it. Shlepping it around wherever I go. When I go out of town I have to stuff it in my duffle bag or my suitcase (Its a full size cotton blanket). Its really awkward trying to explain to friends, lovers, and even the maid at the hotel (dont take my blanket!). People always ask me “why did you bring a blanket”? What do you say to that? It wouldnt be so hard if I wasnt 40 years old! But throughout the years I’ve found that people still love me for who I am, so I will always have my awkward possession.
January 19th, 2010 at 10:29 pm
Size is just an illusion to what’s inside, and that which is awkward within us is just the name we give to that which is different… and differences are what make every one of us important
All that to say I’d love to win!
January 19th, 2010 at 11:14 pm
Crooked teeth don’t bother me… my little one doesn’t have any… I would love a beautiful place to document his first year!
January 19th, 2010 at 11:49 pm
Usually I favor large, awkward keepsakes…but this would make a nice change.
January 19th, 2010 at 11:55 pm
My my whole life is awkward!
January 20th, 2010 at 1:23 am
My most awkward possession probably thinks she owns me–a small parrot called Xander! She destroys newspapers and bills, throws food around the kitchen, hides in any drawer left open, and I love her very much. ‘Awkward’ adds spice to life!
January 20th, 2010 at 3:49 am
My favorite awkward possession? I would say the stuffed duck I carried around as a kid. It makes for an interesting conversation piece though.
January 20th, 2010 at 4:10 am
My most awkward possession is me. I am large and awkward, and would handle small and awkward wonderfully.
Thanks Renaissance Art for your great products!
Kess
January 20th, 2010 at 5:59 am
That looks awesome. Like a Mini-me journal.
January 20th, 2010 at 6:23 am
Count me in! It would be wonderful to have a companion piece for the wonderful journal that Santa (via Renaissance Art) dropped down my chimney on Christmas!
January 20th, 2010 at 6:40 am
nice and small
January 20th, 2010 at 6:55 am
A chapbook of poetry: card stock cover, copier paper interior, poems by my friend Toni Brown, who has passed away. Awkward in itself, pages misaligned, saddle staples irregularly placed. Raggedy, like the frizzy ends of her dredlocks, raggedy like the people whose lives she worked to heal.
Then this perfection: I found the chapbook at a bookswap at a writing conference where I had founded a scholarship in Toni’s honor. Someone was recycling it–it must not have fit her life anymore, but it does fit mine.
January 20th, 2010 at 6:56 am
Small things have reason make big inpacts in the world of today. Im tall so in some situations it is not so good. But a way is made.
January 20th, 2010 at 6:59 am
Many people think that the twenty year age difference that my boyfriend and I share is akward( he is older…I am not the COUGAR…lol) I would have to say thay he would be my most “akward possesion”. I would love to have a journal to write all of our “Akward Adventures” in. I gave him the large receipe journal for his birthday and have been dissapointed that I did not get one for myself since the day it arrived.
January 20th, 2010 at 7:28 am
I carry a polished stone in my pocket. Sometimes it’s a worry stone, sometimes a frustration stone, others a prayer reminder stone. What’s awkward is having to explain to people why I have it.
January 20th, 2010 at 7:59 am
Gave all my groomsmen albums from RA and the quality is awesome. Love the smell of leather!
January 20th, 2010 at 8:24 am
I have a wooden semi-ugly mythological canoe in my office. Everyone asks where I got it thinking it’s from a small village in Africa or Central America. No, picked it up at Pier One Import for $3 on clearance. It’s kind of a let down to people hoping to get a nice juicy story.
January 20th, 2010 at 8:54 am
I enjoy reading the comments as much as looking at all the great journals
January 20th, 2010 at 9:24 am
Try to explain why you have a 12 inch stuffed brown dog with buttons for an eye and a nose. Also explain why it has a handkerchief for a cape when you’re a 30 year old guy trying to find a woman to marry you and it’s staring over your bed.
January 20th, 2010 at 10:03 am
It’s wabi sabi and perfect in its in-perfection. I would love to have it.
January 20th, 2010 at 10:38 am
That small and awkward book looks wonderful for jotting down places I encounter that I want to photograph in detail at another time.
January 20th, 2010 at 10:53 am
Hello, stopped by with the intention of checking out your products and now I am enthralled with what you have to offer. I am sure that I will be making a purchase in the near future. As far as small and awkward goes, I wish I had a picture of my dog here at work to post. I am sure that due to her cuteness that she would get an equal amount of posts! =)
January 20th, 2010 at 12:02 pm
Hmm, small, slightly irregular, favors dark colors; and that’s just me. I think the journal is perfect the way it is, and I hope I can get lucky enough to win it.
