Wednesday Worktable - Wednesday 5th August - Pockets!

This is my contribution to WOYWW (What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday), over at JuliaDunnit's Blog. Each Wednesday, Julia invites fellow crafters and bloggers to show a photo or two of their worktables, and explain what they've been doing.
I haven't been posting much recently, as my mum is about to move house (tomorrow!).  She's elderly and disabled, so... guess who is doing all the work?
Anyway, I have found a spare few minutes and thought I'd post about what I've been up to (and my mess!)

If you fancy a lot of photos and something to "ooh" and "aahh" over, try my previous post, about a lovely day out at the DotComGiftShop Press Event in London.  Lots of pictures of gorgeous new, shiny things to covet...

And then, here is what I have been working on, since returning from holiday:

My main work-table hasn't really changed... it's still scary!  But my small table has had a variety of projects going on... 

Pockets! 

These are for a travel-themed album, that a lady wants for her daughter, who gets married in September and is going to Europe for her honeymoon.  She wanted the album to have some pockets added, to hold mementos, leaflets, tickets etc.  

I've made three bellows-style pockets in white paper, with a blue bellows section at sides and base and fold-over flaps.  

This is the album itself:

Travel Themed Large Photo Album 

Side-on view of the pockets, to show you the blue details.  

I'm hoping she will approve of these, so I can fix them into the book and get it into the post asap!

And just to tie up a loose end or two: 

I finally bound all the notebooks that were ready for sewing, when I posted mid-July. Then I set up a Notebook Sale album on my facebook page - some have sold already, so I'm a happy Lizzie! 

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Thanks for reading, I hope you like to see my various book projects - I haven't really had time for many other things recently, but soon I hope to do a little bit of scrap-book page making (everyone say, "Ooooo!").    

I hope you'll come back and visit again soon. When you've finished browsing around on my blog, do return to Julia's Stamping Ground, to see what's going on elsewhere this week. 

Wednesday Worktable - Thursday 11th June (!) - Finished and About to Start...

Hello, thanks for visiting my blog! This is my contribution to WOYWW (What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday), over at JuliaDunnit's Blog. Each Wednesday, Julia invites fellow crafters and bloggers to show a photo or two of their worktables, and explain what they've been doing.

I'm late this week - it's Thursday lunchtime already!! Busy, busy... but I did want to join in and I hope you will all forgive me!

Well, last week I posted about a broken car windscreen, which I'm happy to report was repaired by Thursday evening, so I could go out to our regular Craft Club at the local sewing and quilting shop.  I took along my in-progress bookbinding project, that I had posted about last week: 

 

This! 

It's now completed and you can see it on my desk this morning:

A bit of a messy workspace today...  

So, in the middle is my bookbinding project.  It's actually for ME, just for a change.  I made myself a sketchbook, using one of my favourite cover papers (I do love peacock feathers) and a piece of favourite silk for the edging of the covers.  

A couple of detail shots, for anyone who's interested: 

Front Cover (pen is just for size reference!)

Binding - I used a hybrid Coptic/French Stitch binding, to make it pretty.  Stitched in deep turquoise linen thread.  

Don't know if you can see... the pages are a mixture of cartridge drawing paper (l/h side) and mid-weight watercolour paper (on the right), so I can scribble away, but also add some colour if I wish.  

 

Of course, being for myself, I didn't need to make it 100% perfect.  So, I took the opportunity to use some paper that had been mis-folded when working on a previous commission project.  I don't mind the crease-lines down the edges of a few pages, but I wouldn't want to sell a book that was like this!

And just to return to the Desk...

To the left is a pile of prints, which are drying out.  I wrote about how these came into existence in This Post!  

To the right there are some greetings cards, with designs from Russian/Soviet matchbox art.  In a previous post, I showed a notebook that I had made with a Zebra card...

... I now plan to make a set of these notebooks, as the Zebra looked really good.  

