In the Studio

Marbled Papers Galore!

Ruth — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 17:32:33 +0000

A coptic-style journal handmade by me using marbled paper

I’ve gone off on a tangent from bookbinding into making marbled paper, popular in the mid to late 19th century as endpapers in leatherbound books.

The Wave - by Ruth Bleakley

Marbled paper is created by floating diluted watercolor paints onto a marbling “size” – water thickened with carragean (a type of seaweed) extract. The consistency of the marbling size is like that of liquid laundry detergent, and is similarly slippery.

After making the size and allowing it to age at least 12 hours to ensure all of the carragean is dissolved I pour it into a shallow pan and drop the marbling colors on the size . If everything goes as planned, rather than sink to the bottom of the the tray, the spread out the way that oil spreads on water – then I can play around with combs and toothpicks to make a fancy design.

Suminagashi - Ruth Bleaklaey

When the design looks good, I lay a sheet of paper (I use 100% cotton Meridian drawing paper by Pentalic) that I’ve treated with a solution of water and alum on the image, and the paint gets absorbed by the paper, and voila – a beautiful marbled sheet emerges.

There is some finesse involved in preventing hesitation marks, spots where the paper was laid down too quickly, or dust marks from marring your design – practice makes perfect though.

I’m still experimenting, but I received The Ultimate Marbling Handbook by Diane Maurer, a well known paper marbler from Pennsylvania, for my birthday and I plan to try all the patterns in the book.

Featured Friday – MollyJey Papercuts

Ruth — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 05:00:29 +0000

Deer and the Pink Snow original Papercut by MollyJey

Mollyjey has beautiful handmade papercut dioramas in her Etsy shop, mostly in white with small touches of color. She was born in Locarno, Switzerland , a gorgeous mountain valley village on the southern border next to Italy – she then went to Florence, Italy where she studied Industrial Design and Communication. She speaks Italian, French and English a- very cosmopolitan!

Where are you from?

Locarno, Switzerland

I was born in Locarno (Switzerland), a beautiful place to live; after that I moved to Italy in Florence, for university studies (Industrial Design and Communication). Currently I living in Florence but I’m planning to move soon.

I travel often, I love to meet new people.

How did you first become interested in making papercuts?

Paper has always fascinated me, it is a unique material, it seems to live and change over time.
I started my first shadow box as a Christmas gift for friends and then after they proved popular, I thought to open a small shop.

What do you do when you’re not making your art?

I love you! - by mollyjey

I work as a freelance designer for various brands.

Any new projects or ideas coming up for the future?

Yes, I’m writing a children’s book with the characters of my work.

And Finally, what’s your favorite way to spend a Saturday?

White Daffodils - by MollyJey

I like to spend Saturday relaxing: long walks on the green, tea with friends and playing with my cats. My favorite weekend dinner is either Pizza or Sushi.

Sounds good to me! Thanks, Molly!

You can check out more of Molly’s gorgeous handmade papercut shadow boxes at her Etsy Shop – she ships worldwide! You can also see more of her work on Flickr.

Feature Friday: Joey’s Dream Garden

Ruth — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 04:01:36 +0000

Owl, pussycat , mandolin By Joey's Dream Garden, (Boat & sails by The Pin Factory)

I can’t remember how I first found Joey’s Dream Garden, one of my favorite shops on Etsy, but I instantly fell in love with the adorable kitty and bunny brooches that Joey Ramone (no, the artist not the singer) is so good at making. Joey also offers gorgeous embroidery patterns, pretty hairclips and totes embellished with vintage fabric. She currently resides in Sheffield, South Yorkshire but grew up on a farm in Leicestershire in the midlands in the UK.

I was pleased to have the opportunity to interview her about her work:

How did you become interested in felt and sewing?

My mum showed me how to mend clothes and a few embroidery stitches. One of my sisters became a dressmaker and I got her fabric remnants to play with. I loved it when for a birthday present, she made me a whole shoebox-full of dolly clothes for my Barbie dolls! She was my inspiration early on in life that sewing is a good thing to do.

How long have you been making your art?

Kitty Pips Brooch by Joey's Dream Garden

Being creative has always been part of my life. It’s what I loved most at school, art and writing. I attended the Macclesfield School of Art and Design and loved it. It was a great place and they were very flexible about what I studied; because I was very keen on life drawing and painting, they turned a blind eye to the fact that I skipped surface pattern classes!

From there I studied sculpture at the University of Humberside in Hull. When I got my degree I just drifted until I found myself working in an office job in the civil service. I wasn’t particularly creative for about 10 years, until I went through a period of depression in 2007 and was off work for a few months, affording me more time to work on my art.

I signed up to Etsy, set up shop and started making stuff – I was so happy to get my first sales, and the wonderful feedback I received just encouraged me more to carry on making things. I felt truly creative again and it helped me to have a real interest outside of work.

Can you describe the process from idea to finished brooch?

I’m influenced and inspired by the work of others. I’m a big Dick Bruna and

Miffy, a Dick Bruna character

Tove Jansson fan and I love the Japanese manga style. I love reading graphic novel and I adore the work of Hayao Miyazaki (Studio Ghibli). Although I do have my own style and I don’t set out to copy the style of anyone else, if I see the way that someone else has, for example, drawn a paw, I may think, hmm I like that, can I incorporate that into my drawings?

