One page fold book

Some months ago I made this little fold book out of an A3 sheet of cartridge paper.  Originally I had intended it to have a Christmassy theme, printed with holly and ivy leaves with berries, but it wasn't a success so ended up in my scraps folder.  Recently, at a loose end for ideas, I decided to glaze over it with completely different acrylic colours and added more printed patterns with white gesso.  With no plan in mind, I have picked it up in spare moments and randomly added more painted and printed scraps from my oddments stash.  (Finished size approx. 4" x 6 )

A couple of other artists using this style of folded booklet are Helen Wells and Sue Brown which you might find interesting.

Twist box

I have long admired the beautiful Chinese thread books made by some book artists, but the structure looked rather daunting to me.  However, on this rather miserable, damp day I decided to tackle the smallest component, the twist box, to see how I got on.

I used an offcut of painted computer paper - this was only coloured on one side, so once the folding and gluing was complete I collaged matching green papers over the white facings, with the pink paper flower petals adding a bit more interest.  

3" x 3"

Postcard collage

 Another small collage using one of my Hahnemuehle postcards.

 

Printed and painted tissue, book page, scanned sketch,
gold gel pen, machine stitch (6" x 4")

The completed Collage Journal

To recap, this journal was started in response to a 5 day challenge by collage artist Lydia Rink.  A set of 5 instruction videos plus a materials list were provided, starting with how to make a simple A5 journal, and making your own collage papers, plus sourcing images and letter forms from magazines, posters, etc.

I have used some pre-printed images and text, but mainly utilised my own painted and hand-printed papers together with snippets from my sketchbooks.  It took me a couple of pages to get into a way of working that suited me, but I enjoyed the process.

Puzzle Purse

I found the instructions for this puzzle purse at the Byopia Press blog a couple of months ago and used an 11.75" square of printer paper to try it out.  I have gone back to it occasionally, adding some patterns with a sepia fine liner and gold gel pen.  The finished size is 4" square.

Hopefully this short video will give you an idea of how it works.

Sketchbook challenge continued ...

Adding more to pages already started.

This spread utilises past sketches, scanned and enlarged to fit within the paint-scraped border.  On the right I have used a fine liner pen to reinforce the inkjet print.  Underneath the tracing paper insert on the left, I have collaged a piece of cover paper from my original handmade book to mimic the colour of the snakeshead fritillaries.

A saved Austrian Christmas card image has been added here and I have used pencil (and imagination) to extend the scene.

Sketchbook and online courses

I have been slow in adding work to my blog this month.  This has been partly because I have been taking a bit of a break after completing the daily Inktober challenge; in addition, I have been working on this year's Christmas card design which is not ready to be revealed yet.

I have also signed up for a short, online sketchbook challenge run by Laura Kemshall - eight videos throughout November (which can be followed at your own pace).  The course is very reasonably priced at £12 - if you are interested, follow this link.

I thought this would be an ideal opportunity to use the beautiful sketchbook my friend Pat made.  The first assignment was to "break the ice" and get rid of some of the blank pages by randomly adding some found papers, etc. - a couple of mine are shown below.  Now to catch up with the second session.

Faux leather cover with embroidered insert - 9" x 6.5"
(handmade by Pat Kitching)

Foam printed paper collage and stitch

Tartan ribbon - machine stitched

Paste paper collage and stitch

Part of a lino print

Another course being released later this month is by Este MacLeod - this will be free, but you need to sign up to her Newsletter (at the bottom on her home page) to receive details.

Happy sketching!

The fishbone fold book

I have been meaning to have a go at the fishbone fold book as shown in Hedi Kyle's book "The Art of the Fold", but found the diagrams rather daunting.  However, I came across this video by Paula Beardell Krieg which made it look a little easier.

My piece of painted paper was a bit stiff when it came to making the narrow folds (Paula makes it look so effortless to get everything even), but I was quite pleased with the final result.  I didn't try the second version with added pockets.

