Movin’ & Shakin’

I am super excited to learn that two of my books will be featured in the Encoded Structures: Interpreting the Story exhibition in conjunction with the Handmade & Bound Festival in Nashville, Tn!

The festival takes place Sept. 30th & Oct. 1st at the Watkins College of Art, Design, & Film. The Opening Reception is September 30, 2011 @ 6:30 pm and the exhibit ends October 31, 2011. If you like books, zines, mini-comics, and other things handmade, then you should definitely check it out! You can also read about my two books that will be there: Dreamweaver and Wanderlust.

Nothin’ against a big town. . .

. . . but I can breathe in a small town!

Okay, one John Cougar Mellencamp quote is enough. . . What? You didn’t notice? What rock are you living under? [insert bad rock 'n' roll pun here.]

Seriously though, as much as I love bustling cities, great transit design, and bike lanes, there is something about small town charm that just gets me. Maybe it’s the way strangers smile at you and automatically feel like family. Or the way everyone takes their time. Or because everything is perfectly mismatched, chipped paint, faded colors, and all.

Whatever it is, Bell Buckle, Tennessee has it. The town is tiny (less than 400 people!), but it has heart. The southern cafe in the center of town is surrounded by antique shops. It comes with a fantastic chalk menu, like any great restaurant:

Complete with fried corn fritters and a live radio show on the weekends, Bell Buckle Cafe is a well-hidden treat. A trip around the block will have you stopping into at least a half dozen thrift & antique shops, one complete with an ice cream bar. Good luck resisting the sherbet!

It was such a good day for a drive through the country, thrifting, ice cream, and my favorite part of summer slowly coming to a close: tights! So perfect for layering and mixing textures:

Although I would have been perfectly content leaving empty handed, we did pick up a few good finds. Two awesome Robert Lyons prints:

I love them so much! Does anyone know anything about the artist? I did some researching, but it didn’t give me much to work with, unfortunately. Lastly, I picked up this super classy apron for just five dollars:

It’ll be nice to have a year-round apron (my other one is holiday cat themed!) to wear and will also be perfect for the cake decorating classes I am going to start soon. So many great finds and positive things going on lately!

A Very Colorful Birthday

When I was in Gatlinburg this summer, I met a lot of wonderful people. Luckily, one of my roommates while I was there happened to be from the same town as me, so even though we have both left, we still get to hangout.

Kayla is one of the few people I have met that not only has similar interests as me, but just as much energy as I do. We even got to to take a pop-up bookmaking class together (you can see her awesome book here).

We also don’t take ourselves too seriously:

I knew I had to make something special for her 21st birthday, so I decided on these Rainbow Nerds Cupcakes from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen. After all, what’s more grown up than Kool-Aid and nerds baked into sweets?

I am not a fan of grape, so I tweaked this recipe a bit. I used this vanilla cupcake recipe and this frosting recipe and I didn’t put any nerds in the batter. Besides that I tried to stick to the original but I failed and used regular Kool-Aid instead of the instant kind, and let me tell you, these babies are sour! They taste exactly like nerds: TANGY!

Even though I technically made these wrong, they were still a lot of fun (and I learned a great deal). I mean, each one looks like a little party!

I really recommend branching out and trying this recipe. I can’t even imagine how much more awesome they would be if had done them correctly so make sure you get the right stuff! I just feel like the regular ‘ole vanilla/chocolate cupcakes can get a little boring; it’s nice to try something that’s more of a novelty treat.

What do you do when you botch a new recipe? Start over? Serve it anyway? Compost it? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Fabric! Paper! Collage!

My final workshop at Arrowmont was packed with so much information. It was a great way to end the summer. I took Surface Design & Collage Techniques with Paper & Fabric taught by Hollie Heller.

