I have spent the last three days at a workshop on making an Artist's Book. There was the possibility of monoprinting as well.
Starting at the end of the 3 days here are some of the things I made. Those pictured are finished books but I also have some sample patterns for books.
I tried out various things and then settled on making this book. It started off being a black and white book but then gave up on the black!
I started by folding and accordian style spine and cutting out folded shapes.
There was a large printing press which was a bit like an overblown Cuttlebug or Big Shot. So I experimented with putting damped paper through it with a stencil laid on it. It's quite difficult to see the embossing but here it is:
The embossing shows up better on this because as you know I don't clean my stencils and the damp paper refreshed the spray ink that was left on the stencil. So the paper became slightly pink.
Then I cut out some of the shapes using a scalpel.
I stitched the folded pages into the concertina spine. There's lots of photos because I rather like the sculptural effect with the book and the shadows.
I doubt the book will ever have anything written in it but it was fun to make.
We went away again! And I left the list behind again! So sadly missed #17 - at least 2 people wearing matching outfits - I was at a wedding with several bridesmaids! And while I was having dinner on Thursday evening in the pub I watched a family playing cards - #4!
However I did find
#2 An ornate door knocker
#11 A cellular tower or television satellite dish
#19 A ticket booth
And then a more spectacular ticket booth inside a cave
And lastly in this post
#21 A photograph of me with a sign
How exciting is that - to have people design and make products for you!!!! And you can't just have them sitting there, can you?
I needed to play! But time has been a little short lately so rather than just play for the sake of it, I played at making the backgrounds for my Take Me Deeper pages in September.
Yes, I know that's getting ahead of myself but the theme for September is Promises - and I know this because I had just finished writing the weekly prompts and had sent them off to Mary for editing.
The theme for these pages is 'The Promise of Forgiveness'. I used the olive branch image to represent forgiveness. I wiped 3 colours of acrylic paint across the pages.
I used the stamp I had made from Shonna's design. To make it, I used the thermofax screen on a piece of paper and cut the image out. I drew round it on some cellulose foam and cut out the stamp. You have to wet the foam to make it thick and sponge like and then I stuck it on some acrylic packaging.
I printed with some acrylic paint.
And when dry I went over it - sketchily - with a white pen.
On this double page spread I used black acrylic paint through the palm branch screen. The theme for this week is 'The Promise of Wisdom'. I used the palm branch as a symbol of righteousness and justice. And the bell and pomegranate from the description of Aaron's robe in Exodus 28:33-34 which i feel links with the wisdom give to Bezalel in Exodus 35:30-35
Then I sprayed with Dylusions red ink spray.
It was too bright so I sprayed Dylusions White Linen spray through a stencil.
And dried off the stencil on another page!
I stamped the bell and the pomegranate stamps randomly on the page.
I coloured the pomegranates with a purple gel pen. I did four layers so that it looks enamelled. And I added gold leaf to the bells.
I drew on the palm branches with a white pen.
The theme for these pages is 'Equipped for Life'. In the Promised Land God provided everything that was needed so I used all of the images.
I applied the acrylic paint and when dry I added the thermofax xcreen images using white acrylic paint. I didn't use much paint so the images are quite faint.
I added black highlights with a black pen.
And then I thought I would play some more. I don't make cards but I like making tags. However I think a tag like this would work as a topper on a card.
I bought some paper napkins that had bottles of wine on but the labels are Love and Joy and things like that. I tore this bottle from the napkin and took the top layer and glued it to the tag. I used the coloured spots from the napkin too on the small tag. I used the vine stamp and stamped on the large tag and the vine leaf on the small tag. I inked the edges of the tags. I could have coloured in the stamped images but decided to leave them as they are. I glued the small tag to the large one and then wrapped the string round.
If you've never used Thermofax screens, here's a short video on how easy they are to use.
