Practicing New Techniques

As artists, we all have other artists we look up to, learn from and generally admire.  One of my favorites is Liz Constable from Book Art Studios.  Not only is she an incredibly talented book artist, she is a great teacher and very generous with her knowledge.

I have always wanted to take one of her Dyed and Gone to Heaven workshops, but unfortunately, I could never figure out how to make that work since she is in Auckland and I am in Texas.  Up until now, she has only taught in-person workshops, but the pandemic changed all that.

I was able to take both her coptic binding class and her dyed and gone to heaven class via zoom.  They were great, and thankfully recorded, because I had to refer back to them more than once.  I had done coptic binding before, but this is a new method that took some practice on my part.

Here are some pictures of one of my favorite books I made, filled with scrumptious, hand dyed paper, using a process that I’m sworn to secrecy not to divulge.  If you want to learn it, you can visit her website and sign up for her next online class!

Slow Stitched

Fabric Scraps

Trying Something New

I’ve never been particularly great at hand sewing.  Truth be told, I actually despised it to the point of avoiding it as much as possible.  That all changed after taking a needle book class by Roxy Creations, which can be found here:  https://www.etsy.com/listing/670893598/online-course-petit-needlbook-with-pdf?ref=shop_home_active_29&pro=1

The books she created, completely by hand stitching, were gorgeous in their simplicity.  Another thing about this process that intrigued me was that they were portable.  This was something you could pack in a bag and work on while you were enduring your child’s weekly practices.  Her techniques could also be used to create journal covers as well. 

After watching her videos numerous times, I finally got out a fabric bundle I had purchased at Tuesday Morning and decided to take the plunge.  Auditioning fabric scraps for inclusion and placement is more difficult than I expected, but I managed to put something together.  

Now it’s time to thread the needle and get started.  

More to come!

 

 

Faux Leather Travelers Journals With a Twist

I was fortunate enough to be gifted some very nice faux leather fabric samples a while back.  At first I wasn’t sure what to do with them, until I came across a journal in a craft store that give me an idea of how to put them to use.  This is one of the first ones I made.

faux leather travelers journal
Journal Cover

I recently decided that it was time to make a few more.  After sewing the covers together, I decided that I wanted to do something besides a plain cover, so I decided to create some vignettes on each one.

Here is how they turned out.

faux leather travelers journals
Faux Leather Travelers Journals
faux leather travelers journals
Faux Leather Travelers Journals Spines

To say I love them is indeed an understatement!

Altered Book Cover

This is the start of the cover art for my next hand painted travelers journal made from an upcycled book.

Image transfer, collaged background

I started with creating background layers created from magazine text and gel medium.  After that layer, I repeated the process with colored images.  Next came the paint and stenciled image.

altered book travelers journal
Cover in Progress
altered book travelers journal
Front Cover

Once the outside cover is complete, it’s time to add signatures, pockets and envelopes.

Faux Leather Travelers Journal

A while ago, I received several smaller faux leather upholstery fabric samples.  During one of my many trips to my local craft store, I came upon a small travelers journal they were selling for $10.  It was made of really cheap plastic that mimicked leather and had two notebooks made from kraft paper and one folder also made from kraft paper.  All of these were held inside by very thin, cheap elastic.  I purchased it, took it home and made a much better version of it.

I really love the size.  It’s more compact than the other travelers journals I make.  I have this fabric in lots of other great colors, so I will definitely be making more just like it.