Pele brings her fire...

Well, I was able to attend my second book arts intensive class in Volcano this year... and boy was it AWESOME!! I really had a blast, and learned a great new binding technique. The Caterpillar Binding! I also learned to paint with milk paints, and I worked with leather a lot more this year, too... all in all, I feel like I increased my book-making abilities by a TON!

It was wonderful seeing my teacher & friend, Christine, again... she's so much fun and full of so much knowledge! Her skills at metal working, book making, and paper arts make you feel like you can do anything in her class because she's there with that amazing knowledge to get you out of any bind! You feel safe to try anything. And isn't that awesome?

So for my first book, I decided to do a wooden book cover with watercolor paper signatures, bound with coptic stitches and, of course, the caterpillar binding. It was quite the process! However, it was the most satisfying thing that I've done in a looooong time.... :-) I made a few mistakes, but I think that it still turned out quite nice. More of a centipede than a caterpillar, maybe, but that's the joy of it! Lots and lots of legs!! The milk paint is cool because it comes in powder form, and you just add some water and mix it. I used it like finger paints on my wood covers. I included signature guards in this layout, too, because I liked the added color, since the covers and caterpillar were pretty earthy and muted tones.

The people in the class were a lot of fun, and all really talented! I enjoyed myself completely. Again!

This year was special for me too. I had a significant birthday. The ladies made me a gorgeous card, and all signed it, and they bought me a chocolate birthday cake! It was really sweet. I had such a nice time. The creativity was flowing from me like lava from an active volcano. I even worked in my journal in the evenings before bed!

I will leave my next books for another blog.... for now, just take a gander at my cool caterpillar that I named Charlie, and bask in the glow of the Volcano....