New Journal

Long on the project table, this sewn-on-tapes journal is finally complete. Envisioned as a birthday present for my Mom in late December it’s only six months late; sorry, Mom!

This is in the style of the online class taught by Mary Ann Moss, using a recycled hardback book for covers, a mix of papers for signatures, and fabric for tapes. I created a few handy pockets from scrapbook paper. Here is the first one I made last summer.

This is one of my favorite journal styles. I love how easy the bookbinding sewing is, how flat the pages lay to work on, how well it takes lots of collage (including glued in envelopes), and how inspiring the different papers and sizes are.

What is your favorite journal style? Handmade or commercially available?

So Many Projects, So Little Time

Hibiscus growing in our backyard jungle

Happy June! How is your art focus? Mine is scattered. I have started a painting on canvas, worked in two art journals, made some new notebooks and an art journal.

 

Art Journal, Coptic stitch

This latest experiment is an art journal using the Coptic stitch. Fellow bookbinders on the Bookbinding Etsy Street Team (BEST) have kindly guided me toward good instructional sources in books and online. I find this binding very confusing and really want to master it since I have so many ideas for using this method. This is 8” x 10” with 140 lb. watercolor paper but next time I’ll use a smaller size and lighter covers than two Ampersand Claybord panels. The surface also takes acrylic paint very differently than the hot-press paper I know and love.

As I needed some more art ideas notebooks for myself, I made these new ones this week.

Three new art ideas notebooks

Thinking of using my photos more, I am considering a new printer. There is a cool one called the Epson Artisan I have my eye on; but it’s so large I would need to find space for it.

How are your summer projects going?

Mary and Ireland Art Journal

Even though I have had lots of ideas for other projects, book bindings, and paintings, I do not have anything to show for it. Research and pondering--yes; but not much doing. Most weekends nothing actually advances enough beyond placing things together and photographing them for future reference.

But here is some proof I am doing something visual--a personal art journal exploring the connection I feel toward my great-grandmother and Ireland. I have been intrigued with this ancestress since I first saw her photograph when I was a teenager and was amazed how much I looked like her. Her daughter, my grandmother, was a very private person and did not give me any stories about her but I have tried to pursue her story through other relatives. She came from County Meath and left Ireland for Chicago with her family when she was only 13. Over the years, I've played and paired her main portrait with some of my own photos. Things really clicked creating this cover collage with my photos of her, me in Ireland, and my Irish landscapes.

As you can see, the book is in pieces. Since I have not sewn it together yet, I can work on individual pages and re-arrange the order. 'Tis fun!