Becky's Books from the May Newsletter

The May newsletter, which is going out late this month, has an article by Becky Luening. She tells us about a workshop she took with Karen Hanmer in Portland, OR. We thought it would be nice to post the pictures of Becky's prototype flag books from the article, along with her descriptions of them. To read about the workshop, please see the newsletter, which should be with you soon.

This shows the front and back covers of Sunday Parkways. The accordion spine is in the center.

Inside view of the prototype flag book Sunday Parkways. Becky says, "The theme for this book would be something like, 'Bicycling: Every rotation of the wheel is a revolution.' The Sunday Parkways events are held 3-4 times during the summer (once a month) and are sponsored by the City of Portland. They block off 7-8 miles of city streets so bicyclists can ride unimpeded by auto traffic, and thousands of people turn out. Last summer Brian and I rode in two of these events and volunteered to conduct traffic at a third (the intersection where we were stationed was my vantage point for capturing these bicyclist shots.) Riding among so many others is most exhilarating and festive...."

Hoi An Ancient Town, Viet Nam. The theme for this book would be, "Vietnam is a country, not a war." Becky notes that she didn't like the inside of this book very well and would probably look for different images to use for a Viet Nam flag book. However, she likes the cover so much more, even though she got the panels reversed. (Note to Becky: if you hadn't told us, I doubt we would've noticed!) But she loves the colors--the scarves, tropical trees, the tourist's red hair...  

May Workshop: Simple Paper Engineering

Simple paper engineering structures can add a fun and interactive element to books. These won’t actually be pop-ups, but movable forms. We’ll be focusing on two constructions. One will be a turnable wheel that requires no brads. The other is a pull-tab. If time allows, we might expand upon these to create similar forms. These structures are great for books, altered books and cards.

We are meeting Saturday, May 8 at 12 noon in our usual room, BSS 166. The cost is $.50 to cover material expenses. 

What to bring:

-Scissors

-Craft knife and cutting mat

-Metal ruler and/or gridded quilting ruler

-Pencil and eraser 

-Glue stick and/or double-sided tape or adhesive dispenser (such as Tombo)

-PVA

-Several sheets of 8.5 x 11" cardstock or heavyweight paper such as Canson Mi-teintes, plus 2 or 3 sheets of 12 x 12" cardstock.

-A compass. This is for drawing accurate concentric circles (but if you can't find one, you'll likely be able to borrow one).

-Pictures for your structures: small rubber stamps with ink and/or small images to cut out and glue (roughly 1/2" to 1" should work); and colored pens or pencils for drawing. Think of things that might go together well as a visual story, or that simply go together...or just bring whatever you want to play with as you construct your prototypes. If you just want to doodle with pens or pencils and not worry about pictures to bring, that's fine. Some extra small images will also be provided. 

-Decorative edge scissors--highly recommended, but optional. This is to shape the edge of your wheel, which will make it easier to grasp and turn. Small zigzag or wave-shaped edges work well. 

-Also optional, if you happen to have them around: round or square punches (around 1" or so). This is for experimenting with different shaped window openings to go along with your wheel. Not essential. 

Ellen G. will be leading the workshop. Her contact details are in the newsletter if you have questions.

More Margaret Beech

I must add one more picture of our recent workshop and a link to Margaret's wonderful blog at http://beeches13.skyrock.com . There are 22 pages of photos with descriptions of her wonderful books. Enjoy.

When Margaret visits, she makes up for lost time by learning the techniques of previous workshops such as gelatin printmaking and fun foam stamps. She also wanted to participate in the creation of 1000 Books for Literacy so a group of us met to cut, glue, and stamp our way to the completion of this project. Here are a few photos of these efforts.

Margaret Beech and Friends

One of the purposes of creating this blog was to offer a peek at our workshops for our non-local members; photos or slide shows can give you a good sense of what we created and how we did it. What they cannot do is show you the enthusiasm of Margaret, her energetic teaching style, her great love of teaching the book arts, or the warm response of the participants. But, I'll give it a try.

Margaret has been a longtime member of NORBAG and participates in the book exchange each month, from England! Many members came just to visit with her once again.

Margaret is a calligrapher and we spent the morning practicing the Dotty Alphabet. Members have learned to bring desk lamps from home—the room is too dark for detailed work. 

The alphabet itself is charming and easy to learn. We used Micron pens and practiced our ascenders and descenders on straight and curved lines. 

The afternoon was spent constructing a book. This sample was made by Margaret and celebrates her granddaughter's 4th birthday. The four pages lift up revealing a photo from each of her four young years.

We started the construction by cutting out the background pages. We learned to speed up the cutting and folding using templates. If there is a shortcut, Margaret will invent it.

Each of the pages has a piece of art and decorative backing glued onto the center of these shaped pages.

The pages are then assembled and held together with T-pins and a clip. Margaret leaves the T-pins in until she is ready to pull the thread through the holes. This way the pins hold the papers together while stitching. Brilliant!

The completed books were all beautiful and I'm sure we'll see some of these in future exchanges. 

THANK YOU MARGARET!

Humboldt County Library Display, "Spring"

Did you know that North Redwoods Book Arts Guild displays books in the Eureka library? 

As you pass the checkout desk they are in a kiosk on the right. This month's theme is SPRING. Grace Battjes has done this for some time and now Bonnie Julien is coordinating the displays.

You might be surprised to see one of your own books displayed, donated by a member who received it in an exchange! Please enjoy each of the shelves but they are much nicer "in person".

Next month's theme is ANIMALS.