Indigo, Florentine and Fabric!

Posted on February 19, 2015 by sproutspress

Day 135/365After posting my latest instalment of Use Your Journal, I realized that there were only two Starburst Journals in my Etsy shop. I’m happy to say that I’ve taken some time to put these ones together and list them online.
These are quite possibly my favourite books to bind. I love the possibilities for covers and the stitching patterns created on the spine. Even better? It lays flat when open!
This book is the first of two that are full fabric covers. And it’s my own handmade bookcloth! I’m proud of these journals, the full fabric makes them very tactile. Perfect for a cozy afternoon of sketching/journalling/album making with a cup of tea by a toasty fire.

Wordless Wednesday 28.1.15

Posted on January 28, 2015 by sproutspress

Day 113/365

Romeo & Juliet

Posted on January 19, 2015 by sproutspress

Day 104/365You may remember a couple of sundays ago I posted about making a new series of the ever-popular Starburst Book ornaments; Star Cross’d Lovers Book ornaments. Well, here they are finished!

I focused on 4 cover designs, each a bit different. There is a simple gold pattern (above), a sweet floral (top photo), a more traditional tile-inspired pattern (pictured below) and an organic flora-based pattern (bottom photo). This pattern is my favourite, I love the repetition and bold white on red. It reminds me of fancy kitchen tiles and tea time spent with loved ones.I love the versatility of these little ornaments; they can be displayed closed to show off the fancy paper cover, or you can burst it open to a star to hang. Since they come as a set of two, you can do one of each. Or you can give one to your Valentine and see which way they prefer to display it.

See my etsy shop for details.

Inside the Journal Adventure Kit

Posted on January 13, 2015 by sproutspress

Day 98/365

Today I’m taking you on an insiders tour of the Journal Adventure Kit!

If you’re like me, you love packages of paper products that have an air of mystery to them. For instance, the Journal Adventure Kit. It is sealed and thick with paper and ephemera surprises. So, today I’m going to open one up, at random, and show you what’s inside. However, please note that they are all a unique combination of papers, colour palettes and other tidbits.

First off: handmade tags. Some with reclaimed vintage dictionary pages and fancy papers. Other tags are stamped, punched, washi-taped or feature hand drawing or mark-making.

Inside there’s also a handbound notebook with label, origami creature, and a stack of papers: vintage, maps, Florentine, fancy printed, ephemera papers, etc. This is a nice thick stack of papers for you to play with and really decorate your notebook, inside and out.

Hint: it’s also fun to wrap a strip of paper from the inside of the front cover to the outside and paste it down.

Lastly, and possibly my most favourite, is the cutie pie mini envelope! Yes, it is cute on the outside, but on the inside you’ll find a handful of Shakespearean insults!! Also tucked inside are some super mini letter-writing papers, for secret notes to be pasted in your notebook or given to someone special (or not so special if you include the insults!)

Want your own Journal Adventure Kit? Click here!

Party at Paperhouse!

Posted on December 23, 2014 by sproutspress

Day 77/365

There was a festive party at Paperhouse Studio last weekend! And you know what that means . . . There was paper to be made as ornaments, prints to be pulled as gift tags and a few other crafty activities revolving around paper. My kind of party! The lovely Pam from Graven Feather was also there to guide us on using this cute little table top press.

A view of the many paper ornaments and garland, all made in house and by collaborating artists. And some other paper drying on the windows, because that’s the proper way to dry gampi paper. (seriously, it is. I’m not kidding).

It was really nice to kick back and enjoy an evening with fellow paper artists and printmakers! Also, Paperhouse hosts workshops throughout the year, check out their website to see what’s next!

The Studio on a Sunday

Posted on November 9, 2014 by sproutspress

Day 33/365

Today I’m working on the largest books I’ll be making all season. Not quite the largest books I’ve ever made, but for a long time at least. I am reminded that I prefer making smaller books.

Measuring 8″ x 10″, the ample page space is great for sketching or writing in long paragraphs. I’ll be featuring these books at the One of a Kind Show at the end of the month. (I’m at booth D49, stop by and say Hi!)

The Travelling Artist

Posted on November 3, 2014 by sproutspress

Day 27/365

In the spirit of talking about some of my favourite projects, I couldn’t resist a post about these watercolour travel journals. Originally in two colours, only the pink is left. This book was designed to be a tough and rugged workhorse of a journal. I wanted to create a beautiful yet functional sketchbook to take along while travelling or hiking. I put in a pen holder on the spine and a braided linen tie-around closure. It’s sturdy and solid, and beautiful all at the same time.
The hot pink paper is handmade (not by me) with a lovely scattered seedpod-like pattern on the front, and solid, bright, hot pink on the back. I’ve had many discussions with papermakers about how this technique was achieved; maybe the hot pink paper was pulp painted, with rice as a resist? Maybe it was a lamination of sheet forming? I don’t know the answer, but it’s fantastic either way.

The second journal uses hand-decorated paper that I picked up a long time ago. I wish I could remember the artists name, I’d love to get more! It is a textured wallpaper, that has been painted and distressed and then flecks of gold applied. It has the effect of a dark, starry night.

Covers

Posted on October 25, 2014 by sproutspress

Day 18/365In 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.

Hand Dyed Paper: Part 2

Posted on October 21, 2014 by sproutspress

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)
photo 3_2

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).

photo 5_2

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.

Hand Dyed Paper

Posted on October 10, 2014 by sproutspress

Day 3/365

DSC_0716 - Version 2 For a few weeks now I’ve been playing around with paper dying using indigo. But before I started using real indigo I did many tests with watercolour paints (indigo-colour, of course) and I wanted to share some of my favourites with you.

I cannot stop thinking of blue and white ceramics when I look at this one, the pattern is lovely!

The resulting papers are lovely but they just aren’t the same depth and richness of colour as true indigo-dyed papers. I’ll go over some of the things I made with the true indigo dyed papers in a few days. And at some point in the future I’ll do a post about the actual hand-dying process and how messy/fun it really is!!