WORKSHOP PHOTOS & TOOLS

Members who attended our past two workshops have produced some wonderful books and cards that we would like to share. In May, Edge Gerring taught us how to make stilt books. These were wildly popular and members have come up with even more materials to use to create these structures. Here is a sampling of some of their books.

This is the stilt book Edge made while teaching the workshop.

Cheri Aldrich used her eco-dyed papers.

Margaret Beech

Michele Kamprath

Sherril Story

This is the back side of Sherril's book.

Emmy Nelson used her beautiful wet cyanotype prints.

Paper beads, 6 strand waxed linen thread,
& twigs from the garden complete
Emmy's very organic book.

Thank you Edge for introducing us to this great structure!

For our June workshop Kenzie Mullen taught us how to make an elegant pop-up card that could be expanded to make a multi-page book. Kenzie learned how to make this structure from one of our Alaskan members, Margo Klass, at the Newport Paper & Book Art Festival. Here are some examples of the cards made at the workshop. 

Beth McIlraith

Sherril Story's card cover

The inside of Sherril's card.

Margaret Beech

Margaret Beech

Mary Conley made a beautiful winter scene card.

Emmy Nelson used a whole sheet of her beautiful
cyanotype paper for her cards.

Emmy has been VERY busy making these gorgeous cards.

Thank you Kenzie for sharing this versatile structure.

This month we will introduce another contributor to this blog. One of our members from Portland, Oregon, Bonnie Halfpenny, will be sharing some of her book art ideas as well as proposing some questions for our readers. 

Everyone has their favorite tools, and I would have a hard time just choosing one.  (When my grandson was young, he couldn't live without his Tigger which doubled as a pacifier).  While I am not as attached to it as he was to his tool, I would often be quite lost without the Dritz Fine Point Disappearing Ink Pen, which is both air and water soluble.  Although made for fabrics, I have used this pen on printer paper, both cold & hot press watercolor, mulberry papers, cardstock, and Unryu and it has evaporated without a trace after a couple of days, or sooner.  Of course, I test it out first on new material, to be sure.  It is sold online and in fabric stores.

What are your favorite tools?  We'd love to know!  Please send your ideas to bhalfpen@gmail.com

ORIGAMI SCREEN STRUCTURE

At the June workshop Kenzie Mullen will teach us how to make an Origami Screen Structure that was designed by Margo Klass. This is a great structure to display beautiful photographs or art work.

QUARTER STAMP WORKSHOP

This September, Kenzie Mullen led us in a “Quarter Stamp” workshop that built upon a workshop in 2018 by Judy Rishel (letterboxing and hand-made stamps to use in letterboxing). Quarter stamps are a single square stamp that can be rotated 90° around a center point resulting in a larger design.

Kenzie brought all kinds of samples for us to try as well as suggesting other places for design inspiration such as zentangles, construction tiles, and geometric designs. The individual stamps don’t always have to be used in a set of four, but can also serve as a border using one stamp or multiples.

These examples show that the lines can be either delicate or bold.

Kenzie showed us that the tiles can be in a four group set (left top and bottom) or lined up in one layer side to side for a border or even grouped in multiples for an overall design.

On the right, is an example of how the tiles don't need to be

 used to make a square. 

Three separate petal stamps make a flower. There is no limit to

the design possibilities.

More examples. These made by Cheri Aldrich

Kenzie also brought the material that we used for carving. She brought Moo Carving blocks that were one inch square and ¾” thick. Because of the thickness, we could actually use the underside for a second carving. She explained that we have many choices for carving, but she likes the Moo because of its softness and thickness (allowing us to carve on both top and bottom surfaces). Most of us brought our own Speedball carving tools and Kenzie brought some spares to share. We used a well-inked dye based stamp pad for viewing our results.

Kenzie stressed that we should take care with the carving tools because they are extremely sharp so we should always cut away from ourselves. The sharpness enabled us to make very bold designs and also some very delicate ones too. She brought ideas about how to store our stamps. She suggested a small notebook or pamphlet stitched book and have a single example of the stamp and then the variations below. Number the page and put the same number on your stamp to facilitate finding which stamp to use.

Kenzie with her examples.

Carving the block with a design marked with a Sharpie Pen.

In this photo, one of our members is using a pen nib holder.

It works as well as the other carving nib holders. 

Workshops are an excellent time to collaborate. 

Getting first looks to see what we can do with a stamp.

Trying different ways of putting the stamp on paper.

And the results!
(Click on any of these to see them in a larger size.)

QUARTER STAMPS WORKSHOP

At the September workshop we will be making our own rubber stamps to decorate cards, books, or whatever your heart desires. This technique was influenced by Jon Arbuckle, and will be taught by Kenzie Mullen. The stamps will be 1" square. After carving, they will be stamped once, then rotated and stamped again, then rotated again and once more to make a 2" square design. These designs can be as simple or as complicated as you like. They can also be reversed to make a different design. The carving can even be done on both sides making four different designs with one simple 1" square.

What to Bring:

• Carving tools...you might have a set from the workshop Judy Rishel did on letterboxing last year. Or, you can buy them at Ellis Art, Just My Type, Arcata Art Center or Michaels. At Ellis Art you can buy just the handle and a nib or two. Kenzie will bring three sets to share if you don't have one (please email her to reserve a set).
• Pencil and eraser
• Protractor if you want to be precise, but not necessary
• Sketch paper and/or tracing paper
• A well inked stamp pad
• Scrap paper to stamp on to try out your designs
• Handi-wipes ( your hands get inky)
• Optional: A simple pamphlet stitched booklet to stamp your new stamps in and "collect" other people's stamped designs

What Kenzie will bring:

• Three sets of carving tools to loan
• Four 1" squares of Moo Carving Blocks for each member to carve
• Examples to provide design ideas

When:   Saturday September 14 at noon
Where:  Eureka Methodist Church at Del Norte & F Streets
Bring:    See above list
Cost:     $1.50
RSVP:    by Tuesday Sept. 10 to Kenzie (contact information in the newsletter)