The Spring Makeology Market is just around the corner! Join us April 15 from 11am – 5pm for a day of handmade goodness!
What: Spring Makeology Craft Fair
When: Saturday April 15, 2017 11am – 5pm
Where: Hamilton Museum of Steam & Technology, 900 Woodward Avenue, Hamilton
For more information, please see the show website here.
I know it’s cold and wintery here in Toronto right now, but I’ve been working away planning springtime workshops! The newest addition to the schedule is the return of the Coptic Stitch class over at Toronto’s First Post Office. 
We’ll cover the basics of bookbinding, go over the tools of the trade and then learn how to put it all together into a beautiful handcrafted journal. This is a hands-on class and students will leave with a finished project.
All materials are supplied. This workshop is intended for adults. This is a great introduction to bookbinding, and also suitable for more experienced paper crafters, looking for a refresher.
What: Coptic Stitch Bookbinding
When: Thursday May 25, 6pm – 9pm
Where: Toronto’s First Post Office, 260 Adelaide Street East, Toronto
For more information & to register, please go here.
There are more workshops being planned, stay tuned for details to be revealed soon! In the meantime, keep an eye on my Workshops page.
Tomorrow is the Toronto Etsy Street Team’s spring/summer arts and crafts show!
Join us at the historic Campbell house, 160 Queen St. W, Toronto for a day of handmade goodness! Besides the awesome artist/artisan vendors, there will also be food vendors! There will be folks selling inside and outside, and a selection of free workshops!! (I’m delighted to be teaching a quick Intro to bookbinding!)
And, as always, there will be swag bags for the early birds!
Show runs Saturday June 18, 10am – 6pm.
For more information, see the Facebook event page here: https://www.facebook.com/events/984334601616355/?ti=icl
This evening is the Paper Fair at Toronto’s First Post Office!! Only in it’s second year, this show is quickly growing to the top of my favourites!
There are serious goods to be had here, all related to paper; stationery, journals, letter writing, and more! If you’re into pen pals, finding the perfect greeting card and collecting paper ephemera, this is the show for you!
For more information, please visit the show’s website, here.
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The last few days I’ve been working on swag for this year’s Toronto Etsy Street Team’s Midsummer Market!! If you’re one of the first 50 people through the door, you’ll get an awesome swag bag filled with goodies from local makers!
This year is a bit different, there’ll be an outside space AND an inside space, at the gorgeous Campbell House. I’ll be inside, keeping my paper goods safe from the elements, but be sure to stop by and check it all out!
Bonus Tip: The show is right by Osgoode Subway station, so convenient!!
Save the date, the Paper Fair is just around the corner!
Join myself and a curated selection of other paper vendors for the second Paper Fair!! Last year was fantastic, this year is going to be even better!! There will be illustrators, card designers, snail mail enthusiasts and local stationers vending their wares! Not to mention that the whole thing takes place in the beautiful and historic First Post Office!
What: Paper Fair!
When: Thursday June 16, 2016 6pm – 9pm
Where: Toronto’s First Post Office, 260 Adelaide Street East, Toronto
For more info and to see this years vendors, go here.
Today I’m going to talk about yesterday in the studio. Actually, I’m going to talk about yesterday outside of the studio, creating in a different space, in a different way.
This past weekend was doors open here in Toronto, it’s an opportunity to get a glimpse into buildings (or spaces/ideas) not normally open to the public. I had the chance to participate in just one tour. Opting for an ‘open air’ tour rather than a ‘doors open’ tour, I checked out the Mobile Ink Factory that was setup only for the weekend!
If you’ve been following along for a while, you know my interest in using and testing natural dyes on paper, like my Indigo post. So when this ink-making tour/event came up, you know that I was pretty eager!!
It ran along the west Toronto Railpath, and was led by the folks at The Toronto Ink Company and DeRail. An informative walk taught us about the natural and man-made materials that can be used in ink-making along the railpath. That’s right, this wasn’t just an ink-making tour (which in itself is pretty awesome), it was a tour detailing materials found exclusively on the West railpath that can be made into ink!!
After the walk, everyone emptied their bags of collected finds (there are rules to foraging responsibly on the railpath, I’ll list them below). Then we sorted them, mixing and matching with everyone else’s finds, into possible ink recipes.
In the end, I made a beautifully deep and intense black ink. It’s made from the charcoal dust of burned virginia creeper, mixed with water and gum arabic. Of course, the folks from Japanese Paper Place were there to help guide ink testing on paper. Because who does paper better than JPP?? This was my kind of day!!
Three rules of thumb for foraging (as per the Mobile Ink Factory handout):
Thanks to all the folks who worked so hard to make this happen, we all had a great time!
It’s the last weekend of this year’s Bees (& the Birds) show at Graven Feather! If you haven’t had a chance to see it, definitely go! Last day is this sunday!!
Bonus: 10% of all proceeds go towards helping the bees via the David Suzuki Foundation!!
For show information, go here.
Sprouts Press 