Occasional ruminations concerning painted pages, hand bound books, the use of photos in journaling and the contemplation of various other pursuits.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

A Tiny Book and Colorful Angels

This tiny book was made in a class with Doris Arndt.  We carved a design into the bookboard covers, covered the board with papers and pressed into the carving to make a beautiful relief design.
 
The pages were washed with pale colors and the wet pages were sprinkled with salt.

Measuring the spine for the stitching was a real bear, but making a template made the job much easier.





In case you have not yet figured it out, I do love making books.  Tearing the paper for the pages, painting the pages, folding them into signatures......all relaxing activities.  Then we get to the binding of the pages! It is at this point that I sometimes get all tensed up!  This is not a good feeling for someone who works with books and papers to relax!

I have a solution to this stress problem.....now my imaginary book-binding angel is always standing at my right shoulder telling me to breathe and calm down. It works!  He wandered into one of my classes at Art Unraveled, and got me through a frustrating time with fumbly fingers.  He now is always present when I need him, shining brightly in orange and pink. Thanks,  EGE!!

(Do kind things for people...be real, be helpful and caring;  you never know how you will affect someone and help them out for years to come.) 

Since I brought up art retreats, I must add that I believe that one of the best parts of all the art retreats is the friends one makes at these events.  Every year we greet our art buddies and enjoy being in the company of people who "get it". In many of our "real" lives, we are surrounded by people who humor us, give a compliment or two, perhaps, but they don't understand that we HAVE TO create.  Some have even wondered, "It's nice, but what's the point?"

For a look into what happens at art retreats (AND some actual class lessons), check out the new book by Ricë Freeman-Zachary, now available at Amazon......the book, not Ricë.  Destination Creativity is now available for shipping.... MY copy is on it's way!!

Go forth and Create!

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