Category: bookbinding

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Happy Hearts

I like snow days. When I can stay home and have time that I didn’t expect to have. And can play around with things with no particular deadline staring me in the face.

Actually, it doesn’t have to be a snow day if those other variables fall into place. I guess what I really like are unexpected periods of time that are free to fill as I please.

My list of things that I want to play with and try out is always growing, so it is really nice when I have a chance to cross some of those off. As I did these last couple days.
Like plastic bags – melting them and seeing how they adhere to paper and cloth.  And seeing how gut takes to ironing. And using cloth for book covers without using glue.

Some results were predictable and satisfying, some unexpected and a pleasure, some I know will never need to be tried again.

I also managed to do a couple small projects. One is a group challenge to take a portion of a picture and interpret it in some sort of fiber technique – the pieces will then be put back together to show the whole picture. My section of picture reminds me of a kimono so I  am paper folding and bookmaking to give it life. The mat board is still needed so I can’t mount it yet, but all the pieces are ready.

Another project is for a friend – as a surprise – so I can’t give away any details. It involved a minimum of sewing on my part and I was pleased with the result.

And late tonight a friend called to ask for directions for a flip book. She wanted to make one as a Valentine for her hubby. Which got me to working on one, too. Sort of funcky with hearts all over it…

Happy Valentine’s Day to all!

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Rainy Day

We are in the midst of a truly rainy day.*** The best thing is the balmy temperature accompanying the rain. This could be snow and ice! As it is, our front yard is doing its lake imitation and the fog is settling in as the raindrops slow. I hope most of the rain is soaking in as we still need to catch up from last year’s drought.

In between raindrops, I just sent my youngest son and his wife off – back to Cleveland – after a lovely couple of days here. We laughed and told stories and hugged and ate* and played music and ate** and hugged and hot tubbed and… generally had a grand time with them here.

They will be traveling to France soon for a soap making workshop (DIL) and time in a French kitchen (son) – along with some touring time in Paris. I figured they needed to be able to easily jot down notes, so some sheets of cream paper, a grocery bag, a bit of yarn, half a skewer and a twist tie soon became two pocket sized journals with removable pages. It was nice to be able to quickly make a couple of functional gifts. Got them both thinking about other possibilities with materials they have at home, too.

*My love served a lovely and delicious pork roast with his special glaze on Sunday in honor of son and DIL arrival. Green beans and red-skinned potatoes completed the meal. Great visual – and taste!

**Our son served a lovely and delicious porterhouse steak, marinated in wine and garlic, grilled and thinly sliced. Perfect side dishes of buttered broccoli heads, whiskey and garlic sauteed mushrooms, wild and brown rice accompanied the meat. Also a great visual – and taste!

***Well, by the time I had a chance to finish this post, the rain stopped, the sky sort of brightened, and the fog grew thick. The chance of rain resuming exists, but this might not be considered a truly rainy day anymore. Maybe more like a truly damp and dismal-looking day.

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Ships and strings

Back at the books this week.  Teaching a book making class at the Weavers Guild this coming Sunday and going beyond folding only.  We’ll actually cover book boards and do some stitching!

In between playing with folios and covers I’ve been filling plastic bottles with dirt and water. Crazy friend Charlene, knitter par excellance, went sailing this past summer/fall with her hubby from the northeast coast, into Canada a bit, across some of the Great Lakes and then down the Mississippi, to the Ohio, the Kentucky and eventually into the Gulf, winding their way to their winter Florida home in time for the weather to warrant their being in warmer climes. And everytime they pulled up anchor, Charlene collected some ‘anchor dirt’ for me! Some of it is really interesting, a couple ochre samples, some really dark stuff. I need a dozen more empty plastic bottles, though, to finish the job (close to 60 samples). Then, when they’ve sufficiently sat, I’ll do some mud work with them and see which anchor site works best.

And I just heard about some great water treatment plant sludge nearby!  Think I’ll go digging tomorrow – hope it isn’t frozen solid!

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Folded books

The last two days were spent making new samples for a folded book class that I have coming up – pictures available, starting with the fourth one in the set.

I tried a couple different cover materials. One is using plastic bags laminated together – turns out to be a pretty nifty ‘fabric’. The other was using paper grocery bags, which I’ve done before, but this time I ‘glued’ them together using a fusible fabric binding agent that you heat between two layers of materials to hold the fabric together. Both seem to work well.  I’ll have grocery bags covers for the students to use and will tell them how to make their own plastic bag covers.

My favorite new book is the little mini complete with cover.  What a cutie it is!

It feels good starting out the New Year making some art – even if it is just samples.  It’s the playing around that is good to do – a bit of creativity stretching.

At least one part of my body is getting a workout!

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Felting day

Today was spent with a horde of first and second graders. Maybe not an actual horde (how many people make up a horde?), but a lot. Quite enough, in fact, to keep five women busy the whole time!

Weavers Guild members worked with a local school today, teaching the the kids about the process of felting.  Our presenter’s method of showing how felt becomes dense was quite good – she used kids to dramatize the stretchiness of knitting and then had other kids demonstrate how felt gets all jumbled up and doesn’t stretch. Good for a laugh as well as for the information.

One of the wools used today was not a very good felting wool, so the kids struggled a bit with that. All in all, their felted ‘worms’ turned out just fine. We then went on to cut the worms into pieces and strung them on dental floss for a bracelet or necklace (kid’s choice). I did my share of helping with the felting and my shoulders are feeling a bit tired right now.

The kids were cute and for the most part very interested. A good venture.

The pocket book hasn’t been forgotten – just still thinking about how to resolve a couple issues with it. And I am realizing that I need to finish a couple knitting projects really soon!