Newvox Art Gallery: Grand Opening Day

Today started out so mellow, with Keith and I going to Kyle's to help weed his garden. We also watched The Darjeeling Limited, as we all enjoy Wes Anderson movies. Then we grabbed some sushi for dinner and headed over to the south side, because....

Many tomato plants, zucchini, peppers & beans

Scary scarecrow

Sprocket (I think) watching from the deck above

Tonight was the night! The grand opening of the NewVox Art Gallery, where lots of local artists are now showing their work, and indie crafters are selling their wares. My books are on display for Bethlehem peeps to take a look at, and to buy, if they so desire... :-)

There were so many people there... it was heartening to see! (More than you can see in my photos.) The art work was fabulous, really. The pieces were very interesting. I'm kind of discerning when it comes to the visual arts, in terms of what I'd enjoy seeing in my personal space, and there were lots of pieces that I really liked and would totally want to have in my home. I didn't take photos of them, as I was too busy ogling everything. But it was really fabulous.... there's a nice range of various types of media. There were paintings: oils, acrylics, mixed media. There were pen & ink drawings. There were metal sculptures, ceramic sculptures, and mixed media pieces. There were handmade candles, jewelry, handbags and purses, my journals and photo albums, and so many cool objets d'art. I'm really interested to find out if anything sells on the first night. (I hope so!!) 


It was really fantastic having some friends there to be supportive and kindly (and avidly) interested in the pieces on display. I love seeing people pick up my books and (smell them) turn them over in their hands with looks of awe or smiles on their faces. It makes me feel sooooo good! I'm really lucky to have friends and my sweetie to be so great to come out and make a fuss for me. 


It was a good weekend, and it's not even over yet. Tomorrow, I'm getting a massage in the late afternoon! Yes.... I can't wait! I hope you're having as great a weekend as I am!


xoxox

Newest Leather Journal

As I mentioned before, I've been making more books for the gallery... though they won't be taking all my books, I want to make sure they have a nice selection. So today I finished a black and bronze leather journal, hand stitched by me with waxed Irish linen thread. Sorry that the photos didn't turn out so nice. I have to clean my lens, but I don't have anything to use right now that wouldn't possibly scratch the lens in the process.

The leather for this journal was from scraps I purchased from the garment district in LA, when I still lived there. The leather is very soft and supple, like something you'd wear. 


I plan on making more, but I need some materials. I was thinking of buying some old leather jackets to recycle. They usually have a nice feel to them... and that's one of the most important things about my leather journals. They need to feel good to touch and hold. So that there's an added dimension to their appeal.


I'll post any more that I make... I might be able to get a couple more out by this Friday, when I have to take my inventory in to the gallery. The thing is, my tendonitis starts to act up when I make more than one in a day. It's satisfying, though still frustrating, as the cats are all over me, trying to catch the threads as I work! Now, Beckham is nibbling at my legs... trying to get my attention. Time to go! Have a great, fabulous, miraculous day!

Newvox Art Gallery Opening!

So do you remember when I mentioned that I was going to be selling my books at a local gallery? The Grand Opening of Newvox Art Gallery is already coming up! It's June 11th, and a bunch of my handmade books will be there!


The owner, Reinaldo, has a blog, too. You can check it out here. 


So... if you're in the area of South Side Bethlehem, PA, why don't you check out the gallery? It'll be full of east coast artists and crafts people like me. The address is 425 Wyandotte St., Bethlehem, PA. There are lots of places to grab a bite to eat, like Blue Sky Cafe, one of my favorites! There are also other art galleries on 3rd Street to peruse. One of them has an Art-O-Mat machine... it's called Monsoon Gallery. Plus, it's kind of fun just to walk around this part of town (not all of it, but some of it) to see what's selling at the little boutiques and shops.


I'm really excited to have my books in a gallery! I've sold them at a book store in LA, but I was in a weird space back then, and not producing a whole lot. I've been getting great feedback here on my books. So maybe I'll sell some locally! Wouldn't that be cool? Wish me luck! 

Newest Beer Box Books

Good morning, friends! So, I've been churning out beer box books for the gallery opening in June. I want to have a nice supply of them, as they'll be the lower end of the book line I'll be selling. I want to make sure that if someone wants one of my books, that they can walk away happy.


Here's what I have so far.... one isn't really a beer box, as it was from a natural cream soda, but I liked the box! (I liked the soda, too, to be truthful.) I had this handmade paper that was printed with cherry blossoms for the inside... kind of perfect for cherry soda!

