Posts from the ‘Books’ Category

Nov 28

Two to zig-zag and one for Me

As I mentioned yesterday, we spent Thanksgiving afternoon at home, the weather being too nasty for us. Interestingly enough, along the way we noted that pipeline construction over the several bridges was under way with dozens of vehicles and safety hatted/vested workers at each bridge. On Friday, there were no vehicles and no workers—was it the release of the oil from the reserves? or was it no train traffic on Thanksgiving day? Either way, it had to have been a miserable day working in that rain and chill wind.

However, I worked on these two books.

In our younger years with young boys and trips to family and for some of my CME events, in addition to clothing and toiletries, they each had a ‘fun bag’. They usually had a coloring book with crayons, small Hot Wheels or other small toys, stickers, a book to read or magnetic checkers—just something to keep them occupied during the trip.

Two of our grandsons will be flying to Europe next month to visit family–it is a long flight—and I thought perhaps a book with paper and markers might be handy.

I used upholstery vinyl samples for the covers, cowboy fabric for the interior lining and a mix of papers for the two signatures. Signature covers make them a bit more sturdy and more festive–these came from an old calendar featuring train engines.

I sewed the first one three times—thread too thin, then discovered I needed to use a spacer to make the stitches even.

And do you think I could find any of my containers of beeswax? No, I had to retrieve the large bag we used to wax frames.

And then used a boot lace to fasten them closed.

Parents were pleased—and hopefully the boys will be too.

And here is my latest book-binding tool–used to punch holes in that vinyl.

Nov 9

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Finger Painting for Adults

I had heard about paste paper; watched a few videos on the process but last week was the first time I gave it a real try.

I was supposed to attend a retreat in Falmouth Massachusetts last week but I could not make airline reservations work out—I thought I would end up sitting overnight in Logan Airport or without a ride to get back to Logan at the end of the retreat—plus the hotel had been more than challenging with difficulties in making reservations.

And so I ended up being a Zoom student.

I got a kit in the mail containing papers, wheat paste, and some paint.

I mixed up the paste. We made ‘tools’–from fun foam with teeth in shapes of sawblade or a jack-o-lantern smile.

Instead of using small containers, I used foam plates—-

And then I had to let all these papers dry. I used a dog food bag as my drop sheet—very handy they are!

It is quite humid here, the paper took overnight to dry. Then I had to put them under weights to flatten them out–but now I have a nice collection of paste paper to use in book-making.

I was not enamored of the selection of paint I was given—but now that I understand the process, I can choose colors more to my taste.

Sep 24

Our mail carrier must love us or maybe not

We have had several mail carriers over the years. Growing up in rural Wisconsin, the mail carrier knew us all by name and somehow managed to know which grandmother I addressed on the envelope as just ‘Grandma’ and then the town’s name.

He also delivered the baby chicks—and Mom made sure she had a fresh pot of coffee and some cake to offer when he came in with the chicks. Dad took the time from chores to be sure he could be there too–just to hear the latest gossip about neighborly doings in a time when travel was limited due to weather.

My good friend in Wisconsin leaves glasses of lemonade and brownies in the mailbox on hot summer days.

Our mail carrier will pick up the newspaper and deposit it on our front porch, hides packages behind the columns so they are not visible from the street.

But then there was this package.

My latest hobby has been learning how to make hand-made books. I had dabbled a bit in the past, made several fiber based books, and then discovered an instructor on-line…a new hobby with new words and new supplies and a plethora of things to try—-

Each month there is a new project. I used copy paper and some drawing paper and then decided to splurge on some Mohawk Superfine paper—and this is how it arrived—all ten sheets of 22 by 30. It was difficult to fit it into the cab of my truck…..although I can get down and up from the floor, a nice large flat surface at my shop is easier on my knees.

It is now torn into appropriate sized pieces for signature making—and that was a challenge in itself.

Jul 25

Charcoal from a Forest Fire

Fire has an odd fascination and while I trained as a chemical plant/refinery firefighter, participated in numerous drills at school and in the dorm, watched with horror as fire consumed houses and acres of trees, my plan always was to exit quickly and wait for someone to bring the injured to me.

