New Notebooks, But Hitting a Creative Slump

I made a bunch of new notebooks last month, with my acrylic painted covers. Some I use to collect my art ideas, some are now in my Etsy shop.

This Steampunk one below has a cool fastener that really works and some lacey covering inside the covers. It's not in my shop yet since I don’t know how practical it might be but I love the look of it! What do you think?

 

 
Aside from assembling these notebooks, I haven’t been very creative making new pieces. Although I’ve had ideas for projects, weekend usually finds me trying to clean up my studio and cull items I don’t or won’t use anymore. Haven’t painted in a long time, either. Is anyone else having trouble getting motivated creatively in 2012? Tell me how you got out of artist’s block.

FTB Journal #2 Redux – Celtic Steampunk Style

This is my second attempt to make a hidden binding journal from Mary Ann Moss’s Full-Tilt Boogie online class. My first attempt was not entirely successful.



This journal started life as a used book I found in Rockport this summer. I was attracted by the Celtic-like knot work on the cover and the spine. You don’t see such intricate decorations on hardback books much anymore.

After removing the text block, I tore down 90 lb. hot press Fabriano Artistico watercolor paper into signatures to fit inside the book and sewed it together (by itself) over some painted watercolor paper tabs. At the time, it sat perfectly into the spine area.



The book block sewn over tapes before gluing in




Front end papers from my painting



 I needed to completely cover the endpapers (line drawings of the book’s subject) because it would distract from the streamlined Celtic steampunk theme I’d decided to try. Adding two gears and a washer directly over the printer’s initials on the cover, I also wanted to hide the splayed brad inside. Looking through some paintings I had done on watercolor paper, I tried to find any with a steampunk theme. I found a perfect one and decided to use parts of it to become both front and back end papers that would also attach to the first and last pages.

That’s when I ran into the same difficulty I had with the practice version. The painted end paper was 140 lb. watercolor, adding too much thickness to my perfectly-fitting sewn book block. I struggled to get the back end papers to both attach and close. Now I know to not use thicker endpapers!

Yet, it still looks cool despite its imperfections. You can turn the gears on the front cover and the end papers look steampunk.

 

I might have to make several more of this style of journal to really master it. Maybe thinner end papers or none at all would work better. Although I like being able to recycle old books, especially when there is a great design on the spine, this is not my favorite style of journals to make.

Back end papers

Steampunk Fun!

Last weekend was the first ever Steampunk convention held in Texas. Very intrigued with the idea, I decided to fashion a costume to wear and attend the gathering.




Steampunk has grown from a sub-genre of science-fiction novels (think of the Victorian era with Jules Verne, steam power, gears, H.G. Wells, and then add a twist) to fashion and furniture, to do-it-yourself (DIY) accessories and creations regressing technology and giving it a soulful playfulness. It’s all about having fun. When I attended a panel discussion about creating a persona in the steampunk universe, the main theme repeated was: “If you’re not having fun, what’s the point?”

I first found out about steampunk last year reading about the bookbinder Rhonda Miller creating cool steampunk journals. Then I read Steampunk Style Jewelry by Jean Campbell as an introduction to the genre and to some nifty jewelry fabrications.

After reading about the Aetherfest on Thursday, I didn’t have much time to cobble an outfit together. Friday after work, I went to a thrift shop and opened my mind to all kind of possibilities. Finding a simple sleeveless black dress with slits up the side, I decided this could be a base for more layering. I found a beautiful crinkly black silk blouse with a hint of red at the cuffs that I wore in colder air conditioned rooms. A great black belt with metal circles that could be draped diagonally was a last-minute find. I also bought other future possibilities including a dark navy vest with leather in the front and corduroy in the back. At a favorite upscale discount establishment, I found a great black bag with rivets and pockets as well as a pearl bracelet with a black rose.

On Saturday, I made a pair of steampunk earrings with a filigree flower and vine pieces and some cogs. I had planned on adding more pieces, perhaps a mini-key and heart but it was already pretty long since I used the flower piece vertically. The funky fusion of nature and technology gave it a hallmark of steampunk. Looking through my closet, I found a perfect old-fashion dark wool hat with three swirly flowers and added an old pin my Mom gave me for a costume I created as a teenager. Rummaging through my jewelry box, I found penny farthing bicycle pins (being a fan of the TV show The Prisoner). One was very gaudy with fake diamonds and a big wheel than actually spun--perfect for one of the dress straps!

Then, I took a handful of antique keys—some real, some craft reproductions—and strung them on some matching brass ball chain. I loved the sound the keys made clicking against each other. Two more necklaces were added--a string of pearls my Dad gave me years ago as well as my handmade photo collage of my Irish great-grandmother. My pair of sturdy lace-up boots and thick Irish wool socks jarred with the dress and was perfect steampunk attire. I felt very creative assembling a costume, making earrings, and finding steampunk-ish accessories. The great thing about steampunk is the rules are very relaxed and non-elitist. You don’t need this, that, or especially the other thing to be wild and crazy.

Sunday afternoon I went down to the St. Anthony Hotel, the elegant 1909 downtown venue for Aetherfest. It was a perfect place to hold the gathering, with its ornate décor and fabled history. I felt very different in my costume and had a blast watching and listening at the panel discussions, mixing and mingling in the vendor’s room, and walking around the hotel. Taking advantage of an empty ladies room, I snapped some self-portraits, too. It so great the way so many dressed up—the panelist, the writers, the coordinators, the vendors. It gave an instant feeling of comradeship.

Even after the event, during the following work week, I snuck some parts of my costume into my wardrobe. It brought back the fun and creativity. Now, I’m contemplating making some steampunk notebooks and journals.

Steampunk. Have you caught the fever yet? Tell me about your air ship adventures! Have you crafted any steampunk elements—jewelry, clothing, accessories? Oh, do tell!

IFJM Ends and Summing Up

Here are catch-up spreads in my Fake Journal.

Unlike last year, I got an idea two weeks before April 1 but felt I couldn’t start in it yet. It might have helped if I had, at least gotten some of the design clients decided and some color swatches and magazine samples done ahead of time. Because by the time I started, my enthusiasm began to wane.

However, some good things happened in keeping a Fake Journal this month:

I experimented with a new medium: Inktense pencils with stamp pad backgrounds.
I discovered a way to make a “stamp” with the pencils and had fun playing.
I learned about steampunk, which knew nothing about.
I enjoying using a larger version of the Hand Book (just the second; 2009’s Fake Journal in a smaller green was the first). I liked the way the paper took gel pens, gel brushes, Inktense pencils with water. It’s still too scratchy for Micron pens, though.

With muted enthusiasm, I almost quit early but I still had a few more spreads in Sydney’s book.