Exciting News!

I have some exciting news to share with you, known and unknown friends of mine... I didn't want to say anything before this because you know how it is... until you're SURE, you don't want to make a big deal about something that might not actually happen.


Sooooo..... I was approached on my Etsy shop by someone who was interested in having me possibly sell my hand made books in his new art gallery. He's the owner of a new gallery here in the Lehigh Valley. In June, he's going to have a grand opening, and in his gallery will be fine carpets from the middle east, paintings from artists all over the eastern seaboard, and crafts from Indie artists like myself! 


I met with him and his associate this afternoon, bringing with me a few samples of my various books, and they loved them! They kept touching them, and commented that they thought they were gorgeous and that they both wanted one, ha ha. It was really cool! 

These are the books that I took with me to show. I'm going to have quite a bit of work to do before June! I'll need to put together a nice diverse inventory, at different price points. I told them about my cookie box books and six-pack books, and they felt that those would do really well, also, for people who didn't have a lot of money to spend. I'm excited and hopeful that this will be a good experience for me! Mostly, it's when people feel my books with their hands, when they want to own them. Seeing them is alright, but nothing says "buy me" like soft, supple leather covers in your hands! Also, it's easier to appreciate good craftsmanship when you've got the object in your hands and you can see up close how it's put together.


I'll share with you the progress, as I make new books! I'm really excited about this! The last time I sold books was in Los Angeles, at a book store, and I feel it's because people could hold the books in their hands. It's the easiest way to endear something to someone. Let them hold it.

Handmade Birthday

Today is my boyfriend's brother, Kyle's, birthday. Since moving to PA, he's become one of my good friends. I thought I'd try to give him a different kind of birthday than he's used to, being a BMX biker, and outdoorsy guy. When he gets home, the banner above will be on his door. He was bummed that he had class after work today, so this might at least bring a smile to his face before he goes off to school!


I also made him a beer box book, as he'd admired the one that I made my boyfriend. (You may have seen the mini-tutorial I did of it?) If not, you can check it out here. He actually has tried to take it home several times. ;-)

For this book, to make it special for his birthday, I chose the beer box with the bike in it. He loves to make his own bikes, and this artist is also one that he admires. It was a no-brainer! I also painted the pages... and had a little help, as usual.

I wanted to point out that Beckham helped in the painting of these pages by jumping up when it was still wet, and getting prints all over it. There are others throughout the book!

There are lots of signatures (eight) in this book, so plenty of pages. It could be used as a photo album, journal, drawing book... anything you'd use a blank book for. The pages are actually heavy Arches watercolor paper, so they're very rigid. As it's not exactly blank, the pages may feel less daunting to draw in. That's my hope, anyway!


I hope he enjoys his birthday! He's helped to make my transition from California to Pennsylvania a lot easier. Just having another friend always helps! 

Day of Art

I've been making a book today, starting with the pages, which I paint first. My little guy, Jimmy Boo, has been an angel (typical) and has stayed out of the way.

At least until I finished one of the sheets to be used for pages. Then he had to investigate and take over the space for a bit.

Then Beckham came over to chase Jimmy Boo out of the way, and of course, he had to check out the rinse water for my brushes... which he usually tries to either drink or push off the table...

They both left the room to eat and hang out for a bit, so I started another sheet for the next set of pages, and of course...

...Beckham had to jump up onto the wet paper so he could get a closer look. And he left some watercolor footprints, as well. Luckily, this book is for a friend's birthday, and he loves cats. It's challenging to work with them around, but I make do! Sometimes it takes chasing Beckham off with the blue water bottle, though he takes his revenge on that pesky policeman by gnawing on the nozzle whenever he can! If you're asking why I don't just close the door, well, I do. But he will scratch and scratch at it until I open it... and as their litter box happens to also be in this room, I can't keep them out for long. Someday I'll have a house that's big enough to have a mudroom or somewhere better to keep a litter box! Then I can close the door to work, and turn up the music!


I hope you're all having a lovely, maybe creative? day today!!


xoxo

Six-Pack Book Tutorial

If you liked the Cookie Box Tutorial, you may enjoy this one, also. After the excitement of last night's Superbowl Game, there were, of course, left over trash to be either thrown away, or recycled. I saved this one beer carrier from a six-pack of a micro brew, because I kind of liked the graphics on it, and the name cracked me up... "Raging bitch"... ha ha. I decided to make it into a book!

