Art Unscripted

Predicting the Future

Wouldn’t it be great if we had a crystal ball?  We could peer into it and discover what lies ahead.  Predictions could be flawless.  Alas, that is a fairy tale.  Instead, we make our best guesses at what the future holds when we set dates for different events.

For PageSage, the glimpse into the unknown revolves around estimating release dates for individual DVD titles.  Sometimes, just after you set a date for something, life throws you a curveball. Maybe we were not able to film all of the clips we needed for a DVD during the artist’s first visit.  We’ve filmed several titles where the artist visited our studios more than once to film all of the clips.

We learn a lot from our review team.  The PageSage Review Team previews every video during the post-production phase.  These tireless crafters represent a broad spectrum of crafts, hobbies and countries.  They ensure that we produce the best possible DVDs.  We take their feedback seriously…cutting projects and sometime entire DVD titles that don’t live up to our quality standards.  We want our viewers to be both inspired and delighted by our DVDs.  Our reviewers push, prod and nudge us in the right direction along the way.  They help us pick every nit before DVDs are released.

The past year has brought some unique challenges.  One thing we had to change was our manufacturing solution.  Our previous partner dropped the ball too many times on our projects.  We can’t ensure we produce quality products if the manufacturing process is flawed.  We now have a new partner that has already done some great work for us.  Along the way, however, every time we need to manufacture more of an existing title (that we have not yet done with our new partner), we need to remaster the title for manufacturing.  Now, in the ideal world, that is not a big deal.  Every DVD title is archived on its own hard drive.  Alas, as we mentioned earlier, we live in the real world, not a fairy tale.  In the real world, hard drives fail.  When that happens, we have a lot more work to complete to remanufacture an existing title.  The good news is that we have multiple archives around here, so we can always recreate an existing title.  Sometimes it takes a matter of minutes…other times, well, a week or more is required to get everything reassembled.

Perhaps the most frustrating thing is when we are so busy re-creating existing titles that we cannot focus on the newer titles that are in process.  We’ve received email from several customers…so we know that you are as excited about our upcoming DVDs are we are.  Thank you for your patience while we make sure that new and existing DVDs continue to live up to the PageSage quality you’ve come to rely on.  Our goal is to inspire creativity, one DVD at a time.  

Next Sneak Peek

We are delighted that you are enjoying the sneak peek inside Rubber Paper Scissors.  You've let us know that you want to see more.  We've put that on our to do list around here.  The question of the day became which DVD do you want to peek inside of next?  Together, we are all part of a wonderful creative community where we can inspire each other.  How can we best inspire you and your creativity? 

Keep the conversation going by commenting here on our blog, sending us an email, or tweeting with us on Twitter. 

90 Seconds to Aha!

I will never forget the first time I had the pleasure of meeting Guy Kawasaki.  Guy was one of the original marketeers (they were called evangelists) at Apple Computer, Inc.  In that role, Guy championed the Macintosh to software developers in Silicon Valley.  A computer without software just wouldn't be a compelling offering.  Since then, Guy has inspired countless entrepreneurs through his books, venture capitalist endeavors, and prolific writing.  For me, however, the inspiration was more personal.  The thought that spring to mind when I think of Guy is "90 Seconds to Aha!"  (In truth, Guy advocates 30 seconds...but the 90 seconds aspect is where it became a more personal story...perhaps fodder for a future blog posting.)

Let us know if you enjoyed this sneak peek inside of a PageSage DVD.

Quality Worth the Wait

Any kind of project, from producing DVDs to launching a rocket boils down to managing three things:  costs, quality, and schedules.  As I type this, I am reminded of a computer consultant friend of mine that has the best business cards:  "Fast.  Accurate.  Cheap.  Pick any two."

PageSage isn't any different. We balance the same business dynamics.  We've already made the big decisions.  We are committed to producing the best DVDs possible.  (Thumbs up to Accurate/Quality!)  Sometimes that means that projects take longer to complete.  Or, we may need to invest more money in a project than we had planned.  For example, for Art Unscripted with Carol Duvall, we did not originally plan to do any filming at Carol's home studio in Michigan.  But, when we reviewed the footage we had from our event in California, we knew that we needed more.  The only way to get more was to put our crew on a plane and head out to Carol's neck of the woods.  This is the only way we know how to make sure that every DVD we release is one we ourselves would purchase. 

In our quest for high quality, however, we sometimes sacrifice our original release date estimates. Nobody loves it when that happens.  The truth is we hate disappointing any of our customers when things are delayed.  (We remain pretty confident though that you agree with our philosophies here.  You've told us as much in your responses on our Creativity Survey.)  In the interest of not disappointing anyone, we've decided that we will do our best to avoid announcing a release date before a title is actually released to manufacturing.  In that spirit, we've updated the release dates on our web site for all DVDs currently in progress to TBD.

In the end, we are okay with being slow as long as we can continue to be the best (and the only award-winning) video/DVD publisher in the craft industry.  We hope you are too.  We suspect that if you really wanted low-quaility video, you would be watching amateur video clips on YouTube™ instead of reading our blog.

Recycle, Reuse, Rewards...

