North Redwoods Book Arts Guild

If you are interested in more info or joining, please email to no.redwoods.bag@gmail.com

Tuesday, January 31, 2017

VALENTINE MAKING with Lorraine Miller-Wolf

It's valentine making time! Once again Lorraine will lead February's workshop to make valentines for our friends and families as well as people in the community. This is the 12th year that Lorraine has spearheaded this very worthy project to distribute original valentines to senior lunch sites, kidney dialysis patients, people living in local convalescent and board and care homes, and participants in the Senior Nutrition home delivered meals program. Last year Lorraine distributed 950 valentines...many made by NORBAG members. If you aren't able to come to the meeting/workshop, but would like to contribute your own handmade valentines, please contact Lorraine, her contact information is in the newsletter.



Materials to bring:
  • Miscellaneous papers suitable for valentines
  • Paper doilies
  • Ribbon, lace, and other adornments
  • Bone folder
  • Scissors
  • PVA glue or glue stick
  • X-acto knife and cutting mat
  • Stamps and stamp pads
When?   Saturday Feb. 11 at 12 noon
Where?  Eureka Methodist Church, Del Norte & F Streets
Bring?    See list above
RSVP?    No
Cost?     None

Friday, January 20, 2017

2017 January Workshop Photos

On Saturday, January 14 we had our monthly meeting and workshop. This month we had 16 books in the exchange for the "Tag and Pockets" theme. Five were from out-of-towners and the rest were local.


Our workshop was called "Three-fer" because we had three presenters of "cards" made for the 2016 Holiday Exchange. Each of the cards were quite different. 

Bobbie Hayes brought the instructions for making her "Northern Lights" and had templates for home use and paper for use during the workshop.



Bobbie had three samples for us to use. During the presentation we used a blank template. Here are some samples of what different decorations can look like.
Edge Gerring showed us how to make the twist and pop panel card. We had a bit of time to decorate our panel before putting the card together because it is not as easy to decorate after the construction.


This is Edge's card from the Holiday Exchange.

We folded the mechanism to put into the card.

After gluing the mechanism into the card we attached the decorated panel to the mechanism.  The card when closed looks quite simple. When you open it, the decorated panel twists and opens! Wow!

Michele Kamprath used a delightful woven Spine Card from our NORBAG Compendium Vol II, Pg. 49.


This is Michele's card from the Holiday Exchange
 (she made the stamps for the front too).
Using a template and contrasting card stock, we cut out Vs that interlocked.

These are the samples of the books we made.
This structure also works on a flat surface. This bookmark is an example.



Don't forget, the Holiday Exchange Cards are on Flickr... all 30 of them!

Sunday, January 15, 2017

January Library Kiosk

This month the Humboldt County Library kiosk features books made by Shereen LaPlantz, a Humboldt County artist who was instrumental in the founding of the North Redwoods Book Arts Guild in 1995. Shereen became internationally known for her work as a book artist, author, and educator. She founded the magazine Tabellae Ansata which later became known as Bound & Lettered; authored Innovative Bookbinding: Secret Compartments & Hidden Messagesand is widely recognized for her seminal publications, Cover to Cover: Creative Techniques for Making Beautiful Books, Journals, & Albums, and The Art & Craft of Handmade Books. Both books are available in the NORBAG library and at the Humboldt County library in the 686.3 non-fiction section. 

Throughout her extensive career Shereen taught numerous workshops associated with the art of the book.  She exhibited her work throughout the United States, and Canada. Shereen made her McKinleyville home into a studio promoting book arts. Sadly Shereen was diagnosed with breast cancer and succumbed to the disease in 2003. Shereen's husband, David LaPlantz, authored a wonderful article about Shereen in the Volume 13, Number 3 issue of Bound & Lettered which came out in June 2016.






Books authored by Shereen








Tuesday, January 3, 2017

"THREE-FER" CARD PROJECT

At the recent Holiday party there were requests to have members teach the structures of some of the cards in the exchange. So, we'll start off 2017 with Edge Gerring, Bobbie Hayes and Michele Kamprath each taking a turn to teach their structures. Afterwards they'll answer questions and offer help in putting on the finishing touches. Below are the materials needed for each project. Please bring the papers already cut.

Twist and Pop taught by Edge - cost: 25 cents




  • One 11" x 4" card stock for cover
  • One 10" x 3 1/2" card stock for pop-out panel
  • One 8" x 3 1/2" card stock for the mechanism piece
  • Decorative papers, stamps, stickers, etc.

Globe taught by Bobbie - cost: 25 cents




  • Pattern will be provided
  • Optional: stamps (small), stamp pads, colored pencils, gel pens, etc. for decorating paper (no collage)

Woven Spine Binding taught by Michele - cost: 25 cents




  • Two pieces of card stock 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" (contrasting papers are best)

Tools to use for all three projects:

  • Ruler
  • Sharp pencil
  • Cutting knife with fresh blade
  • Piercing tool or probe
  • Scissors
  • Double-sided tape 1/8" wide
  • Double-sided tape 1/4" wide (or use two pieces of the 1/8")
  • Bone folder
  • Scoring tool
  • Thread or string to hang the globe
  • Cutting mat
January Workshop Details:

When:   Saturday, January 14 at 12 noon
Where:  Eureka Methodist Church on Del Norte & F Streets
RSVP:   YES! to Bobbie, her contact information is in the newsletter
Cost:    Total of 75 cents
Bring:   See list above