As for the rest of the table... well, it's just clutter. But it wouldn't be an authentic Lizzie Desk, if there was no mess!  

Anyway, this is my contribution for this week.  I hope you'll come back and visit again soon.  Meanwhile, once you've finished browsing around on my blog, do return to Julia's Stamping Ground, to see what's going on elsewhere this week.  

Thanks for Reading! 

Printy Inky Messy Day!

I spent last weekend in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, staying with friends.  However, the reason I was there, was to attend a day of Monoprinting at The Yard Artspace, with Sue Brown.  

We had a really good day, trying a great technique for producing pieces of work, using a sheet of clear acrylic plastic, inks and a small press, with cut out card shapes, pieces of non-absorbent materials (such as lace, textured wallpapers) and dried flowers and leaves.

I enjoyed the day very much and was quite pleased with the results that I achieved. There were four of us, plus Sue and we all produced some very different results, using the same basic techniques.  

The large red area is ink (oil-based relief printing ink) rolled onto a sheet of clear plastic (which just shows up as slightly grey against the magazine behind it).  Over this I placed some torn strips of textured wallpaper - face down.  This was rolled through the press, to leave ink on the surface of the wallpaper.  

Here you can see the strips of wallpaper, with red ink on them, also the plastic, with more red ink.  This time there are two birds, cut from shiny (non-absorbent) card offcuts, plus some dried leaves.  Again, the idea was to transfer ink onto the surface of those items, in order to print from them.  You can see that the birds were inked in yellow for a previous print... 

These two prints were made from a plate inked with deep blue, with the bird shapes and some dried cow parsley placed on top.  Paper was then laid over the whole plate and it was put through the press.  The shapes & flower acted as masks, preventing ink being transferred to the paper (the blue-inked birds and flower were used for another print later).  I then used those red wallpaper strips, over the top of the first blue print.  Work in progress.... 

 

Here you can see the original bird prints, before the red strips were added... also some other basic prints from a blue-inked plate and that red-inked plate that I showed in the photo above, with wallpaper strips on top.  

The second print from the left was made from the plate After the fifth print (the deep blue with outlines of ferns & cow parsley, using the ink that remained after printing and removing the plants from the plate.  The same thing applies to the third and sixth prints, with the birds & cow parsley.  

The fourth print is from a plate that was printed in green, after the plants had been removed; the print was then run back through the press, with the blue-inked plants from the print to its right, thus making a second print on top of the green.   

In this way, prints were worked and re-worked, to build up layers and patterns.  I was very pleased with some of the results... 

Left) A basic one colour print, with the shapes of cow parsley and ferns showing as white paper (where they had been placed on the plate, to act as masks). 

Middle) The red print with yellow birds and white leaf outlines was made by re-printing the red-inked plate, after removing the wallpaper strips, birds and leaves.  I inked up the birds with yellow ink (by rolling the ink directly onto the bird shapes) and placed them over the empty area where the original masks had been.  The whole was rolled back through the press (with a sheet of paper!), to make this impression.  

Right) The right-hand print has been worked in several layers.  First a red print, from the inked plastic sheet.  Then a green-inked plate; I scratched a design into the green ink, then placed a dried flower and the leaves over the green ink, before printing again onto the red print.  I then re-printed by laying the blue-inked ferns and a piece of plastic mesh - also inked with blue - directly onto the printed paper, covering with scrap paper (magazine paper is shiny and doesn't stick), then rolling through the press. 

Various attempts at producing interesting layered images. 

I also tried a print in silver, onto kozo tissue paper - a loose-textured hand made paper.  I wanted to see what would happen.  In fact, it made a very good impression, though the ink soaked through the paper.  I hope to float it on glass, in a frame, so that the print can be seen, as I think it looks pretty nice.  

The third print from the left is an attempt at collage.  After printing in silver, with various feathers, leaves, flowers and pieces of handmade paper as masks, I attached some of the mask items to the print.  Not sure about this one... I'll leave it a few days and then take another look.  

