Itty Bitty Workshop Review

Miniature books are so much fun to look at and to make. We would like to thank one of our newest members, Miss Amy Hand, for teaching us her Itty Bitty Book structure. This cute little book can easily be reduced or enlarged depending upon the size of paper you use. The fun part is how one changes an accordion folded strip of paper into a case bound style of book without doing any stitching. We enjoyed this so much and the structure was so easy, that some members made several books during the workshop. I suspect we'll be seeing more of these structures in upcoming exchange books.

Amy gives a "thumbs up" to the participants in the workshop.

The following photos show some of the books made during the workshop.

Margaret Beech made these three books.

Sherril Story also made three books.

Beth McIlraith shows her book with the belly band she added.

Three little books from Bonnie Julien

Michele Kamprath's book

The inside of Michele's book is a gelli print.

ITTY BITTY BOOK

Miniature things are very popular and miniature books are no exception. Amy Hand, one of our newest NORBAG members, has graciously offered to teach us how to make an Itty Bitty Book at our March workshop. This looks like a fun project and a good way to welcome spring by making some Itty Bitty Books to go into Easter baskets. The book we will be making measures 1 1/2" x 2 1/4", but Amy said that the size can be made smaller or larger once you have the basic pattern.

This is a good opportunity to use some fun decorative

paper. Amy colored her pages with bubble prints and

used paste paper for the covers.

Materials

• 1 sheet of 8 1/2" x 11" copy paper or light weight paper for the inside pages of your book
• 1 sheet of paper (printed or not)  to be folded for the cover of your book
• scissors
• ruler
• glue of choice (Amy prefers the Scotch Create glue stick)
• cutting mat (optional)
• X-acto or craft knife (optional)

When:   Saturday March 11 at 10 a.m. PST

Where:  On your computer, tablet, or smartphone via Zoom

RSVP:    To Dolores Guffey by March 6 to receive the password

Zoom Questions: Bobbie Hayes

Contact information is in the newsletter.

VALENTINES

 Our February "workshop" was a wonderful tour through 27 years worth of amazing creative calendars made by four very clever women. Many thanks to Carolyn Jones for sharing this collaborative project with us. NORBAG members who missed the "show" can watch the recording by going to the link that can be found on page 3 of the newsletter. It is the last recording on the page and it does take a little time to load.

The February book exchange is traditionally valentines. This year 18 members participated in the exchange and there are some wonderful cards/books that will soon be shown on our Flickr site. Until that happens, here is a teaser peek at the valentine from Mary Elizabeth Nelson, aka Emmy. 

The following photos are of valentines from past years that are now on display in the kiosk at the Humboldt County Library in Eureka, CA.

CALENDARS

 Instead of a workshop, our February NORBAG meeting will be a show-and-tell featuring handmade calendars. Carolyn Jones will share some of her favorite calendars made by herself and fellow artists Dorothy Swendeman, Terri Tinkham, and Vikki Young. We invite you to pour a beverage of choice and sit back and watch as Carolyn takes you on a tour of handmade calendars that showcase various themes, bindings, structures, surface design and other paper arts techniques.

left to right: Terri Tinkham, Vikki Young, Carolyn Jones, Dorothy Swendeman

In 1994, three handweavers (Carolyn, Dorothy & Terri) got together and used scraps and samples of their handwoven fabrics as the focus of an edition of 35 calendars on a textile arts theme. It was a hit so they did it again the next year. In 1997, Vikki joined the group and they worked together to explore new themes and structures. Vikki wrote stories and text to illuminate the themes as they added new paper art techniques along with their weavings.

Editions ran to 150 copies at their peak. Themes included ethnic textiles, fashion, food, travel, theatre, botany, a coloring book, color, words, and patterns etc. Each calendar is an exercise in marrying structure with content, and an extensive collaboration between four fertile, but very different, artistic minds. Since the deaths of Dorothy and Vikki (Dorothy was a founding member of NORBAG and Vikki edited the newsletter for many years), Terri and Carolyn have continued to explore. The collection now includes 27 handcrafted, themed, limited edition calendars and four limited edition books.

Here is a sample of some of the wonderful calendars Carolyn will share with us.

Discarded medical record folders were transformed into a rainbow
 edged concertina, with pockets, to explore Transformations.

A dozen favorite quotations were illustrated with collage
in star book form for May We Quote You?