I always draw out my designs first and then transfer them to felt. I have a little stash of templates which I’ve designed and used over the years! I tend to not think about the embroidery until I’m doing the finished piece, so that tends to be more “freestyle” and spontaneous.

What tool in your studio could you not live without?

The one thing which as really helped me is my disappearing ink pen! I love it! I tend to use templates I’ve made (from scrap bits of plastic, recycled from milk bottles etc) and draw around them with the disappearing pen and then when I’ve cut it out I can spray with water and no mark is left! What a cool invention!

I don’t actually have a dedicated room for making things, so if you asked what crafting thing I would like to have, I’d say a craft room!

What is your current favorite piece in your shop?

Sunset Fireworks Handbag by Joey's Dream Garden

Can I have two? Well it’s either a bag I made: which I love because all the fabric is recycled, and I’m just so pleased with it because I think its pretty and unusual and really well made! The other thing I love is the embroidery pattern of the bunnies in love. I like it because I love their expressions and I’m pleased with the neatness (an important thing for me!). I’ve framed the original and it’s just waiting to be put on the wall in our living room.

Any new projects or ideas coming up for the future?

I’ve always got ideas on the “back burner”! But I’ve done a few projects

Bunnies in Love embroidery Pattern by Joey's Dream garden

for a magazine called “Making Gifts”. Issue 3 has just been published and features no less than 4 of my projects: an appliqued baby bib and vest (onesie) set, an embroidered jewellery roll, an embroidered dragonfly brooch and an embroidered patchwork bag.

And finally,what’s your favorite way to spend a Saturday?

I tend to use it to go for a swim (I’m doing a Swimathon in April in aid of Marie Curie Cancer Care), and spend time on making things. This morning for example I’ll be working on some drawings for a future magazine project. Then I always like to enjoy a drink in the evening and watch some comedy on DVD… I am a big Seinfeld fan!

Thanks Joey! Be sure to check out Joey’s Dream Garden on Etsy and Flickr, and while you’re at it, why not have a look at her blog?

Octopus drawing sequence

Ruth — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 20:18:09 +0000

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 – they aren’t opaque like some watercolors, and they flow really well.

Birthday Book

Ruth — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:36:39 +0000

I was recently commissioned to create a journal for my friend Matt’s birthday – made extra special because in the years past he’s commissioned me to make seven different books that he’s given out to friends – so I finally got to design one for him. While discussing different possibilities for the book and what it should look like his partner Jill shared the tragic story I know we can all relate to – his favorite pair of shorts had recently been relegated to the rag pile. But ah-ha! I knew I could make just about any fabric into “Book cloth” – so that’s what I used as the cover fabric for his book. I also new he traveled a lot, so I designed a travel journal.

The book is 6 1/4" square and features antique brass toggles.

Lovely brass toggles from my antique brass button collection. I wanted to use something other than elastic to hold the book closed.

The end paper is a lovely bouquet marbled paper I made - the quote says "Life is a book, and those who never travel read only one page" The text block is only attached on one side, so you can see the sewing - a combination of French and Coptic.

Secret Pocket on the inside front cover for storing things

The book has all kinds of secret pictures like this fish hidden within the pages.

Happy travels!

Birthday Book in the Making

Ruth — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:46:03 +0000

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 brass – I hand sewed them onto the straps which I made of two layers of cloth sewn together on the sewing machine. I attached the straps to the covers by sewing machine BEFORE glueing them down so they’d be extra sturdy. The spine is book cloth, the gold detail is a type of decorative paper.

signatures ready for sewing

More pictures next Monday showing the finished book!

Teaching Suminagashi at Clark University

Ruth — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 20:03:48 +0000

Yesterday I had the pleasure of visiting the Book Arts class at my alma mater, Clark University where I was a guest artist and taught the class Suminagashi marbling. The class went really well – twelve participants marbled over a hundred sheets of paper!

Me demonstrating for the class

Check out the gallery to see some lovely suminagashi in progress – I had a great time and hopefully so did everyone else.

Front page on Etsy!

Ruth — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 04:34:23 +0000

Check it out, one of my accordion books, illustrated by my friend Christina, made it to the front page of etsy the other morning!

Intermediate Bookbinding Class

Ruth — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 14:28:45 +0000

I think it’s finally time to write up a post about the Falmouth Community School Intermediate bookbinding class! On the wake of the Beginning Bookbinding Class, six intrepid bookbinders continued on to learn coptic stitch binding. Our first class we did a type of paper marbling called Suminagashi where we created papers with neat black swirling designs on them. The next two classes we created our book covers and sewed them on, respectively. While the marathon session of sewing resulted in me missing an episode of Glee all of our books were completed and looked stellar! (I later caught up with Glee on Hulu).

Pat creating her book cover from handmade Indian paper and Nori Paste.

Handpainted Coyote Journal

Ruth — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 18:26:55 +0000

Handpainted Coyote Journal

Originally uploaded by MissRuth

This neat little book is currently for sale on my Etsy page!