We started off the week by dyeing papers and using techniques like batik and discharge to create patterns. Then we learned some iron on transfer techniques and applied them to paper and fabric. I used all of these techniques on watercolor paper, but I also used them on pages of a dinosaur book that I found the week before. Then we used the papers we created to make collages, this is mine:

I created this by pulling fabric over a stretcher frame (like you would canvas) and then applied additional layers of paper & fabric to it with acrylic medium. This made the layers really stiff, like a vinyl or waterproof shoes. But I didn’t want to just have this 24″ x 21″ collage piece, so I decided to cut it up in order to make smaller, more interesting collage surfaces:

After I had some interesting 3″ x 3″ squares, I knew I wanted to create a book with them. I have loved  Jacob’s Ladders since I learned about them in high school (I didn’t have one as a kid), and when I discovered it can be used as a book form, well, I fell even harder for the magical structures. Since I wanted six panels, and a Jacob’s Ladder is viewed from both sides, I needed a dozen collages. I started cutting, arranging, and stapling my pieces:

If you have never seen a Jacob’s Ladder in person, you can watch this video to see how it works. The instructions I used are from Creating Handmade Books, a text I had from the first book arts class I ever took.

I ended up weaving a small basket out of my collage scraps to house this book. I would still like to make a lid for it, but I am pleased with how it’s turning out:

This book is called The 21st Century. It is inspired by how disconnected we as a society have become to the world around us:

Detail of inside text:

Detail of back panels:

I feel like this class pretty much tied the entire summer up for me. I am positive I will use several of these techniques often. This book is very unique from any I have made in the past, and I am sure that with some more play, I can continue to push my books in new and exciting directions.

I’m excited to make this form again, even though it took me about 3 tries to bind it correctly. Maybe one day I will make instructions that aren’t so confusing so that no one has to go through what I did. Or maybe I’m the only one that had this much trouble with a Jacob’s Ladder? Either way, I plan on practicing this form again, so hopefully I will have more to share in the future. Let me know if you have any tips!

Pop-Up Books & Sculptural Bookbinding

I had the extreme pleasure of taking a workshop taught by Carol Barton while I was at Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts this summer. Carol is not only the author of The Pocket Paper Engineer Volumes I & II, but also a fantastic book artist, often making editions upwards of 300!

We started the week learning simple pop-up constructions and how to layer them. Does this look like a face to anyone else?

We also experimented with some platform and prop structures (which you can learn about in her 2nd book) and then moved on to more complicated shapes. I played around with cutting out letters:

We also learned some 3D book froms, such as: accordion, carousal, and tunnel book structures. I wanted to try something new, so I decided to focus on making a flag book. I used materials I already had, like textured packing paper and a book of old maps. Here is the cover of Wanderlust Full Speed Ahead:

Covers & spine detail:

Inside spread:

Detail of cut-outs:

During the week several students worked on carousal books. Since I had made one before, I focused on getting the flag book done. However, after I finished it, I did eventually end up starting a carousal book. But I still wanted to do something new, so I decided to scale mine down and make a miniature. Here is the start of it:

It begins with three nested layers. When you are done, it folds into a circle or “carousal” shape. When I learned this form in college, we called it a “Star Book” for obvious reasons:

This book is about 2 1/4″ x 2 1/8″ and is shaping up pretty nicely. I plan on incorporating layered pop ups and lots of stitching into it. Here is a detail of the back:

I learned so much in this workshop that I can incorporate into my work. I am excited to finish this book and to start new ones. I can now visualize what I want to make and easily achieve it. Make sure to check back here to see a finished version.

Until then, you can click here to see some of the books my classmates made during the week or go here to read what Carol had to say about her time at Arrowmont. Enjoy!

A Whole New Medium

I decided to try something a little different than usual this summer: Encaustic Collage. This technique is also known as “hot wax painting” and involves layering melted wax on a surface and encasing papers into it (if you wish). You can also transfer images/text onto the surface and lots of other techniques, but I won’t bore you with details. Instead, I’ll just show you this piece I made:

In case you couldn’t tell, this was partially inspired by The Labyrinth. Also inspired by: kittens, nebulae, marbled paper, fancy dresses, etc. Although this class was a challenge, I am glad I took it. And even though I got some work I like out of it, I know I won’t really be doing it in the future. It’s pretty time consuming and messy, and at the end of the day, I would rather spend my time making books or baking cakes. I mean, I’m all for being a well rounded person and artist, but with so many interests, I’m already nervous about being a Jill-of-all-trades-master-of-none some day, you know? I am going to spend my energy and free time on bookmaking, embroidery, and baking: so we all have that to look forward to.