Doesn’t that stack of folded signatures in the second photo look grand? I used acid-free card stock left over from a big project – I really over stocked on it a couple years ago when I had a class on concertina bindings. Unfortunately I discovered that the card stock was also too heavy for the type [...]]]>

Doesn’t that stack of folded signatures in the second photo look grand? I used acid-free card stock left over from a big project – I really over stocked on it a couple years ago when I had a class on concertina bindings. Unfortunately I discovered that the card stock was also too heavy for the type of binding we were doing – but not before ordering 200 sheets of it! Yikes – well, I never can resist a bulk discount…

So I trimmed the 12″x12″ sheets down to 9″x12″, which I then stacked in signatures of three sheets each. Normally I would do four or five sheets of paper per signature, but with thicker paper, you don’t want it to be too bulky.I folded them in half – what you see in photo 2 are four unsewn text blocks.

The top photo in this second step is after I’ve pierced (actually I’ve sawn them with an exacto razor saw) sewing stations, and I’m beginning the single needle coptic stitch with a straight needle. Sea Lemon has an excellent coptic stitch tutorial video if you’re curious about that. (Cool bubble ring handmade by Colleen Baran - a wonderful Canadian metalsmith)

I decided the paper was so thick that I wanted to try binding a book without covers. What I was picturing was a sketchbook that an artist could decorate on all sides. I wanted a way to close it though, because I know from carrying my own sketchbook that sometimes when you toss it back in your bag, the pages can become bent or wrinkled, which is no good! Plus if you wanted to add things to the book scrapbook style, it would be good to have something that would hold the book together.

Here’s how you set elastic with an eyelet – first you need an eyelet setting tool (yep, sorry, no real trick here – try a Cropadile, it will totally revolutionize eyelet setting for you). Then, punch the 3/8″ hole where you’d like it – for me it was on the back cover of the book. Then cut out a length of 1/4″ inch elastic – I got mine in bulk from a spool at the local sewing store. Thread both ends into the hole, flatten them where they come out on the other side (make sure to leave extra room so they don’t slip out when you’re pressing the eyelet). Thread the eyelet in (again, I used the bigger ones, not the mini 1/8″ ones). Flatten the eyelet with the eyelet setter, and viola! You can trim the ends a bit if you like.

Well I made that post before I knew the wonders of photoshop, [...]]]> Hey bibliophiles! You might be surprised (or at least I was) to find that one of my most popular blog pages is my Octopus Drawing Sequence post from Feb 10, 2010, where I featured a step-by-step octopus drawing I did for a specially commissioned miniature book.

Well I made that post before I knew the wonders of photoshop, so for your Thursday surprise and delight, I’m reposting my “draw an octopus” step by step, but this time with larger photos AND, I thought it would be really fun to make them ONE GIANT PICTURE to post on Pinterest. Apologies to those of you with slow internet connections!

The technical explanation is below the photo – click here to jump to it!

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Ok! So I hesitate to call this a “tutorial” because it doesn’t show the most basic part, DRAWING the octopus – it should really be called “paint an octopus” but oh well! What I really wanted to show was the layering technique when using drawing ink (I used these Windsor Newton drawing inks).

When you look at the finished drawing/painting you might be a little mystified at how I did it, but! all you need to do is layer colors, allowing them to dry most of the way in between each layer.

Why drawing ink and not watercolor? Well I like the transparency and really bright color that ink offers. I’ve heard that watercolor that comes in tubes is also much more vivid but I haven’t gotten a chance to try it (maybe someone could share their experience in the comments?) Drawing ink also usually has shellac in it, or something like that, that gives it a little bit of shine when it dries which I also like.

The colors I used were canary yellow, orange, red, brown and a dash of violet and I used a soft round watercolor brush. I started with the lightest colors first, and darkest colors last. The actual drawing I did first with a mechanical pencil, then I traced over it with a micron pen (my favorite for detailed drawing), allowed the ink to dry completely (overnight is best) and then erased the pencil lines with a kneadable eraser (the best kind of eraser EVER).

I used Canson mi tientes because that’s what I had on hand. Taping down your paper makes it easier to paint on it without it getting away from you or buckling because of the moisture – you can see I just used a piece of plexi glass and some low-tack artist’s masking tape . You could also use blue tape, but regular masking tape is too sticky and will tear your paper when you peel it off.

Once you have your drawing, use my mini accordion book photo tutorial to make a little book and you’ll have a lovely little tiny gift!

I’m back from my 2 week Florida vacation feeing revitalized – and sorely missing the sunshine! Over the past few days I’ve been tackling my catastrophe of a studio, cleaning it up in 20 minute chunks (even setting my chicken-shaped egg timer to keep me going). When things get busy for me, you can tell by [...]]]>

I’m back from my 2 week Florida vacation feeing revitalized – and sorely missing the sunshine! Over the past few days I’ve been tackling my catastrophe of a studio, cleaning it up in 20 minute chunks (even setting my chicken-shaped egg timer to keep me going). When things get busy for me, you can tell by how much stuff is piled in my studio, but I plan to wipe the slate clean, put away all guilt-inducing half-finished projects and relax for a while.

