Day 22/365
Wordless Wednesday 29.10.14
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Day 22/365
Category Archives: 365 Project
Linkstitch
Day 21/365
It’s workshop time! This saturday I’m excited to be teaching a bookbinding class at the amazing Graven Feather Gallery/Printmaking studio! This is a creative hands-on class geared for all skill levels. I love teaching this workshop, especially when the room goes quiet and everyone is completely and wholeheartedly engrossed in their projects. It’s so wonderful to see people just let go and allow their unique creativity really shine!
The photo above is from a previous class taught there, a similar class will happen this saturday (November 1). But it’s not just bookbinding, we’ll be getting creative designing and decorating covers! Sound like fun? Go here for more information and to register.
Crisp Transition
When the air gets that autumn crisp and I know winter is not far, I often think of these journals.
They are a warm and cozy light brown leather, with the last bits of summer brightness captured in the beading detail.
I don’t have any in stock right now and I have made a few variations of these books. But I enjoy the spontaneity and uniqueness while designing and crafting each book (no two are alike). I also love the bead work and the pop of colour and sparkle on the spine.
The Studio on a Sunday
Day 19/365
This is the aftermath of an evening spent hand-dying paper. I’ve started using more colours and overlays with colour washes. I’m pretty excited to see how they turn out as books. These will become lovely covers for some very special journals!
Covers
Day 18/365
In preparation for the One of a Kind Christmas show here in Toronto, I’ve been testing different techniques for cover decoration. One of my first experiments was a series of painted covers.
It’s a pared-down, simplified and more minimal variation of my painted and printed matchbook style journals. 
I really enjoy the process of hand decorating a large sheet and then cutting it into covers. Each book ends up being unique and one of a kind.
Colour!
Day 17/365
I draw a lot of inspiration from colour, real time and in photos. This post is dedicated to a small slice of my life where colour was my everything. It couldn’t be helped, I was surrounded by it. I’m talking about my time overseas, in Italy.
I used to be a painter, colour was one of the most important parts of that process for me. Now that I’m a bookbinder I find different ways of using colour: fancy paper, reclaimed materials, cover adornments, etc. And when I use my own journals: pens. Oh how I love a good spectrum of pens. I have multiple sets of rainbow-hued markers, ballpoint pens, prismacolour, copic, sharpies, staedtler fineliners. It’s like Christmas every time I use them, so I use them a lot! (When I had a day job, I was the person who took one of every colour of highlighter and pen from the supply room in an attempt to brighten up an otherwise dreary cubicle). These photos are kind of like my pen sets; inspirational, bright, they put a smile on my face and make my colour-loving self sing.
I don’t remember where all these photos were taken, I think some in Venice and some in Tuscany. You can tell by the colour palettes of the buildings. How amazing is that? To know where you are by the colours of the walls lining the streets. I do remember that green shutters were the common denominator no matter where I went.
The richness of these last two places in Florence are so intense. A different feel from the top two bright and sunny Venice towns. The monochromatic-like palette is a lovely collection of ochre, amber, oranges and browns.
Have you ever thought about the colours you use when journalling? Sometimes I like to put a background wash of a light/pale colour (using the broad-tipped, sheer marker sets) on the page before writing with a matching colour on top (with a fineliner, of course). And yes, I enjoy using more than one kind of pen/marker in a single journal entry, you should try it! I’d love to hear about it if you do. What are your favourite colours to journal with?
A Workshop!
Day 16/365
Just a friendly reminder: my Coptic Binding Workshop is this sunday at Arts Market! It’ll be loads of fun, with light refreshment, merriment and a great way to learn a new skill (or brush up on old an old skill). Also, it’s just in time to start on making holiday gifts, if that’s your sort of thing.
Find out more here.
If you can’t make this one, don’t fret, there are a few more dates on the Workshops tab of my site, and there are a few more in the works for november and december. I’ll announce them shortly.
Wordless Wednesday 22.10.14
Day 15/365
Hand Dyed Paper: Part 2
Day 14/365
Last week I wrote about testing indigo-dying techniques, where I used watercolour paints and washi paper. Today, I’m going to talk about my experience using real indigo dye on both washi paper and handmade flax/abaca and hemp/abaca papers (from the folks over at Paperhouse Studio here in Toronto)
If you’ve ever tried your hand at the popular Shibori technique, which is used for dying fabric with indigo, you’ll be familiar with the science side of this process. Once indigo dye (which comes from a plant leaf) is mixed and heating up in a vat, the trick is not to stir it or otherwise let oxygen into the vat. When the paper is dipped into the dye, it comes out green at first (as seen in the above photo), and then changes to that awesome indigo blue once the dye has oxidized (as seen in the photo below).
That’s the main idea anyways, I won’t pretend to know it all! But there is something exciting about combining science and art. I cannot put my finger on it, but it made the process quite enjoyable and ultimately gave me a real appreciation for the finished product.
To see what I did with some of these papers, take a look at this journal. And stay tuned as I’m still working on projects with the bulk of the papers I dyed.
The Mini Cigar Book
Day 13/365
Meet the mini cigar book! It’s a small book, just the right size for email addresses (this is the size I use at arts and crafts fairs to collect names), favourite quotes, tweets, horizon sketches, you get the idea.
It’s also a pretty great way to use up the ends of cigar boxes after I make the larger cousins of this book, found here. I find that often some of my favourite projects happen spontaneously and unexpectedly, after a main project is finished. I’ll be looking at the off-cuts and rejected bits of the larger project and realize the potential of the leftovers.
Sprouts Press 