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Coptic Stitch Class

Our OLLI class Book of Words: Coptic Stitch was officially completed last week but as we usually do, we assembled at Humboldt Coffee and Chocolates for “debriefing” and sharing. As always, it’s a privilege to work with such talented and daring people. Adding a window to the cover was optional but everyone wanted to make them and really, in the end, this feature really made the books more personal. I learn so much from all of them. The following photos are from the class or followup. Enjoy!

The following photos were taken during class. The first hour was spent decorating a large piece of Arches Text Wove paper. For color students used everything: stamp pads, watercolors, acrylic inks, acrylic paints, pens, colored pencils. There were some very creative mark makers too: handmade stamps, interesting brushes, sticks, and a helix style lightbulb!

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Many books were finished during our coffee session. These photos show some of the sewing taking place. We used a double needle Coptic stitch. The second photo shows how creative these students can be—it was too dark for Joan to see so Darcy used the flashlight on her phone to assist. Funny!

 

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AND!! These are the books that are finished.

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Judy’s Book: Family

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Denise’s Book

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Azalea’s Book

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Pat’s Book

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Pat’s Book

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Cheryl’s Book: Welcome

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Darcy’s Book

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Gisela’s Book

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Joan’s Book

If you couldn’t attend the coffee gathering, please let me know if you need help finishing. Most books took a mere 15 minutes to finish. If you did finish, would you send me a photo and I’ll include it. THANKS FOR ANOTHER GREAT CLASS. GOOD JOB.

Donna has finished her book and sent me a photo. It’s never to late to add your photo!  Nice work and great colors.

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Caterpillars, Sewn Headbands, Coptic!

Caterpillar

 

My Fall stay in Nebraska was very productive in terms of reading books (seven!) and making books (four!). Two of my books were created for future OLLI workshops so you will see those at the end of January. The book I enjoyed the most was created from lacewood boards (a gift from my woodworking husband). All of the sewing was done with waxed Irish linen thread. The section wraps were made with handmade papers. The interior pages were made a year ago from rose petals and various leaves. Folios were bundled together with the plant materials in a kind of “sandwich” and boiled for 1.5 hours in a solution of water, vinegar, and alum. All of the holes were drilled with a vintage Dremel rotary tool purchased several years ago at an antique store in Eastern Colorado. Except for the electric drill, I felt like I was working in a medieval bookbinding studio. I really do like older materials and techniques. I suppose I should start looking for a vintage hand drill.

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Double Needle Coptic Stitch

It’s time for the last book arts class of the HSU OLLI Fall 2015 Semester!

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Course Description:

Explore the written word as an art form as you create pages for your small book. Bring your favorite writing or drawing tools — pens, watercolor, stamps, or colored pencils — to decorate the pages. The structure is sewn using a double needle Coptic stitch. The cover will include a small window. The book will be small enough to fit in the palm of your hand and would make a wonderful gift.

Prerequisite: “Book Arts: The Basics” or an introductory book arts class elsewhere.

Day & Date: Tues. & Thurs., Dec. 8 & 10

Time: 1-4 p.m.

Fee: OLLI Members $65

Class #: 47546

Location: HBAC

Supplies:

Basic Toolkit: bone folder, cutting mat, small cutting knife, small sharp scissors, metal ruler (bring 25″or 36″ if you have them), bookmaker’s awl, two #20 or #22 tapestry needles, PVA glue, glue brush, book press (or heavy book or brick), wet wipes, beeswax, glossy  magazines for scrap paper.

Materials: mark making supplies (stamps/stamp pads, watercolors, colored pencils, markers, or acrylic ink), cotton embroidery thread (or linen thread) in color of choice.

Provided: Arches Text Wove and Mat Board, Stencils

See you soon!

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Margo Klass at Newport 2015

Margo Klass is one of my favorite books artsts because of the way she works with wood, the care she takes with detail and bookbinding  principles, and the  Japanese feel of a lot of her work.  I’ve been lucky to have taken three of her classes at the Newport Paper Arts Festival in Newport, Oregon. She is an exceptionally good teacher: patient, well organized, so very talented. She spends her time in Alaska and Maine and makes books as well as altar pieces and box constructions. I’m hoping she will teach at Newport again this April!