However, I viewed the remains of the forest fire that swept over Colorado some years ago, the beauty of the starkness of the blackened tree trunks against the snow on the mountains. While wandering about, I found some smallish twigs turned into charcoal, picked them up and brought them home. I had used vine charcoal in some of my drawing classes and thought these bits might work in a similar fashion.

My plan was always to use fabric as the base for the drawings; I used a relatively coarsely woven fabric, spread some gesso on until it was just barely damp and then attempt to use the twigs. I found it was easier to dip the twig in the gesso and draw—but still the lines were very faint.

I decided to embroider over the lines.

Then while reading about book-cloth, I wondered why I couldn’t use a decorative paper as the paper layer.

I’m gathering up courage to finish this book–I must glue it to the cover; everything is done but this very last step— and now that I’ve written about it here, I may be compelled to complete this project.

Jul 24

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Fluttering is not such a bad thing

One of the things that occupied my thoughts this past year was learning how to make/bind/create books. I have taken some classes at the Houston Quilt Festival, bought books and some tools; but then I discovered a wonderful site on facebook featuring hand-made books. In the midst of all the vitriol posted about masks and politics, this was a welcome spot—just interesting and supportive. Although I know a lot about fabric, paper was a whole different world.

I took some zoom classes with the Printing Museum in Houston—those were fun and joined the Hand made Book Club and have been trying to keep up with the various books she posts each month–with such great videos for each step along the way.

One month’s project was a flutter book.

I wrote a short story about Monarch butterflies–milkweed grows along the fence rows on my farm. I have been thinking about using my crumb pieced blocks as book cloth instead of paper. I am not expert yet—but will keep working on it. Here is my flutter book.

Aug 25

You are Never Too Old

A happy childhood is never out of reach according to Tom Robbins. I have never read one of his novels; but this quip has been oft repeated.

One of the things I never did was fingerpaint. Maybe it was deemed too messy or too frivolous or too expensive. We did not have art until fourth grade and the messiest project was the one where we colored a piece of paper with our crayons, then painted it with black paint and scratched out a drawing as we removed some of the black paint.

Recently I thought I might try something new—making books. One of the projects was making paste paper. This is adult finger-painting.

The steps are simple. Start with paper–a fairly heavy paper. Wet it on both sides. Spread some paste (I used pre-mixed wall-paper paste) colored with acrylic paint( I bought a six pack of acrylic paint from Dick Blick for about $6 several years ago), then manipulate the paste/paint into designs.

I used a cut-up foam brush; the bottom of a thread cone; some sort of rubber grid from the grouting section of Home Depot and a scrubbie. The paper was ‘pastel’ paper.

I hung it to dry on my makeshift clothesline. paste20paper20lineup-m

Now I have a nice selection to use as book-covers or maybe even the pages of a hand-made book.

It has been fun learning a new craft–the terms, the forms, the artists. And a challenge to use what I have. I have no idea why I had pastel paper; I don’t recall ever working with pastels—but experimenting and learning new things is a happy childhood.

Here are closer-ups of the papers; paste20papter202-m paste20paper201-m

Jun 23

Something new

This quarantine has been challenging—and although I am not really doing anything much differently from my usual, life feels stale and stagnant.

With so many entities posting on-line courses and challenges, I decided to try making some hand-made books. About ten or more years ago, I made a lot of fiber based books and I still enjoy making covers for Marble notebooks along with fiber postcards. Working with paper requires different skills and I am certainly an amateur.

This month’s challenge was to make book cloth; and use it to make a slim case bound book. I used a mixed media paper, the cardboard backing from one of those yellow lined legal pads, tissue paper from a gift and a small strip of fabric adhered to fusible interfacing.

I’m not sure I got the grain of the signatures aligned properly; the signatures are not sewn as closely together as perhaps they should have been and I somehow managed to sew one signature in upside down—-but it is done and ready for me to paint/draw/glue stuff onto its pages. slim20case20book-m