Artists of the Round Table

For 2012 I've set myself a challenge -- I'm taking part in an online workshop on Alisa Golden's "Making Handmade Books:  100+ Bindings, Structures and Forms" with other members of the Artists of the Round Table Yahoo Group. 

I love the book and have looked at it from cover to cover, but without some encouragement I know I won't try more than just a few of the examples.  This workshop is going to challenge me to work my way through the book (with guided lessons from our fearless workshop leaders) and post pictures of my progress.

Each lesson is comprised of a reading assignment and activity and is designed to take several hours during our week.  Progress photos are posted in a group gallery.

Lesson 1 involved getting materials together.  Here is my preparation photo:

Lesson 2 involved reading and creating two simple books.  The X book and the Shorts book.  Each book is made from a single sheet of 8.5 x 11" paper.

Here is my X book:

I used the poem "Moss" by Brian Guernsey for my text.  I found a photo of moss covered stones and played with it in Photoshop Elements 9 to give it a translucent look.  I took the text of the poem and placed it on the various sections of the page that would later become the pages of my book.  I tried to make it borderless printing, but somehow that option seemed to disappear when I tried to print.  (I'll have to work on that in the future).  I used alcohol inks to intensify the greens of the moss and to try to blend in the border around the edges of the book.

When folded into book form, it looks like this:

My second book is the Shorts book.  Again, it is made from a single piece of 8.5 x 11" paper.  I used card stock that had a pattern printed on one side.  I folded the paper so that the pattern would appear on the front and back covers of the book.

I then used stamps, masks and stencils to decorate the book pages.  I chose the variation that glued the bottom of the interior pages together, making a pocket for a tag.

When you turn the page, you see this:

I used a silk leaf as the tab for my tag.  It slides into the pocket made between the two page sections so that only a portion of the leaf shows.

This is only week 2 but I'm enjoying myself immensely.  Hopefully life won't get so hectic (winter is cold and flu season around here) that I can't stay on track.