Watermelon guest book

A friend of mine will be going to a bridal shower tomorrow so she asked me to make the bride a wedding guest book. The colors of the wedding are kelly green and pink, very Kate Spade, so it was fun to pick out the papers. I decorated the book with embossed pink and fuchsia hearts that cascade down the cover. I hope the bride likes it!

Ese's book - Part 3

Now that we've got the fabric dyed, our next step is to convert it into bookcloth. To do this you have to attach rice paper to the back or wrong side of the fabric using WonderUnder. The rice paper prevents the glue from seeping through the silk when applied to the book board. Take a look:




Once you've got your bookcloth, you attach it to the book board as you would with any other book. This book offers simple instructions on how to do that. Once you've attached the cloth to the board, secure your text block (which you sewed up while the fabric was dyeing) into the cover and place under a press. Voila! You've got yourself a custom made book. Here's the final product:



What do you think?

Ese's Book - Part 2

Today is part 2 of Ese's awesome book. :) Last night, I learned how to embed photo albums into my blog, so today's tutorial is a little flipbook. It goes through the pictures a bit fast, so don't hesitate to hit pause if you need more time to read the captions and look at the pictures. In the tutorial, I explain how to prepare your fabric for a second dye bath in order to yield a tortoise shell pattern. The result can be either subtle, as is the case here, or stunning (like Kristen's scarf) depending on how you choose your colors. I love this pattern. I think it's really beautiful.

Check it out!!

Ese's book - Part 1

I have a good friend named Ese. She loves tortoises. :) Her birthday is on March 12th and she's asked me to make her a thick journal with a cover that reminded her of tortoises. After giving it much thought, I felt it was only right to dye the book cloth myself. I started out with silk crepe, which I dyed using both Ecru and Bronze.

Although the water looks very dark, the color is actually very soft and warm.

After dyeing it the base color, I ironed it out dry to prepare it for the second dye job. See how beautiful it turned out? It's neat because the end paper I chose is almost identical in color and texture to the cloth. I think it'll turn out very beautiful.

Tomorrow I'll show you how I fold the cloth in preparation for the second dye bath (in black) and the end result, which will be the tortoise shell pattern.

Stay tuned!

Etsy Book Swap

I recently joined the Bookbinding Etsy Street Team (blog). We share ideas, tricks of the trade, and questions on anything and everything. Every three months or so, we hold a book swap, where we all mail in one book and receive another in return. I can't wait to see which one I get! This is the one I'm sending in. It's a blank journal made with black 100% rayon bookcloth (it's swirly - see the lines in the fabric?) and orange and gold marbled end paper. The headbands are 100% silk and I sewed the text block using linen thread. I also cut the fore edge text block with a guillotine to give it a nice, clean edge. Can't wait to see the one I'll be getting! :)

Craft room chairs

The chairs in my craft room I believe I got at Ikea. They are very simple chairs that can be folded up and stored. They don't make for very pretty chairs just sitting out though, so I decided to make slip covers for them. I started with the back of the chair and chose two matching blue and two matching pink fabrics.These particular fabrics are from an old stash of Amy Butler fabrics I had from a while back. They will add lots of color to the room. I made the slip covers reversible and the flap gives you a little taste of what's on the other side. :) The floral patterns are actually the same, one blue and one pink, which brings the chairs together.

The pink chair sits in front of my sewing machine, while the blue chair sits at the table, where I have my next projects lined up.Here you can see one of two books I will be rebinding. The covers are pretty beat up, so I'm looking forward to the challenge.

Wedding Album

My friends recently got married in Monterrey, Mexico. Unfortunately, I had just started a new job and didn't have the vacation time saved up to go, which was a total bummer. From the pictures, I can tell we missed a great party!! :(

Anyway, this past weekend, I made them a photo album. It looks like a little tuxedo because it's this gorgeous silky black bookcloth with white on white floral paper inside.

It's horizontal, as opposed to vertical, which I prefer. They seem to have more room for pictures. I packed it up last night for them and shipped it out. I hope they like it!

Double Dragonfly

An Etsy customer of mine requested that I make him a double thick journal so that it would last a bit longer than the ones of average thickness. This is what I came up with:
It’s red Italian linen with a marbly orange, red, and gold endpaper. The text paper is a soft cream color which goes nicely with the warm tones of the endpaper.
I made it doubly thick, as promised, and added two black dragonflies to the front cover. I doubled the thread, using a yellow and white thread to make the binding more interesting.