Layers...and no layers - the blue print is just a second impression from a blue-inked plate, after the mask items were removed.  It's very simple and I really like it.  

And more experiments...  The left-hand item is an experiment in print and collage, using a page from a magazine as the support, then overprinting with red, green and silver and finally adding collage elements.  Again, I think it needs a few days before I can decide if I like it! 

So, those were my own pieces of work.  I have mixed feelings about the end results, but the process itself was good fun and a very rewarding experience.  I'm very grateful to Sue, who is a great teacher and very nice person! 

The others didn't mind me photographing some of their work to show you.  However, I'm afraid I am hopeless with names and I have forgotten all but one...and there were only three to remember! I do wish I'd written their names down. Sorry ladies!

Some beautiful results from experiments with ferns, snowdrops and allium flowers.  Also simple shaped masks, overprinted with different colours.  I like all of these very much! 

The four prints to the right of this photo are Sue's demo prints, using cut-out shapes, dried flowers and textured wallpaper.  

The other seven prints belong to Kate, who used leaves, flowers and strips of textured paper, also a bird cut-out.  I love how she has achieved some very delicate prints from her inked-up leaves and flowers.  Also the lovely results from the textured paper - not sure how she achieved the orange... by careful over-printing I think.  Really lovely prints! 

 

These landscape-like prints are really quite fabulous!  The artist used masking and overprinting to produce the layered-up prints.  They looked even better in real life.  You can actually see their creator through the window there - making herself a cuppa! In her "day job", she is a printmaker, who creates work inspired by Dartmoor - the area near where she lives.  I just wish I'd asked her to write down her name, website etc... So silly of me. 

Anyway, thank you for reading.  If you've made it this far, you have done really well!  I hope you enjoyed seeing what can be achieved, with a sheet of plastic, six colours of ink, a printing press and some bits & pieces.  Such different results from five people, all using those same materials! 

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And just for a change... some Bunny cuteness!  This is my friends' house-rabbit. Her name is Cassie (though everyone calls her "Bunny") and she is ten years old and still going strong.  She sleeps all day, but can be very lively in the mornings and evenings - especially on warm sunny days.  

And Lots More Books: The Commissions Update!

My previous post had an update of some books - and one more business card case - that I made in the last few weeks, for my online shops.

I've also worked on several commission books and this post is to show you those.

Commission One - An Italian-themed Holiday Journal: 

Anne chose raspberry red leather, ivory binding thread and a wide ivory ribbon to tie her book.  She specially wanted the ribbon to tie vertically, as shown in the photo.  I used a variation of a traditional Italian Longstitch binding to stitch the pages.  It looks rather nice...

Inside, the leather is lined with red mulberry paper, but each cover has half of a map of Northern Italy, from a vintage atlas.  The map was chosen online by Anne and I purchased it for her.  

I made a label for the inside of the book, using a copy of part of the map, printed onto vellum paper, with the title "Italy 2015" (the label is not attached in the photo). 

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Commission Two - An Artist's Sketchbook: 

Danielle and her twin sister have their 18th birthdays in May.  She asked me to make a special sketchbook for her sister, who is a keen artist.  

Danielle chose a rich brown leather for the covers.  This was lined with red mulberry paper and we decided on a fastening with a simple red cord to wrap round a metal button.

The pages were of Murano paper, which is an artists' paper designed for drawing with pencil, pastel, charcoal and other dry media.  It has a slight texture, giving it a good "tooth" for the drawing media used.  Danielle chose several shades of ivory, cream, grey and charcoal for the page sections.  I also added some loose sheets of glassine tissue paper, to be used between pages, so the drawing doesn't smudge, until it can be fixed with spray.   

The pages were sewn with a cross-stitch, in red linen. 

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Commission Three - A Book of Shadows: 

I was commissioned to make a book, by my sister.  She asked for a Book of Shadows, for her friend's birthday.  

