CPS CreatingMixedMediaBooks

bound & beautifulone-of-a-kind handmade books

Helen GregoryJenn MasonBarb DelaneyLarissa DavisLarry Stein, Korday Studios, Art Van Go Studios

making handmade books can be as exciting as creating any

mixed-media project. The sheer joy experienced as pages come

together—interacting with the reader and the artist— is addictive. The

number of ways you can embellish a book is limited only by your ability

to carry out the ideas in your head. Bound and Beautiful will help you get

those ideas out and onto paper . . . and spines, and pages, and bind-

ings. Make a meandering book, a Gothic-art inspired tome, or a special

place to keep favorite family recipes. Whatever your handmade book

desire is—look to Bound and Beautiful for inspiration.

meanderingssusie lafond

book of treasuresnina bagley

kitchen wisdomnina bagley

capturing nature in paperelli woodsford

from design to divinewith beryl taylor

book art fusionlisa w. cook

build a bookvirginia spiegel

my egg booknicky dillerstone

sew whatlesley riley

out of the bluelaura cater-woods

sitting prettyberyl taylor

germinating ideas in a board bookjuju vail

39

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bound & beautiful one-of-a-kind handmade

books

editorial director

editor

assistant editor

art director

photographers

Artwork by Beryl Taylor.

Cover art by Lesley Riley, Laura Cater-Woods, Beryl Taylor, and Lisa W. Cook.

Projects and information are for inspiration and personal use only. Cloth PaPer SCiSSorS is not responsible for any liability arising from errors, omissions, or mistakes contained in this eBook, and readers should proceed cautiously, especially with respect to technical information. F+W Media, Inc. grants permission for any and all pages in this eBook to be copied for personal use.

bound & beautiful: one-of-a-kind handmade books clothpaperscissors.com 2© F+W Media, Inc. All rights reserved. F+W Media grants permission for any or all pages in this eBook to be copied for personal use.

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Adapted from Cloth PaPer SCiSSorS Winter 2005

meanderingst h e m e a n d e r b o o k

by susie lafond


i have always adored books and take great pleasure in creating them. The first handmade book I created was

a witches’ cookbook containing recipes and detailed ingredients lists complete with folded pages. At age eight, I was very proud! Since then I have honed my creative skill using fabric, beads, fibers, and all manner of paper arts to create books. I have always been drawn to things that are not quite what they appear to be at first glance —books with pockets or pull outs, boxes with hidden nooks and crannies. So the idea for sewing pages together in such a way that the book opens in the traditional manner and then has you turning it in a variety of directions was very appealing to me. I enjoy a bit of mystery in art and the sense of surprise it can bring to the viewer.

m at e r i a l s• Bienfang Canvassette Paper (This

is also available under other brand names as canvas paper.)

• Ruler

• Scissors and/or rotary cutter and cutting mat. (I prefer a rotary cutter to cut all my pages with accuracy.)

• Paintbrushes

• Acrylic paints in your favorite colors (My favorites are Golden’s Quinacridone colors. These are beautifully transparent and allow a layering of colors.)

• Sewing machine with a zigzag stitch.

• Standard sewing machine needle (You may wish to designate one needle just for sewing your paper arts.)

• Sewing thread

• Collage materials of your choice: color copies of photos, decora-tive and textured papers, pages from old books, old maps

• Paper glue

• Relatively flat embellishments and ephemera such as game pieces, buttons, small beads, fibers

• Small sponge

constructing the book1. Cut the pages to your desired size.

You will need eight squares total. I chose 4" × 4" squares for the size and dimension of the pages, but they could be 8" × 8" just as easily or any size you want your finished piece to be.

2. If you want painted pages you need to paint before you sew them together. Use colors that will allow you the most flexibility with the theme you wish to bring to your meander. Let your muse be your guide. Paint each page on both sides allowing ample drying time for each side. One of

my favorite colors is Quinacridone nickel azo gold, by Golden. I used a combina-tion of the gold and burnt orange, along with transparent red iron oxide and raw umber.

3. Using a small sponge dipped in paint, dab along the edges of each page for a finishing touch. (I used gold for this.)

4. Once your pages have dried it is time to sew them together. You will have to experiment with the width and length of your stitches as this var-ies by the make and model of the machine. Use scraps for your experi-



menting rather than your book pages and make sure that the stitches grab both pages as you sew.

With the template as your guide, sew each page together as indicated on the template. Keep in mind that some pages will be sewn on more than one side.

5. Butt the edges of the first set of pages together. Leave a frac-tion of an inch between the pages—just enough so they are not quite touching each other. This will prevent the pages from binding when the book is closed. Sew down the length of the two pages. Then lift the presser foot and, reversing the direction of the pages, sew back over the previous stitches. Be sure to reinforce your stitch-ing at both ends of your pages to ensure that the stitches won’t loosen with opening and closing your book.

6. Slashed lines on the template indicate where you will add and sew each additional page. You will be sewing pages 1, 2, and 3 together at the sides as indicated. Page 3 is sewn to page 4, and so on as indicated.

7. Once the pages are sewn together, fold the book accordion style. Each fold goes in the opposite direction to the previous one. You now hold in your hands your very own “meander.”

paper and fabric combination collageThe real fun starts now. Gather your favorite collage images, found items, and embellishments. Let your muse go wild. If you are stumped for ideas, it may help to pick a theme for your meander. Your meander could become a unique brag book, a garden journal, or a collection of memories from a summer vacation using items and photos collected and found on your journey. There are no boundaries here.

tip: I have found it is better to stick with rather flat items when choosing embellishments so as not to hinder the book from closing. Small buttons, beads, word tiles, and similar items are all good choices.

Start by choosing your papers, fabric, and images for col-laging, as well as paper to sew them to. Any decorative paper or textured paper of medium weight will work well for back-ground paper. These items are layered to create each page, as follows: Collage images are sewn to a base piece of decorative or textured paper that is somewhat larger than the images themselves. That piece is then sewn to a layer of lightweight fabric. The final step is sewing that to a smaller piece of card-stock or watercolor paper, then gluing your collage to your meander book.



meanderingsthe meander book pattern



additional supplies for paper/fabric collage Collage images Decorative and/or textured papers Lightweight fabrics Scrap of cardstock or watercolor paper

optional Small clip Dritz® Fray Check or similar product

1. Start with your focal images for the collage. Using a small stitch, sew the images to a piece of medium-weight tex-tured paper. This allows the collage images to be securely stabilized before adding the fabric layer.

2. Cut a piece of fabric about 5" wider all the way around than the paper you will be sewing it to. Use any kind of light-weight fabric. There are many synthetic fabrics as well as silks and other natural fibers to choose from, many with texture.

tip: The more fabric you allow around the edges of the paper the more you will be able to scrunch and manipulate the fabric.

3. Take your sewn paper and fabric to the sewing machine. Center the paper on top of the fabric. Lay both pieces under your sewing machine’s presser foot and put the needle in the down position so it pierces through both paper and fabric, which will serve as an anchor as you

begin sewing. Before you begin sewing, scrunch up the fabric a bit so you create some texture as you sew. Sew using a 1/4" seam allowance from the edge of the paper. Continue to bunch and scrunch the fabric as you sew until you go all the way around to where you began.



4. Once you have sewn all the way around your piece, remove it from the sewing machine and cut off any loose threads.

5. Add a base layer of sturdy cardstock. This will sandwich the fabric in the middle. This will give you a bonding surface so you can use it on your artwork without needing to actually apply glue to the back of the fabric. I chose a 4" × 4" scrap of watercolor paper for this pur-pose. Any scrap will work. Center this piece so that it matches up with the paper on top of the fabric layer. Use a small clip to hold it all together when you take it to the sewing machine.

6. Place the piece on your sewing machine and simply sew following the edges of the paper on the top of the fabric being careful to catch the paper underneath the fabric. You will be sewing blind at this point so careful place-ment is important. I purposely sewed around more than once, allowing the stitching to be less than perfect.

7. If you are working with fabric that has a tendency to fray or unravel apply Fray Check using a small amount on a cotton swab and dabbing around the edges of the fabric.

8. Embellish further with ephemera, beads, charms, and but-tons of choice.

tip: It is important when sewing paper and fabric that you always sew from the top of your piece. If you turn the piece over to sew on the opposite side the needle punches the paper outward and it will show on the finished side of your piece.

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book of treasures by nina bagley

Adapted from Cloth PaPer SCiSSorS Spring 2005



Above: Mat board pages joined with vintage ribbons laced through eyelets.

Ever since I was a very small girl, I’ve been a gatherer—one who forages, and then squirrels away, items of interest that happen to catch my eye. But the types of items have changed over the years. In the early years, the treasures were what might be appealing to a magpie or raven—bright and shiny objects that reflected sunlight—easiest to spot, I suppose, amongst the blades of grass or sidewalk stones. I remember finding a Cracker Jack® charm after a particularly heavy rain, a radiantly smiling little pig wearing a collared, buttoned dress and holding a camera. Another time I found a blown glass baby chick, perhaps one inch in diameter. I still have the pig; remarkably I can actually remember where it is tucked away.

