Hey everyone! I’m Anastasia, I used to run the Lipsticks & Lightsabers blog but recently retired. Phyrra has been kind enough to let me guest-post over here occasionally, so you may see me from time to time.
If you’re anything like me, you probably walk around with a mugger’s dream of personal electronics upon your person. I recently upgraded to a Kindle Paperwhite, and considering how fragile the screens are, I was looking for a hardcover case that wasn’t completely boring. I’ve always been a fan of using GelaSkins on my devices, you can get plenty of awesome or custom-print skins or sleeves, but protection was an issue and I couldn’t find any remotely nerdy hard-cover cases on the internet. I’d given up and started looking up DIY advice to try and cobble my own together when a friend linked me to this Etsy shop, The 2 Sisters Shoppe.
The 2 Sisters Shoppe makes soft and hard-cover cases, sleeves and bags for all manner of e-readers, tablets and laptops. In addition to a lot of pretty prints, they also have several licensed Marvel, Star Wars, Doctor Who, and Hello Kitty fabrics. They do different styles of cases (hard and soft cover, ones which include stands for tablets, carry-straps, sleeves, etc) and also make purses, bags and wallets as well.
I spotted this Marvel Comic-Cover print hard-cover case, and sent the 2 Sisters Shoppe an Etsy convo to ask if it would be possible to change the part of the fabric used for the front cover. Since I’m not a Captain America fan, I asked if it would be possible to have another character front-and-centre and not feature him as much. They got back to me within the hour, saying yes that was possible and including a photograph so I could see the entire pattern of the fabric. I was able to pick and specify the part I’d most prefer to have used (and the parts to avoid) in the comments section at checkout when I bought it. They also didn’t charge me any extra for this change, which I thought was really nice.
I paid $27 for the case, and $17 for shipping via a USPS Priority International Flat Rate envelope. I ordered on January 1st, it was shipped on January 19th, which was in-keeping with their TAT at the time, especially since I requested custom changes. It arrived this morning, after being unfortunately held hostage by customs.
Here it is!
I absolutely love my new case. The build quality seems really high, I can’t see any stitching or loose threads, corners, fraying fabric or anything. It feels sturdy; the front, back and spine are all reinforced with chipboard to keep it flat and protective, it’s fleece padded to keep it soft and then covered with the fabric. There’s extra padding inside to cushion the device. The ‘hinges’ between the spine and the front and back covers don’t have the chipboard and are very flexible. It’s holding its shape perfectly, stays closed with the elastic tie, and the elastic ties in the corners are holding my kindle firmly in place. This case doesn’t have the auto-sleep/wake feature that some do, but that’s easily remedied by glueing a small magnet to the case so it touches the lower right hand corner of the kindle when it’s closed. That’s how the auto-sleep/wake cases work.
I love the parts of the pattern they used, you can see in the pictures there’s barely a trace of Captain America, and they included the Wolverine and X-Men parts I asked for. I love that mine is a little bit more unique for being able to choose the bits I wanted. I’m totally delighted with its aesthetic, quality and construction. I loved the idea of having a case for my kindle that looked like it was made of old comic covers, to me it’s like a subversion of the old stereotype of hiding your comic behind the sensible textbook to read in school.
I think The 2 Sisters Shoppe did an amazing job and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them to anyone else who wants to have superheroes, Jedi knights or time lords protect their electronics.
Disclaimer-y stuff:
This product was purchased by me, Jedi Ana/Anastasia. The shop has no idea I’ve written this little review at the time of posting. I don’t get anything if you shop there (except happiness if you like your purchase). All opinions contained herein are my own, and do not in any way reflect Phyrra’s, ’cause she doesn’t have an awesome Marvel comic kindle case. Nyer.