I’m really happy with the way it turned out. Custom orders are always so much fun. They force you out of your routine and that can be very inspiring.

I hope you like it!

Plants and projects

My plants seem to like it out on the sun porch. They're doing very well. I may have to re-pot a couple which are growing like crazy, but for right now, they're very happy!

On the project front, I'm binding a book for my husband. A book I started a while back, but hadn't had the chance to actually bind it until now. I have this week off before starting my new job on Monday, so I thought I'd get some half finished projects done. The book has a graphite gray cover and dark gray paper. I chose a gray, white, and green endpaper to keep the neutral theme going. I think it'll be a handsome book.

Best e-mail EVER!

Remember the granny book I made? Well, I just got an e-mail from my client (her granddaughter) telling me that her grandmother had received the book and loved it! She even attached photos of her grandmother writing in the journal while enjoying her morning tea. Isn't that AWESOME?!

This is my client's mother looking at all the wonderful old photos. Apparently, she didn't know who the people in the pictures were either (my client didn't know). That must have been so great to learn all that family history!!

Isn't she just beautiful? :) There's nothing more special than to see your work making other people happy. Thank you for sending me these wonderful photos and allowing me to blog about this wonderful experience!

Felt bag

I promised you a felt bag and here it is! TA DAAAAA. The picture doesn't do it justice. In person, you can hold it and feel how incredibly soft it is. I love it! It's mint green with a wispy soft white inside.

I picked just one color for the outside because I want to embroider flowers on the flap and thought it would look too busy if there were several colors going on with the roving. For the straps, however, I chose the mint green and a nice peachy color that matches nicely with the mint and white.

I made two handles. I can't decide if I should just attach them separately or if I should braid them (just twist them together) and then attach them. What do you guys think?

Doesn't the peach look nice against the mint?
I'll keep you posted on my progress with the embroidery. I've never really embroidered before, although I have all the materials, but I can't wait to try! I'm determined to make this bag look awesome! :)

I also picked up some more roving for another project. I want to roll it up (like the handles above, except thinner) and make it really really long. Then wrap it around my wrist a bunch of times and make an awesome bracelet!!! Won't that be cool? I'm still trying to decide how to connect the ends, whether with gold clasps from the bead store or what...Still have to work that out. This project may have to wait, though, until after I move up to Boston, unfortunately. Currently, I'm hoping to bind a book for my husband, make a scarf and a bandanna for some friends in Boston, and make that bag as my final project for my textiles class. ALL WHILE PACKING. I'm tired already...

Granny Book

A while ago, I mentioned that I had been commissioned to make a special journal for my client's grandmother, who's 88 years old. She wanted to give her grandmother a special journal for her birthday where she could write her memoirs. She wanted 26 pictures interspersed throughout the pages of the book to make it more personal. I absolutely loved the idea and quickly set to work, choosing the paper and color combinations for my client to choose from!
She chose a beautiful blue silk linen book cloth and Japanese screenprinted end paper with gold accents. I added a turquoise and navy silk ribbon for the bookmark, which really brought out the lighter tones of blue in the linen. Before covering the book board, I shaved three edges at a slant (all but the spine) to give the book a nice rounded feel when you held it. Seems like a bit over the top, but the difference (shaving vs. not shaving) is amazing! I also chose a bright yellow linen thread to bind the book with.

It matched beautifully with the blue linen and the gold in the end paper!
Unfortunately, after I was all done, I picked up the book and it was incredibly wobbly!! :( The yellow thread is unwaxed, which makes a HUGE difference when doing a coptic stitch binding (as I found out the hard way). It works well with full bound books (with a spine) because you glue the entire spine in place before putting the cover on. But when the thread is the only thing that is holding the book together, unwaxed thread does not work well. I had to undo the whole thing and bind it again. (bummer!) This time I opted for thicker ply, waxed linen thread in purple, a color also found in the endpaper.

The purple looked pretty as well and held the book nice and tight, which is most important!

For the pictures, Kurt was kind enough (thanks, Kurt!) to lay out the pictures and turn them all from black and white and color into sepia tones, which I thought would look very nice with the antique white pages. I took the file to a print shop to get professionally printed and then evenly distributed them among the signatures. We attempted to put them in chronological order, as best as we could, placing our favorite one on the first page. Isn't that a gorgeous picture!?

As a finishing touch, I gold stamped Grandma's name to the front of the book.
This is the final result!