It’s no wonder that I eventually turned to mixed-media jewelry and artwork for my career. One look at my studio today and you can immediately deduce the ongoing magpie tendencies. Countless stuffed drawers spill over with unsorted flotsam and jetsam, an endless array of fabrics, vintage buttons, metal stampings, and old broken jewelry trinkets waiting to be used in some future art project. Puzzled visitors cock their inquisi-tive heads and politely state that I must surely know where

each and every tool and knickknack can be found. The truth of the matter is that I depend almost solely (read: desperately) on the serendipity of cir-cumstance and surprise encounters with objects

Individual mat board collages were constructed using fabric artwork from friends. Pages fold upon each other inside the book’s cover.



that good friends Brionie Williams and Angel Wahby had made and sent to me. For the central focal page, I fashioned a shallow shadowbox using square wooden dowels wrapped in tarnished copper mesh cloth and fastened with tiny brass pins. Within this box, I wire-stitched a small corn husk rosebud that my son Robin made for me when he was in fourth grade. Why this flower as a focus? Robin had left home for his freshman year of college less than a week before my Wisconsin trip and I wanted to honor my love for him at this time in our lives with a piece of art. The small pencil wired to the bottom of the page is a nod to his departure for higher education. It is also a token of my ongoing friendship with artist Lesley Riley, who last year generously sent me all the used pencils she could muster for me to use in an illustration I created for a textbook.

Normally before teaching a class, I like to have a finished sam-ple in hand; but since this was a three-day class, limited to a pleasantly intimate 12-student capacity, I decided to wait until class was under way before I demonstrated and completed the final binding. The result was a much more personal, rewarding

Fabric collages embellished with buttons, stitching, book pages, trinkets, beads, and nature finds.

The buttoned “Bliss, Dream, Soar” and “Queen, Flight, Sea” pieces were gifts from Brionie Williams; Angel Wahby stitched the “Grandmother’s Heart” piece with a milagro heart sewn to the bottom, using one of her own rubber stamp designs on muslin fabric.

long misplaced and forgotten. To me, herein lies the magic of creativity, the novelty of my particular art form. Do I really have a choice but to be a gatherer?

Nine years ago I moved to the beautiful mountains of west-ern North Carolina, an area full of running waters, big and small. I began to frequent the pebbled banks and beaches of the nearby Tuckaseegee River, ostensibly to search for natural findings that I’ve begun to use with more and more frequency in my work. As a self-employed artist, I once fought feelings of guilt when I left my studio too early in the afternoon for a little time spent sitting on a rock, letting the sounds of run-ning water wash over me. But when I finally learned how to drill holes in small stones, beach glass, and pieces of driftwood to incorporate into my jewelry designs (appropriately titled ‘Sticks and Stones’), I managed to justify my river time by tell-ing myself it was all in the name of ‘material reconnaissance.’ Whatever the excuse, I delight in the use of natural materials combined with my standard metal, paper, and fabric, and I take comfort in knowing these findings cost absolutely noth-ing for me to use.

Late this summer I took my first trip to the Wisconsin coun-tryside to teach a three-day workshop at the incredible Valley Ridge Art Studio, owned by Kathy and Bill Malkasian. Before leaving North Carolina, I constructed several ‘pages’ of a book using individual mat board collages. For page decoration, I gathered several pre-constructed little pieces of fabric artwork



book for both the students and for me. They were able to con-tribute their own sage suggestions and share with me the added satisfaction of witnessing the ‘birthing,’ as those 12 delightful women put it, of the completed class project using techniques they had been taught. I did stick (no pun intended) with my original concept of binding the pages with soft silk ribbon, laced through eyelets at mat board page corners so that each page could fold upon the other within the book’s cover. A last-minute addition was a wonderfully gnarled, moss-speckled stick from a burl oak tree found just outside the stu-dio door. Fabric I had brought from home was cast aside when a swatch of animal- and flower-printed bark cloth was shared by a student, and the entire mood and feel of the finished piece was transformed. Begun in North Carolina and finished with fervor in Wisconsin amongst students-turned-friends, this fat little Dagwood-sandwich of a keepsake book means much more to me than if I had constructed it in the solitary sur-roundings of my studio. Sitting squarely on a tabletop here at home, its quirky composition of metal, fabric, and nature’s gifts of sticks and stones is a lovely reminder of one of my best teaching experiences I’ve ever shared among fellow artists, and is as well a testament to my ever-growing penchant of gather-ing findings near and far. Confucius wisely said, “No matter where you go, there you are;” and now, with my fat book adorned with findings and treasures from everywhere, there is here.

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Below: The focal page, a shallow shadowbox made of square wooden dowels wrapped in tarnished copper mesh cloth. Embellishments include eustacheon pins, corn husk rosebud, pencil stub, vintage ribbons, and nature finds.


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by nina bagleyA R e c i p e f o R s A v i n g m e m o R i e s

Adapted from Cloth PaPer SCiSSorS Fall 2005

Above: 1944 book cover fashioned from oiled cardboard; hand stitched and bound with thin cotton twine.

Below: Meticulously handwritten table of contents; recipes and tips.

Above: “The Taste of Memory” antique-looking book cover.



m y life as a self-employed artist in today’s world is one I consider fairly quiet and contained: pic-

ture me as I sit here before the computer screen in a cozy kitchen corner to write this, facing windows looking out at trees laced with greens of spring and busy with the com-ings and goings of birds frantic to construct the same nests year after year. This kitchen, and I’m thinking that yours is the very same, serves not only as a room for conjuring up a variety of meals supposedly three times a day, but also as the very core, the center of my home’s life: conversa-tion, tea taking, clothes folding, hearts opening. News is shared, both good and bad, mail is sorted, flowers are trimmed and plunked into pitchers, artwork in the making is spread out across the broad pine table for weeks on end. Yet, I don’t believe I’ve ever celebrated or honored this humble focal center of our lives in my own artwork until now.

Last spring on an afternoon lark, a friend and I ducked into one of those faceless antique “malls” that houses booth after booth of the usual assorted bland findings one can upturn in any Saturday flea market without too much concerted shuf-fling— cards of plastic buttons, tins of discarded pocket cast-offs, someone’s drawer contents emptied out into baskets and boxes and stacked askew for someone else to pitch out further down the road. Something genteel about one certain stall, however, caught my eye: the owner had pains-takingly hand-stamped and tea dyed her own price tags, tied them onto items with soft, faded ribbon, and upon each tag had written offhanded, charming comments about the findings she had put up for sale. Of course she snagged me, right then and there, and lured me further in. Towards the back of the booth, resting shyly in a worn wooden bowl, was the dearest treasure book I’ve unearthed in many a year, hand stitched and bound with thin cotton twine between oiled cardboard covers fashioned from a box. It bore a label that read: “This box made by Great Southern Box Co, Inc, New Orleans, La.” Written in pencil with simple script across the front was M. L. Ward, Elberton, Rt. 3, Ga, 1944—and above that, oddly, SOAP RECIPE. I flipped the book open to discover the most meticu-lously hand-scripted table of contents I’ve ever seen, all for a cookbook of sorts, a scrapbook if you will, that Ms. Ward (I’m assuming, forgive me here, from the handwriting, that she was a she) constructed during the war years from newspaper

Above: “Hints to housewives” are scattered throughout this intriguing book.

and magazine clippings and pasted into her handmade book of household tips and recipes. I was touched and moved enough to spend the asking price of $40. Where was this woman’s family? Did they not consider this a lovely work of art, some-thing worth keeping to pass down from one generation to the next? Were there not nieces, nephews? Neighbors with chil-dren who would come to beg for a wedge of her cream pie?

This broke my heart. Ms. Ward obviously spent many an evening, or an afternoon, over her wonderful iced tea, mea-sured down to the jug (page 147; all pages were numbered!), snipping and sorting and gluing and copying with her surely lemon-scented loopy handwriting into a thrifty book form that she ultimately finished with needle and twine into an actual binding. I think of my own artist books, lovingly toiled over for how many weeks and weeks—and for whom? Yes, there are collectors, and yes, thank God, yes, I do have my apprecia-tive and, God love ’em, understanding sons. I assume they will



treat the books as they would a tract of mountain land or (and I laugh) money in the bank—my mind hopes and imagines the conversation: “If you’ll let me take this metal house book, then you should have the “Book of Trees” and “Uprooted;” that is only fair.” This, I’m daydreaming, as I turn the pages of Ms. Ward’s scrapbook (as you’ve surely imagined while sifting through some stranger’s photographs, long since relegated to dusty sale boxes for mere pennies), is a sad price to pay for hopeful smiles beaming up from what was once some family member’s priceless memories.

Come back with me again to my thoughts on the kitchen, the core, the heart of the home. How very much we all are moved, and grounded, by the simple tastes and smells our lives have shared! Imagine the scent of ginger, just the faintest trace of a candied slice of orange, or the comforting smell of bread as it

Above: Clear pockets for recipes on the left and tea packets attached with eye-lets create pockets on the right.

Left: Recipes from friends and relatives encased in clear plastic pockets for easy viewing; side openings allow easy access for changing enclosures.



rises and bakes. How does your childhood memory smell? Like lemon, in squares, dusted with just the softest cloud of sugar? If you had a vision of this smell, would it look something like a recipe, written out in a loved one’s script, on an index card, out on a flour-covered counter next to your grandmother’s fat mixing bowl?

