just a little continuous line drawing (no lifting the pen from the paper!) from last night. it's a little distorted from lying in bed with my head on one arm, drawing with the other hand.
and that's part of what makes it look neat.
sometimes when i do projects, such as my current chunky fat book with the theme: i carry your heart, inspired by the e.e. cummings poem of same name, i give directions that folks who aren't familiar with them don't understand.
here's a little illu i did to help. 4x4 inch page, 1 inch on the left to be free of hard embellishment, sticky tape, or sewn thread. why? i have to punch some holes there, and my binding system needs an inch of paper to go into the binder to punch the holes in the proper place!
also, i like to avoid real feathers or plant matter (seeds, dirt, leaves) in case one of the participants is in a country that wont allow that sort of thing through customs.
to see more info about this current chunky book project, visit the post in my little livejournal.
handmade paper! this was made for a swap of hand decorated paper. i just went with handmade paper, since i happened to have this large piece of greenish paper around. when i first made it, i wasn't sure i liked it.
then, of course, i lived with it for a few days, and used a piece to make a small book, which is still in progress. it's very textural... gotta love that! the best part about this paper is that it feels very sturdy in your hands. it'll hold up to a lot of abuse, painting, embellishing, working. i am thinking of making an entire journal with just this stuff!
you can see a detail of the paper on flickr, if you're curious about the texture.
as you can see, Fat Girl number Nine is hot off the presses (or rather, xerox machine). this issue addresses a few issues, injects a bit of humor, and, as always, features some body positive artwork.
you can see more images of this issue, and learn more about the contents, if you follow this link.
by the way, there are some images up on the edition varies (print club) blog of the workshop i went to the other day. check us out!
i know i was supposed to post more on the book i made in the workshop yesterday, but i didn't get around to finishing it today. i am still working on a decision as to what to use it for before i get crazy with the embellishments.
the book pictured here, with this entry, is a small book i made today, with the same binding, only much smaller. this closed book measures approximately 7.5 x 4.75 x 1 inches. it is embellished with fiber, handmade 1x1 inch charms, a wooden spine, and buttons.
the paper is another piece (the first, actually) of that handmade paper i made the other day.
if you would like, you can take a peek inside of this book, with little hidden embellishments, or see the cover unfolded all the way over on flickr in my handmade book photo set.
i will post when the orange book is finished, promise.
off to teach my mom how to make this paper, in prep for making a book!
the workshop today was a blast! Jennifer is great to work with and learn from--meaning she's funny and down to earth, and just plain easy to talk to. we all worked on our books. glueing turned out to take longer than expected, and my paper was pretty thick so i kept having to burnish is down, add more glue, burnish, etc.
as it turned out, i don't think anyone had time to finish their books. i came home and finished sewing mine after some of us went to dinner @ Max & Erma's (the burgers are ok, but not great, if you ever wondered), and now my book awaits embellishment.
i will take a photograph of it tomorrow, when there's lots of natural light. it turned out pretty neat, and a lot of people loved the papers i made yesterday. i didn't photograph the paper i ended up using before i cut it up and used it for the cover. oh well!
i used a lime green, shiny, faux gator skin embossed paper for my interior. wait until you see it embellished. muah ah ah.
oh, and i also met some new people, which is always good! and... i'm going to do a workshop with the Print Club, at some point, on making the paper. woot!
i was too busy with glue and needle and thread to photograph much at the workshop, but i know Randel did. i'll see if he has some pix i can pirate over here, or link to.
oh, btw, if you want, you can take a sneak peek at the spine of the book over on flickr.
since i don't know if i will have time to get out to Suders Art Supply to snag some decorative paper to use as a cover for the book i am to be constructing in a workshop tomorrow, i decided to make some cloth-paper, ie art paper backed in muslin. boy, this stuff is exhausting. it really does take all day to make a few big sheets.
i started out with some yellow and orange bases, but they weren't doing it for me. you can check those out on my flickr. i think they'll be better for details, embellishments, and other pieces.
then i read the workshop sheet (yeah, smart move!) and noticed the decorative sheets for cover and interior cover needed to be considerably bigger. that's when i progressed to the much larger red based paper thing. it nearly covers my entire desk. i needed 11x27 inches. this is larger by several inches either way. i made it with several colors of tissue paper (red, orange, white, pink), some various pigments (liquid, watercolor), and some ripped up 1.25x1.25 inch squares of what used to be a dictionary page (or four), which were also watercolored darker colors. there's some thread layered in, too!
since my large work table in my studio is covered in junk. by junk, i mean 'art junk' which is not to be confused with trash or a Chinese water-craft (even tho those are really cool).
i am going to try to clear that off this weekend so as to preserve my little collection of prints without spatter of watercolor or any other arty stuff. my poor prints, hanging on the edge of disaster!
i just completed and listed this sketchbook over on my etsy shop. it's one of those 'piratey' 4x4 inch blank books i was talking about making last week, but i was waiting on my binding materials to do them up right, so i couldn't finish any until now!
this skullie sketchbook is 4x4 inches with approximately 15 pages of cardstock on the interior (acid free, white).
it's embellished with ribbons and a bone bead! these are pocket sized with one of a kind covers. this one was made with collage, painting, and drawing with both water based paint pens, acrylic, and oil.
