Posted on May 30, 2016 by sproutspress

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):

Harvest from the second patch (don’t pick the only instance of something).
Harvest only the top third (don’t pull the whole plant, let it keep growing).
Leave the space better (pick up trash along the way).

Thanks to all the folks who worked so hard to make this happen, we all had a great time!

Last Weekend for the Bees Gallery Show!

Posted on May 27, 2016 by sproutspress

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.

Save the Date!

Posted on May 26, 2016 by sproutspress

Mark your calendars! The Toronto Etsy Street Team’s Midsummer Market is just around the corner and we’d love to see you there!!

This year, the show is at the beautiful Campbell House, just steps from Osgoode subway station at Queen & University (so convenient!!)

As always, the first 50 people through the door get a coveted swag bag filled with handmade goodies!! Doors open at 10 and admission is free!

What: Toronto Etsy Street Team 6th Annual Midsummer Market

When: Saturday June 18, 10am – 6pm

Where: Campbell House, 160 Queen Street West, Toronto

To get a sneak peek at vendor’s wares, see the lookbook here.

Bees (& the Birds) Opening Reception

Posted on May 17, 2016 by sproutspress

Join me this thursday evening at Graven Feather to celebrate the opening of our group show: Bees (& the Birds)!! I’ll have some different pieces in this show (tiny paintings, not book works) and I’m so excited to show them! There are 38 artists in total, and we’ve gathered in support of bees (and pollinators). This is why 10% of all show proceeds go to helping the bees, via the David Suzuki Foundation.

Opening reception is 6pm – 9pm at Graven Feather, 906 Queen St. West, Toronto.

For more information, see the facebook event page here.

The Studio on a Sunday (on a Monday)

Posted on May 16, 2016 by sproutspress

CollageIt Every time I’ve written a ‘Studio Sunday’ blog post, it’s been from this studio (pictured above). Yes, it’s now totally empty. Yes, we’ve moved!!

I don’t have any photos of the new space as we’re still amongst many boxes and other moving paraphernalia. I’m still savouring that new-space joy and taking my time to unpack, putting things in thoughtful places. But soon enough I’ll share some images of this lovely, sunshine-filled, creative space.

In the meantime, I plan to start up regular blog posts again! Current and exciting news is coming your way!!

Wordless Wednesday 27.04.16

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A Bookbinding Workshop at a Print Museum

Posted on April 22, 2016 by sproutspress

Just a couple of days ago I had the pleasure of teaching a workshop alongside these fine fellows at Mackenzie House Museum here in Toronto. It was a combination bookbinding & printmaking class, geared at learning traditional techniques and using analogue tools and equipment. It was great fun, everyone left with a unique journal they handbound and then printed themselves!

The entire month of April is Print Month over at Mackenzie House! There are more printmaking events happening at the museum, see their website for details.

To see a list of Sprouts Press’ upcoming bookbinding workshops go here.

Exciting New Bookbinding Workshop!

Posted on April 12, 2016 by sproutspress

Exciting things are happening at Sprouts Press! April 20, next wednesday, I’ll be teaching a workshop at the gorgeous Mackenzie House here in Toronto!

Mackenzie House is a 19th-century row house museum dedicated to historic politician & publisher William Lyon Mackenzie. They have a few working presses, that are very old (1850’s), and still used regularly. In this workshop, we’ll be hand binding soft cover books, then using one of the historic presses to print the covers!!

When: Wednesday April 20, 6:30 – 9:30pm
Where: Mackenzie House, 82 Bond Street, Toronto
Cost: $45, materials included

To register, please call the museum at 416-392-6915.
For more information please visit the museum’s website here.

The Studio on a Sunday

Posted on April 10, 2016 by sproutspress

Today was a workshop day! I taught the Sampler Bookbinding Workshop over at Graven Feather. Students learned three different binding techniques and left with as many finished sample books!