I’ve taught an artist book workshop, the Pocket Book of Dreams, for three years, using pockets for pages, in which contents can be added and removed at the artist’s whim. Never having the restricting limits of art that involves precise mea-surement or edges, I had designed a book filled with pages of interchangeable contents, pages constructed of “pockets,” opening at the tops or at the sides, and added to the “spine” of the book with ribbon, twine, or wire. Pockets that started out as simple clear rectangle acetate fronts, backed by copper mesh, soon were joined by the more playful pocket forms of anything from gloves to snap coin purses to bookmarks sewn

Recipe pocket fashioned from copper mesh; contents can be seen and also changed as desired.

together. The beauty of these pocket books was their forgiving nature, their loose reasoning, lack of boundaries, edges, rules. Didn’t like what you once added? Simply slip it out! Change your mind about the image that was on the last page? Replace what was there with the greatest of ease. Grow tired of using paper for pages? Replace paper with fabric, mesh, ribbon, or any number of materials.

One of my students from last spring decided to take what she had learned in the class, apply the easy guidelines of the pocket book’s loose design, and create a “recipe” book incorporating all of her recently deceased, greatly adored aunt’s recipes that she had inherited. Rather than use the originals, she made multiple color copies of each recipe, and for Christmas last year, created several books for close family members. What a treasure! And what an incredible idea. From her lovely gift, and from the handmade book of M. L. Ward, I was further inspired to create my “Taste of Memory” book—a cookbook that can be changed, altered, added to, taken away from, and handed down from this generation on to the next. I’ve taken my own favorite recipes, cards that are written out in handwriting from my mother, special friends, and many who have passed away. When placed in a book that I’ve con-structed, using antique tatting, bits of vintage silk ribbon, transfers of silverware given to me by my grandmother Mimi when I was just a child, old bookmarks, and vintage napkin snippets, the recipes become pieces of artwork themselves, and certainly will no longer become lost in the shuffle of a pantry full of mundane, ho-hum staples in my everyday kitchen.

I’d like to think that our artist books will never end up like Ms. Ward’s, resting in a wooden bowl, lost amongst countless other booths, for sale by a stranger in some random antique mall. It does my heart good to realize that her book did ulti-mately end up in the loving hands of an appreciative owner, and is now, ironically, being showcased for all the world to see. I LOVE that. I just wish I could know that she might see this for herself, whoever she is, or was, yet I picture her wav-ing the accolades off with a flour-covered hand, a soft smile lacing that quiet southern face.

Ms. M. L. Ward, I thank you—for your thriftiness in what surely must have been hardscrabble times, for taking humble, common, everyday items and raising them to artful status, and for providing—some 60 years later—an inspiration to this artist and I hope, through the classes I teach, to countless others as well. You are, you were, a true artist in every sense of the word, and your gift of art will indeed thrive for genera-tions to come.



making pocketsOkay, imagine that the hour is late, maybe even quiet, the table is cleared, and you’re sitting there with that treasured late night cup of tea, magazine in hand, pondering how to coerce a bit of artwork from bits and pieces of everyday find-ings you may have kicking around your boxes and drawers. You know you have enough snippets of family history gathered to fill a book; how to begin? I like to tell folks in my classes that your first step has already been accomplished by the sim-ple act of gathering. You’re off to a great start! Some people make their living gathering for others. Imagine!

let’s get started• Pull together some of your favorite little clippings, recipes,

photos, notes, ribbons, pieces of fabric (a small shredded snippet from a particular curtain that fell apart in the sunny kitchen of your grandmother’s house, an actual pocket from her apron—have fun with this) and sort them into categories or “pages.” Set these aside.

A transfer of silverware, a grandmother’s gift.

• Don’t have a book handy? Go find a used book store and pay 50 cents for an old book.

• Glue some of the pages together, tear out some others to make room for the thicker add-in items (that glove, those pockets) and bring out the needle and ribbon and thread.

• Pockets can be fashioned from a number of things. Remember your grandmother’s apron pocket? Why not attach that to heavy paper? What about an upside down glove? A cloth coin purse? With the use of a heavier needle and thread, anything can be attached to heavier paper pages.

making a copper mesh pocket 1. Start with a rectangle (or square–no rules here) section of

mesh that is approximately 3⁄4" larger than a piece of acetate on all four sides (a good starting size is 5" x 7").

tip: Copper mesh can be easily torn with your hands, like fabric; don’t bother cutting with scissors.

2. Using a ruler (a nice flat metal one makes this easy), fold the top edge of mesh up over the ruler approximately 3⁄4". Slide the ruler out, then press firmly to flatten and crease it so that the folded edge will prevent prickly wire from sticking out at the top of your pocket.

3. Place the acetate on top of the folded mesh and use a bind-ing clip to hold the mesh and acetate in place.

4. Place your ruler along the bottom copper edge and fold under a narrow (approximately 1⁄16") edge, then fold another edge over this that is 3⁄8" wide. Fold this up and over the edge of the acetate sheet. Press and flatten neatly. Repeat this for the sides.

This, essentially, is a pocket. The top is open and the clear acetate acts as a window through which all of your gathered recipes, fabrics, tags, and flat findings can be seen.

5. Now to attach these pockets to your book pages. The tinker-ing begins! Using an eyelet tool and eyelets (much easier than they seem, I promise) and a simple hole punch, the pockets can be eyeleted to sturdy cardstock or heavyweight watercolor paper, then threaded with ribbon, twine, sewn in with needle and thread, or buttoned on with vintage mother of pearl buttons. The possibilities, from a thrifty kitchen table standpoint, are endless.

Put on another kettle for tea and call a friend—it looks like it’s going to be deliciously long night after all.

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A STITCHED Book oF GARDEN MEMoRIES

by elli woodsford

capturing nature in paper

Adapted from Cloth PaPer SCiSSorS Summer 2005



l ast summer I bought a flower press for the microwave and had great fun pressing flower heads, seed heads,

and leaves. After a few weeks I had a box full of the most gorgeous shapes and textures, just crying out to be com-bined in some way with stitching. I set about thinking of a way to display the flowers, and designed a book of gar-den memories. The following step-by-step instructions will show you how to make a small book, approximately 6" × 6" (15 × 15cm). The actual size of the book will depend upon the size of the sheets of handmade paper that you choose to use for your book.

m at e r i a l s• A microwave flower press

• A selection of garden flowers, seed heads, and grasses

• 2 large sheets of heavyweight handmade paper in a color of your choice for the pages

• A smaller piece of heavyweight handmade paper for the book front and back covers. Both covers will be 1⁄2" (2.5cm) larger all round than the pages of the book.

• Carded silk cocoon strippings

• Muslin

• A chiffon scarf in a color to complement the handmade paper

• Spray fabric adhesive or fusible webbing such as WonderUnder

• Craft knife

• kitchen knife or bone folder

• Baking parchment paper or Teflon® sheet

• Sewing machine

• Machine embroidery threads in colors to complement your flowers and paper Small sponge

Figure 1: Flowers after being pressed in the microwave; notice the vibrant colors.

1. Press a variety of flowers and grasses using the microwave flower press. Follow the instructions given with the press very carefully, as it is very easy to burn the flowers. (Figure 1)

The lovely thing about using a microwave press is that most flowers keep their color, particularly blues. Some can be disappointing (white flowers can go yellow, for example), but all colors are worth a try, so experiment.

2. Decide on the size of your book. This will be determined by the size of the original piece of handmade paper that you choose. To make the paper smaller without wasting any of it, fold the paper in half and score using the back of a knife. (To score a fold, make the fold with your fingers, and then use the back of a kitchen knife or a bone folder to press heavily along the fold line. This will give a sharp fold.) Open up the paper and paint water along the fold using a large, round paintbrush. Make the paper quite wet, and then gently pull the 2 halves apart along the fold. This will give a lovely rough, torn edge to the paper. (Figure 2) Repeat this process with the two halves. Each of these pages will then be folded in half to make one page. Next choose paper for the cover, making the cover approximately 1/2" larger all around than the pages. So, if you want a book measuring 6" × 6" (15cm × 15cm), make 2 pieces for the cover measuring 14" × 7" (35cm × 18cm).

Figure 2: After wetting the edge of the fold, the paper is torn along the fold, pro-ducing a rouch, decorative edge.



3. Each page needs to be backed with muslin to help stabilize the paper for stitching. The muslin should be bonded onto the back of each page with fusible webbing or a spray fabric adhesive. (Figure 3) After bonding the muslin onto the back, fold the page in half and draw a line with a pencil on the muslin along the fold. Measure 1" (2.5 cm) in from both the top and the bottom of the pencil line and mark it again

with a pencil. Then from these 2 marks measure in 3⁄4" (2 cm). This 3⁄4" (2 cm) line needs to be cut so that hinges can be inserted into the page. Use a craft knife to cut these lines.

note: These measurements are approximate and you can use your own measurements according to the size of your book.

Figure 3—Muslin bonded to the back of the page with a spray adhesive. Muslin is cut slightly smaller than the page.

Figure 4: After the muslin is attached to the back of the page, the page is cut on the fold so that hinges can be inserted.



4. Now begin to decorate the pages. Each page will be folded in half. Decide if you want flowers on both sides of the page or if one side will be decorated with stamping and stitches as I have done.

