Bow Tie Workshop

BOW TIE STRUCTURE
with Beth McIlraith

Beth's beautiful bow-tie book

This month's workshop with Beth McIlraith will teach participants how to repurpose an unwanted book into a beautiful hand-stitched journal with pockets.
The workshop is no longer available for sign-ups. NORBAG members should have received a registration form with last month's newsletter and sent their fees to Beth by August 15.

Even if you are not signed up for the workshop, please join us from noon to 1pm for the book exchange and Free Stuff highlighted in the article on page 3 of the newsletter. 

When?
Saturday, September 13
9am - 4pm

Where?
NEW LOCATION:
Eureka United Methodist Church, 520 Del Norte St
Corner of F & Del Norte Streets
in Eureka

Registration
Closed on August 15

NEW MEETING PLACE FOR NORBAG MEETINGS
AND WORKSHOPS IN EUREKA

In September, October, and November we will be meeting in the Fellowship Hall at the United Methodist Church in Eureka as we no longer have access to HSU. The address is 520 Del Norte Street and is located at the corner of Del Norte and F Streets with the Church facing F Street. You may park either on F Street (in front of the church), or in the Church's parking lot which is accessed from G Street. To access the parking lot, drive to G Street and enter a long driveway (next to a long hedge) which is directly behind the church. The door to the Fellowship Hall will be on your right as you enter the breezeway. If you park on F Street, go through the breezeway and the door will be on your left. This is a large room which will allow us more flexibility in the type of workshops we can offer. (See Change of Date on page 3 for meeting date change for October)

Library Kiosk: Beth McIlraith

This month the kiosk at the Humboldt County Library is featuring the work of Beth McIlraith. Beth has always loved being surrounded by books. From being read to as a child to reading to her own children, books have been an integral part of her life. She began selling books online ten years ago, and often found charming and quirky books with great covers that were unsalable.

She joined NORBAG three years ago, intrigued with the idea of making her own books. At a workshop taught by Dolores Guffey, guild members used old children's books and remade them into blank journals for the library's visiting authors event. This turned out to be the perfect blend of old and new and led to a new business for Beth: Second Chance Journals.

Her mission statement: "Our goal is to give new life to old books by rescuing them from dumpsters and recycling bins and transforming them into unique hand-stitched journals." These one-of-a-kind blank books can be used as travel diaries, wedding guest books, baby books, recipe books, dream journals and more. Beth has found turning old books into new treasures a rewarding experience.

Beth's Second Chance Journals are on Facebook as well as being available for sale on Etsy.

Altered Book—Recycled Journal

August Workshop with Connie Rose

We’ll be altering an old book by removing the book block, reinforcing the spine, and inserting pages of our own. Use an old book you already have, pick one up at a garage sale or thrift shop, or choose one to work with from a selection provided at the workshop. We’ll make a 3-signature journal and learn the Diamond X stitch to bind the book.

The workshop is in 3 parts:
Part 1, we’ll dismantle and rebuild the book itself. 
Part 2, we’ll cut or tear papers and create three signatures. 
Part 3, we will bind the new journal.

The fee is $45. Please RSVP as soon as possible, and send payment by Tuesday August 6 . See newsletter for details. 

Materials To Bring:
Old book to alter, with spine no more than 1 inch thick.
Various papers including scrapbook or drawing paper, magazine or catalog pages), large format picture or photo books, pages from large old journals, accounting paper, flap envelopes of any kind—pretty much any paper you can recycle/reuse.
Decorative paper for insides of front and back covers.
Piece of cardstock 3 inches wide and as long as your book is tall (for hole template).
Book cloth tape OR contact paper OR plain or decorative duct tape for inside spine.

Tools To Bring:
• PVA or Mod Podge and glue brush
• Cutting mat
• Craft knife
• Scissors
• Pencil
• Bone folder
• Awl or screw punch
• Binding needle
• Waxed or unwaxed linen thread – can also use hemp thread
• Wax, if using hemp thread
• BIG paper clips, the plastic-coated kind (they don’t mar the paper like metal ones often do)
• OPTIONAL: If you want to cover the outside spine of your book with paper, bring a special piece for that purpose, 4 inches longer than the spine and 5 – 5-1/2 inches wide. OR you can use contact paper cut to the same size as above. OR if you want to cover the outside spine with fabric, then cut a piece of fabric the size specified above, glue it onto paper smoothing it down to get all the wrinkles out, let dry completely. Or you can fuse the fabric to paper, which I prefer over glue. In either case, bring the fabric/paper/contact paper strip to the workshop ready to glue onto your book.

Materials to be provided:
• Extra papers/pages. You’ll need between 15 and 24 papers to fold into folios. Bring 15 and use some of Connie’s if you need more.
• Decorative duct tape (Duck brand). If you want to buy your own, Michaels has the biggest selection, also Ace Hardware.
• Contact paper. Also available at Ace if you prefer your own.
• Hemp threads in neutral colors. Michaels has in a variety of colors
• Books to alter, if you need one
• Piercing cradles

More detailed info will be emailed when you pre-register for the workshop.

Alter Books with Surgical Tools

Guild member Lorraine sent this link to a post titled Insane Art Formed by Carving Books with Surgical Tools. Karan Arora's blog post has some wonderful pictures of books carved by Brian Dettmer (be sure to scroll to the bottom of Brian's site to see more of this books). To see Brian at work on one of his books, enjoy this YouTube video from CBS News.  

These books are a feast for the eyes. Enjoy.