Ripplemania

Seems like everyone is making ripple blankets! I am very tempted to start my own. It's all very simple (in theory). You just go to the stripe generator to pick out your blanket's color combination. Then you use your stash yarn or yarn you purchase especially for this project and get to work! The pattern is "soft waves" from 200 Ripple Stitch Patterns by Jan Eaton. I'll have to buy the book, but I'm kind of excited about the project. I treasure comfy blankets, so it would be cool to have one I've made myself.

Alicia Paulson did a pale pastel version, which turned out very pretty.
Hmm...what colors will I choose?

A fresh start!

When I was little, maybe 5th grade, I was given an assignment in my art class: I was to draw a self portrait. I was a bit overwhelmed by the task. Drawing had never been my strong suit, but, like all 10 year olds, I was ready to face the challenge! I penciled every line with great care, erasing when I needed to redraw, carefully positioning my hand so as not to smudge the page, until my self portrait was finally coming along. As I was working, my teacher stops by my desk, leans into my portrait, leans back, looks at me, and says, "mmm....no....the nose is all wrong." She erased the nose I had so carefully drawn and in its place draws a horrible pig's nose.

I was devastated.

I was crushed.

Not only had she erased the nose that took me hours to get (sort of) right, but was she insinuating that I had a pig's nose?! From that day on, not only did I have a complex about my nose but I was convinced that I was hopeless when it came to drawing and that, therefore, I had not one artistic bone in my body.

It wasn't until I was 26 that I started thinking about giving the art thing another go. Since drawing was out, and given that I had always loved to buy journals and beautifully made books, I decided to buy a book called Cover to Cover by Shereen LaPlantz and learn how to bind my own books. A couple of years later and after much practice and determination, Tomoe Book Arts was born!

Bookbinding is a fascinating process. Most people don't realize how much work goes into making the very thing they use everyday. I have all these great new ideas for journals and albums that I want to make this year. It has really been fun learning all these new techniques and I'm so glad I got into art again! Make sure to check back often for pictures of works in progress!