CHRISTMAS TREES

Many thanks to our two international M's...Mary Conley from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada and Margaret Beech from York, England. They came up with a terrific workshop to start off the holiday season. Mary showed us how to make a simple origami inspired Christmas Tree that was all about folding...no glue and no sewing. It could be made in any size using a square sheet of paper. Here are some examples:

Dolores Guffey used her beautiful
marbled paper.

Ellen Hoffman made this little tree
 (paper 5 1/4" square) to be hung
from her Christmas tree.

Michele Kamprath made her tree
from map paper.

Margaret's tree was made from four different sized squares of paper and could be expanded to have even more layers. This tree did require a bit of gluing, but it could also be dismantled and flattened to send or pack away for another year. Here are some examples: 

Margaret's four cone shapes ready to be stacked.

Margaret's finished tree

Michele Kamprath's tree made from 
map and music papers.

Dolores Guffey's tree

Bonnie Julien's trees

Sherrill Story's two trees

Sherrill modified her tree structure
 to turn it into flat cards.

This same "tree" structure can also be used to make a Santa Claus or maybe something else. Here is a photo of one Margaret made from recycled holiday cards. 

Thank you to everyone who participated in the workshop... especially Mary and Margaret for teaching us how to make these structures.

3-D TREES

NORBAG is very lucky to have many talented members to teach us new structures. Our November workshop will be a collaboration between Mary Conley and Margaret Beech. Mary will demonstrate an origami sculpture of a tree using a single square piece of paper.

Mary's tree

With just squares of light card or heavyweight paper Margaret will show us how to make a Christmas tree that "grows" and can be collapsed to store to be part of your holiday decorations year after year. 

Margaret's tree

Materials List

Mary's Tree:

• One large (12 inches or more) square of thin paper. Mary uses Taro's Origami paper from Amazon, which is 13.8 inches square. Thin wrapping paper would do as long as it folds easily.
• Bone folder
• pencil
• ruler
• Xacto knife or box cutter
• A separate piece of white paper on which to draw a template

Margaret's Tree:

• The following sizes of squares should all be cut from medium weight cardstock or heavy weight paper. Margaret suggests using differing shades of green for a festive theme.
• Three 6 inch squares
• Three 5 inch squares
• Three 4 inch squares
• Three 3 inch squares
• The same tools as for Mary's tree with the addition of paper clips and a glue stick

When:   Saturday November 9 at 10 a.m. PST

Where:  On your computer, tablet or smartphone via Zoom

RSVP:    Dolores Guffey by Nov. 4 to receive the password

Workshop Questions:  Mary Conley - sculptsster@gmail.com

Margaret Beech - beeches1313@gmail.com

Zoom Questions: Bobbie Hayes

Contact information is in the newsletter

BOOK EXCHANGES

 On October 6th, PSBA (Puget Sound Book Artists) held their sixth annual book exchange. It is somewhat modeled after NORBAG book exchanges except that there is only one exchange a year. This year the theme was "Threads" and 23 members participated. Shown below is a sample of some of the beautiful books that were exchanged.

Abbie Birmingham

Debbi Commodore

Jan Ward

Lynn McClain

Esther Ervin

Janet Reynolds

Bonnie Julien

Lynn Skordal

Elsi Vassdal Ellis

Mari Eckstein Gower

Kim Izenman

Dorothy McQuistion

Lynne Olson

Belinda Hill

Sally Alger

Kat Gower

Becky Frehse

Lisa Leong Tsang

BOOK ART EXCAVATIONS

Our October meeting will not be a workshop, but instead we will have a PowerPoint presentation by our member Cindy Luxhoj. Cindy will lead us on a journey into the world of book art excavation. She was first intrigued by this art form when she saw a piece by James Allen, a master excavator, at the Sitka Art Invitational in Portland, Oregon in 2018. Fast forward to 2023, when Cindy reached out to James to inquire if he was willing to share his technique with her. A private virtual lesson for a nominal fee was arranged and Cindy has been excavating and adapting the method ever since. A book excavation requires patience, creative thought, and countless X-acto blades, but is well worth the effort. Cindy is proud of her work and eager to share her journey with fellow book artists at NORBAG.

Cindy's childhood love of books has transformed in recent years to an obsession with hand bookbinding and book arts. Excavations are but one of her many explorations. Book making combines technical precision with creative freedom, exercising both brain hemispheres in a delightful way. What is hidden between two covers or encased in an outer shell expands to reveal, yet collapses into a neat package to be rediscovered anew. Cindy never tires of the wonder of a book in its many forms and welcomes ideas for commissions or custom projects to create with like-minded book art enthusiasts.

Because this will be more of a Show & Tell than a workshop, no supplies or materials are needed. You might want to have a notebook and pen handy to write down any special tips or information even though the meeting will be recorded.

