FRENCH LINK STITCH

Our March workshop will be taught by Lara Cox in preparation for the April workshop. Here is Lara's description:

"One of my absolute favorite ways of sewing signatures together...the French Link Stitch, is a spine sewing often used for exposed bindings where you can see the stitching. It is decorative in its finished asymmetrical "X" pattern. It can also be used in a case binding where the stitching would be covered up. I use it both ways because I like my books to lie flat when opened as this stitch allows beautifully.

**Of special note: This workshop is a precursor to the April (Medieval Girdle Book) workshop with the idea that we will be using the sewn block we make in March for the April workshop. If you are skipping this workshop or want to sew your signatures together with a different technique, you may do so as long as you stick with the measurements of this signature structure. That way it will still work for the Girdle Book."

French Link stitches sewn over tapes.

Tools and materials for the March workshop:

• Pencil, Ruler, Awl, Bone Folder, Scissors, Beeswax
• Thread: Book binding or embroidery thread
• A piece of foam core board, cardboard or an old magazine big enough to use under your signatures when punching holes.
• Also, super handy to have on hand: Patience with yourself.

Please have prepared ahead of the workshop:

• 30 pieces of paper measuring 5 1/2" tall by 8 1/2" wide. Ideally, grain should be parallel with the 5 1/2" direction. Paper can be printer paper weight or a bit heavier. (We will want the final book block to be 5/8" thick when completed to best work with our April binding.)
• This will be the pages that then make up the signatures. Lara says not to worry because all will be explained in the workshop.

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

Where:   On your computer, tablet or smartphone via Zoom

RSVP:    To Dolores Guffey by March 4 to receive the password

Workshop Questions:  Lara Cox, Lolastyle@hotmail.com

Zoom Questions:  Bobbie Hayes

Contact information is in the newsletter.

FLAG BOOK WITH ENVELOPES REVIEW

Thank you Kris Nevius for teaching your Flag Book with Pull-Up Envelopes at our February workshop. Who knew that adding cute little envelopes with special pull-up messages or artwork to a simple accordion structure could make such a great gift card or book. A very nice aspect to this structure is that it can be made as just a single fold card or an accordion of any length. The sizes of the envelopes and the base structure are easy to change. Featured below are some of the books made during or after the workshop.

Cover of Mary Elizabeth Nelson's
 (aka Emmy) larger sized book

The accordion size is now 3"x30".

Emmy used paste paper for the envelopes.

A fun discovery was that it would stand up in a star shape.

Margaret Beech

Margaret used flower cut-outs from a card 
for her envelope inserts.

Bonnie Julien

Eco-dyed paper was used for the envelopes.

Cancelled stamps with flower photos
were used for the inserts.

Dolores Guffey used ponytail bands as a closure.

The poem, Monday's Child, was used in the inserts.

Dolores used her beautiful marbled paper.

Sherrill Story

Very cute plaid envelopes with flat paper "beads".

Notes from the Art Lab

by Bonnie Halfpenny

 Create a Little Magic! 

 
When I am involved in creating individual works, my piece sometimes seems too small a thing to spend so much time on.  I would like to share some quotes from Rick Rubin's book, The Creative Act: A Way of Being, that Michele Kamprath highlighted back in the August newsletter.  Although known mostly for his work with musicians, Rubin has insightful things to say about all forms of creativity.

• "It's not unusual for science to catch up to art, eventually.  Nor is it unusual for art to catch up to the spiritual.
• We tend to think of the artist's work as the output.  The real work of the artist is a way of being in the world.
• The work reveals itself as you go.
• Failure is the information you need to get where you are going.
• A work of art is not an end point in itself.  It's a station on a journey.  A chapter in our lives.  We acknowledge these transitions by documenting each of them.
• We are dealing in a magic realm.  Nobody knows why or how it works.
• Living in discovery is at all times preferable to living through assumptions.
• Making art is a serious matter.  Harnessing creative energy from Source.  Shepherding ideas into the physical plane.  Participating in the cosmic cycle of creation.  The opposite is also true.  Making art is pure play.
• The reason we are alive is to express ourselves in the world...art is a universal way to send messages between each other and through time."

I especially like the idea that art is about recording where you are at the moment.  It is hard to read this book without feeling that participating in the arts is essentially helping to create a better world, right now, as we work, one piece at a time.