Miniature book covers, day one

A good studio day.

I found that the hokett loom on which I planned to work still had work on it. So I looked around for another small loom.   Since the books will be 4"x2.5", and I will need to accommodate two of them on a single warp, I realized that my bead loom will do fine.

It's a sturdy piece of matboard on which I've done a lot of beadweaving. Already marked off in inches, width fine for my purpose.

Then I foozled around a bit deciding on a warp thread. Ended up with a cotton one, which I dyed a while back probably with diluted black walnut. The idea is to make it less glaring white so it vanishes better under the weft.

Then I happily got into it. This small lightweight loom is easy on your hands, very maneuverable, and will bend slightly if you need to slide a finger behind the work to secure an end. It's as simple as can be.

So I just picked any newly spun yarn and started needleweaving.

 Just used a big blunt yarn needle.

Here you have two covers which will go to different books. The plan is for a series. So I'll weave a few, varying the colors and designs and later see which ones are happy together. I'm already mixing colors as I spin, so part of the design is accounted for.

 I'll separate them by cutting the warp threads between them, then weaving back the ends into the weft. Then do top and bottom similarly.  Then steam and rest them. Then warp up for the next two.

At that point,I when I've got the collection done, I'll decide if I need to make a new post (batch) of paper to size, or if I can use some of my current stock, torn to size. No need to know that yet.

As I expect you know, you don't cut handmade paper. You can wet a line then tear on it where the fibers are weaker. Or use a straightedge to secure then tear.

And later I'll decide what sort of stitching I'll do to bind the books.

Happy spinner/weaver/stitcher/bookie.

Finally art starts again, tapestry artist books

I spent the evening thinking about spinning, and spinning up some nice silk and other bits of roving while I planned tomorrow's weaving.

Miniature book, covers 4"×2.5", golden rectangle. The pages will be my handmade paper. Not sure what thread to bind with yet.

I'll warp the loom tomorrow, once I decide which one and which warp thread. At this scale I can work on front and back covers in one warping on a small loom.

They will be tapestries, meaning the weft will completely cover the warp. What I spun tonight will be weft yarn.  The dark yarn is shot through with sparkle, lovely. The light isn't good for pix right now but I'm too excited to wait for daylight.

It's so good to be making again.

And I'm planning on having another try at spinning handmade paper. And other things.

Miniature artist's books, many media

Just doing some foraging in the studio, because I had an idea for  miniature artists' books, and had just the things to use.

Here's a group of prints, which I ran off on my Gocco printer, long ago, said printer now being in possession of another artist, and which I printed on needlepoint canvas. 

I'm showing you the exploded book, pages all separated, and the the beadweaving which will be used to secure it all.  I wove the beads on a little cardboard loom I made.  Sold a few pieces of this sort of weaving, usually for jewelry, but had several hanging on the wall until I found a home for them.  Which I now have.

And then the assembled book, about three by three inches.

 

And this is a set of four image transfers on sheer nylon, pix of studio interior and artworks, shot with old Polaroid, and the emulsion lifted off the resulting pix and transferred and reshaped, onto the nylon.  

Other parts of this adventure found homes in mixed media artworks, a number of which are in buyers' collections in various parts of the country.  But there's always a supply which needs a home, as here.  

The cover, on the left,  is an image transfer onto silk of a mixed media stitched piece, now in a buyer's collection, the original, that is.  These pages are all about three by three inches. I have to decide how to assemble them, and what sort of back cover will support without overwhelming the pages.

 Other small books I already had in my collection, like these little notebooks, saddle stitched or assembled using paper fasteners. I painted the middle one, a landscape rendered in marbling, and the others are adaptations, one of a program from a historical sampler exhibit, the other a greeting card.  

These are more functional, useful to go into your purse, and I make notes for people all the time in them. Lot of low tech friends who want me to Write it Down, not email it to them.  The book with the paper fasteners is easy to refill, just pop out the fasteners, cut paper to fit, poke little hole, slip fasteners back in. Done.  I'm including them in the exhibit to encourage people to try it out.

Then there's the bigger book, here the red onionskin paper, bound with a red beadweaving.  Onionskins largely donated by Girija J, who cooks with them a lot.  I may add a stamping or a stenciling, not sure yet.  It's still drying and pressing.

Just as well I made a lot of paper in the summer.  It's coming in handy now.

These are all going into my November exhibit, if there's room in the case, it's getting a bit full, with my ambitious progress.  And I have to write up a little something, explaining the art form. More fun for people to get the gist of what they're seeing. 

With the exception of an accordion book, most of my show is about signature books, left bound or stitched, because the materials, rather than the form, are what interest me at the moment.

I have a binder with samples of my handmade paper explaining what the materials were, iris, daylily, oriental lily flower and so on.  I'm wondering if it will be a good idea to make an actual artist's sample book, too. That could work nicely.

And there may be a book created from those transfer images I made earlier in the year, some of which have been exhibited, but not all.  It carries on that earlier interest in image transfer, this time using electronic rather than physical means to do it.

With the exception of the little notebooks I write in, all these artworks are for sale, and I'll be glad to quote to anyone who wants to own one.  Or more.  You know the old joke about fund raising: we will accept any donation, however large!