Bishops Bag spinoffs

As I indicated, I have been working on creating printed merchandise from the original bag I embroidered with the names of the 13 female Anglican bishops in Australia, along with the newly appointed Sarah, Archbishop of Canterbury.

My first effort involved photographing each side, then using the template for the fully customisable tote bag on the VistaPrint website, to create an order for a printed version of the bag. I ordered three. Most VistaPrint products are printed in Melbourne, but, from past experience, two-sided bags are printed in China. 

 Meanwhile, I had an unexpected email from Snapfish, a service I haven’t used for anything other than cards since 2017, largely because I couldn’t retrieve and edit earlier books I had made with them. Other services have more flexible formats and archiving options. Their email suggested unless I placed an order with them, the records of my projects on their website would be deleted. I thought it might be worth ordering something to see if my earlier projects could be retrieved. Like most other Australian print sites, they don’t have pages that can be printed on both sides.

I spent the best part of a day, rephotographing the bag, focusing on individual faces, arranging them in a Word document, converting that to a jpeg file and trying to fit the result on a Snapfish bag template. It was tedious and difficult. The resulting portrait file (left) was the wrong shape, so I redid it in landscape. Then the resolution was not high enough. 

I eventually got there. Without confidence, I ordered a library bag and a tote bag - both only available in calico.  I also created a cushion, which can be printed on coloured fabric.

The plus side of  the Snapfish orders was speed and delivery through Australia Post. The library bag was delivered from Glenn Innes in NSW within 5 days. The other bag and cushion, from Victoria,  in seven. The Vistaprint one took 13 days to come from China and was delivered by courier with less than perfect communication and unfathomable redirect options, causing me to cancel a lunch commitment I was looking forward to. Then it was not delivered in the notification window - and I could have gone to lunch. 😞

 Predictably, the two one-sided bags are disappointing. The small size of the available print area means names are hard to read and, in some cases, cut-off. I’ve filled in a few letters with fabric pencils, but it’s useable only as a replacement for plastic supermarket carrybags. The calico colour does nothing for the image.

The cushion, however works well. I need to adjust one face, but otherwise it’s good. The difference is both in the fabric and the size. The fabric is heavier, and the larger size means the print is larger and clearer. 

The name on the second face from the left on the bottom row is unclear. I’ve re-edited it and will amend the template copy. I think there may be people who like the cushion.

The prize, however, goes to the bags printed on both sides in Guangzhou. The print is strong, the words clear and the bags hardy. The purple background works for me. I'm tempted to order more, on spec, in case there are women, or men, who have been involved in the long fight for women’s ordination, who would like one.

It's good to have lived to see this.

Deo Gratias. 🙏