Tips for the new plein air painter

 My niece has tried her hand at producing a watercolour demonstration video.  

A wonderful garden setting in the Brecon Beacons (Wales) - with added vocals by the chickens!

Sketch for a concertina book

Computer problems have left me attempting to add this post on my iPad mini - not ideal! 

My daughter and I were given the opportunity to spend a few days in Devon a couple of weeks ago. We took all our food supplies with us - we didn’t want to break our routine of isolating as much as possible. The weather was good, excellent walking, no tv or internet so our evenings were spent reading or playing Scrabble or card games. I decided to do a panoramic sketch of the long, narrow garden and since returning home have redrawn this on a 30” x 7”  length of watercolour paper which should result in a finished concertina book of approximately 4” x 7”.

This is an enlarged scan of my original sketches which I have taped together. Because my drawing was done in different stages as I moved along the garden there are some odd perspectives - some I have adjusted slightly, others I have not. Coloured pencil has been added as a guide for the final painted version.

Glued spine instructions

Someone was asking me about the glued spine book I posted a few days ago.  Although it is quite a simple structure, it is not so easy to explain.  I have made a short video which I hope will help.  It is preferable to make up pairs of pages then go on to glue the pairs together to complete your book. Here I have used some scrapbooking paper.

With your first page make a fold on the lefthand edge (I have allowed 3/4" or 20 mm), turn it towards the back.    On the second page, using the same allowance, make your fold and turn to the front.  Tuck your second page into the fold of the first, only glueing the fold of page 2 to the body of page 1, i.e. leaving the 3/4" fold of page 1 free.

Once all your page pairs are completed, they can be joined by glueing the free flap of the first set to the front of the next pair, and so on.  All clear so far?

In the video below, I have used paper clips in place of glue.

Glued spine book

This one is from quite some time ago but I have posted it on the Crafting Handmade Books Facebook page in response to April's challenge - " to use something that's been in your craft closet for more than ONE YEAR!"

Certainly when I made this book most of the papers and sketches, etc. were at least that old.

A friend had made me a a small watercolour book with a glued spine, plus instructions on how to make it. I had quite a few strips of painted papers left over from a longstanding project and decided to use them to test out this construction. I also added some discarded lino and foam prints, tiny sketchbook doodles, pockets and papercasts. The finished book measures approx. 5” x 4”.

I have had to cut the video (below) by half a dozen pages
as the file was bigger than allowed on the blog

Folding strip book

Having stumbled across the incredible work of printmaker/paper sculptor Tatania Potts, I couldn't resist trying out this structure.

Foldingstrip.mov

For my trial run I cut a strip (400 mm x 80 mm) from an A3 sheet of computer paper.  My lino block (50 mm square) was printed diagonally, resulting in five closely spaced images.  A scrap of paste paper was glued to each end to serve as a cover.  

Then, a first for me, trying to video the opening one-handed!

Crop Circle

On Sunday we visited Hackpen Hill, on the Ridgeway long distance path, not 6 or 7 miles from where we live.  It is well-known as the site of one of Wiltshire's white horses (carved out of the chalk hillside) and for the appearance of crop circles during the summer months.  We had heard rumours of a newly formed circle so took the opportunity to try and get photographs.  After clambering down to the vicinity of the chalk horse, we were able to get some distant shots.  However, for a much better view you need to be filming from the air and I found a link to this video on one of the crop circle sites.

I was primarily interested in taking photos, but I did attempt a very quick and crude pen sketch.

One of the legs of the chalk horse can be seen in the foreground
and the camper van at the bottom of the hill is the
"ticket office" for entry to the farmer's field -
£3 per person donated to charity

Brooklyn Art Library Sketchbook

One of our Urban Sketchers group (Stephen McGrath) produced a short video of the sketchbook we completed for this project.

Click here Urban Sketchers Swindon
for a link to the video.