For the side decorated with flowers, put a thin layer of carded cocoon strippings onto the page and arrange the flowers and grasses on top. (Figure 5)

Spray lightly with water, cover with baking parchment or a Teflon sheet, and iron on a medium setting until the cocoon strippings are dry. Take care; the strippings will give off a lot of steam as they dry. When the steam stops, remove the parchment. The natural gum (sericin) in the strippings will bond everything to the paper. (Figure 6)

5. Cover the page with a piece of chiffon scarf and, using free-motion embroidery techniques, embroider around the flowers and around the silk strippings. (Figure 7)

6. If you left one side of the page to be decorated in a different way, decide on the design for the other half of the page; this will back the flower page. You can decorate this with stamps and embossing powders or you can experiment with text or pictures. (Figure 8)

7. Make the hinges using pieces of handmade paper approximately 3" (7.5 cm) long and 1/2" (1.75 cm) wide. To

Figure 5: Cocoon strippings and flowers placed on a page prior to bonding.

Figure 6: The page was sprayed with water, covered with baking parchment, and then ironed to bond the materials to the page.

Figure 7: Page covered with chiffon scarf and embellished with free-motion embroidery.

Figure 8: Page decorated with stamped image, embossing powder, and embroidery.



Figure 9 (above): Handmade paper hinges.

Figure 10 (right): Folded hinges are inserted into the page.

Figure 11 (below): The outside edges of the pages were free-motion stitched being careful to catch the hinges and hold them in place.

reinforce the hinges, back them with strips of muslin as you did for the pages. (Figure 9)

Fold the hinges in half and insert them into the page as shown. Using either free-motion embroidery or a decorative machine stitch, embroider all around the page catching the hinges in place. Repeat this step for all the pages. (Figures 10 and 11)

8. Make the front and back cover in exactly the same way as the pages. Assemble the book and fasten the pages together using either a machine-stitched cord (as in my sample) or a store-bought decorative fabric or paper cord. Starting at the bottom right, thread the cord up and down through the hinges. Depending on the number of pages in your book, you can finish off each end of the cord using either a large bead or a tassel. If you have an uneven number of pages, one end of the cord will start at the bottom of the book and finish at the top. With an even number of pages, both ends will be at the bottom of the book. (Figure 12)



Figure 12: The finished book with a decorative, machine-stitched cord through the hinges.

Your book can be embellished further depending on its intended use. It would be a lovely way to commemorate a special birthday, wedding, or other special event.



beryl taylor shares her design process for her “Gothic book.” Cloth PaPer SCiSSorS®: How were you inspired to make this fabric book?

Beryl Taylor: I’ve always had a thing for medi-eval gothic, especially windows and doorways. I got this design shape from an actual win-dow.

CPS: You’ve used lots of different medieval shapes, colors, and motifs, religious and secu-lar. Did they come right out of your head, from your previous experience or travels?

BT: The first thing I always do when I get an idea is to do a lot of research. In this case, I studied the work of [Augustus Welby] Pugin [an architect, designer, and writer who was one of several people responsible for the Neo-Gothic revival in the arts during the Victorian era]. I made photocopies of windows and doorways and hung them around my studio. That really gets me going. Then I started to play with the images. I realized a doorway wasn’t going to work, but I found a window design that would.

CPS: How did you come up with the other designs and motifs?

BT: Again, through research, and sometimes I make sketches. But a lot of the images are from rubber stamps. I like to go round to the shows and buy them off the wooden blocks. You get the more unusual ones that way. Then [in my studio] I alter them. I don’t always use the whole image, or I combine the images to make a little collage. I find rubber stamps have cut down on drawing time. And it’s great that the image is already there look-ing at you, instead of having to draw it, and maybe not get it right.

CPS: So, you amass a lot of images and then see what works?

Adapted from Cloth PaPer SCiSSorS Winter 2005



BT: Right. I like to play around a lot. I love to sit with watercolors and paint [the stamped images]. I use fine silks and paint them the colors I want. I learned from a workshop with Lesley Riley how to use watered-down fluid acrylics. They give you better control. I also dyed the velvet ribbon I used on the binding. It was a brighter color and I wanted it to look darker and aged. I used to spend hours legging it around trying to find just the right thing. Now, I just take what I have and dye it.

CPS: Speaking of color, you used a lot of pale blue and pink in this book. Usually we associate medieval and gothic with dark colors.

BT: I love when happy accidents happen. I didn’t plan to use the pastel blue, but I laid it down on a darker color and thought, ‘Oh! They go!’

CPS: You’ve also used a lot of gold—paint, hardware, beads, thread. Were you influenced by the armor and religious artifacts of the period?

BT: (laughing) Yes, I was influenced by that, but actually— everybody laughs about me—I have a thing about gold. I just don’t think [a piece is] finished until it has a bit of gold. I use it in calligraphy and gilding, and every now and again there’s proper gold leaf, like the peeling, aged effect. Sometimes I use a Krylon® gold pen for writing—that works very well. Sequins and beads, and I always machine stitch with gold thread. I try not to, but I just can’t help it!

CPS: How does your City & Guilds training come into this process?

BT: Well, for one thing, I see patterns in everything. Even at the beach, I’m making patterns with the stones. And, of course the embroidery. When I’m finished with a piece, it always seems to need a bit of embroidery to bring it to life.

beryltaylor.com


http://beryltaylor.com


“Flower Child” • 4" × 5"

book artAdapted from Cloth PaPer SCiSSorS Fall 2006

by lisa w. cook

t here is something comfortable about a little book that fits in

the palm of your hand, but it is even more inviting when it holds pleasing textures. Imagine nubby fabric, sleek sheets of mica, and vintage found objects framed with cool metal solder. In searching for new ways to literally fuse soldering with book art, I replaced sharp, heavy glass with safe, lightweight mica. Mica is a natural mate for soldering projects as it is easy to cut with scissors, it can be split into thin layers that can be used to protect a collage, and it is heat resistant.



safety tips• Always solder in a well-ventilated area.

• Be aware that any chemicals used in soldering may be harmful to skin and eyes.

m at e r i a l s• 100-watt soldering iron

with a built-in temperature control

• 1⁄8" or 1/4" soldering tip made for the iron

• Soldering iron stand

• Heat-resistant surface for safe soldering

• Safety glasses

• Hot pad

• Small paint brush

• Sharpie® fine-tip marker

• Scissors

• Craft knife

• Bone folder or burnishing tool

• Needlenose pliers

• 20- or 22-gauge wire

• Wire cutters

• Japanese screw punch

• Eyelet-setting tool

• Cutting mat

• Small hammer

• Lead-free solder

• Stained glass flux

• Liquid patina finish for solder (if desired)

• 3⁄8"-wide copper tape (1.5mil)

• Cotton swabs

• Large sheet of mica

• PVA glue

• 1⁄8" eyelets

• 1 yard rayon ribbon cut into 6" pieces

• Tightly woven upholstery fabric

• Collage materials and embellishments

directionscreate the book covers and inner pages1. Decide on a pattern for your book pages. Use a simple

symmetrical shape or be creative and add curves at the top and/or bottom. Avoid intricate designs that will be more difficult to solder. Keep in mind your pages need to attach to each other along a common edge.

2. Make a paper pattern for your design and place it on the mica to make sure 2 pieces will fit for the 2 covers. When you are satisfied with the placement, use the marker to trace the pattern onto the mica. Cut the mica shapes out with either scissors or a craft knife on a cutting mat. Marker lines will be covered up with solder.

3. Use the craft knife to carefully split each mica piece into 2 equal layers and set aside.

4. Use your pattern to cut the upholstery fabric for the 2 inner pages and 2 more pieces of fabric for the front covers. Remember to reverse the pattern as needed so the book will open in accordion fashion.



5. Glue or stitch collage materials together for the inside covers. I used old patchwork pieces, velvet leaves, flowers, ribbon, and copies of old photographs for the insides and old postcard images and words on the outside fabric. Do not use rigid collage elements as the mica might crack when you tape the pieces together.

6. Glue the cover collages, wrong sides together, and sandwich them between the split mica. Trim off any collage materials that do not fit inside the “sandwich.”

7. Cut a piece of copper tape long enough to fit around each cover with a 1⁄2" overlap. Pull paper backing of f a small part of the tape and lay it sticky-side up on your work surface. Center a straight edge of the front cover sandwich along the tape and press it down. Continue to peel off the backing and rotate the book to press all the edges of the cover along the tape. Overlap the ends.

8. Fold and press the copper tape over the mica on each side of the cover. Miter corners and overlap or clip curves as needed. Add more tape to any areas not covered.

9. Thoroughly burnish the copper tape to the mica by pressing and rubbing with the bone folder. Repeat with the back cover.

10. Complete the inner pages of the book by applying collage materials to both sides of the fabric.

11. Cut strips of mica about 1⁄4" wide to fit the page edges that will join; split the mica in half as you did for the covers and glue to the front and back of the fabric edges. Attach the copper tape over the mica as above and burnish.

soldering tip: Clean the soldering tip occasionally by rubbing it on a wet sponge and a Sal Ammoniac block. Your tip will last longer this way.

solder the cover1. Place the soldering iron in the stand and plug it in. Lead-

free solder generally requires higher temperatures. Lay the front cover on the heat-resistant surface and carefully brush flux along the copper tape.