I made the book below during her April workshop;  it uses sticks from Maine and wood from Alaska. The text block was created with torn Hannemuhle papers. Attaching the sticks was challenging but practice makes perfect and I managed to complete the book. The closure loops were made from fine leather from a  repurposed woman’s glove and a fossil is embedded in the cover. The tie  is braided waxed linen thread. I love workshops that are a cross between an art class and shop class—love those electric
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 My daughter is a serious surfer and beach lover. The following book was a gift for her. Most items are from the Redwood Coast where she grew up. The covers are redwood, sticks are driftwood from Clam Beach, stones are from Stone Lagoon. This book combines ideas from two workshop of Margo’s. The books I love the most are tactile, made of natural materials, and uusually have a rustic look. This is certainly one of them.


This has been a very busy year because of the number of workshops I’ve taken. I’ve neglected my blog. I’m going to catch up! Next: my 10 days in May at  Ox Bow, Saugatuck, MIchigan

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Boiled Books

With heavy winds and lots of rain on our North Coast we have enough fallen leaves to use for hundreds of boiled books. Sandy, Michele (the Younger), and I converged on Michele’s backyard to make a sandwich out of leaves and Bristol paper sheets. Michele had a great selection of dried leaves in a homemade press.


We had a big container for the boiling and could do all three of our books at once—this is the final bundle.


This is quite the setup with propane and everything. Boil, Boil, Toil,and Trouble.

We used white vinegar as the mordant and after 7 minutes of boiling added Ritz Navy Blue powered dye. This is not eco printing but the results are beautiful.  The second boiling was 1.5 hours. These are Michele K’s prints after the rinse.

 These are mine (Michele the Older)


Sandy’s are particularly interesting because she overdyed pages done with another method in the hopes that they pages would brighten up. She certainly did that, they are beautiful!


Eucalyptus, alder, bamboo (bright yellow), and maple leaves  all worked well but are best when they have dried up a bit and hit the ground. The dry outer part of a yellow onion, swordfern, and some grasses worked well also.

I already have books in mind and the artist’s work that really  inspires me is that of Annywyn Dean. Wouldn’t these pages be beautiful in one of her structures?

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PLAYA: by Becky Evans

 

  We have another book from the Book-in-a-Box class (see posts from November 10, August 18, 2014). Local artist Becky Evans started her book in the class and finished it during her artist’s residency in Summer Lake, Oregon.  Take a look at the website for Playa and you will see  the influence of place on this wonderful book.  The title of the book? PLAYA. Becky is a gifted local artist and former art professor at College of the Redwoods.

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Concertina Spine: Joan

Joan took my concertina spine OLLI Book Arts class last month. No one actually finished a book this time because we played with various adaptation of the spine. This is her unique design—sections sewn into the valley of the spine and each with covers that wrap the sections. I love the green paper she used! I”m hoping other students will send me photos so I can share.

 

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Surprise Encounter

I received such a wonderful surprise today. We took an out-of-town friend to dinner and he was raving about the wonderful accommodations provided him by Humboldt State University (he is the guest speaker for The Lamberson lecture series in ecology). We walked to the suite just off the Arcata Plaza and were pleased to see he had such a welcoming place for his stay. I realized that the living room, bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom were filled with beautiful artwork by local artists. How great is that? Wait a minute! That looks like one of my books!

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It’s in such a perfect setting—very playful. The book sits on the roof of the structure and is titled “Mom”. It’s filled with drawings I created (using children’s art for inspiration) and funny quotes about why Mom is the best (inspired by my children and their friends). The structure is made from plastic coated wire from the hardware store and the bobbles are buttons hanging from colored linen thread.

I’m including the list of artists whose work is displayed. Do you recognize any of them? You can be sure that this made my day.

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A Gathering of Accordions

I’ve been making models of books with accordion (or concertina) spines and am amazed at the wide variety of structures that can are created. It all depends on how many accordions are used, the type of cover, the way the text block attaches to the cover, and the way signatures might be attached. As always, it’s fun for the teacher too. Hope you can join us this Tuesday and Thursday, (1-4pm): OLLI: Book Arts, Concertina Spine.

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The Versatile Concertina Spine

Date: Tues. & Thurs. Feb. 17-19, 2015
Time: 1-4 pm
Place: HBAC (Humboldt Bay Aquatic Center)

Come join this class of book arts enthusiasts as we explore the many possibilities of the concertina (accordion) spine. You decide: pamphlet, long, or coptic stitch; folded or board cover; double, folded, or back-to-back signatures; glue or no glue.

The Fly uses two concertinas—one for the spine and one for the pages. I used papers I painted in a wonderful Randi Parkhurst workshop for the covers. The poem was written by friend Dwight Marsh of Hastings,
Nebraska . I used InDesign for the text layout.

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