Rain rain go away...

It's pouring rain here in DC. Not fun at all, unless you're snuggled up under the covers, which I most certainly am not, unfortunately. I am having a nice cup of green tea at work though. Bought a teastick recently that works pretty good. I definitely prefer my Japanese teapot, but since I'm at work, this is the more sensible solution.

I just bought this the other day and I am SO excited to wear it, but of course, I didn't want to get it soaked the first time I use it so I left it home today. :( It's gorgeous, though, and incredibly roomy. What will I wear it with...hmmmmm....I'm so excited. Hee hee. :) I LOVE bags (if you haven't noticed already). I definitely want to become the next stealth bag sensation! Stealth bags, since you probably don't know since you're not obsessed like me, are slightly expensive bags that are very well made by an unknown artisan. That'll be me someday...

Crafting plans this weekend include granny journal-making and possible tote. We'll see. I've definitely been anxious to craft, though, so hopefully that'll make me extra productive!

Enough rambling, now. Enjoy your weekend!

Maple Nut Scones

I asked my husband to make me Maple Nut Scones this past weekend. They turned out VERY good. :) I'm glad he enjoys baking because I don't think I could ever bring myself to go through the trouble of making these!

Kristen posted an entry on Maple Nut Scones, which of course made me crave them. The post includes the recipe if anyone is interested in making them. They're topped with a maple flavored frosting that makes them extra good. Here are our frosting remnants. YUM!

I'm currently working on a book that'll have blue linen bookcloth and blue and gold Japanese screenprinted endpaper. It'll be a coptic stitch with antique white paper. I think it'll turn out very beautiful and I can't wait to have it done! It was a special order from a very nice granddaughter who wants to give it to her grandmother for her birthday. It'll include photographs of her grandmother's life printed throughout the text block. Very special. I'm glad she chose me to make the book for her. I'll keep you posted on the progress as always!

Pizza

My husband and I went out for pizza the other night. This is a HUGE deal for me because I'm lactose intolerant and going out for pizza means I'm craving it so bad I'm willing to put up with the...consequences. Our favorite place is in Bethesda and it's called Stromboli's. We always get a large ground turkey and bacon pizza. I mean, if you're going to break the diet and go out for pizza, you might as well get the most awesome pizza, right? Well, this is it! Sometimes Kurt adds black olives to his half and I add brocolli to mine, but that's only on very special occassions. :)

Kurt was on his last piece when suddenly he starts eating it crust first! Very strange. He ate a piece of the crust, then went back to the bottom, then back to the crust...I had to take a picture:

Concerning crafts, I am suuuuper excited because I just got a mega, heavy duty paper cutter in the mail. I scored it on e-bay. I usually have to go to my local bookbinding studio to cut my textblocks so they have a nice and even edge, but now I have my very own desk top version. I can't wait to use it. I think I'm going to bind some books this weekend. Maybe some quarter leather or some larger versions of the candybooks. Hmmm....

Book parts

Made a book for my surface design class. We're suppose to fill it with pictures that inspire us artistically so that later we can refer back to it when choosing colors and techniques. Since I love making books, I hardly needed an excuse to make one!


For this book, I hand dyed my own book cloth. I dyed cotton a solid grey, over dyed it with red using block resists, and then over dyed that using potato dextrin to get those veiny black lines. I then ironed on some WonderUnder so that later the glue wouldn't seep through the cotton while I was attaching it to the book cover.

Then, I punched holes in my signatures with my awl.


It's good to have a nice, sharp awl so that the holes you punch are small. Otherwise you have these gaping holes that are very noticeable. And ugly! (Thanks, Alex, for this great awl!)

After punching holes into my signatures, I lined my cover boards with the book cloth and end paper. (Forgot to take a picture, sorry!) I was going to choose those wonderful illustrations seen in the first picture for my end papers. They're wonderful old chocolate company advertisements, but they were too big and I couldn't bring myself to cut them up! So instead I used indigo handmade paper from Cave Paper, which matched nicely with the cover and the antique white text block.

After placing the cover boards under the press for several hours, I punched aligning holes into the covers and then bound it all together using a simple chain stitch, so that the book would lie nice and flat when opened. Here's the finished product:

I immediately started filling it with pictures of gorgeous color combinations. Of course, the most beautiful ones can be found in nature, like in these butterflies. Pinks and blacks and blues and oranges. GORGEOUS!