2. Hold the spool of solder in one hand with about 4" of solder protruding; hold the iron in your other hand over the area where you want to start.

3. Touch the solder to the tip of the iron just above the foil and allow the solder to flow down the tip as you move along the tape. Continue feeding the solder and moving the tip. It takes some practice to run the bead of solder for a nice thickness, but uneven edges can add to the charm. Complete one side, then turn the cover over with the hot pad and solder the other side.

4. Repeat with the back cover and the edges of the center pages.

5. Clean all solder with a damp cloth to remove any excess flux.

6. Use a cotton swab to brush patina to soldered areas, if desired.

assemble the book1. Punch holes in your paper pattern for placement of eyelets.

Arrange the book pages in order.

2. Using the Japanese screw punch and mat, punch holes in all the pages. Use steady firm pressure on the screw punch as it can slip on the mica.

3. Set eyelets in each of the holes.

4. Embellish the edges of the covers with wire, beads, buttons, or found objects, as desired. Twist and tighten the wire as needed with the needlenose pliers and trim off excess wire.

5. Tie the pages of your book together with the pre-cut ribbon pieces.

opengate.typepad.com

note: Unfortunately I have never been able to find a rec-ommended temperature for lead-free solder, despite my research. The most important thing is to have a 100-watt iron and either a separate or a built-in rheostat to keep the temperature constant. Rheostats don’t even have tempera-ture numbers on them—just dots! If the soldering leaves a lot of black residue, then the temperature is too high. If the solder will not melt with an even flow, then the temperature is too low. It takes a little bit of experimenting with each individual iron. I would venture to say the best setting would be “medium high.”



opengate.typepad.com

build-a-bookA CoNVERSATIoN AMoNG FRIENDS

by virginia a. spiegel

Adapted from Cloth PaPer SCiSSorS Fall 2006

t he hardest part of beginning a book is, well, begin-ning. often that’s because you don’t know in what

order you’d like to put the pages until you’re finished. And with a work in progress, or a book exchange, even if you decide the order in the beginning, you’re likely to change your mind as time goes by.

Above: I created the cover page using my “compost heap” of snippets left over from other projects. It includes threads, yarns, ribbon, painted Lutradur®, foil, painted and dyed fabric, and trimmings from already com-pleted pieces. I scattered all of the “compost” bits randomly on top of a piece of painted, white cotton fabric and covered them with tulle. I then stitched over the tulle, just enough to hold it in place.

To create the small moon, I painted a piece of Tyvek® with acrylic paints and heated it with a heat gun until it distorted. I cut a circle from the dis-tressed Tyvek and added gold paint over the top, then lightly wiped it off.

I attached the Tyvek moon to the background using variegated thread and a zigzag stitch. Concentric circles of stitching were added in the same thread over the entire background.

The tree fabric was created by fusing a vintage polyester scarf with black flocking to a piece of dyed purple fabric. The tree was cut freehand from this fabric and sewn to the background.

The entire cover was fused to the wrong side of a piece of screenprinted upholstery fabric and the edges stitched.



When two friends, Phyllis Moore and Karen Stiehl Osborn, and I agreed to exchange book pages for a few months, I decided I wanted a method that would let me “bind” my book immedi-ately and yet allow me to add pages in any order I wanted as new pages arrived. The build-a-book technique allowed me to do just that.

The back of the book is made from a piece of acid-free foam board, covered in hand-painted fabric. It serves as more of a platform on which to build the book than a traditional back cover. A screw post binding allowed me to use many types of materials for the pages. Several of the pages in my book are collages on watercolor paper, but others are made of Lutradur, vellum, silk paper, felt, and rice paper.

Although we are no longer exchanging pages, I still make pages to add to my book. Every time I rearrange them, I have a new book and create new conversation among the pages.



m at e r i a l s• A 13" x 7" x 1/4" acid-free

foam board

• 15" x 9" piece of hand-painted (or other sturdy) cotton fabric

• Sobo Glue®

• 1" inexpensive paintbrush

• Wax paper

• 6" x 2" piece of mat board

• 1/4" hole punch

• Awl

• Rubber brayer

• Bone folder

• Two 1" screw posts

• Lutradur

• WonderUnder®

• Polyester chiffon scarf

• Heavy books or similar to use as a weight

directionsmaking the coverChoose one of your pages that is especially appealing to you for your cover and, remember, you can change the cover as often as you like. Be sure to choose a page that can take a little extra wear and tear as it will be handled more than the other pages.

1. As in the cover shown, reinforce the binding edge with a piece of painted water color paper cut 6" x 4" and folded in half vertically to make a “sleeve” that is 6" long and 2" wide.

2. Insert the cover into the open edge of the folded watercolor paper approximately 1" and then stitch 2 parallel lines about 1/2" apart to attach the cover securely.

3. Punch 2 holes in the piece of 6" x 2" mat board at 11/2" and 41/2", 1" in from one edge. This is your binding guide for making holes for the covers and pages. Making a binding guide will save you the trouble of measuring each page in order to punch the holes for the screw post binding.



4. Put the binding guide over the binding edge of your cover page and punch 2 holes using the hole punch.

making the back of the book1. Using the brush, coat one side of the foam board with glue.

Lay the foam board, centered and glue-side down, on the wrong side of the fabric. Turn the fabric and foam board over, smooth out any wrinkles, and brayer lightly over the fabric to ensure good adhesion.

2. Turn back over and clip a small triangle from the corners of the fabric to within 1/4" of the corners of the foam board. Carefully brush glue along the fabric edges and, beginning with the sides and then the top and bottom, fold the fabric over the foam board. Smooth out any wrinkles, wrap in wax paper, and press under heavy books or other weight until dry.

3. When dry, coat the back of the foam board (not covered by the fabric) with glue and use the second piece of Lutradur (or your choice of fabric or paper) as the endpaper to cover the edges of the back cover fabric that were turned over to the inside back.

To stiffen and thicken the Lutradur, I covered it first with WonderUnder and then a polyester scarf and fused them together. Then I stitched a pattern on the scarf.

4. Wrap the back cover in wax paper and press under weight until dry.

5. Put the binding guide over the back cover and use the awl to punch 2 holes through the fabric and foam board. If the fabric becomes very frayed, use a few drops of glue to smooth the edges down.



preparing the pages1. Cut 10" x 6" pages from your materials of choice. If using

watercolor paper, use the bone folder to score a 2" margin on the short edge of each page. This will allow the pages to turn more freely.

2. Use the binding guide to punch holes in each page. If the pages are of a delicate or floppy material, stitch a 6" x 2" piece of watercolor paper to one end of the page and then punch holes in that end of the page using the binding guide.



building your book1. Unscrew both screw posts and insert the long parts of the

screw posts up through the holes in the back of the book with the inside of the back cover facing up.

2. Arrange your pages as desired and then, starting from the back of the pile, place the pages over the screw posts. Add the cover and screw on the post tops.

Enjoy your instant book until it is time to take it apart, rearrange the pages, and build a new one!

virginiaspiegel.com


http://virginiaspiegel.com


my egg book

by nicky dillerstone

Adapted from Cloth PaPer SCiSSorS January/February 2007



t his project will appeal to those of you who love small objects but who also buy and hoard the smallest scraps

of material just because they are beautiful, be they embroi-dery threads, wrapping papers from sweets, dried pieces of paint, or tassels from a scarf. Materials that appeal to us will inspire us to create, and beautiful materials don’t have to cost the earth.

m at e r i a l s• Small photo album, approximately 4" x 5" (Mine had

circular openings, about 11⁄2" in diameter.)

• Small piece of calico (muslin) cut a little larger than your cover to use as a base

• Nappy (diaper) liner

• Good range of threads – sewing cotton, gimp thread, silky and matte threads, eyelash chenille, cotton slub (keep the scale of the project in mind and avoid chunky yarns or trims.)

• Needles and pins

• PVA glue

• Tissue

• Handmade or craft paper

• Muslin

• Acrylic paint

• Drawing inks

• Shiva® (Markal) Painstiks®

• Gold powder

• Feathers (Pick one with long fronds or pieces of marabou for the decoration on the inner pages, keeping the scale much the same as above.)

• Tassels

• Copper wire

• Air-drying clay (such as Model Magic)

• Leaf stamp

• Hot glue gun

• Small pieces of painted Bondaweb or WonderUnder®

• Small beads or accent beads

I love to make secret places, mostly books and boxes that cre-ate a little environment to peek into, something of a throw-back from making so many doll houses as a child I suppose. The challenge with my books is to create an environment and atmosphere without words as clues, just to let the viewer find in it whatever they want, with only textures and colors to offer hints for your own imagination to work on. I wanted this book to have a story and based it around a bird’s nest, with feathers, pieces of egg shell, circular “nest” motifs and flashes of light and iridescence. The cover gives only a clue to the theme, and all the pages are intended to show greater or lesser elements of the various motifs for you to investigate. But as a whole art-work, it creates an intense micro-environment.

