I made a special accordion book about a year ago with a little red octopus in it – I documented the illustration so you could see the layers of ink go on. I love using drawing inks (I used Windsor-newton inks in this one) because you can layer them to make really rich colors – [...]

Here are some pictures of the process of working on a special commission of a travel journal – The blue plaid book cloth is actually a pair of favorite shorts the recipient had to regretfully consign to the rag pile – not any more! Now they’re immortalized as a book’s cover. The toggles are antique [...]

I was approached by someone looking to have a well-loved cookbook repaired for a friend. The book was in sad shape – one of the covers was completely separate from the text block, and the other was barely hanging on by an end page. One of the signatures had come loose as well. I was [...]

I just unearthed some photos of a really neat project I completed this summer. It’s a giant birthday card in the style of an award portfolio – so it has buckram-covered book board outside and inside large sheets of paper for lots of people to sign. It commemorated a 90th birthday and several of the [...]

In the beginning bookbinding class that I taught in October and November at the Falmouth Community school, we made paste papers – they are a really easy and fun way to make decorative papers. It’s kind of like finger-painting for grown-ups.
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You can make your own paste papers at home – first you’ll need some paste, [...]

There are still a few warm sunny days left in September and the beginning of October up here in Massachusetts. Take yourself outside for some decorative paper-making fun using bubble-blowing solution and ink.

Just to warn you, this  could quite possibly be the most messy craft project ever – imagine inky bubbles wafting around in [...]

This spring someone gave me a book of leather samples – I’m not sure where they are from, maybe an upholsterer – but they came in two shades of brown and a beautiful bright red. I had four peices total, of really nice quality fairly thick leather, and I was trying to think of what [...]

before and after photos of creating knockout white backgrounds

Step-by-step photos of Japanese Decoupaged Washi Eggs!!

Step-by-step of how I upcycled a pink gold-stamped journal into a nice black leather journal with fancy endpages.