Details of the wee book that I made for my sister-in-law’s birthday.

I used blank flash cards for the signatures/pages (think kids and school) and tree wrap (used for protecting trees when injured or to prevent injury) for the cover. I love that tree wrap is soft, textured, and easy to embroider. Two variegated colors of variegated embroidery floss were used for the rice stitch.

I saw a tutorial on the Rice-Stitched Book on the San Diego Book Arts Youtube channel.

The cover code is based on Morse Code. Rather than using dots and dashes I used color. The code is Happy Birthday.

I knitted an I-cord and wrapped a washer for the closure.

Each page has the person’s name and date of birth, the last a sentiment.

The code references Morse and Celtic Tree Code. I like the idea of tree code and family tree.

The signatures of the book were stitched together using the rice stitch. I used double stick tape (not sure I like it) to bind each signature together after it was stitched. Usually the signatures and not bound together so the stitchwork inside can be viewed. I don’t like seeing just two lines of thread. I like that binding makes a thicker page. In the future I am thinking about adding macrame to the inside when I use thicker paper like watercolor or handmade.

The gift tag has a piece of paste paper that I made.

Paste paper is enjoyable to make. I use a cornstarch paste with added acrylic paint. I have added milled cloves to paste for color and fragrance. Since the milled cloves seemed to work, I am planning to use some of my ceramic colorants that were used for glazes and clay bodies.

It is a joy using new materials and learning new processes and techniques. And then to figure out how to use them to make art.

I have been considering a change in format from wall and vessel to book. Thought I would start with folding so I purchased two books:

Hedi Kyle and Ulla Warchol’s text, The Art of the Fold

and

Alisa Golden’s text, Making Handmade Books.

In addition to the texts I have been following several Youtube channels:
Bainbridge Island Museum
DAS Bookbinding
Elinat Kessler
Kirsten Varga
Kit Davey
Louise Jennetta
Nik the Booksmith
The Preservation Lab
San Diego Book Arts
Trama Atelier
Vintage Page Designs

I spent a couple of weeks folding templates.

This was my first attempt folding and stitching a small book after watching Maria Rebelo on a San Diego Book Arts video.

Materials
Tree wrap, drawing paper, cotton thread, double sided tape.

Scale
3″ x 2.75″ x .5″

They are so bonded at times they look like one bunny.
One Bunny

Two Bunnies

A piece in progress that sat on a shelf for several years. Just couldn’t complete it then.

2016 March 21
Accustomed to Being Invisible

Code Used–

2020 January

2022 May 8

Blocks for the code–Accustomed to Being on the top with Invisible inside the frame.

Materials List–hardware cloth, fiber, plant bits, wood, paper, wax, PVA.

Dandelions are a particular favorite of my bunnies. Thought I would try to grow some.

Today I noticed something wrong with the dandelions. My first thought was ash from the wildfires. When I took a closer look, I realized that wasn’t the problem.

Cotton swab dampened with alcohol.

Bit disappointed that I will need to dispose of their dandelions.

When I was a child were given Easter chicks. The chicks were cute and cuddly, but they grew into roosters. That would be the roosters that would lie in wait and attack my legs every time I walked out the door. I grew to fear roosters, still. In an attempt to overcome the fear I have rooster stuff randomly placed in the garden and in the house.

When I saw the wisteria tendril wrapped around the rooster, it creeped me out. First for the imagery, second the fear of needing to remove the tendril.

Earlier in the year when the Brugmansia and Wisteria were blooming.