Books, Bags, and Baskets –
Books and Bags have been brought into Jana’s Journals along with my baskets. Why? Let’s look.
Baskets
Every business goes through cycles – Boom to bust and back to boom.
When I first started making baskets in 2003, I was honored to learn from a group of American Indian basket makers. Their patience and willingness to teach us traditional techniques and harvest practices has led to an 18-year journey that still brings me joy and peace.
The baskets have changed since 2003 but are still finely twined waxed linen vessels for special treasures. After joining the local Fiber Arts Guild in 2016 I’ve learned to use an inkle loom and make woven patterned shoelaces that I weave into the baskets. And the baskets I sell at the Rock and Gem Shows include small rock chip beads. It’s all part of the journey.
Journals
In 2019 I was invited to join the Ms. Biz program for Women In Business and coach participants when needed. Some are very needy, and some feel they aren’t at all. Whichever they were, they have done more for me than I expected. Throw in the pandemic on top of those sessions, and I got 15 months to reflect and decide what I want to do if my hands hold up.
- I want to continue to help those women who want a helping hand.
- I want to continue to make little baskets.
- I want to teach small business owners how to run their company daily journal writing.
- I want to sell artfully crafted hand-made paper journals and hand-woven bags along with specialty journals.
- I want to offer these goods through a shopping cart on my website and at rock and gem shows with my spouse.
I took the books, bags and baskets to the most recent rock and gem show and they did well. I asked buyers lots of questions and got some great feedback. I’ll take those suggestions and incorporate them into the plan for two shows this fall. By Christmas market in Parowan, we should be ready to provide quality, hand-made and specialty writing supplies.
The Future
I’ll still offer coaching and teaching, and I’m going to add a page for writing prompts for kids. I know I wasn’t encouraged to write because I couldn’t diagram a sentence. But I loved to tell stories about a world that was different than mine, because having a special story is like having a special pet or a stuffed animal. It gives the small child in us all a safe place to be. Feel free to check out the prompts page, when I get it finished, and use them as you please. I’ll make a note in the email that the page is done and ready for your use.
I hope you’ll come along for another few years of books, bags, and baskets.