We've attended the CHA Winter show for a decade.  Every year we find something that inspires us...a new product, a new technique, a new artist.  This time, however, the focus was on eco-friendly product and ideas.  (We love that...in fact PageSage was the first video/DVD publisher in the industry to go green last year.)

We got our first peek at some of the booths during set-up.  Breezing through the Deisgner area, we spyed Sarah Hodsdon (Sarah-n-Dipitous Designs) putting the finishing touches on her booth. We already know that Sarah is wickedly creative.  (We are working on editing her DVD right now.)  But when we saw her booth, we were blown away.  Here she was showing us the flower bouquet and vase she made out of cardboard.  In fact, her entire booth was constructed from cardboard!

Little did we know at the time that this was such a small glimpse of the magic she designed.  Next we got a glimpse of her press kit.  Sarah designed both a compelling press kit AND a unique display for her kits...all out of cardboard.  We weren't the only ones impressed by Sarah's press kits.  She won the best press kit award at the show.

We chatted with Sarah as she continued to construct her booth.  She explained that the booth represented the tree house in her press kit display.  Oh how we loved the tree!  Sarah's team was in the midst ot erecting the tree in her booth as we chatted.  The tree is covered with hundreds...no...thousands of paper blossoms.  The booth walls are a collage of different textures...all recycled of course!  The floor is woven strips of cardboard.  The furniture is cardboard as well (and totally functional and comfortable)!

The next time we got a chance to catch up with Sarah, the show was open and her booth was completed.  She had added cardboard crown molding...cardboard strips woven together like the gum wrapper jewelry.  She even had a cardboard butterfly soaring along one wall.

We weren't the only ones blown away by Sarah's creativity.  Her booth charmed everyone...including the folks at CHA.  She was awarded first place for her booth design in the Designer section.  She was surrounded by some incredibly talented designers...but Sarah's design inspired us to embrace recycling in everything we do.

We snapped a quick photo of her awards before we had to head home.  Our artists inspire us every day...but at CHA, well, sometimes they just go and pull out all of the stops like Sarah did.  I only wish that you could have all seen her booth in person.  Surely a cell phone camera just can't do it justice!

Tweeting in the New Year

Have you discovered Twitter?  There are a variety of social networks out there...but thus far, we like Twitter the best.  It is an elegant solution for a short note, link, or thought to share (under 140 characters)...less than a typical blog posting.  Click on the bird to follow PageSage on Twitter...you never know what tidbits you may learn. (The bird graphic itself can be found here with other cool Twitter graphics)

May 2009 be filled with creative opportunities for us to express ourselves, whether it is from a keyboard or our studios. 

Happy New Year!

Giving Thanks for Creativity

We hope that everyone enjoyed a wonderful holiday weekend.  We ate too much and were thankful for the blessings in our lives amongst the chaos in the world at large.  One of our biggest joys is working with artists and sharing those experiences on DVD. 

Something special happens when we learn how an artist made something...what did they use?  How did they create an effect?  What else can they make with the same technique?  We are swept away, leaving the daily grind behind us as we feed our own creative muse.  As I create some holidays gifts for my friends and family, I wonder who is really getting the gift.  Is it the recipient...or is the real gift mine...taking the time to play in the studio and make stuff? 

Either way, the best way to learn new craft techniques is with PageSage DVDs.  We’ve extended our $10 off coupon for online orders through the rest of 2008.  You can use the coupon code more than once.  To get the coupon code, please share your opinions with us via our Creativity Survey (http://www.pagesage.com).  If you already took the survey (and don’t remember the coupon code), email us for your code.

Art Unscripted LIVE - Round 3

PageSage has always been an advocate for the environment, recycling, and being a conscious steward of our resources.  As you've noticed, we also made sure to incorporate recycled bits into our event.  Making art is not about having a perfect paintbrush or a new bottle of paint.  It is about celebrating self-expression...using whatever tools we find or re-purpose for our current projects.  So use what you have and make stuff! 

As you've noticed, the Art Unscripted LIVE artists do just that! 

Enjoy!

Art Unscripted LIVE - Round 2

Wow!  We've already received some wonderful email from some of you that have watched Round 1 of Art Unscripted LIVE with Carol Duvall and friends.  We are delighted that you are enjoying watching how these amazing artist craft under pressure as much as we do!  So, without further ado, take a peek at Round 2.

Tomorrow, you can look forward to watching Round 3!.  Stay tuned.

The Carol Duvall Show meets Iron Chef

The week before CHA (Craft Hobby Association) open the doors for their semi-annual convention are always busy.  Even people who are not attending the show get caught up in the frenzy of activity, new product releases, and marketing blitzes.  The summer show opens on Friday.  It made us reminisce about our favorite moments during the CHA Winter show earlier this year.

Carol Duvall challenged a dozen of the best artists in the industry to a unique crafting challenge.  We are proud to be the first company in the industry to facilitate this kind of event.  For those of you that were not able to join us in February, we have some video clips to share.  In fact, we have lots of fun things to share and unveil this week...so stay tuned!  Let's start with Art Unscripted LIVE™, Round One.

If you want to learn more about any of the artists participating in Art Unscripted LIVE, be sure to peruse the blog archives.  We posted something about each artist, including photographs of their artwork, in January and February.