When?   Saturday October 12 at 10 a.m. PDT

Where?   On your computer, tablet or smartphone via Zoom

RSVP:     Dolores Guffey by October 7 to receive the password

Workshop Questions?  Cindy Luxhoj CLH595@gmail.com

Zoom Questions?  Bobbie Hayes

Contact information is in the newsletter

COLLAGE

Our September workshop was all about collage. Dena Bliss, our instructor, shared some of her techniques so that we could create four different collages. These were basic designs that could be embellished further and turned into unique cards or used in journals or books. This was a very popular workshop and we thank Dena for sharing her ideas with us. Here are some examples of our collages...all made on 4" x 6" cards.

Four separate collages from Stephanie Weigel

Four collages from Betty Steckman

Jennifer Rothrock

Jennifer Rothrock

Jennifer Rothrock

Jennifer Rothrock

Kenzie Mullen

Kenzie Mullen

Kenzie Mullen

Kenzie Mullen

Sherrill Story

Sherrill Story

COLLAGE EXERCISES

 The September workshop will feature several exercises in collage. Dena Bliss, our member who founded the Sonoma County Book Arts Guild 16 years ago will be our instructor. Dena has been teaching collage and gel printing for the past 10 years and has been a member of NORBAG since 2009. 

According to Wikipedia, Collage is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole. Collages are a great way to use scraps of paper that can then be embellished with rubber stamps, calligraphy, or stitching to name a few ideas. Collages can fill the pages of books and be used as décor for the covers of books.

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

When:    Saturday, September 14, at 10 a.m. PDT

Where:   On your computer, tablet or smartphone via Zoom

RSVP:    To Dolores Guffey by September 9 to receive the password

Workshop Questions: Dena Bliss, dbliss@sonic.net

Zoom Questions: Bobbie Hayes

Contact information is in the newsletter.

CALL FOR NPBAF WORKSHOP PROPOSALS

DEADLINE: October 04, 2024

 The Oregon Coast Council for the Arts is accepting proposals for the annual Newport Paper & Book Arts Festival. The 2025 festival dates are April 10th, 11th & 12th 2025. The workshops will be held at the Newport Visual Arts Center as well as other classroom spaces in the area. We welcome new and innovative techniques as well as traditional processes, including but not limited to: Assemblage, Book Arts, Collage, Dyeing, Mixed Media, Paper Making, Paper Manipulation, Printing, Specialty Binding Techniques and Surface Design. We encourage you to submit multiple workshop proposals for consideration. The deadline for submitting proposals is October 4, 2024. For more information go to https://coastarts.org/newport-paper-book-arts-festival/submit-a-proposal/ or contact Christina Carlsen  ccarlsen@coastarts.org or call her at 541.574.3364.

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.

Slow-stitch stitchery has become popular on YouTube with some instructors running weekly challenges. Here is some of Lynne's work done with k3n (Kathryn) at https://www.youtube.com/@k3n.clothtales

This photo shows Lynne's embroidery around one of Michele Kamprath's eco-dyed "blankets". Michele had given away a bunch of the fabrics that she uses to wrap around her ecodyed papers. This piece has a forest theme giving impressions of fungi, spores, and slim molds.

This project from k3n was to make a crazy quilt, but Lynne changed it up a bit to make a right-angle version.

The Mandala project was another one from k3n, but Lynne did not want to make a traditional one. This is her version of a leaf-flower that she had seen on Pinterest. These projects are all made in the 5-7" size. The button in the middle is made from an avocado pit.

Have you ever thought of making buttons from avocado seeds? I love this idea and have a seed drying right now to work on. This is another YouTube project at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORUNwbKx91E. The written instructions are in the "more" section of the video.

The two on the left are finished and the other two are still in the process.

Weathergrams are fun things to make with leftover scraps of paper. Lynne takes them on her walks to leave on trees or bushes in the forest.

This weathergram has been hanging in the forest for a few months.

Mail art has become quite popular with many different groups that you can join or just branch out on your own.

Lynne used her carved rubber stamps and made a collage with fabric scraps.

Another technique Lynne has tried is Shibori, a traditional Japanese tie-dye. With this method you clamp, bind, fold or wrap fabric to achieve an endless number of pattern variations.

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

 The Oregon Coast Council for the Arts is accepting proposals for the annual Newport Paper & Book Arts Festival. The 2025 festival dates are April 10th, 11th & 12th 2025. The workshops will be held at the Newport Visual Arts Center as well as other classroom spaces in the area. We welcome new and innovative techniques as well as traditional processes, including but not limited to: Assemblage, Book Arts, Collage, Dyeing, Mixed Media, Paper Making, Paper Manipulation, Printing, Specialty Binding Techniques and Surface Design. We encourage you to submit multiple workshop proposals for consideration. The deadline for submitting proposals is October 4, 2024. For more information go to https://coastarts.org/newport-paper-book-arts-festival/submit-a-proposal/ or contact Christina Carlsen  ccarlsen@coastarts.org or call her at 541.574.3364.