Start by deconstructing the box, leaving a flap

When you deconstruct the box, you should leave flaps on either side of the front cover, and on the left side of the rear cover.  (Or right side, depending on how you look at it. You want each cover to have a finished end, so if you're not sure, then put the two covers together like a book, and verify you have the outer end flaps correct.)

Folding over the spine flap

 The front cover will also have the spine flap, which you will then fold over to create the depth you want for your book. I went with a 1" spine. The remainder will be glued to the other half of the book cover. Once you create the fold, glue the two pieces together.

Glue remainder to the rear cover, taking care to keep the covers straight (level) across the top.

 Then choose a paper to cover the interior, and cut to size, going all the way under the flaps, and to the spine. I covered the spine with the piece from the back cover. It doesn't really matter, as long as the inside is all covered with a nice paper.

Use PVA glue evenly, not too thick, to adhere paper to cardboard

 Only glue the flaps after you have glued in the end pages to the covers. Then glue the flaps down onto the interior, where you already have the nice paper.
 

Glue flaps down over each end.

 After you get the paper glued inside, you need to create the jig for your stitches. This is all the same as the Cookie Box Tutorial. With the beer box, you can actually have a nice finish that you can't always have with the cookie box, or any other smaller box. You need enough extra material to flip over for the edge. If you have that with a box, it definitely makes for a nicer looking book.

This creates a nice weight, and finished look for the book.

Next, use a dab of rubber cement, or craft glue stick, to gently adhere the jig to the spine. Make your marks and with an awl, carefully punch holes through the marks. I did six signatures with six holes in each.

 After your holes are made, carefully peel off the jig, and use that to create your template for punching the holes in your signatures. Measure out your string, and thread the signatures into the spine the same as in the previous tutorial.

 When I measure for string, I always go (loosely) end to end times the number of signatures, then I add an extra six inches to that amount for knotting.

I used a butterscotch colored waxed linen thread for this book because of one of the colors in the cover. I like keeping my stitching kind of evenly spaced, but I've also done books with off-set stitching. It's totally up to you and what you feel like doing. Keep in mind that if you change the stitching locations for each signature, you will have to have a different template to punch the holes... it takes more time, but it's not difficult.

The finished spine

I used watercolor paper for this book, instead of lighter weight paper.

Having flaps makes a nicer book edge, don't you think?

 I didn't include all of the instructions, as I have those in the Cookie Box Tutorial, and it's exactly the same. The only difference is the flaps, and the fact that I added the decorative paper to the inside of the book.

More Ideas for At-Home Book-Making

It occurred to me that when I did the tutorial about making books out of boxes, that I didn't really mention too much about the TYPES of boxes you can use. You're only limited by what you have in your home, which is not as limited as you might think!


You can seek out... match boxes, pasta boxes, perfume boxes... pretty much anything that's made out of cardboard! Look for pretty colors or fun words.

Box from hair product I purchased

I decoupaged the inside covers

I just used linen tape on the spine

Cover from a sample of perfume that I thought was pretty

The back I covered in a scrap of marbled paper

Also made a business card book (rear), and a matchbox book (front).

So you see, you can pretty much use anything you like to make a cool little book! I especially enjoy making miniature books because they are so quick and easy to make. They make cute little gifts, or as notebooks to keep in your purse or car.


I hope you have fun finding new little boxes to make into fun, usable books! Don't toss out those boxes into the recycle bin just yet!

Cookie Box Book Tutorial

You asked for it, so here it is... ta da! The tutorial for the repurposed box book, as seen in the last Reuse ~ Repurpose blog for week 2. 


First of all, here is what you'll need:

A box that you want to make into your book

Tools

You'll also need a glue stick or rubber cement, an awl (or similar), a bone folder, a book binding needle or leather working needle, a pencil, graph paper, scale/ruler, waxed thread, and paper for your signatures (groups of folded paper for inside your book.) You can get most of the book-specific stuff you need at Volcano Arts. That's where I purchase most of my book binding goodies, including the waxed linen thread, and bone folder. I also used a paper punching cradle, which you can also get at Volcano Arts, but if you don't think you'll be making a lot of books, then you can probably do without one. It just takes more time and care.


So first thing you do is to cut off the top and bottom pieces of your box, and then cut one side out, so you have a three-sided book cover.

