North Redwoods Book Arts Guild

If you are interested in more info or joining, please email to no.redwoods.bag@gmail.com

Friday, April 24, 2020

SUNSHINE FROM NORBAG MEMBERS


Since we, and most of the world, are staying home in hope of flattening the curve of coronavirus cases, this blog will strive to offer suggestions and projects from some of our members. We will try to update the blog every two weeks, so be sure to check in for new ideas as well as information about when regular NORBAG workshops will resume. Remember to scroll down for previous projects sent by our members. We've had some problems with the blog program and photos have disappeared to be replaced with a box with a hyphen inside. We've reinstalled photos and hope the problem doesn't happen again.


Bobbie H. was challenged to make a mask out of paper and she accomplished the task in ten minutes. She said she “made it exactly like the ones I’m sewing, including the bedsheet bias tape and the sewing machine. (And just like sewing the real masks, I ran out of bobbin thread right in the middle.)"

 
Bobbie H. modeling her paper mask that matches the cover of her book.



Here is a new structure from Margaret Beech. She calls it “Sending Sunshine” and says it is easy to make and guaranteed to bring a smile to the recipient. Using a sheet of A4 copy paper you can make an envelope to fit your card. Make it exactly the same way as you make the card but change the measurements from the center of the diagonals to 1 cm.










The following are some wonderful examples of how our members are spending their time at home.


Michele K's star book

Michele's star book showing the covers.


Michele's reverse piano hinge book using her eco-dyed papers.


Michele's Diamond X book also uses her eco-dyed papers.


Edge's fish book under construction.

The fish attached to the accordion.

The finished book.

Randi P. makes miniature boxes and books. This book is 1"
square when folded closed. This book is a sample model.

The book highlights shapes and colors.

Molly M. took Helen Hiebert's online Paper Weaving class. She wrote, "Instead of using all strips, I cut my weft strips into the cover paper for these journals and then wove the other two colors through.  It was great fun!!  All of the journals will have ribbon bookmarks with bead embellishments."

Molly's "tumbling blocks" style weaving.

The delicate colors would be perfect for a wedding book.

Cards made by Kris N. Kris wrote, "one of my projects for the “retreat” time we are having is to send a card a day to someone. I have been making 'inchie' cards, which use one inch squares in a variety of ways. The first batch were from calligraphy inks dropped onto paper that had been squirted with water, and then sometimes squirted afterwards. My papers didn’t look like much but the inch squares were really fun to work with. I ran low on them and now am using papers made with alcohol ink on Yupo paper. I am using sparkly markers and line stickers for borders." 

More beautiful cards ready to be sent to lucky recipients.

Thanks to everyone who sent examples of their wonderful projects.



Friday, April 17, 2020

SHELTER IN PLACE PLAY DAY

Since we, and most of the world, are staying home in hope of flattening the curve of coronavirus cases, this blog will strive to offer suggestions and projects from some of our members. We will try to update the blog every two weeks, so be sure to check in for new ideas as well as information about when regular NORBAG workshops will resume. Remember to scroll down for previous projects sent by our members.

 Before "shelter in place" became the norm, and back when the advice was to keep 3’ distance (rather than the 6’ distance, now dictated), Lynne GurnĂ©e and Dolores Guffey got together to play with an idea that was noted in the April newsletter at janedavies-collagejourneys.blogspot.com. They were intrigued with Jane’s idea of painting tissue paper to make collaged stones.  The instructional video for muted colors/stones is at  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJtycVMZTz4 . After watching the video, they noted that Jane used bleed-proof tissue paper from Dick Blick. Not having that, they just ventured forth with what was on hand and found that some tissue papers worked better than others (some were too thin). Nevertheless, they persevered and here are their creations. Lynne then went on to make a full page collage using just the tissue paper she had colored, no added papers were included. Here is what the papers looked like after painting. They used both tube and fluid acrylics.







Dolores' rocks



Dolores' landscape



Lynne's rocks



Lynne's landscape

Lynne's Japanese themed landscape

Lynne's "flutterbye"

These "rock" cards are by our member in Pennsylvania, Mary Elizabeth



Wednesday, April 8, 2020

PROJECTS AND PHOTOS


Since we, and most of the world, are staying home in hope of flattening the curve of coronavirus cases, this blog will strive to offer suggestions and projects from some of our members. We will try to update the blog every two weeks, so be sure to check in for new ideas as well as information about when regular NORBAG workshops will resume. Remember to scroll down for previous projects sent by our members.

Edith Fuller, our member from Portland Oregon, sent this suggestion.
"I meet monthly with a small group of paper enthusiasts here in Portland. I decided there might be a need for some sort of paper project that would stimulate us into DOING something!  --At the very least for myself!  So I started in mid-March with one simple paper project and mailed everyone an envelope with instructions, a finished structure as a sample, and precut papers... and the suggestion that when next we meet (who knows when now!), that we bring our efforts to the meeting to enjoy.  I got some good feedback and am working now on getting the April project ready to send out. Editor's NOTE: We've had some problems with the blog and lost many photos, including those by Edith so those are now missing in action.

If the structure is appropriately not too complex (neither has been so far), I also send sets to a friend with two pre-teens at home.  As you might imagine, she's always looking for something. Her reply yesterday when I offered her long strips of paper I no longer want to use was: We would love that! Crafts are keeping us going.”


Here is another little gem of a book from Margaret Beech. She writes, “This maze book is very easy to make and I’m sure will be appreciated by your friends and family right now.  Everyone loves to receive something in the post – especially grandchildren. You could leave the letters uncoloured and suggest that children colour them for themselves.

Missing You! Is an alphabetic maze book with a message. This simple structure depends on the placing of the letters and the omission of the letter ‘U’—hence ‘missing you!’. It can be made with a sheet of 8.5” x 11” paper or a larger size if desired. Just be sure to follow the folding and cutting guidelines along with the placement of the letters.





Back side of paper

Card opened and showing the missing "U"






Many thanks to Margaret and Edith for their contributions.

Some of the following photos might provide some inspiration for using "found" materials. These exchange books from past years show a lot of creativity in both construction and materials used.










Michele Olsen made this fabric book for a 2009 book exchange. It was made in her cabin in Nebraska on a 1960’s Polish sewing machine she purchased for $10 at a local auction. “The pages are canvas, painted with liquid acrylics and I’ve created fabric collages from scraps given to me by my mother-in-law, a former quilter. Other pages are cut from a vintage handkerchief. The clothespin and key are vintage items; the nail was rescued from the charred remains of my husband’s family barn. Most words were written with Pitt artist pens using a stencil. Decorative items are buttons, vintage keys, and annealed wire I bent into various shapes.”






Sailing in the Clouds was made by Catherine von Schwind for a 2013 book exchange. In her colophon she described the book as a “flip book structure experimenting with the use of triangular shapes for the flaps”. She used cardstock, recycled mailers, and the calligraphy was done with a metal nib and gouache.






Beetle Mania is an exchange book made by Michele Kamprath in 2011. She wrote that the structure design is from Peter and Donna Thomas’s book, More Making Books by Hand. Mi Teints, handmade Mulberry paper, and cardstock were used to create the miniature book that is 2” wide by 2.5” tall and 15.5” when extended. A beetle stamp from Meer Image was used for decoration.