This project came out of the need to create something quick, as I tend to create highly detailed pieces with layers of stitch, paint, and color, working them in fits and starts over a period of weeks, even months, until I have worked through hating the piece round to liking it again. I bought a small photograph album and decided that I could only spend two afternoons making it over into an art piece. I already knew the colorway I wanted to work in, so I gathered materials together in a strong blue-green range, though a few bits from my worktable found their way into the mix, as well.

the covers1. Decide on your color scheme and the overall theme of the

book. It can be quite general—such as autumn, winter, the coast, forest, childhood—and gather your materials around you. The materials list I have provided may only be a starting point, depending on your theme.

2. Make the cover using calico (muslin) as a base (I worked in a circular design to echo the apertures in my book, but you can use whatever design you like to complement your theme). Cut your base fabric to size, leaving an allowance for the spine and for turnings, if you want neat edges.



Also, keep in mind that the more you glue and stitch onto your fabric, the more it will shrink, so leave a little more allowance if you plan to do a lot of work on your cover. You can always trim off or stitch over the extra fabric later.

3. Glue and machine stitch your trims, fibers, feathers, and pieces of nappy liners into an abstract swirl pattern.

4. Add color with a base of acrylic paint, overlaid with PVA glue, metallic paints, gold powder, and Shiva sticks. Let dry.

5. Make a “medal” for the cover using clay, such as Model Magic. While the clay is still soft, run a copper wire decoratively through it and stamp a leaf impression on the surface. Let it air dry overnight.



6. Once the clay has dried, paint the surface a dull gold, then dry brush it with metallic paint to enhance the veining in the leaf.

7. Hot glue the m edal into place on the cover.

8. Create a closing for the book by cutting tassels to the length you want and then affixing them with PVA glue, one each on the front and back covers. Work over the surfaces with Shiva sticks to blend them into the body of the covers.

the pages1. Open a spread of the book and paint the pages with thick

PVA glue. Add feathers, nappy liners, gimp thread, and other threads and fibers into the glue in a circular motion around the aperture of the pages. Let dry. Repeat with the other spreads.

2. Paint the fibers with layers of acrylic paint, metallic acrylic paints, acrylic inks, drawing inks, Shiva sticks, gold powder, oil pastels, and whatever else comes to hand. With this being a small and pre-made book you can stand it open on your worktop and paint various pages at one time. This way, if you’re not happy with a page you can go on to the next, viewing the book as a complete object rather than approaching it one page at a time.

3. Once the pages are dry, add further relief patterns with the hot-glue gun, dribbling the glue around some of the apertures. Once the glue has cooled and dried, rub Shiva sticks into the surface.

At this point, you may be pleased with the results, or you may feel your book needs something more special. In my case, I had already devised a process that I knew would fit the bill.

eggshells/ half globes I am not always that tidy and don’t immediately wash paint pots, palettes, etc., so a happy accident occurred one day when I left a mixture of acrylic paint and glue to dry in a palette well. The next day I went to pick it out so I could use the pal-ette and the paint and glue had dried and came away in one beautiful, small, half-globe shape. What a joy! I then tried to re-create this accident, combining paint and glue plus small bits of fabric and thread that were lying on my worktop. I dis-covered an even greater joy the next morning when the whole mixture had fused into a wonderful little half-globe of color and texture. If you try this, you could also add accent beads, little pieces of candy wrappers, metallic threads, and the like. But as my half-globes were to represent egg shells found in a nest, I wanted them to be very fine and delicate so I used only a smear of paint and glue in the well, then added threads and so on to it to give it body.

(Of course this proves that tidying up your worktop shouldn’t be done too often and you need not throw anything away as you can use the smallest pieces for these magical little shapes.)

I wanted to place some of these half-globes within the circular apertures of the album, so I made a batch with longer threads hanging over the edges of the wells in order to attach the half-globes to the pages.

note: Make sure when you are fixing them in place that you can close the book and they don’t crush each other.

These instructions are only a starting point if you want to cre-ate something similar. The key is to really consider the surface you are creating and work at that first, through sketches, pho-tographs, previous work, etc. To create a little environment like this it is crucial to add in fine details and take your work further all the time. I have found that I don’t stop when I think I have done enough, I stop when I think I have done too much; layers can always be scraped away. I tend not to plan and design too much; I enjoy the live process and using what is near me at the time, allowing serendipity and chance to be part of my work and enjoying the journey I go on with each piece of work.

fabricwithpinsin.co.uk


http://fabricwithpinsin.co.uk


sew what?

by lesley riley

Adapted from Cloth PaPer SCiSSorS March/April 2007

i started out as a quilter, but now identify myself as a mixed-media art-ist. I still use fabric as my primary artmaking material, but I never could

resist the lure of adding other things to my work—such as metal, mica, and paper. It’s the combination of hard and soft that attracts me. While I was working on my second book, faBriC MeMory BookS, I set out to see just what could be combined with fabric and stitched by my sewing machine.

Above: Fabric-covered canvas, embellished with fibers, fabric scraps, and an inquisi-tive-looking bird, creates the cover for this book.



metalKnowing that quilters had been sewing through aluminum soda cans, I tried sewing copper tooling metal or foil. This thin copper can be cut with ordinary household scissors (don’t ever use your fabric scissors). I also tested fine copper mesh, the weight of fine screening. The main reason copper is my first choice is that placing it in a flame oxidizes it and creates beau-tiful colorations. Other metals can be machine stitched as long as they are soft enough to be cut with scissors.

The number one rule when stitching through metal is stitch slowly. I use a Universal 80/12 or 90/14 needle. Increasing your stitch length will allow for more thread to show and fewer holes punched by the needle; when the needle punches through the metal, it creates a rough edge on the underside. Rayon and metallic threads are more likely to shred and break after continuous sewing, so I recommend a polyester dual-duty thread. Heavier-weight threads are attractive as well, but keep in mind that the larger needle required for those threads will create larger holes. If the underside of the metal will be exposed, I flatten the rough, punched holes on the back by burnishing them with the back of a spoon or a similar object with a rounded edge.

paperCombining paper and fabric is another way to create interest and texture in your work. I love to paint a sheet of watercolor paper with fluid acrylics and cut it to use as page backgrounds for my books. Using the same settings and guidelines for metal stitching, I stitch though watercolor paper in weights up to 300-lb. The needle will punch a hole right through the paper and, contrary to metal, the punched paper does not shred rayon or metallic threads.

When sewing any weight of paper you do want to increase your stitch length or use a zigzag stitch, otherwise all those needle punches will perforate the paper and it will come apart.

micaMica has been used by artists for centuries. The word “mica” is thought to be derived from the Latin word micare, meaning to shine. Its glowing translucent nature attracts me like a mag-pie, which is known for its fondness for bright objects. I use mica to create frame-like effects over photos and to sandwich fibers, papers, and materials without obscuring them.

It is sold in thick slabs, but one of its appealing features is its cleavage or ability to be split along a plane into thinner and thinner smooth sheets—smooth enough to be machine stitched.

It is hard to describe how thin it must be to stitch through. My advice is: when in doubt, don’t.



Mica is sold to artists in small packs of irregular cuts. Right out of the package it is too thick for machine stitching. I find that I can separate one piece into three or four pieces thin enough to sew. Separate the sheet by sliding your fingernail or an X-acto blade under a corner edge and then very gently peel the layers apart. The mica may crack or break in the process, but this adds to the beauty—perfection can be so boring. I work with whatever I get. Smaller pieces that get broken off can be used for smaller projects or further shredded into mica flakes for yet another project.

tip: When sewing through mica the needle makes a little punch-like sound. It’s normal, don’t worry.

Use the same guidelines recommended for metal when sewing on mica: stitch slowly, increase stitch length, and avoid rayon and metallic threads.

note: Reserve one needle for sewing on paper, mica, or metal and replace it when dull. Do not sew fabric with the same needle.

Here’s a project that combines stitching non-fabric materials and bookmaking.

to create the pages1. Paint both sides of the watercolor paper with fluid acrylics.

I used manganese blue and iridescent bronze. Don’t worry about being perfect, this is the background. You will later find the best parts and cut them out for your book.

2. When the paper is dry, add some egg-shaped thumbprints with paint or rubber-stamp ink. Let dry.

3. Water down a dollop of gesso and spatter-paint the paper with it. Let dry.

4. Find your favorite areas of the paper and, using a straight edge, tear 5" x 7" sheets out of the larger sheet. Stain the edges with paint or highlight them with gold, if desired.

caution: Though these materials are relatively soft, it’s always prudent to put on protective eye wear when stitching through alternative materials.

a second nestm at e r i a l s

• 140-lb. watercolor paper, 22" x 30"

• Golden® fluid acrylic paints

• Gesso

• Bird images

• Jet Print™ Photo Multi-Project paper (glossy)

• Fine mist spray bottle

• Tooling copper foil – allow approximately 4" x 5" per book page

• The Ultimate™ Glue by Crafter’s Pick™

• Plastic or wood branches

• Rubber brayer

• Scissors (not your fabric scissors)

• Mica

• Large paper clips

• 2 canvas panels – 5" x 7"

• 2 fabric pieces – 8" x 9"

• 2 fabric pieces – approx. 21⁄2" x 7"

• Decorative paper – 2 pieces each 41⁄2" x 61⁄2"

• Fibers – yarn, excelsior, twine, twigs

• 2 yards ribbon

optional

• Rubber-stamp ink

• X-acto® knife

• Tongs with heat-resistant handle (for flaming metal)



5. Print several bird images onto Jet Print paper and cut out each image. Holding the image upright, about a foot away, spritz with water and place the image image-side down onto the scrap paper (I used a page in my journal). Lightly pat the image and then lift it up. Some of the ink on the image will transfer to the scrap paper, leaving a speckled image for you to use in your book.

