Good Things in Small(ish) Packages

I'm making some little books because I have tonnes and tonnes of scraps and because it's a good way to get a whole bunch of stuff ready for the big craft show in November. I'm trying not to overthink everything and spend hours picking out thread and paper and such. Just try some new things and enjoy. I hope they'll sell well, as they'll be at a nice price point and good for stocking stuffers.

This one's my favourite. It's another one made with scraps not quite big enough for a whole one. I love the shape and the way it closes.

Somedays Are Just Perfect

It's been a very long week. I've had so much overtime that, combined with my second job, I worked about 59 hours, and I'm very very done. So I haven't got much in terms of arts or crafts or anything in between to post. But this afternoon we spent the day at the park picnicking, because the weather was flawless, and relaxing and whatnot, and I drew this while staring up at the trees. So it'll do just fine.

Handmade Paper!

My mother-in-law sent me an early (very early) birthday present - a kit to make handmade paper! I'm quite excited as I had been thinking about this for some time, and as you can see, have been saving all my little scraps for just such an occasion:

I've started by making a whole stack of plain white paper, just to practice, and maybe even for a new calligraphy book project. I will post photos just as soon as they've finished drying.

Words & Letters - I like this one!

Sometimes things turn out even better than you had hoped. And this one is awesome! I'm really pleased to have something work out so well after the last book was nothing but an exercise in frustration.

The last step with this one was to put a last layer that was simply a frame for the rest. I wasn't sure if I should put it on, in case it made everything look too heavy and blocked the detail of the middle layer. But in the end it really sets everything off, and the details kind of appear as you look and move around the piece.

The cover. It made some antiqued paper using mostly ink and only a little coffee, so that it matched the old book and black paper.

Inside




Now, go buy it at my etsy shop.

Words & Letters - Papercut layer

Here is the second layer of the book. Over the letters I cut out just the capitals (not the lines and patterns), and to frame the words I did a few of the circles and lines, but very simplified and only around the outside.

The second half of the book. I like the 'Q' because of the positive/negative thing going on with the stem. I did the same thing with a few of the circles, or wherever the letters go outside the square.

Like in this close-up!


And in other news, the winner of last week's giveaway is Velma! Congratulations!

Words & Letters - a smallish art book. No, really

I'm staring another art book, but this one is going to be a pretty small project. It's the one that lead to this piece as I was planning it out. It will be another star book, all the black and white.

I wanted to do something on old book pages, and really like the Roman alphabets with all the lines and circles around them showing to make the letters. However, I didn't want to just to an alphabet book. So I decided to but some quotes in with them. I was going to just do random quotes about words and writing, kind of like an old sketch I did way way back. I can't it, but here's an abstract (ish) painting based on it, which might give you the idea:

This time around I wanted the quotes to have a bit more coherence. So I tookt he quote I liked most, "Words, words, words" from Hamlet and expanded it to include a few of the lines around it as well.

Close-up of the pages. There is one letter and one quote per layout. This is the back layer, and the others will be cut-out so you can see into this one. It's based on a square, because the letters are. The quote is smooshed into the same shaped. I didn't really use calligraphy for the quote, what I did was trace the outline of the letters and scribble inside to (mostly) fill them in. I love it with a little 'sketch'-like quality to it, rather than a more polished finished product.

When the separate pages where done I threw them all on the floor and decided on the order they would go in (see the top photo). The quotes and alphabet to go in order, but I didn't want them to simply alternate (letter on the left, quote on the right) so I played with it a bit until I was happy.

Then they all got cut out and glued to nice stiff paper to finish it off. I ripped the 'H' when I was putting it on, but that turned out to be a good thing because it was a boring letter and I replaced it with a more intricate 'K' instead.

A Leftovers Cover

Many months ago I was browsing around on Etsy and found some Rhonda's books that looked like they were made of two separate pieces of leather. That seemed like a great way to do two-tone books, or get rid of some old leather. So last week when I was again actively looking to use up some scraps I remembered my brilliant plan and did a bit of reverse engineering and adapting to come up with this binding.

Of course after I was done I realized that I probably could have looked at her blog for more information about it, and there was tonnes. They're called Crossed-Structure Bindings, and were invented by Carmencho Arregui, who also has a very informative website.

Nevertheless, I'm happy with what I came up with on my own. I think it works better for my purposes, since the proper version actually would have used more, rather than less, leather. But now that I've found more things to play with and adapt, it should be fun to have all that extra information!


ps. I missed Canada Day due to some computer problems, and of course, fireworks! But here's something for a little late celebration. Happy July Long!