HAPPY HOLIDAYS

 Thank you to our members Bobbie Hayes, Mary Conley, and Barbara Clark who organized and ran our very enjoyable Zoom meeting to share some of the holiday cards in this year's exchange. It was a wonderful way for the "out-of-towners" to share in the reveal of the cards. A shout-out also goes to Dolores Guffey and Sandy Vrem for organizing and hosting the local, in-person version of the exchange. The photographs of all of the cards in the exchange will be up on our Flickr account soon. Meanwhile, here is a peek of the very beautiful card by Catherine von Schwind.

Local members who attended the Holiday social were treated to a yummy spread of food as well as the reveal of all of the holiday cards in the exchange.

The cards are all ready to be gathered into bags
for each of the exchange participants.

From left to right, Donna Gephart, Michele Kamprath,
Kathy Warren, and Sandy Vrem.

YUM!

We wish everyone a happy, healthy, 

 creative season and new year!

DECEMBER MEETINGS

In December we will offer two opportunities for meetings. In lieu of a workshop at our usual 10 a.m. Zoom meeting, we will present the cards that are in this year's Holiday exchange. At noon we will have an in-person social gathering to distribute the cards in the Holiday exchange.

It has been five long years since we've gathered together for our holiday social. As in past years, Sandy Vrem has graciously opened her lovely home in Arcata for us to get together to share goodies, see the exchange cards, and have time to chat with each other. One does not need to have cards in the exchange to attend. We will have a short meeting to discuss our 2025 plans for the four in-person meetings we have scheduled for the 4th Saturdays in March, June, and September, plus the holiday social the 2nd Saturday of December. These meetings will be in addition to our regular 2nd Saturday Zoom workshops. We hope our local members will join us to share their input and suggestions.

Everyone can attend either the Zoom, in-person, or both of these events on Saturday December 14. The Zoom meeting is at our regular time of 10 a.m. PST and the in-person social will begin at noon PST. Please RSVP to receive the link to the Zoom and/or directions to Sandy's home.

Examples of past holiday cards

What:    Holiday Card Show & Tell

When & Where:  Saturday December 14 @ 10 a.m. PST on Zoom and/or in-person social in Arcata, California @ Noon PST

RSVP:   Dolores Guffey dguffey1@gmail.com by December 9 to receive the link for Zoom and/or directions to Sandy Vrem's home.

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