Theme book

This year's book theme was: found things. We made a round robin project of it. Every member of our bookbinding club did a page in the books of the others. Or, to be more precise: a page in the stack of loose pages. The binding was done afterwards.
I started mine with a found photograph of my dad as a young man and his twin sister. When I got the whole stack back all pages were filled with memories and photos of fathers and grandfathers. It had become a very personal book. I was very pleased with it.

For the pages I used some paper that was left over from an evening of paint spraying with friends. We used it under our work, so it had random splatters. That appealed to me very much. He presto, found paper.
For the cover I wanted to use some fake leather with a kind of fabric on the outside, because it was so supple and it had a weaving fault that was very charming.

 

I used a blanket stitch all around it. In the photo it's not very clear, but the back is half open. I hadn't done that before and wanted to try it out for one time.

First page with title and spraypainted

A kind of motto that I like. It's about that life is all about the finding, not the searching. The text is on a clear sheet.

 

The sign in page

Black and white collage

The assignment was to make a b&w collage and at the end to add a tiny speck of colour. The colour had to enhance the image or lead your eye to the focal point.
I didn't make a 'before' photo so it's a bit difficult to see, but the little pink square draws your eye to the 'semi circle'.

A train, or not

This was the original photo. I simplified the picture and felted several pieces in different shades of black. (The holes are not intended, but due to my lack of experience in felting.)
The black piece is only fastened by two buttons to give the piece some dimension. I sewed the felt pieces on some fabric.
 

DIY Textile School

This year I started with a textile course in Amsterdam. One day a month is a contact day with each time a different artist as teacher. I like working with textile and embroidery although I have almost zero knowledge. So in that part I want to broaden my horizon.
The first month was all about self portraits and contrast. They had to be in black and white.
I've tried a few different things, based on photographs with extra contrast of myself.

 Hand embroidered on paper/textile fibre

 Machine embroidered on bookbinding linen

Various pieces of lace on cheese cloth (hand sewn)

Game of cards

For a birthday girl I made a set of cards and a kind of case for them. The cards I painted pink and the dots I stencilled with two greys.
In a group effort they werd made into a Go Fish game. All the subjects werd related to the birthday girl.
The case is also stencilled with dots, bookbinding linen for the outside and thin cardboard for the inside.

Denmark journal and some pics

For this holiday journal I simply converted a small red ring binder (for bank statements) in a journal by covering the cover with some lovely paper from Flow.

Lovely made coffee at Ballen

Ebeltoft

At Nyborg castle

Nyborg city

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aeroskobing

Marstal church

Stencil fun

My table at M's studio. So comfortable  to have that much space.

Stencil fun part 2

Some of the painted pieces of paper are finished. I'm very happy with the result. I was kind of addicted to spray paint, but I enjoyed working with paint and make up sponges very much. It's a slower way if working, it was a bit zen.

The last assessment of my second year at the Art Academy

Works I made for the last assessment. My theme was 'motherhood'. The things I made are very personal, but they were the only things I could do. Because for the last two years now at home we have to deal with a (now) seventeen-year old daughter who thinks her parents are a nuisance. So therefore one of the things I made was a coat with the 'hard' outside of a reptile, but at the same time it's very weak because of the easy ripping of the seams. And the left side, the heart, is in red, so vulnerable.

 An overall view of the exhibited works at the Art Academy

 A 'torso' with a heart of stone

 On the tea towel I pinned a collage: She had too many ideas for herself

 My apron and an apron I made from my daughters old jeans - tied together for ever. I also attached an old key with a label 'trust' I found somewhere in my stash

This is a happy collage. With red thread I traced my walk through Amsterdam - free to do whatever I wanted, no comments, no judgements

I'm curious to see if next year my feelings and theme will be the same. Actually, I'm hoping for more 'happy collages'.

Painting away

I had a lovely afternoon in M's studio which she so kindly made available to me while she's on a holiday.
A lot of room, tools and materials: a proper studio! So I cut and  painted some large pieces of paper that I want to stencil on later.
Nice music on the radio. And I could sing as loud as I wanted!
My kind of heaven.

Charcoal drawings

 

 

 

 

More exercises in drawing people. It's fun to do, but very hard to get the proportions right. I like the way you can use charcoal.

Spray painted folder

Another spray paint project: On decorated paper-paper I used different stencils and sewed it on a cut out folder. It was meant as a small extra gift for a friend of mine.

Cards for sale

These are some of the cards now for sale at my local florist shop De Bloemenweide. They are printed on a gelatin plate with plant leaves and small twigs etc. and sewn on thin cardboard.

Also my Çolour my day-booklets (with spray-painted covers) are for sale. I'm very excited about it, since this is the first time I'm trying to sell some of my work. I have no idea if it will work out. But I'm grateful to the owner of De Bloemenweide that she will have a go at it.

She's mine!

At last I bought myself the Raskog cart from Ikea. I had my eye on it for a long time, especially the blue one, but I found the price a bit too high. This one is from the bargain corner and it's sand coloured. But hey, it isn't always about the looks. She holds my stuff perfectly. (I don't know why it's a she for me...)

bound book L.K. Ludwig style

While I was browsing the internet, I found the website of L.K. Ludwig. Although I have all her books I never searched for her on the net, strangely enough. On her site she has a free tutorial for making a book out of leaflets of paint manufacturers. She uses an interesting stitch: pearl seed stitch.

I wanted to experiment with this, because I hadn't made a book for a long time. So I ran (cycled, actually) to the nearest hardware store and stole (it felt that way for me) some paint leaflets (the ones that fold out).
At first you have to gesso the pages and then paint one layer (scraping with an old creditcard or something like that) and when that's dry paint a darker layer on top. Still wet imprint the paint with a foam stamp that is soaked in water. Leave for 15 seconds and scrape the paint of the page. If all reacts well, an interesting image remains on the page. My gesso was not that good, and my acrylic paint probably a bit too runny, but the result is nevertheless rather attractive.
L.K. has an extensive tutorial of all the steps you have to take.

For the covers I used the paper that I painted on. And because I used yellow cord for the binding I embellished the front with a very yellow sunflower. I don't have a plan for the inside of the book but regard it as an experiment.

stencils and work in progress

Recently I dusted off my spraypaint cans and made a few new papers with stencils because some friends of mine want to come to play with them in the near future. I hadn't used this stuff for a while and was amazed again how much pleasure it gave me.

Also I wanted to try to remake (a part of) the stencil work with fabrics. Below is a work in progress. There are such beautiful pieces of fabric at MooiZooi (a kind of recycling shop that sells remnants of factories and shops) that I can't resist to take them home every time I'm there. Although I never had a plan for them. But now I have!