01.31.2013

Greetings!

 

What to do with a collection of unused blank greeting cards, cards you made 25 years ago, cards from other artists you've purchased, been given or obtained through art trades, remaining cards from boxed sets ~~ cards you know you won't use as is because you don't send cards very often any more and you use your own recent creations when you do?

You bind them into a book...which is exactly what I did.  My Greeting Card journal contains nearly 40 cards and their envelopes, Coptic bound in 10 signatures.  The cards range from small to standard size and the book measures 7-1/2 x 5-3/4 inches.

I cut the covers from boards and covered them with halves of a large sheet of deconstructed screen printed paper (as opposed to gelli plate printed) from early last year.  I used blue dyed cotton crochet thread and brick red size 5 perle cotton together to do a 2-needle Coptic stitch...meaning I had 8 threads with 8 needles. (Wow, did BeeGee ever LOVE that!)

There are no pockets in the book, although every other folio is an envelope so places to tuck goodies abound.  The Greeting Card journal closed is 1-1/2 inches thick.

Fern Book

Another green book ~ this one a copy of Jane Eyre, the title of which I didn't want to cover over, so I left the outer spine the way it was.  The cover was plain, though, so I printed on it and added one of my tiny 4 x 4 inch collages from 2011.  It isn't a stencil I printed with, it's a rubbing plate that I inked up with Lumiere metallic paint then pressed onto the book.  Worked excellently.

The inner spine was covered with a piece of scrapbook paper.  See it just above.  The end papers are two of those old book pages I gelli printed a few weeks back.  As with yesterday's book, I stuck to green pages as far as possible.

I added pockets to the insides of the first and last page, stitching them in.  The binding stitch is the Double X and I think this is the stitch I'll teach in the workshop this summer.  It's quite a bit easier than it looks and stitches in three signatures at one time.  Fern Book is 8.5 x 5.5 inches.

What a Weekend

I just had one of the most productive weekends I can remember ~ and I didn't even stress myself out.  I was just on a roll.

I made three books, first one here today, and eight collages (the kind I post here often).

This green book is a sample for the NorBAG workshop I'll teach this summer -- an altered book with recycled pages.  The spine of the book was in fine shape, but I didn't like the title and didn't want it to show.  So I covered it with discharged fabric fused with muslin.  I covered the inside spine, which you can see in the last photo, with deco Duck tape.

As far as possible, I used green images for the recycled pages, including some old collages of mine.  I like trying to stay within a color theme for most of the books I make.

The last photo shows the inside front cover with a transparency pocket stitched to the end paper and glued in.  The back cover is the same.  The only machine stitching I did with this one was to attach the pockets to the end papers.  Book has two signatures, lightning bolt stitch binding, and measures 9.5 x 5.5 inches.

I'll have another green book tomorrow.  The third book, finished late last night, hasn't yet been photographed.  That one is especially interesting.

01.26.2013

A Week Ago

These are the best prints from my gelli session last weekend.  I'd hoped to do more during the week but never got the chance...instead, I caught up on several other small art projects that needed completion.

The last print, below, was pulled from a 12 x 16 inch sheet of tempered glass.  Before I spring for a large gelli plate (about $90 including shipping from Gelli Arts), I want to explore what's possible with the glass plate.

Good thing I've had a lot of recent work to post...because my daily regular collage practice hasn't been daily in months.  My new schedule for creating those seems to be making three or four at one time whenever I need them, which recently has been every other week or so.  No worries, everything changes.

In The Pink

The end of the Pink series ~ the first is an accordion with pockets, with hard covers.  The page strip was printed on both sides and folded to create the pockets.  Each pocket has a paper heart in it, also from hand printed paper.  2-5/8 x 2-5/8 inches.

 

The lightest pink book was constructed first by fusing two prints together -- the backs of both were printed with something else entirely and I didn't want them to show.  So I fused the two pieces together, creating a fairly stiff sheet that I then cut into six equal-sized pieces.  Each piece was folded and had another hand printed folio inserted, then they were individually pamphlet stitched. 

 

Finally, I added tabs of polka dot paper to the mountain folds to create the accordion.  The ribbon closure is unattached to the book.  2-5/8 x 2-5/8 inches.

And lastly, another tiny hard cover book created by folding a piece of printed paper in half lengthwise, then accordion folding.  1-5/8 x 3-1/8 inches.
 

Hope you enjoyed these Pink books ~ I learned a lot and I loved making them.  Now, on to other delights.

Three More

This book is an accordion with tabs -- although in this case only one tab glues two pieces of printed paper while the rest are merely decorative.  The tabs are paste paper.  This puppy is reversible -- the backside is fully printed as well.  2-1/2 x 2-1/2 inches.

This one has hard boards covered with printed papers.  3-1/8 x 3-1/8 inches.

Today's last is a flag book ~ concertina spine with folded pages glued onto each mountain fold of the spine.  The pages are of graduated length.  This is my first flag book.  1-3/4 x 3-1/8 inches.

2nd Pink Trio

The next three Valentine's books ~ the first has accordion folded pages that were stitched to the spine in a continuous pamphlet stitch.  Cover is a piece of stenciled 140# watercolor paper.  3 x 4 inches.

The book below has boards covered with my very first piece of surface designed silk, from years ago.  I'd not found a use for it before now.  The ribbon is braided 6-strand embroidery thread attached inside the back cover.  2-7/8 x 4 inches.

The last book has doubled paper hearts stitched into the valley folds.  The pink and white dotted paper is the only commercial paper used in this entire series.  2-7/8 x 3-1/8 inches.

I'll have three more mini books tomorrow.

Sweet Stuff

I decided not to wait until just before Valentine's Day to show you the Pink Dozen -- why wait?  I'll be into other things by then.  So here's the group shot, and I'll feature three different books today through Thursday this week.

 

Every book is some version of an accordion or concertina book.  This was the very first one I did.  Hand printed paper covering hard boards, hand printed paper within, and tiny heart stamps on each of the eight pages.  Ribbon glued to back board under paper.  3-1/8 x 2-3/8 inches.

I used an old watercolor of mine for the cover on this one.

 

Hand printed pages within.  The first and last page are glued to the soft cover.  4 x 2-5/8 inches.

Hand printed paper covering hard boards, hand printed paper within.  Ribbon attached to rear board under paper.  3-1/8 x 4-1/8 inches.

With the exclusion of the watercolor covered book, all the printed papers are 60 lb. drawing paper. 

Last of the Batch

The final prints from last week's batch.  I printed again yesterday ~ including more pink paper ~ and will do more printing this weekend.  

I'm wanting to print with a purpose ~ like a series of pages for a specific use ~ but I'm still having too much fun just messing around.  So the intentional thing might have to wait til later.