6. Color a copper sheet in flame, if desired. Do this by grasping the copper sheet in a pair of tongs with a heat-resistant handle and holding the copper over a flame until it begins to change color.

note: You can use the flame of a gas stove, a mini propane torch, an outdoor grill, or even a candle.

7. Cut copper pieces slightly larger than the bird image and glue the image to the copper. Trim as necessary. In most cases I kept the bottom and sides straight, and trimmed the top to follow the outline of the bird.

8. Lay the edges of the copper sheets over a plastic or wood branch and roll the brayer over the copper to emboss branch shapes.

9. Split mica into thin pieces and layer it over or under the embossed copper sheets and on top of the watercolor paper. Sandwich fibers under and over the copper and mica. The majority of my fibers are from a length of twine that I unraveled.

10. Place large paper clips around the edges of the watercolor paper to hold everything in place.

11. Machine stitch around the copper, image, and mica, removing the paper clips as you come to them. Stitch slowly through all layers.

to create the book1. Spread a thin layer of The Ultimate Glue on top of the

canvas panels and center a panel onto the wrong side of the fabric. Pull the fabric edges around to the back and glue. Trim the corners at a 45-degree angle, about 1⁄8" from



the corner edge to eliminate bulk. Fold and glue this 1⁄8" margin of fabric over the corners, then smooth and glue the remaining fabric over the sides.

2. Set a stack of pages between both canvas boards and determine the spine width needed. Cut fabric this width plus 1" by 7" (the length of your page).

3. With the panel and fabric right-side down, glue 1 side of fabric length 1/2" from the panel’s back edge. Repeat, gluing 1/2" of the other side of the fabric to the other panel.

4. Cut 2 pieces of ribbon, one 30" and the other 40" long. With the back of the panel facing up, center the 40" ribbon along the length of the panel and glue it in place. Center and glue the 30" ribbon across the width of the panel.

5. Glue decorative paper to the back of each panel.

6. Cut a strip of fabric and glue it over the inside edge of the fabric spine and edges of the panels, overlapping the panel edges by 1/2" to 1".

it’s the machineFor non-sewers, deciding on which type of sewing machine to buy is often confusing and intimidating. While you may think an inexpensive “craft” sewing machine is a good beginner’s machine, they are very limited in function and are often frustrating to use. When problems arise you think it’s your lack of knowledge and skill, but most often, it’s the machine.

There are several advantages to buying a machine from a sewing machine dealer. Most dealers provide the fol-lowing services:

1. You can test-drive several machines.

2. They can answer all of your questions.

3. Free classes come with your purchase.

4. They offer trade-up programs (trade in your first purchase when you are ready to get a more advanced model).

5. They offer reconditioned (used) machines, backed by warranties, at reduced prices.

All of the major sewing machine manufacturers offer entry-level machines that are reasonably priced, most with sev-eral built-in stitches.

No matter what brand of machine you buy, there are cer-tain basic functions you should look for.

must-haves• Built-in light

• Reverse/back-stitch setting

• Variable speed control

• Stitch width and length control

• Several basic stitches (straight and zigzag)

• Stability (You don’t want the machine to rock or travel when it gets going, nor should it be easy to tip over when idle.)

7. Stack the sewn pages onto the back panel and tie them together with ribbon.

8. Close the book and decorate the cover as desired.

lesleyriley.com


http://lesleyriley.com


out of the Blue and onto

the Page CREATING DIMENSIoNAL MIXED-MEDIA BookS

by laura cater-woodsAdapted from Cloth PaPer SCiSSorS March/April 2007

A thread-drawn image, selected for the flow of line, centers this page.

“ Don’t wait for inspiration. It comes while one is working.” — Henri Matisse

“ I could never tell where inspiration begins and impulse leaves off. I suppose the answer is in the outcome. If your hunch proves a good one, you were inspired; if it proves bad, you are guilty of yielding to thoughtless impulse.” — Beryl Markham

q uotes like these are everywhere in the literature about creativity. My experience is that there’s a truth to them

that every working artist knows: it is in the work that new ideas are born.



My new series began innocently enough, with low-tech pro-cesses and simple materials. I had a goal clearly in mind. I wanted to make an accordion style, folded paper book to hold small cards. I was on the road, about to complete the jour-ney, when a quiet voice grabbed my attention: “Hey, what about…?” The voice became louder, more insistent: “What would happen if…?” and then: Wouldn’t it be more interesting if…?”

I was sunk. My thoughts shifted from the project at hand, different materials came out to play, and new processes filled in. Off we went in a new direction, my Muse of the Easily Distracted and I. What about folding Lutradur® instead of paper, she whispered? Wouldn’t it be cool to print on the material and stitch it, and maybe use beads too? I soon found myself in “flow”—that highly desirable state where almost anything can happen. I remember recognizing the potential each leaf of the folded structure had to carry images. Aha. From there it was a hop and a skip to the two-sided structure. The ability to change the visible image, depending on which panels were adjacent to one another, was exciting.

When I was in graduate school I experimented with “books” that could be read in a non-linear fashion. Today I’m finding a deep satisfaction with manipulating the three-dimensional object. I am enjoying combining handwork with machine work, mixing all sorts of materials and learning about their structural possibilities. For the first time, I love working in multiple dimensions.

Above: Standing on small beaded feet, this book alternates screen-printed cloth, which is then altered and stitched, with hand-altered digital photos.

Right: The left panel is a layering of a block print on lightweight Pellon, inks, paint, and gel medium.



directions1. Choose a base layer for the end panel. This might be a

photo, a small section from a larger piece of art, or perhaps a section from a screen print or batik. What you start with may be determined by an idea you already have; working in a more improvisational manner is also interesting.

One of my pieces was made as an exploration of walking near the river. Another is a meditation on leaves.

2. Select the images for the 2 end pages. Layer the base on top of Timtex and cut to size. Appealing sizes are in the 3" x 5" to 4" x 6" range. Panels larger than this will require a heavier core in order to stand up. Some pieces are built without interior stabilizing. Take care to evenly balance the surface weight of each panel. “Floppy” panels need additional core stabilizing.

3. Begin working on the interior panels, in order to establish a flow across the surface. Interior panels are layered with heavyweight Pellon interfacing. Cut your panels to size, being careful to keep each panel exactly the same size, otherwise the assembled unit will not fold up properly. I prefer an odd number of panels (5 or 7); experiment to find what suits you.

4. Begin adding base layers to the reverse of each panel.

note: I flip the panels regularly while working in each phase. This keeps my eye and mind tuned to the double-sided image.

While working like this, remember the basic composition guideline: keep the eye moving across the surface and circling back. The challenge is to treat each panel as a complete unit that is also a component of the larger composition.

5. Once you have the general sequence or arrangement established, develop each panel’s imagery further by drawing, painting, or collaging. (Any of the approaches you have taken with fabric postcards will work here.) Use Bo-Nash bonding powder, fusible web, double-sided interfacing, gel medium, or stitching, as appropriate to your materials.

6. Enhance the surface further with hand embroidery and beading. Additional embellishments might include trims, found objects, or jewelry findings. Choose according to the theme of your piece and your aesthetic.

7. Finish the edges. Possibilities include: blanket stitch applied by machine or hand; zigzag machine stitching; couched cord; beaded edging; or an unfinished edge, sealed with gel medium or left raw.

m at e r i a l s• Base layer (photos, parts of another work, or screen-printed

fabric)

• Timtex™ (enough to make a 3" x 5" to a 4" x 6" panel for each of your pages)

• Heavyweight fusible Pellon® interfacing (same amount as Timtex)

• Sulky® Totally Stable™

• Drawing, painting, and collage supplies of choice

• Embellishments such as beads and found objects

• Needles for hand sewing, beading, and embroidery

• Embroidery thread

• Strong hand-stitching thread

• Acrylic gel medium (for collaging and gluing)

• Fusible medium (such as powder or fusible web)

• X-acto® knife and cutting mat

optional

• Sewing machine

• Tiny crochet hook

• Tweezers

• Pre-treated photo cloth

photos on clothI’ve been working with photo images in the past couple of years. In these folding panels, some photos stand alone, some are altered, others are collaged with other materials.

Generally, when printing digital photos on cloth I use a low resolution (75 dpi) or print at draft quality. This creates a softer mood. I have used Lutradur®, silk, cotton, and linen, with photos printed on them, as a fabric base in these pieces.

Before printing on Lutradur or untreated cloth, I iron the material to a sheet of Sulky® Totally Stable™. It is pliant, goes through the printer easily, and is reusable.



8. Join the panels. Adjacent panels can be joined by hand with a cross-stitch using strong thread or by machine.

I use a 9mm-wide decorative stitch on my machine. It’s a variation on the blanket stitch, with the straight line stitched in between each panel and the cross bar stitched across the edge of the panel.

alternate structural approaches • Join related artist trading cards or postcards.