Individual miniature works of art illustrate 24 facets
of the plant world, with each page in this tyvek binding
unfolding to provide hints about what inspired us.

What if? takes a tour around France and explores
a different use of the Cricut machine each month,
chronicling our successes, failures and discoveries
along the way.

Not quite a word a day, Logophilia illustrates a word 
every 2-3 days with a handmade object or game
inspired by a specific date.

Though the majority of the calendars are spiral or comb bound, 
like these, they come in a variety of shapes, and incorporate
lots of interesting paper structures and techniques within.

Remember...there is NO workshop for our February meeting, but we will have a wonderful show-and-tell and of course our Valentine exchange cards.

When:   Saturday, February 11 at 10 a.m. PST

Where:  On your computer, tablet or smartphone via Zoom

RSVP:    Yes, to Dolores Guffey by Feb. 6 to receive the password

Zoom questions: Bobbie Hayes

Contact information is in the newsletter.

More Calendars

As long as we're featuring calendars this month, we have another NORBAG member who has made a lot of calendars through the years. Vivienne Bruce, our member (since 2001) from Victoria, B.C., Canada made the calendars featured in this month's kiosk display at the Humboldt County Library in Eureka, CA. For several years Vivienne participated in our holiday card exchange with a calendar using a unique design and technique every year. Each calendar is printed in both French and English and she often included information from the Chinese Lunar Calendar into her designs.

IMPOSSIBLE BOXES

 The first NORBAG workshop of 2023 got off to a great start thanks to our member from the UK, Margaret Beech. She taught us how to make a very unusual box that turned out to be "possible", rather than "impossible". What makes this box seem impossible is that it is one sheet of paper folded in such a way that the top remains connected yet you can still open it to enclose something inside. There is no chance of losing the top to this box!

Here are some photos of boxes made by class participants.

Mary Elizabeth Nelson aka Emmy
This shows the box before the bottom
 pieces are woven together.

Emmy used her beautiful cyanotypes
 on black Mi-Teintes to decorate the box.

This is the top of the box. Push down
 in the center to access the inside.

The box closed up.

Carol DuBosch

Here you can see how the top part
 lifts up and the triangular sections
 are pushed down to access the inside.

Carol enjoyed the workshop so much that she decided to make a larger box. She discovered that by using a Proportional Scale she could expand the dimensions 120% and end up with a box 3" x 3" rather than the 2 1/2" square boxes we made in the workshop.

The decorated paper is a photo copy (super reduced)
 of a poster Carol created with 100 writing tools.

This shows how the top opens up while
still connected to the bottom part.

The box top lifted and ready for access.

The "Impossible" Box

Welcome to 2023! We hope it will be a happy and peaceful new year for everyone. Our member from York, England, Margaret Beech, will be teaching the first workshop of the year. She will show us how to make an "impossible" box. This is a one piece box where the lid is snug fitting, but does not come completely off. Margaret tells us that it is perfect to hold a small gift or tiny book. The photos don't really show how it all works so you'll just have to sign up for the workshop to see it in action. 

The box closed

The top lifting up

Here is another look at how the top lifts up.

Materials:

• 11 x 8 1/2" sheet of plain colored paper (Canson Mi-Teintes or similar) 
• Decorative paper to be cut to size once your box is finished
• Double stick tape
• Glue stick
• Ruler
• Pencil
• Bone Folder
• Craft Knife

When:   Saturday, Jan. 14, at 10 a.m. PST

Where:  On your computer, tablet, or Smartphone via Zoom

RSVP:    Dolores Guffey by Jan. 9 to receive the password

Workshop Questions: Margaret Beech

Zoom Questions:  Bobbie Hayes

Contact information is in the newsletter

HOLIDAY DISPLAY at the LIBRARY

 On December 10 our Zoom meeting was not a workshop, but an opportunity to view all of the cards that were in the 2022 Holiday Exchange. This is the one event of the year when members sign up in advance to participate and then make an edition of their original card...one for each participant and one for the NORBAG library. As usual, there was a great display of different structures and techniques with some cards celebrating Christmas, others the Solstice and other December events. Keep checking this site as the cards, in all their colorful glory, will soon be available to view on our Flickr site.

Meanwhile, if you are in the Eureka area, be sure to drop by the Humboldt County Library to see a kiosk display of holiday cards from previous years. Thank you Kenzie for coordinating the display.