New Product: Clockwork Lovebirds Art Prints

By Terri

Were you looking at our ketubot and wondering "I love the artwork, but already have a ketubah/would never buy a ketubah"? These art prints solve that problem!

How They Came To Be:

Way way back in the dark ages of 2012, Ariela and I figured out that we might be able to make a go of this business. I knew that the key to subsidizing the ketubot was to create smaller prints of the art with a quote on them, rather than the full ketubah text. That way someone coming across Ariela's work could be able to purchase the art they love, even if they weren't in the market for a ketubah. 

We actually got a request for a variation on the Clockwork Lovebirds a few months ago, making it the natural choice for the first set of prints. For the Hebrew quote, the obvious choice proved the best one. I looked through שיר השירים, (Song of Songs, the infamous Biblical erotic poem), to find the one quote in there about birds. Ariela found the English quote, using the incredibly difficult method of tossing search terms into BrainyQuote and choosing the best result.* It owes more to the clockwork than the birds, but is lovely.

The prints come matted and are available in two sizes:
Small - 11" x 14" - $45
Large - 16" x 20" - $60

*After performing the all important step of actually verifying that the quote really was from Ikeda-san -- we all know how reliable some of these databases are.

We Interrupt This Broadcast

By Terri

To inform you that things are going to look a little different around here. When we launched, it was with a new product release every other week. Ariela had a bunch of greeting cards on deck, and the other products on our schedule didn't seem too much. 

Fast forward a few months. We've added 2 professional oaths, several greeting cards and a ketubah to our product line. Ariela has stopped talking to me about how magical and wonderful art is.* She went to WisCon, and ran up against a project she really wanted to have ready in time. So it was time to have a reality check. Slowing down was in order.

As friends who are business partners, sometimes there is a push-pull that you have to walk very carefully. When your best friend is creative and driven, sometimes you have to talk her down from the ledge. It's easier with me - when I get startitis, I end up with several more in-progress projects, but I'm not tearing my hair out, nor is knitting making me unhappy. When Ariela has an attack of "Be Productive," it can end up with too many things on her plate at one time. So we're clearing the plate some.

Starting this month, we'll be ratcheting down to one product release a month.** This should hopefully give Ariela room to do her scribal practice, the occasional commission, Geek Calligraphy products AND her day job. If that works successfully, we'll stick with it. If it doesn't, we'll revisit it in a few months. 

*That sounds fluffy and silly, but when Ariela is happy with her art, she is talkative about it.

**With the right to add a simple second product if I think Ariela can cope