• Salvage sections from an unsuccessful larger piece.

• Create one long image and cut it into sections.

• Make each panel individually.

• Folding one long panel is an option, but can be very bulky.

cater-woods.com

Water and rock are enduring sources of inspiration for me. This sequence uses paint, thread, and digital photos on cloth.


http://cater-woods.com


o ld books are one of my passions. I am always drawn to old books and I love altering them, which usually involves tearing out some of the pages. And yet,

because of the feel and quality of these pages, I can’t bear to throw them away. In this case I decided to recycle an old book to create my accordion book “Sitting Pretty.” Here is how you can make a similar accordion-style book.

“sitting pretty” AN ACCoRD IoN -S TY L E Book

by beryl taylor

Adapted from Cloth PaPer SCiSSorS May/June 2007



directionsthe centerpieces1. Cut your silk and felt into squares of the same size,

according to the size of your book pages.

2. Lay a small square of hand-dyed habotai silk or fine-weight silk on top of a square of felt. Then lay a photocopied image of your chosen motif on top of the silk and machine stitch the image through the silk and felt backing.

3. Machine stitch the silk square to the felt backing around the edges, about 1⁄8" in from the edge.

4. Hand stitch beads along the line of stitching.

5. Paint the edges with acrylic paint.

6. Paint the central motif with metallic paints.

7. Make as many centerpieces as required for the number of pages in your book.

the centerpiece backgrounds1. Tear a square of watercolor paper approximately 1/2" larger

(all around) than the centerpiece.

2. Paint this background with watercolor paints.

3. When dry, glue the centerpiece to the background.

4. Make a background for each centerpiece.

the book pages1. Take old book pages and scrunch them up, flatten them out,

and then lightly paint them with gesso.

2. Back each page with felt and then machine and hand stitch each page with vertical lines.

3. Loosely stitch buttons at the top and bottom of each page.

the page hinges1. Cut 2 strips of white muslin 2" wide by the length of your

book pages.

2. Stitch the 2 strips together along parallel lines in the center of the strips, leaving 3⁄8" between the lines of stitching; this creates a “tube” through which a 1/4"-diameter dowel will be inserted when the book is constructed.

3. Glue the edges of the muslin “tubes” to the felt backing of the book pages you have already made; 1 tube for 2 pages. Make an additional tube for each 2-page spread in your book.

4. The first and last pages will also have end “tubes” which are made by using one strip of muslin folded in half and stitch-ing 3⁄4" in from the raw edge down the length of the strip. Make 2 of these. Insert the edge of the first page and the last page into the raw-edge opening of an end tube and glue the tubes to the felt backing on the outer edges of the first and last pages.

applying the centerpieces 1. Take the central motifs as prepared earlier and machine

stitch through the felt backing to attach them to the centers of the book pages.

2. Take more old pages prepared as above and glue them to the exposed felt backing of the newly prepared hinged pages; this covers and hides the hinge edges and the stitching of the centerpieces.

3. Machine stitch these pages in place; stitch through all layers.

the hinge dowels1. Cut 1/4"-diameter wooden dowels to your chosen length and

paint them with gesso.

2. Decide on the finial for the dowels; I used small wooden balls to which I applied small bird decorations—my birds are “sitting pretty.” Paint the dowels and the finials with gesso.

3. When dry, insert the dowels into the “tubes” of the page hinges.

beryltaylor.com

m at e r i a l s• Hand-dyed habotai or

other fine-weight silk

• elt (same amount as the silk)

• Photocopied images of your motif

• Sewing machine

• 100-percent polyester thread

• Small beads

• Acrylic paint

• Metallic paint

• Watercolor paper, 120-lb. weight

• Watercolor paints

• PVA or white glue

• Pages removed from an old book

• Gesso

• Needle for hand stitching

• DMC embroidery thread, 2 strands

• Buttons

• White muslin

• Wooden dowels (1/4" diameter)

• Finials (such as wooden balls)

• Finial decorations (I used birds.)


http://beryltaylor.com


germinating ideas in a board book

by juju vail

Adapted from Cloth PaPer SCiSSorS July/August 2007

s omething terrible happened to me in March this year, something I was totally unprepared for. It happened just before my 40th birthday. I had been working

hard on deadline after deadline all year and was looking forward to a break in my schedule when I could immerse myself in some personal creative work. A week before my birthday I woke up and went to my studio. All my deadlines had been met. My studio was organized and my tabletops were cleared off and waiting for the next project. And then the unexpected happened . . .

I didn’t know what to do!



I thought I had a million projects that all wanted my attention, but when it came down to it I couldn’t choose any of them as more worthy than the others. In the end they all seemed futile. I felt the well had run dry. I was in a funk.

After a week or so in this state (and getting my dreaded 40th birthday over with) I decided I had to get down to work. It didn’t matter what I did; I just needed to get on with it!

I took heart in author Philip Pullman’s words about writer’s block.

“I don’t believe in it… Plumbers don’t get plumber’s block, and doctors don’t get doctor’s block; why should writers be the only profession that gives a special name to the difficulty of working, and then expect sympathy for it?”

beginning slowly and comfortablyI decided to create a sketchbook to germinate new ideas. I wanted to begin by working on something repetitive and comforting like knitting or quilting. I always find working with color and pattern relaxing and, as I was nervous and a little depressed, I thought I’d start gently.

I selected a child’s board book with rounded corners. It had been kicking around my studio for a few years. At one point I painted white gouache on a few of the pages but then moved on to something else and forgot about it.

1. Thinking about what I find comforting in crafting a quilt, I began by tearing (with a ruler) 2" squares from my scrap-paper collection. I chose papers that loosely fell into pale ice cream colors with lots of vanilla and arranged them as a grid on my board pages. I had some wonderful new scraps from the blogosphere that proved inspirational. In particular, husband-and-wife bloggers and artists Brenda and Rick Beerhorst exchanged packs of ephemera with me this winter. I had resisted investigating them for a few months, saving the joy for a rainy day. That day had arrived. I used white glue to adhere the scraps to the page, allowing a margin of about 1/4" all around and letting the colors and print of the original board book peek through.

m at e r i a l s• Children’s board book

• Steel ruler

• Scrap papers: old wrapping

• Papers, magazine pages, old

• Drawings and paintings, vintage

• Books, envelopes, patterned

• Paper, vintage wallpaper,

• origami paper, receipts,

• Shopping lists, etc.

• White glue

• Acrylic matte gel medium

• White gesso

• Pencils: B, 2B, 4B, 6B

• kneaded eraser

• Aging varnish and paintbrush



2. When the squares were stuck in place and dry, I used acrylic matte gel and an old credit card to coat the page. Using the edge of the credit card to apply the gel created an even surface all over the page: the cracks between the squares filled in with gel. When this was completely dry, I squeezed a little white gesso onto the page and then rubbed it in (and finally most of it off) with a rag. This knocked back the brighter colors of the surface. It also made an excellent ground for working in pencil. The gesso and gel had enough grab to easily accept pencil, and the overall surface was interesting and varied.

3. I decided to work with only pencils and an eraser, no color. I wanted to generate ideas, not complete paintings. I used a variety of pencils and a kneaded eraser and I began, as I often do, in the middle of the book. I started making pencil marks and erasing them, with no particular image in mind. Sometimes I fill the entire page with tone and work back into it with my eraser. Figures started to emerge. I allowed my unconscious to shape the imagery. Once I recognized

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3



the figure emerging I shaped it and began to draw it more consciously.

I rapidly filled up a few pages working in this way. I noticed a kind of fairy tale quality to the drawings. I have been reading a lot of fairy and folk tales over the last couple of years but hadn’t yet tried to consciously incorporate them into my work. I was surprised and delighted to see them appearing.

I had also recently looked at books with alchemical symbols, and some of these started to appear, particularly ones with spring themes like eggs, seedpods, and blossoming flowers.

For some of the drawings I pulled out a well-worn book of American Folk portraits that I have always found inspiring. I looked at these and then closed the book and drew some more, allowing these images to influence the drawings.



Sometimes the images on the scrap grids inspired the drawings. The front cover has a picture of a bear in clothing in the upper right corner and this influenced the dressed wolf on one of the inside pages. And of course my beloved rabbit had to appear. (See my last article in Cloth PaPer sCissors, March/April 2007.)

4. When the drawings were complete, I coated each page in an aging varnish. I had this around my studio and had never used it so I thought it was a good time to experiment. This

made the pages glossy, well-protected, and it imparted a slight yellow color. It also made the gesso more translucent, bringing out the background colors more.

A further advantage to the varnish was that it made the drawings impossible to rework. I had to be satisfied that they were done—and now it is time to move on to some painting. I have a wealth of new images and ideas, and I can’t wait to get started.

jujulovespolkadots.typepad.com

b i b l i o g r a P h yPhilip Pullman is very inspiring and his website has a great interview with him about his writing.• philip-pullman.com

Rick Beerhorst• studiobeerhorst.com

Brenda Beerhorst• kindshipincolorandwool.typepad.com


http://jujulovespolkadots.typepad.com


kindshipincolorandwool.typepad.com

http://www.philip-pullman.com/

www.studiobeerhorst.com

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