Minibooks 262-283

I made this batch of minibook jewelry in preparation for my first holiday show.  The earrings have been selling very well during shows, and by special request.  That's why my last several posts have been all earrings!

I made the books for the necklace sets months ago, but never got around to stringing the necklaces.  Since my challenge only counts items finished in 2013, I had to finish the necklace before I could count the book.  The pink pair of earrings is part of a jewelry set too.  At one of my summer shows I sold the earrings without the necklace and never got around to making another pair of matching earrings.

Recycled Minibooks 242-261

One of the shows I am participating in this year is the Collective Upcycle Holiday Pop-Up Shop.  Everything being sold in the pop-up shop is handmade using at mostly recycled or repurposed materials.

For the show I made a special batch of minibook earrings with recycled papers for the book pages.  I think this is a nice variation on the blank book earrings I usually make.

The other books I have for sale at Collective Upcycle are the recycled box books seen here and here.  This batch of earrings brings me up to 261 out of my 365 books for the year (although there are still several books I have made but not blogged about yet.)

Baby Sweater and Gloves

A friend in my art books group recently had a baby.  While she was pregnant we had a conversation about crafts and she mentioned that it would be great to be able to knit and make things for the baby.  I chimed in with something along the lines of "I love knitting baby things!  I wish I knew more pregnant people so I could make more baby things!"

So I pulled out my knitting needles and whipped up a couple adorable baby things.  First was a sweet little baby sweater.  I used the Baby Boy 5 Hour Sweater pattern on Ravelry.  It was an easy pattern, but it did take longer than 5 hours... (Mostly because of interruptions and figuring out a pattern for the first time.  It took less than 2 weeks which is quick for me.)

The second thing I made was a pair of teeny tiny boxing gloves for the baby.  (Link to the pattern here.)  My friend named her baby Sylvester because of the Rocky movies, so I thought a pair of boxing gloves would be fitting.  I was finally able to deliver the baby things over the weekend, and it looks like the little guy loves them! 

Minibook Earrings 224-241

Recently I had a couple special orders for minibook earrings.  One person was looking for browns and neutrals, and the other person was looking for blues and greens.  In a situation like this I typically pull out lots of different papers in the requested colors and make multiple pairs so the customer can choose.  This way the customer can pick out exactly what they are looking for, and I have some extra pairs to sell at shows.

If you enjoy my book jewelry and live in the Cleveland area, I am teaching a Minibook Jewelry Workshop at Small Studio in Westlake on Saturday, November 9th.  Check out their website or call the store to sign-up, 440-808-8599

Free Association: Book 223

I mentioned in a previous post that I am a member of an art book group called Art Books Cleveland.  Every year the group has an exhibition of alphabet related books.  Last year I made a book called the Astronomer's Alphabet featuring paintings of space related things for each letter.  This year I wanted to do something a little different.

The book is called Free Association.  Each page has a painted background with a collaged image and phrase that both start with the same letter.  I chose photos and images that had nothing to do with each other, which often creates meaning of its own in the new context.

I started putting together the book last year after finishing the astronomy book.  I was still interested in the alphabet theme but wanted to do something more whimsical.  The book is currently on display at the Morgan Conservatory in Cleveland until the end of November.

I obviously can't share photos of the entire book here, so I took shots of some of my favorite pages.  Enjoy!

Silent Auction Donation: Book 222

Every year the Morgan Conservatory does a silent auction as part of their annual benefit.  One part of the auction is called Snail Mail Paper Trail.  Each year for Snail Mail, the Morgan makes special paper and sends 2 sheets to artists across the country and around Cleveland.  Each artist makes a piece of artwork using the paper, and sends it back for the auction.

This year the papers were white and dark gray.  I made a coptic stitch journal using the white handmade paper for pages, robot decorative paper for the outside cover, gray handmade paper for the inside cover, and gray paper to cover the fold of each signature.

Travel Journal: Book 221

I am part of a book artist group called Art Books Cleveland.  Every year the group has two exhibitions during the month of October: our Abecedaria show usually at the Morgan Conservatory, and a second show at the Ingalls Library in the Cleveland Museum of Art.  This year the group decided to have a special show themed on Travel Journals.  A small group of us met every month to talk about our ideas, show progress, and work through problems.

After thinking about it for months and changing my idea a few times, I ended up making a book documenting one day of my trip to Scottsdale, Arizona in April.  The book is titled Arizona: April 2013, One Day in Scottsdale.  The cover features a map of the Scottsdale area, and every page is watercolor painting with pen and ink.

I tried a book structure I had never done before called a Drum Leaf Binding.  I discovered a great tutorial for drum leaf binding that was simple to understand, and had great step-by-step instructions (I highly recommend it for anyone interested in bookbinding, beginner or advanced.)

Using drum leaf allowed me to do the watercolor paintings flat, over the whole page instead of worrying about paint pooling in the crease.  It was great for the panorama views and looked very professional when finished.

I really enjoyed learning a new structure and having a reason create a book with content.  I will definitely be making more drum leaf books in the future.  I also want to make more art books and book with content.  (Maybe next year's challenge...?)