January 20th, 2010 at 12:32 pm
Small and awkward…a lopsided 4-inch high plaster kitchen witch that my daughter made when she was 7. I’ve moved thousands of miles over the past three decades. The little witch has lived in each of my kitchens. Its paint has mainly faded away, but each year I find it more beautiful.
January 20th, 2010 at 3:25 pm
I’d love to share my favorite small and awkward possession - but it really belongs to my husband and he might not appreciate my commenting about it in public.
January 20th, 2010 at 3:40 pm
Small and awkward? That would be ME when I was in school. I was painfully shy and slight of build - always the smallest in my class. Love your products and would enjoy the small journal to write my own new “awkward moments”!
January 20th, 2010 at 4:08 pm
Well I am not perfect myself, so this would be just right for me… Why do so many think perfect is the only way, a little imperfection adds a little spice and it is one of a kind.
January 20th, 2010 at 5:17 pm
Personally I consider myself a little left of perfect myself. My handmade books are an attempt to illustrate something unusual and quirky and some of my errors are my most beloved.
I would love to win something from your site because your products are very appealing.
Truly
Marjorie
January 20th, 2010 at 5:20 pm
I think your products are great! I bought a photo album for my wife and she absolutely loved it and I think she would love a little awkward journal made by you. I think small and awkward is just fine. I still have my maternity blanket and thats a bit awkward by its self. It has a large hole in one corner that used to be very small. I stuck my head through it as a boy and pretended I was Superman. Its a perfect memory…and still a little awkward.
January 20th, 2010 at 5:45 pm
My most favorite awkward possession … I’ve had a cartoon picture of my husband and I that I drew on a white erase board hanging on the wall next to our garage door since 1998. Recently my niece drew a heart with “I love you” on the board … it was then I noticed that I had drawn my feet on backwards … now you must imagine how many times I’ve stopped and looked at this picture over the years and never did I notice that I drew my feet wrong. This is my favorite awkward possession and I’ll never erase it.
January 20th, 2010 at 8:25 pm
For me awkward is a central theme in my life and I mean that in a good way. It is like embracing something you love…a creative theme which I would enjoy seeing more of in people and the things they make… Consequently I buy the asymmetrical as well as the symmetrical such as things that are beautiful to look at and that don’t initially fit me physically or personality wise …and then I change accordingly and the fit is all of a sudden there…such as: a leather coat that doesn’t quite fit….or a hat that challenges my courage by daring to wear it….the challenge is not destructive but growth producing…because it helps you stretch in the right direction by producing a smile, a good laugh (especially with funny hats)…Enuf….I collect that which brings a smile to my heart and your leather crafts do that for me, asymmetrical/even or not…. Thanks for remaining true to your patrons.
January 20th, 2010 at 9:30 pm
Off-kilter would only give it character. My most favorite awkward possession is the battery pack for my iphone. I have nothing to carry it in, or the cord, but wouldn’t part with it for anything. It gives me an extra 5 hours to talk. :). I would love to win something from your site. You have character.
January 25th, 2010 at 1:17 pm
awkward? just unique :} and I’m sure beautifully crafted
January 26th, 2010 at 9:58 pm
Oh that looks great! Don’t tell it that it’s awkward… it might get ideas.
January 27th, 2010 at 9:17 am
All of your products are awesome…small and awkward will still have your wonderful hand craftsmanship.
January 27th, 2010 at 8:47 pm
This Giveaway has officially ended. Chrys T, number 44, is our winner! Please email us your mailing address so that we may send your small journal.
Chrys T Says:
My most awkward possession probably thinks she owns me–a small parrot called Xander! She destroys newspapers and bills, throws food around the kitchen, hides in any drawer left open, and I love her very much. ‘Awkward’ adds spice to life!
Here are your random numbers:
44
Timestamp: 2010-01-28 03:44:13 UTC
January 28th, 2010 at 10:04 pm
Am I too late?? What a wonderful idea (and I love the “crooked teeth”!) *grin*
March 11th, 2010 at 9:19 am
Do ya’ feel lucky?…..Well do ya?……Great products and a wonderful chance to win. Can’t wait till my journal comes.
March 11th, 2010 at 5:06 pm
Doesn’t look awkward at all! I’d love to have it for my own