It's concertina book time again!

On Tuesday I showed photos of a concertina book that I made for a solo exhibition, and I promised to come back and show the other, so here it is:  

You can find out more about the exhibition itself in this post so I won't go into detail here.....

except to say that I chose the concertina design as it could be shown with its pages open. Because how else can you show the pages inside a book when it is displayed on a high flat board? 

Once the exhibition is over the book will be added to my ever growing collection. I might have cracked how to display the book at the exhibition, I just need to work out how to display or store all my books at home! (Excuse the belly laughing).  But I won't dwell on that, because that's another post for another day. 

If you would like to see the other concertina book, here is the link. Thank you for visiting and I hope this might inspire you to do something creative with your own photos.  See you soon.....

How to exhibit a book on a display board

In my last post I shared how I had been invited to have a solo exhibition of my work at a college. It was a lovely opportunity and it also posed a challenge, because my passion is making handmade books. How do I display these on a flat upright board?!  

After giving it some thought I decided to take photos of some book pages, so that there were examples of the different construction and designs.  But I felt it was important to actually have my work on display so that visitors could see the layers and detail, so I decided to make 2 concertina books specially for the exhibition.  

I chose this construction because it is simple and quick to make. Time was a factor, but even more important, it could be open and attached across the board for easy viewing. I love taking photos and one of my favourite ways of sharing these is to put them into a book. So I chose two sets, and spent several days covered in paint and glue. I was really pleased with the result, as I could create a slight dimension with the folded pages when attaching them to the display board, rather than having the books flat.  

The other pieces of art that I displayed are pages from my art journal, and a collection of tree experiments, using tissue, ink and wax. The exhibition will show for the month of March and in a few weeks I will be meeting the students to tell them more about my art. I have offered to show them how to make a mini book so I'm looking forward to this, and now I have re-fired my love of the concertina book I can't wait to make some more. They may be simple and easy to make, but they are so versatile and fun to do.  Come back soon to see the second book that is on display.  And if you'd like to see the first one it can be seen here . 

I have just noticed the row of art journal pages are not placed very well. Trying to support the large board while stapling wasn't easy especially when you can't stand back to see what you are doing! It  didn't help that we were trying to put the exhibition up in between tutorials. Hopefully the students will know that I am practising imperfection!  

These two photos show how the concertina books could be displayed to show the open pages.

Thank you for visiting and I'll be back to show the second book on Sunday. 

5 in 5 - March 2019 - Concertina book saves the day!

Welcome to '5 in 5' where on the 5th of 

each month I post 5 photos that I have 
taken in 5 minutes.

I was invited to put on a solo exhibition of my art work at a college. This was a wonderful opportunity, but as most of my 'art' is hand made books how could I display these on a flat upright board?  It obviously needed a bit of thinking about, and I decided to print photos of some book pages just to show examples of  constructions and design.  But I also wanted examples of actual books there, so that viewers could appreciate the layers and detail. And so I set to making two concertina books for the occasion. This was no hardship because I don't need an excuse or reason to make a book, usually it's just the time lacking! But by choosing a simple construction it was manageable and after decorating the surface with layers of paint, papers, and detail, I added some favourite photos. Because as a lover of photography, my handmade books give me somewhere to share these and to recreate memories. For the purpose of 5in5 I will just show one of the books but I will come back very soon with photos of the second. You might also like to see photos of the exhibition, because my work is now proudly on display for this month and I am really pleased with the way it looks. Especially the concertina books. They have been opened across the display board and held in position with staples. The books are not precious, or fragile. They are made to look at and handle, and the layers of paper and paint strengthen the base card. And the holes won't notice afterwards, card and paper is very robust and if they do show they can be easily concealed. 

So, let's waste no more time. Here are 5 photos and I loved making these books so much that I can't wait to make some more. Often my book constructions are more complicated and time consuming to make, and it's easy to forget the simple concertina, even though they are really effective. They have won a place back in my heart!  

Thank you for visiting and I hope some of you will join me this month in the 5in5 challenge. Here's how it works: 

1.  Choose a location.

2.  Have your camera ready.

3.  Set a mobile timer for 5 minutes.

4.  Take as many photos you can until the time is up.

5.  Choose 5 photos to download and share by using the link tool 

   

You have until the 25th of the month to add your photos and if you want to know more about 5in5 there are details here.

And one more thing - when you use the link tool, please click on your post title.  This will show the web address. Please right click, copy and paste this as your link.  This will take readers directly to your '5 in 5' blog page and be easier for them to find.

5 in 5 - April 2018 - The Sketchbook Project

Welcome to '5 in 5' where on the 5th of

each month I post 5 photos that I have 
taken in 5 minutes.

The Sketchbook Project is an annual event and this year I decided to participate. Artists are sent a book which you complete in any way of your choosing using a few basic guidelines. The book is then returned to Brooklyn, US and becomes part of a travelling exhibition and permanent library. I was excited when my book arrived and was pleased by the small size, as I had made up my mind that in order to meet the deadline I would need to work within constraints. I set myself a goal which I explained on the back page of the book:

"I can be a perfectionist and chose this opportunity to participate without pressure or expectation.  There are things in the sketchbook that I would do differently another time, but I have given myself permission to let it go. This was a good experience and learning for me, because sometimes high expectation can stop me starting or mean that I did not enjoy the process so much because I undo or redo in search of getting it right. This time I achieved this by letting go, and I enjoyed making this sketchbook and accepted that good is enough!

