TA DONE! – Coptic End Bands

March 6, 2013 /
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I hate to continue leading my posts with TA DA! but when I finally figure something out I just can’t help it. Coptic End Band   In the beginnin….7 1/2″ x 5″ – 11 signatures – 4 sheets/8 pages Susan, our instructor for teaching the Coptic End Band technique, brought text blocks for us to keep…

Two more print making techniques under my belt!!

December 21, 2012 /
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The product to remember is Gomuban – I’ll get to it in the middle of this post. Ink and Markers I sketched and doodled a Kimono a couple of years ago on a piece of paper that had an architect’s house plans on the back (c1966) – it’s about 14 X 18. When I knew…

Repurposed Lemony Snickets – Greek Binding

August 16, 2012 /
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OK – I didn’t want to use my wood covered book to experiment making the Coptic Endband so I took two Lemony Snicket books that I dug out of the library’s RIP box to make a book to experiment on. This picture shows the covers separated from text block andthe front sides already trimmed back. I…

Wood Book Cover from Hardwood Flooring

August 15, 2012 /
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At the next Atlanta Book Arts Collective’s monthly meeting one of our members is teaching us how to make Coptic Endbands.  The word went out that we needed boards. Picture a spinning top that has swirls of color – that was my mind.  Never mind what the intent was – I heard boards.  To me,…

Beach House Book from Drink Coasters

July 26, 2012 /
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This, with a bottle of wine, would be a cute hostess gift. 4 5/8″ from floor to peak of box 5 1/2″ high at the center of the house with book inserted 6″ wide from roof edge to roof edge Materials: 2 Coasters – 4″ x 4″ thick cardboard coaster (restaurant kind) Empty tea box –…

Leather Covered Slip Case for Antique Book

July 25, 2012 /
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One of the reasons I was interested in Jana Pullman’s class was that I wanted to make a slip case for a 1966 Instrument Flying Handbook I found at a yard sale. I have reclaimed airplane seat leather I want to use as a cover.  The leather is VERY thick and I was hoping for some…

My Week At Arrowmont

July 24, 2012 /
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I’m exhausted!  The good kind of exhausted.  Every waking minute (there are NO televisions in the rooms) was spent making, observing and/or speaking with other artists about art – all kinds of art (and eating delicious meals). We learned a lot about historical leather bindings, leather and leather tooling from Jana Pullman.  I was kinda hoping for…

Call me Pollyanna

July 15, 2012 /
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26 students – making 4 journals in 2.5 hours was ambitious. Pamphlets (4 1/4′ X 5 1/2′) showing the students specifics of the journals they made – bound with hairbands from Dollar Tree (100 for $1) Monday was the first day of class. The 25 artists (we lost one – before the class started) began the first…

25 Students, 4 Journals, 2.5 Hours!

July 6, 2012 /
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20 page pamphlet I put together of the 4 Journal Techniques being taught4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″ I’m nothing if not optimistic.  Here’s what happened.  A few weeks ago the Administration of a community arts center asked one of our local book arts teachers if she would teach a one day journal making class the…

Shock and Awe – Library Sorter

June 29, 2012 /
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About a month ago I began volunteering at my local library.  Holy cow!  I didn’t have a clue as to the amount of work and organization that took place at a library.  It must have been a paper zoo when card catalogs were in use. Library – Box Label Sorter At any rate, in addition…

IPad Stand using a Book Cover Repurposed #2

May 23, 2012 /
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PART 2 – A Rewarding project.  IPad Stand:2 –   1937 / New Standard Encyclopedia Volumes IV and V (I bought 6 volumes at a yard sale years ago)        The covers are a very nice, embossed, burgundy cloth.Scraps of Chipboard 3 –     Silver Grommets15″ – 1/2″ black elasticPVA Glue TIP: The stand could also be made using…

IPad Stand using Book Covers – Repurposed #1

May 23, 2012 /
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Having a hard time separating myself from the books that don’t have a “near future” purpose and don’t have much of a redeeming value that anyone else would want them. To reduce the length of the post I’m sending this in two posts. #1 shows the finished project. #2 shows the process. Stand as assembled. The elastic serves…

When The Student Is Ready…The Teacher Will Come

May 13, 2012 /
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In my case this Buddhist Proverb couldn’t be more timely… 1.  I came across a book binder on YouTube that put together awesome instructional videos of various book binding and case making techniques  http://www.youtube.com/user/Ceropegia?feature=watch. Sage Reynolds, the book binder, has an impressive list of videos, take a look.  While I knew (or have seen in the…

Book Repurposed – Fast and Way Too Much Fun

May 12, 2012 /
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Having finished the portfolio I was feeling pretty good about getting back into cutting and gluing stuff together again and wanted to get right back into another project. I save scraps – can’t help it.  Some time ago in an effort to clean out my side of my husband’s garage I started to throw out…

Portfolio

May 11, 2012 /
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Ya Hoo!  I received my confirmation from Arrowmont of my upcoming class “Books-Leather Binding Thru The Ages” taught by Jana Pullman http://www.westernslopebindery.com/index.html   I figured I should put aside my jewelry and sculpting supplies and bone up on book board and book making. I chose to start off with a handmade portfolio that would house a lined…

The Past IS My Present

April 24, 2012 /
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Another one of my gifts (to myself 😉 was a weekend art class… A serendipitous search of the Internet led me to a weekend class being taught by Sandy Webster only 1 1/2 hrs away from my home at The Creative Arts Center in Dalton, GA. “Building Boxes:  Creative Spaces for Small Collections”    Two important items…

1 GOOD Excuse, 5+ Reasons and a Flower Press

February 13, 2012 /
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It’s been over a month since my last post!  First and foremost…Is this the cutest picture you’ve ever seen? Gabi opened her dress-up trunk Christmas morning (when this picture was taken).  Stripped down to only the tutu, fairy necklace, magic wand and crown, and holding her new Dora Doll – she twirled on one foot…

Christmas Cards – – WHAT WAS I THINKING?!

December 9, 2011 /
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Note to Self on making this year’s Christmas Cards:  WHAT THE HECK WERE YOU THINKING?!! My muse really got me good this year.  Usually I get the urge to do what my friends do so beautifully –  make Christmas cards.  I’ll make a card or two, they don’t look near as impressive as theirs do and I…

IT’S OFFICIAL (I’ve seen it with my own eyes)!

November 22, 2011 /
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My book is featured on page 57 of the Premier Issue of Cloth Paper Scissors “PAGES” magazine.  Woo Hoo!! The book featured is my SmARTaleck Studio book made from a vinyl store banner.  I use it to sketch sculpting ideas and take notes in class.  It’s a little worse for wear – schlepping it back and…

Woven Star from Vintage Book Pages

November 17, 2011 /
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Stars made from pages of books, magazines, cloth, ribbon – just use your imagination for an easy, fun, rewarding, project.  Technique for “making stars come out at night” is towards the bottom of this post. This is the first star I made using 1″ x 8″ strips cut from an old dictionary. After that I reduced the…