The covers are black leather, lined with purple mulberry paper.  The book ties with a black organza ribbon.  The cover is hand painted in silver, with a traditional Book of Shadows design, of a Pentacle, along with a black cat and symbols to represent the four elements.  

There are forty pages of hand-made Indian cotton-rag paper inside.  The book is sewn in a decorative longstitch, with purple linen.  

* * * 

Commission Four - A Present for Jen: 

Finally, I commissioned myself!  I wanted to make a gift for the birthday of a very lovely lady, who is a skilled artist and produces the most beautiful papercut art.  She goes by the name of Jen and you can see some of her work here - My Papercut Heart. 

Jen designs large and complex paper cuts, which are all hand-drawn on plain paper, before being copied to the sheets from which they are cut.  We chatted about drawing paper recently and she commented that she'd been sticking A4 sheets together, to make a sheet large enough for one of her commission pieces.  So, it was pretty obvious that I should make a Large sketchbook!  

A3 (16.5" x 11.75") Sketchbook.  This has hard covers, in a Nepalese Lokta paper with a screen-printed "Kongpo" design of a garden - a very special sheet, that I bought some time ago and saved for a "special project".  Well, this was just the right project, as I was able to show the whole of the wonderful design on these book covers.  

The edge trim is a saffron yellow silk and the covers are lined with a matching saffron coloured art paper.  The book is sewn with a Coptic style binding, in double rows, with ivory linen. 

The pages are sewn in several sections, so there are plenty of sheets that open out to A2 size, for Jen's large and complex planning drawings.  Hopefully, she won't have to keep tearing out sheets and sticking them together, to have enough room to plan her next masterpiece! 

I wrapped the edge of each section with brown art paper, to give a bit of space inside the book and also to add a nice contrast to the golden silk edge-trim.  I added a small hand-tied silk tassel to the front of the cover, along with a silk-mounted label, with "Jen" printed in an oriental-looking font. 

I'm happy to report that Jen was very pleased with her birthday present - and I'm still smiling! 

Update Report: Lots More Books!

I haven't posted for weeks again!  It's been busy and I have neglected my blog, in favour of working on quite a few new books.  Here's a photo-summary of what I've been doing:

Firstly, another Business Card Case.  This time, it has a hand-painted design of flowers and birds.

It's lined with two colours of mulberry paper.  I quite like this one!

Then, here is what I did with the leather and dandelion-print paper that I showed in my previous post:

The dandelion paper is a lining for the covers of a new journal. 

The covers are a honey-beige coloured leather.  

There is a hand-made ceramic button and matching linen thread tie fastening.  

Sewn in longstitch, with aqua linen thread, to match the button.  

Pages of my favourite cream text paper.

Next, a Spring themed journal, in golden wool-felt, with purple suede lining and edge-trim, with a green satin ribbon trim and tie-fastening.

The cover is made of suede-leather and felt, so it looks and feels very rich and soft.

 The two sections of paper are stitched with a cross-stitch, in purple linen. 

Then a Sketchbook:

Blackcurrant leather sketchbook, with 30 pages of drawing paper and 10 pages of watercolour paper. Sewn with a decorative longstitch, in light grey linen thread. 

The sketchbook is lined with a deep pink paper, patterned with birds. 

I also made two more rainbow-themed hardcover journals. 

Pink Indian paper, with a gold-printed scalloped design, highlighed with purple glitter. 

There are ten page sections, each section having a different colour on the outside and white pages inside.  

This journal has a collage design paper on the covers... 

The pages are of the same Indian cotton-rag paper as the previous journal. 

Both books are sewn with a coptic style stitching, in bright hemp cord. 

I've also been working on several commission books and a very special commission of my own. There are so many books in this post already, that I think I'll post those next time!

 
Shameless Plug:
If you'd like any of these books, they're all for sale - you can visit my online Folksy shop here, or if you prefer, find my Etsy shop here.