I chose a quote as my theme as I wanted a connection to flow through the pages, and these words were meaningful to what I wanted to achieve and where I am in life".  

So let's take a look:

I have a few more details to add and then it will be posted back to Brooklyn. I'm glad I took part, it has been an opportunity to be playful and I used a range of mixed media techniques including stamping, paint, pens and ink, collage, grunge paste, stencils and texture. Thank you for looking, and maybe this will inspire you to take part next year.

FAUX VINTAGE JOURNAL

Welcome if this is your first time of visiting my page, and if not welcome anyway! Last month I chose to decorate some frames for my
THAT CRAFT PLACE DT project. If you missed that post and tutorial you can see it here.  I planned to do something completely different this time but last weekend I discovered a beautiful Victorian Photo Album in an antique shop.  It wasn't cheap so I decided to give myself time to think rather make an impulsive purchase. However, all week the album has been on my mind. I did go back to buy it the following day and the shop was shut.  When asking about the album I had been told someone else had made enquiries and had gone away to think about buying it as a wedding present.  It seemed not meant to be....

But I still couldn't get the album out my head so I phoned the shop and it was still there!  It was waiting for me all the time!  I am super excited as it is a beautiful book filled with black and white photos. A real treasure and I can't wait to collect it next week.

Meantime, frames and vintage albums have been on my mind and I have been meaning to use an ornate MDF frame that is part of the TCP collection.  So I decided to use it on the cover of a hand made journal, here it is and I'll include a brief tutorial:

First I prepared the pages by sewing signatures. I used 120gm A4

paper folded in half.  It would take too long to explain this whole process as it is a post in itself and I will do that another day. So for now I will concentrating on the cover of this book and tutorials for creating pages are available on YouTube.

 

I prepared my covers by measuring the pages to find the width of the spine needed. I added Duck Tape to the front, with the correct allowance, and I put waxed paper on the back to protect the sticky side. 

 

 

Turning the cover right side up I painted the tape and round the edges in black paint.

 

 

 Next I chose some pages from a vintage book and painted these in a  coat of paint diluted with water to create a light wash with brush marks.  Once dry these were glued to the front and back cover.  As I wanted a distressed look I made a few marks on the page while the glue was wet. 

I then painted the frame: first in black paint and when dry, in coat of grey paint.  I then used a piece of scrunched up waxed paper to dab the frame so that the black paint showed through in small patches. 

 

 

 

Leaving each stage time to dry in between, I gave the frame a coat of PaperArtsy Metalic Glaze, and then in places, a light rub of Treasure Gold to further create the aged effect. 

 

Back to the main cover:
Using the same grey paint as the frame I took a dry brush and with the smallest amount of paint I very lightly brushed areas of the cover. This was done to subtly tie the frame and cover together and to continue the distressed effect. 

 

 

Time to add a stamped image inside the frame:
I chose a stamp to fit inside the frame and positioned the frame with a piece of paper under it so that I could create a template.  I drew inside the frame and cut this section out.  I them carefully removed the frame leaving the paper in position.  This allowed me to stamp the image so that a the shape of the stamp fitted inside the shape of the frame and any unwanted areas were printed onto waste paper.

I gave the cover and spine a coat of Matt Medium to seal it and make it harder wearing. More than one coat can be used but as this journal has a vintage look I do not mind if it picks up the occasional scuff.

Final stages:
I glued the frame into position and decided the overall effect looked a bit flat.  So I added embossing ink to the area inside the frame and a layer of chunky embossing powder. Once heat treated  this offered a different texture and gave definition. 

I used metallic wax to colour a MDF lock and glued this into position. It needed final detail so I found some greyboard 'screw heads' in my stash and used black ink to give them a base colour.  A light rub of Treasure Gold completed the effect and these were glued into position onto the lock and down the side of the book.

 

I removed the wax paper from inside the spine (see photo 2) and added a strip of wide Picture Framing Tape so that it covered the sticky back of the Duck Tape and the inside edge of the covers.  This adds further reinforcement to the spine and the pages are now ready to glue inside.  And here it is, with pages shown.

PRODUCTS I USED FOR THIS PROJECT ARE AS FOLLOWS:

 

MDF frame and lock from TCP

MDF, Mountboard or Thick card for cover (mine measured slightly larger than A5 so that the paper fitted inside nicely)

Duck and Picture Framing Tape

Paints by PaperArtsy (Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics in South Pacific Little Black Dress and Snowflake)
PaperArtsy Fresco Finish - Metalic Glaze

Embossing ink

Thick embossing powder

Treasure Gold - Renaissance and White Fire

Cosmic Shimmer Glue

DecoArt Matt Medium

PaperArtsy Stamp

Archival Ink (Black)

 
If this inspires you to make your own journal you can buy everything you need from THAT CRAFT PLACE.  Please let me know if you have any questions about making this journal and any comments are appreciated and welcomed.  And do let me know if you make one of your own because I'd love to see what you make!

 

Thanks for popping by and do visit the TCP facebook page for more creative ideas and details about the monthly Mixed Media 'Anything Goes' challenge.