You may be lucky and not have to modify your spine

The next step is figuring out how many signatures (sections of folded paper) you want to have in your book, and what size they will be. When I took six sheets of my graph paper and folded them in half, I realized that it's going to either require a lot of paper cutting, or I should lengthen the sides of my covers, by creating a new fold for the spine, as the signature was too wide for the present length of the cover. Some boxes won't require making a new spine... it depends on the size of the box that you start with.

Measure width of signature

I measured the length of the short side of my signature and marked it at the top and bottom of one side of my book cover. Then I measured and did the same on the other side. I drew a line from top to bottom, and created a new fold. Using the bone folder to get a good crease is important. This will be the point which your book opens.

Make new, good creases at new spine locations

 Next, you will create enough signatures to fit into the space of your book's spine. I created six signatures, each with seven pages, as the graph paper was rather thin. It will depend on the thickness of the paper you use, and how deep your spine is. 

When using the bone folder for making your crease, always start at the center of the fold and go outwards, towards the outer edge of your signature. This will ensure that have straight creases, and no wrinkling.

The jig: six columns (one for each signature)

Next you will make a jig, or template, for your spine to locate the holes for the stitching. Take one piece of the paper that you are using, and cut a piece the width of your spine, and the length of your signature, and using your glue stick or rubber cement, place it down the center of the spine, graph side up. Then count your signatures again, and about every 1/8-1/4" mark your hole locations with a pencil. You will need an even number of rows along the spine, and the holes should be equidistant from each other. However, you can make your rows spaced differently, as this is part of the design aspect. 

Then you will punch your holes in the spine, through the jig, being careful not to make the holes too large. You just want the holes to be large enough for the needle. In fact, if you don't have a blunt-ended needle or an awl, you can use your sharp needle to make the holes, that way you know that the holes will be perfectly sized for your needle.

Six rows of stitches (always an even number of rows)

After you have located & punched the holes on the spine, take the rest of that sheet of paper that you cut your jig from, and fold it in half. Then lay it next to your jig, and mark the locations of the holes on the edge of the fold. (See above) When you reverse the fold on this sheet that has the hole locations marked, you can use this as your signature punching template.

Punch through the template and the signature, keeping the pages together, and making sure that you're going through the spine. Do this with each group of signatures, making sure that you keep them all organized, if your holes are not symmetrical. You want them to all line up exactly so when you're done punching, so that they perfectly match the jig on your spine.

Next, measure out your thread: stretch the thread from one end of your spine to the other, and count off the number of signatures that you have, adding about 6"-8" for safety and knotting. (I had help with counting, as you can see.)

Thread your linen thread onto your book-binding needle, and make a knot at the end, so that you can keep a taut thread as you work. You will start at either top or bottom, as long as you start with the outer-most hole. From the outside of the spine, go into the book, through the corresponding hole in the outer fold of your signature (the mountain) and coming out into the inside (the valley).

Proceed going into and out of the signature and the book's spine, threading together the signature to the book. You will always end up outside the spine if you correctly made an even number of holes. (Let's hope you did!) And when you come back in from the top or bottom, put another signature inside, and repeat the process until you have sewn in all the signatures, and are back up (or down) across from where you started. As you go, check that the threading is taut... not pulling too much, just making sure that there isn't a loopy spot that is too loose.

To finish off, weave through the top loops.

Over/under until you get to the starting point.

View of signatures from bottom.

View of signatures from the top.

Tying off the remaining thread, you can either make a knot right at the opening, or you can do as I've shown above, and weave through the top stitches, until you get to the first point of entry. Then tie off to that thread. You're done stitching your signatures into your box cover! You can now decorate the box, or add something to the inside cover, or you can create a closure for your book! It's all up to you!


This was my first tutorial, and I'd appreciate any constructive criticism! Was it clear? Did I show enough photos? Were the photos clear? It was hard because I had cats all over me and only two hands. I used a tripod and timer for the photos that show both of my hands! I hope you enjoyed this!


To give credit where credit is due, I got this idea years ago from this awesome book by Esther K. Smith, How To Make Books. So you mustn't think I'm brilliant or anything. It was so long ago that I've since made my own changes, and expanded on her ideas, but that is where it started! Also, I want to credit Christine Cox of Volcano Arts because that is where I took my best book binding classes!! She's brilliantly talented and knows EVERYTHING about book binding, paper, etc.... If you ever get a chance, you should totally take one of her classes! They're a lot of fun, and you get to be creative for a week, eight hours a day!