Sunday, September 29, 2024
BOOK ART EXCAVATIONS
Monday, September 16, 2024
COLLAGE
Monday, September 2, 2024
COLLAGE EXERCISES
Here are a few examples of Dena's collages.
Materials Needed:
- Five to eight pieces of Cardstock sized 4" x 6"
- Two glossy magazines such as Fashion and Home Dec (they do not need to be current). We will be tearing the pages for swatches of color.
- Glue Stick
- Scissors
- Ruler
- Wax paper
- Weights, such as acrylic blocks, heavy books, or a brick.
- Something round (jar, jar lid) to trace for approximate 3" circle (if you have a compass, you can draw a 3" circle to use as a template).
- Circle compass (if you have one, but not necessary)
- Color Wheel
CALL FOR
NPBAF WORKSHOP PROPOSALS
DEADLINE:
October 04, 2024
Sunday, August 11, 2024
MEMBER PROJECTS
It's no secret that our members are multi-talented. They often delve into different art mediums such as sewing, painting, and dyeing to name a few. Our member from Eureka, California, Lynne Gurnee, is one of these artists. She recently shared some of her latest projects that I thought would interest our blog readers.
This project from k3n was to make a crazy quilt, but Lynne changed it up a bit to make a right-angle version. |
Lynne already had this RIT dye called Eggplant, but next time she wants to use RIT dark blue to imitate the more traditional indigo color. |
Thank you Lynne for sharing photos of your wonderful projects. Hopefully they will inspire more of our members to branch out a bit from their usual work and try something new. If you do, please consider sending us photos and short descriptions that we can share on the blog.
CALL FOR NPBAF WORKSHOP PROPOSALS
DEADLINE: October 04, 2024
Sunday, July 28, 2024
SPIRAL BOOKS
The August NORBAG workshop will be taught by Margaret Beech, our member from York, UK. The structure will be spiral books. Margaret says there is a certain magic in these surprising spiral books. If time allows, we will make two books that are cut from circles and one book from squares, along with a neat gusseted envelope.
Materials:
- Four (4) sheets 11 x 8 1/2" copy weight paper. Margaret suggests we use four different colors for the books. Please do not use patterned paper.
- One (1) sheet 8 1/2" square copy weight paper for the envelope.
- Circle shapes to trace around, approximately 5 1/4" diameter and 2 3/4" diameter. You can also use a compass.
- ruler
- pencil
- stapler
- scissors
- craft knife
- bone folder
- glue stick
Sunday, July 14, 2024
MORE SHOW & TELL
Many thanks to Laurie Moorhead for sharing her journey through several art media with us. It was very enlightening to hear about her progression from simple sketching to painting with oils and watercolors, carving stamps and cutting paper, and binding her work into zines and books etc. What a journey it has been and we appreciate hearing about it.
This is a great time to continue sharing some of the beautiful work of our members. Mary Elizabeth Nelson (aka Emmy), one of our members from Pennsylvania, recently completed two boxes commissioned by an Interior Designer.
In February Emmy first started sourcing suppliers and figuring out what type of box to construct for storing 50 to 75 8 x 10" color photographs. The photos were to be mounted on a complementary color background. She found two new (to her) paper sources; Lessebo Colours from Sweden and Colorplan from England. Both carry a wide variety of colors and weights.
After ordering samples, the designer decided on Sahara from Lessebo. The 300 gsm (110 lbs.) weight was heavy enough for the 8 x 10 photos making the finished size 10 1/2 x 12 1/2". Archival mounting corners were ordered from Lineco. Binders board and Jade 711 PVA were ordered from Talas. Emmy already had navy blue linen book cloth for the spine of the boxes that looked good with her wet-cyan prints and Madeleine Durham's paste paper.
Lots of wet-cyan prints! |
Early in March Emmy started making wet-cyan prints using dried leaves and flowers on quarter sheets of Newcomen paper that she already had on hand. A quarter sheet is 17 1/2 x 22". This vintage paper, in a light tan color, has a high cotton content and holds up well with multiple lengths of wet time. She's previously used it for paste paper and now the wet-cyans. She can only make two prints a day because of the limitations in glass size and the amount of time they have to sit in the sun (about three hours). Emmy was working most every sunny day while also preparing some short videos of the process of making the wet-cyans for a presentation for the San Diego Book Arts Guild.
April and May brought an increase in the amount of fresh plant materials, but she still used some of the dried leaves she had on hand. Many of these dried materials have become "old friends" because she uses them over and over. Fresh delicate flowers are used only once since they tend to bake after three hours in the sun. In total, Emmy made 30 sheets of wet-cyans by mid June.
Early construction of the first clamshell box. |
Covering the box with the wet-cyan prints. Each gluing step required that the pieces had to sit over- night under weights. |
The navy book cloth was used for the spine of the box. |
The photographs were mounted on the card stock with archival mounting corners. 122 photos with four self-stick corners each. |
Because each step in the construction had to sit under weights, Emmy had two extra tables set up in her studio. |
The finished size for each box is 12 1/4 x 14 1/2 x 3 1/4" |
What a beautiful way to store photographs! Well done Emmy and thank you for sharing the process with us!!
Sunday, June 30, 2024
SHOW & TELL
Our July NORBAG meeting will feature a show & tell presentation by Laurie Moorhead, our member from San Diego. She is a very prolific book artist with books in permanent collections at Baylor University, Collins Library at the University of Puget Sound, and the Cynthia Sears Collection at the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art. In addition, her books have been in numerous juried exhibitions as well as member exhibitions.
Laurel (Laurie) Moorhead came to art late in life. After retiring from a career in business and non-profit management, she began taking art classes and got hooked. She has studied book arts, oil painting, watercolor, urban sketching, colored pencil, paper cutting, collage, rubber stamp carving, gel prints, paper weaving, embroidery, and more. Her preferred mediums are book arts, papercutting, rubber stamp carving and watercolor and ink sketching but she is always interested in trying new techniques.
Laurie's major work is a series of stories of her life, centering around travel. There are currently 13 books in the collection that was started in her first book arts class in 2008. Recently, she has added to this project through the medium of zines. Additionally, in 2015 she participated in her first collaborative project, Over the Moon, through a local book arts organization. This inspired a love of collaborative projects prompting her to lead seven projects and participate in many others.
This presentation will be a wonderful opportunity to see Laurie's books and hear about her journey into the world of art and artist books. Shown below is a sample of a few of her books.
Where: On your computer, tablet or smartphone via ZOOM
RSVP: To Dolores Guffey by July 9
Workshop Questions: Laurie Moorhead
Zoom Questions: Bobbie Hayes