I still like to keep my hands busy, so I tried something COMPLETELY new today – hand tying a net!

Yep, my compulsive craftiness knows no bounds.

Glass fishing floats were used for many years to hold up fisherman’s nets, before cheaper plastic and styrofoam floats became the norm. They were especially common in Japan, and folks in the Pacific Northwest of the US still find floats washed up on shore occasionally – check out this you tube video where a Hawaiian man shows us his Japanese glass float collection.

It took me about two hours, and I learned a new knot that I am calling the “pretzel knot” – using waxed cotton thread I worked off of two tutorials – unfortunately I wasn’t able to find any  photo tutorials, so I worked off of an eHow tutorial and this tutorial that has a picture of the lark’s head knot and pretzel knot up close. I made up my own ending, tying all the cords into a four strand braid (so cool!) and then lashing down the ends with some extra cord. The cord was waxed cotton cord that I stole from my husband, who also enjoys doing crazy knot work.

My pal Bryan Randa from the local craft show circuit gave me this ball and an even larger green one to try tying nets on. He makes a ton of awesome stuff – last year I bought a glass ornament similar to the one below, which got me thinking about the possibility of tying nets…

This year, I bought myself a cool turtle!

Check out more of Bryan’s work on his Randa Glass Facebook PageMaybe someday if I’m feeling like an overachiever, I’ll make my own photo tutorial so you all can make your own hand-tied hand-blown fishing floats.

Treasuries are curated lists of items on Etsy, and I thought this list called Something for Her + Something for Him that features my Red Deer Journal was [...]]]>

Treasuries are curated lists of items on Etsy, and I thought this list called Something for Her + Something for Him that features my Red Deer Journal was particularly nice!

*Whew* it has been a WHIRLWIND for me the past month or so – as of today I’m so proud to announce that I have 174 sales in my stationery etsy shop – 20 sales in the past week! wow!

I introduced nautically themed holiday cards to [...]]]>

Merry Fishmas Christmas Cards by Concertina Press $14 for 8

*Whew* it has been a WHIRLWIND for me the past month or so – as of today I’m so proud to announce that I have 174 sales in my stationery etsy shop – 20 sales in the past week! wow!

I introduced nautically themed holiday cards to my collection about halfway through November, and they have really taken off. My Merry Fishmas card made it all the way to the front page of Etsy.

yay! Now I know how to plan better for next year so I’m not making 5 sets of notecards every night like one of santa’s frenzied elves.

This one is also wildly popular:

Seahorse Reindeer Christmas Cards by Concertina Press $14 for 8

It’s that mythical creature, the seahorse reindeer!

I also have a classy New Year’s card:

Snow Queen Reindeer New Year's Card by Concertina Press- $14 for 8

I used an old children’s book illustration in black and white and colored it in – I was thinking of arctic summer when the sun never quite sets, or the Northern lights – who knows who this mysterious little girl is? The caption said “The Snow Queen”.

This is what it looks like in my studio!

a big fat stack of Merry Fishmas Cards - about 125 pictured here

stacks of folded up Merry Fishmas Cards ready for packaging - I hand fold them all too!

Hey you craft-happy cardmakers, collage artists and scrapbookers – Last month I made a post about how I just recycled my little miter triangles from bookbinding, because even though they are so fancy, I couldn’t think of a use – well several of you chimed in and said you’d be able to make a use out [...]]]>

Hey you craft-happy cardmakers, collage artists and scrapbookers – Last month I made a post about how I just recycled my little miter triangles from bookbinding, because even though they are so fancy, I couldn’t think of a use – well several of you chimed in and said you’d be able to make a use out of them! So many, in fact, that I think I will have a random drawing to see who will get them (all the ones shown in the last photo,which includes the ones in the photos you see above and below this paragraph!).

Miter Triangle Giveaway!

{Ended: The winner is Cynthia - congratulations! Thanks all who entered and you can be sure I’ll have more giveaways in the future, so good luck!}

To enter:

No strings attached, just leave a comment – don’t bother with your email address, unless you want to leave it – you can also come back when I announce the winner. The winner will have 5 days to get back in touch with me, if they don’t, I’ll go ahead and pick another winner. Easy Peasy!

For extra entries:

Tweet the giveaway (+1)

Pin it on Pinterest (+1)

Share it with your Facebook page (+1)

just leave an additional comment when you do any of the above!

Hooray! I have a new printmaking tutorial up at Poppytalk Handmade. Click to see the [...]]]>

Hooray! I have a new printmaking tutorial up at Poppytalk Handmade. Click to see the full post.