Sunday, February 26, 2012

Bookmaking Adventures February Challenge -- Accordion Books

I've already posted my accordion book for the February adventure.  A challenge was posted on the board  - use an unusual or unexpected page shape for your accordion book.

I looked around my workroom and saw a package of cardboard feet hanging on my wall.  They have been there for a while.  I don't know what my intention was when I got them.  They must have been a bargain bin find because I can't say that I find them an indispensable item.  But they are and unusual page shape.

It was also around this time that I had been blog hopping and ended up, quite by accident and I'm sure I couldn't duplicate the sequence of events again, at a blog called Real Yogis Say '%@"!'  I did not make up that title.  Yogi Amber, in her March 31, 2011 post, wrote an original poem called "Until You Walk in My Shoes" that was truly inspiring.  It was about making judgements about people and then learning their stories. 

I had to take a bit of creative license with her work since I had feet not shoes and not all of the verses had the feel that I needed but for the most part it was a perfect fit.(no pun intended).  So ....   Until You Walk in My Shoes became    Until You Walk in My Life  and my feet became multi coloured or multi ethnic because the words crossed all ethnic and cultural borders.

I used alcohol inks to add colour and jump rings to connect the pages.













Saturday, February 25, 2012

A.R.T. Lesson 7

We had a week break which gave us some time to catch up on our lessons in the 100 Handmade Books Workshop in the Artists of the Round Table Group.  This week's lesson involved making a venetian blind book and a brush book.

For the venetian blind book I chose to illustrate mine with two images.  I used a dark image for one side of my blind and a complementary white image that could be seen when you viewed the blind from the other direction.





For the Brush book, I used text weight, deckle edged paper.  For content I used two ee cummings poems  - and began them one on each side so that they met in the middle, which seemed in keeping with ee cummings style.  You would read one poem, then flip the book over and read the other.




The small band of paper at the end, secures the book together.  It is a simple structure but was quite effective for the poetry.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Adventures in Bookbinding - Accordion Book

As part of the adventure this month, we looked at tutorial videos for the making of accordion books.  I found one example that used envelopes as the pages of the accordion.  I adapted the method of attaching the envelopes together to leave a pocket at each fold, both front and back.  This will make a perfect vehicle for displaying tags.








A.R.T Lesson 6

In this lesson, we tackled a "snake" book and one called a "twist" book.

The snake book is very similar to the pants book of a previous lesson.  In this example, the page is folded into thirds and then into quarters to make 12 sections instead of eight.

I used ee cummings, Poem 42, as text for the booklet.  The striped paper adds to the whimsy of the poem's structure.


The twist book uses two complementary papers that are folded together to make a twisting effect, that shows off the paper.  I used dramatic paper and didn't add text or illustrations to this book.


Tuesday, February 7, 2012

A.R.T. Lesson 5

The project for Lesson 5 was the Storybook Theatre.  This is a composite structure made up of the theatre section and two "pants" books which are concealed in the curtains of the theatre.

This required three sheets of paper - one for the theatre and one each for the pants books.

I used the directions and dimensions provided by the workshop leaders (not those in Alisa Golden's book) so my book is smaller than that described in handbook.

I used a paper napkin to decorate the front and interior of the theatre portion of the book.  I used text and rubber stamped images to decorate the "pants" books.

Here is a picture of the front of the theatre with the "curtains" closed.

This shows the curtains opened.




These photos show the pants books.






i had the paper and napkin in my stash so I kept my Use It Up pledge for this assignment.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Pledge to Use It Up

I came across the Pledge to Use It Up in 2012 when I was checking my yahoo groups and browsing the blogs of various members.  One member was trying to complete a challenge and substituting what she had on hand because she was involved with this pledge.  She also posted pictures of her workspaces.  Yes, several of them, because they had managed to sprout in various corners of her house as one became too full to work in.

There can come a time when you have too much in your stash and you forget exactly what you do have or you don't take the time to go through every basket or box because you want it now and you don't know exactly where the item is.

I went through a workshop overhall before Christmas and my items are now all grouped together and my memory is still somewhat refreshed but I am at risk of letting it get back to its former size and mess.  What I need to do is
Use It Up
use my supplies, not hoard them or save them for something special that never seems to come along.  Take the time to look through my supplies before I start a project or challenge to see what I have on hand rather than fly by the seat of my pants and try to find the right piece at the last minute.

I'm involved in several challenges this year for bookbinding and I have the basic paper that I need.  I am going to apply this Use It Up in2012 challenge to the creation of those books.  Replacing consumable products like glue or items that you've run out of and can't find an alternative for is allowed.  (Good thing,  I don't have enough glue for an entire year). 

So far, more by inertia, than intent, my challenges have been completed using materials on hand. 

You can check out the button on the side for more details.
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