ABRR end papers

Here is the inside of the book at the finished stage.


Thank goodness that I did not think of taking pics of the process, because I made a complete hash of prepping the book. Having removed surplus pages at regular intervals throughout, and divided the remainder into groups for each persons' spread, I tried to stick down the tabs remaining from the removed pages and to stick the groups of pages together. Neither spray adhesive or matt medium were particularly successful, and there are plenty of lumps and bumps.


The new end papers are made from commercial wrapping paper which is a scan of hand made paste paper. Lovely blues with splodges of purple and a brown which goes with the cover paper beautifully. I simply added a C1970s commercial book plate from my stash. One thing I learned: it is natural to start at the beginning and work through to the end, but I wished I had started at the back and worked forwards - the back end papers went on much better having learned from doing the front ones, and of course first impressions count! So next time I will work from the back to the front :) 

Altered Book Round Robin

I joined MixedMediaUK to try and expand my artistic horizons. Now I'm wondering what I've got myself into! 

I have signed up for an Altered Book Round Robin.
I thought I would show the process - someone might be able to learn from my mistakes :)

Each member of the group picks a theme for their book, alters the cover, strips out unwanted pages, and makes a sign-in spread, plus a spread of there own. Then the books is sent on its way around all the other members of the group, who each interpret the given theme on a spread of the book. Eventually it comes back to its owner full of eye candy. Well, that's the theory! Being brand new at this it is a steep learning curve for me.

This is the original book. I chose it because it was traditionally constructed, with sewn signatures, and nice and sturdy but not too heavy for postage. Mine was a second hand copy.

The theme that I chose was "Dragons". I had some nice hand made paper in brown, which I used to cover the book. I was aiming for an antique kind of look and it worked quite well. I wrote the words "Here be Dragons", using a basic Gothic script, with gold ink on a torn scrap of the brown paper and mounted it on a torn piece of the paper I was going to use for end papers, just to make it pop a bit, and added metal corners that I got from Quietfire Design.  I used Acrylic Matt Medium as the adhesive and was pleased with the results, as I have never used this before.
       
More soon on the travails and trauma inside the book.
Please leave a comment, constructive criticism welcomed!
                                                                                                                                                                  

Ink on Paper ATC

Well, it has been ages since  posted.
Here is the latest batch of ATCs.
I managed to combine a MixedMediaUK exchange of "Ink on Paper"
with one from Quietfire Creations, "Alcohol Ink".
Zillers Glossy Black ink on alcohol ink backgrounds.
The hand is a new Proto-Gothic, which I began learning at a workshop
with Cherell Avery last Saturday. I have a long way to go to get it right,
but I like the look. This was one of a monthly series of workshops
run by Oxford Scribes,  and we had a good time exploring this hand
under Cherell's care.

Blue and orange/pockets exchange

Opposites Attract

This is the most recent exchange that I have taken part in over at Byhand Artists. Ziller Ink  background, with straw-blown ink blobs, for the base cards. Simple cross-corner pocket in orange velum paper.

Small tag tucks in pocket. "Opposites attract" written in the same inks in Black Letter and Eastern hands, scanned, reduced, printed and mounted on to tag. Blue velum paper tag to back with orange stamped pen nib  images from Quietfire Design  hidden beneath. White fancy knitting yarn died with same ink [diluted] and used as ties  together with scraps of embroidery floss.

Thanks for looking!

Give Away at All Things Paper

I recently came across All things Paper,  the blog of the talented Ann Martin, who does fantastic quilling, and I have been a regular visitor ever since. She has a give away to celebrate the publication of Quill It Easy compiled by Tanya Fox which contains some of her designs - hope I am the lucky one!

Green and Red ATC

Here is the next ATC series. I managed to find a few used seasonal stamps that had been put onto red envelopes and tore them off leaving a red surround. They were added, along with a green Christmas tree brad, to a scan of a practice sheet with seasonal words,and the whole matted on to red card. This was another Byhand Artists exchange and I received some lovely ATCs from the talented people there, mostly with a Christmas theme, because that is what fitted the theme of green and red so well.

Autumn ATC and Card

Ok, so I've really got the ATC bug now.

Here is the next one I made for Byhand Artists exchange.
I started by photocopying some marbled paper, that I had made previously, in lovely peachy, orangey colours with a touch of yellow and sky blue. I wrote out the quotation in black ink and reduced and phoptocopied it on to peachy-orange paper.
[The hand is the one that I am currently learning, called "Ondine". I like it for its hint of Uncial and find it is a good readable hand for the modern eye.] Then I cut the quotations in to squares and folded them in a lotus fold, added leaf and squiggle with a gold Zig marker and trimmed the closed fold with a scrap of skeleton leaf and a brass leaf charm.

I also have a few of these left if anyone would like to swap.

I had some bits and pieces left over, so I made a card along the same lines, with the addition of some pretty little peach faux jewels [they have not scanned well and look better in reality].