One of the reasons I haven’t taken up quilting is because of the size of the fabric stash I’ve seen in quilters’ closets. I’m creating a smaller version of The Stash using fat quarters. I learned to make my own book cloth using a method from a Tim Ely workshop. He uses bond paper (thin […]

This Book Is a Star! This spectacular book, when closed, looks like any other book. But when it is opened, the pages pop out and form a star. This book will have board covers and will be sewn using double needles (beading optional). The double-page spread lends itself to artwork or photos. Variations will contain […]

LOCAL STORES ARCATA The Art Center, 823 H Street: Art and book art supplies; large sheets of decorative, printmaking, drawing, and watercolor papers. All Under Heaven, 735 8th Street: Calligraphy supplies, inks, and beautiful rolls of paper from Asia. Solutions, 858 G Street: Letter sized papers such as cigar, mango, and elephant poo! SCRAP, 101 […]

In his retirement my husband has taken to making fine furniture. I’ve been the gleeful recipient of a wall cabinet and standing cabinet especially made to hold my books and the books of other artists. So, I couldn’t ask for more, but I usually do. This has resulted in some custom bookbinding equipment: book presses, […]

We spend much of the Fall in our cabin near Fullerton, Nebraska. The cabin is located between the two libraries of St. Paul (45 minute drive) and Fullerton (25 minute drive). I like to describe our cabin’s location relative to the location of books and internet. Last Fall, the librarian of the little library in […]

I’m so late in posting this! We’ve been in transit, had car issues, lots of visitors to our little piece of heaven in Nebraska and….YES….rain, thunder, lightning, and some flooding. However, we missed the snow in western Nebraska and the tornadoes in eastern Nebraska. What a start to our visit. In September OLLI students got […]

I have a book that is part of the International Printmaking Conference in Dundee, Scotland. My book Equations is near the bottom of the table on the right edge. This is a book I made for an international exchange. One never knows where our books may show up! This is exciting and thanks to my […]

I make it a point to attend Focus on Book Arts (FOBA) in Forest Grove, Oregon. It is offered every other summer and I wouldn’t miss it because of the quality of the instruction and instructors, the idyllic setting, the 24-hour bookish ambience, and the chance to spent time with many book arts friends. I’ve […]

The last book in the OLLI course Leather Journals is finally finished. It’s mine (instructor) and I know it’s the last one to be completed. I used the leather cover to demonstrate the longstitch sewing of the spine and hadn’t intended to actually complete a journal. I cut the leather from a blue suede jacket […]

Workshops by Michele Olsen

Students in the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) classes have finished their books and every single one is wonderful. This is the first sewn structure for almost all of the ten students and they showed extraordinary patience with the needles, 36 inches of waxed linen thread, and tiny little beads that were added to the […]