PIANO-HINGE ACCORDION ALBUM

 Our East Coast member, Mary Elizabeth Nelson, gave a wonderful workshop this past weekend. She led us through the steps to make a variation of the piano-hinge album shown in the book The Art of the Fold by Hedi Kyle and Ulla Warchol. Forty-three NORBAG members participated via Zoom.

Mary Elizabeth Nelson (aka Emmy)

This is one of the example books Emmy
 made using her cyanotype papers.

Examples of Emmy's pages

Preparing the accordion spine to cut out the holes
for the stick or dowel.

We were sent a materials list along with instructions to have some of the materials cut and folded prior to the workshop. This book was designed to have four pages with Mylar inserts to showcase flat objects. It was great to see the different items that were chosen, such as dried leaves, papers, buttons, and mark-making designs. A few members also made slight variations to the design by keeping a flap to cover one side of the window or adding a feature that allowed the center of the page to spin. Below are examples of some of the books that were completed.

Dolores Guffey used antique buttons in her book.

The covers were marbled by Dolores.

DJ Gaskin

DJ used various leaves in her windows.

Edge Gerring

Edge used leaves as a background for the words of a poem.

Michele Kamprath

Michele showcased her mark-making
techniques in the windows of her book.

Bonnie Julien

Bonnie left the flap to cover the front of the window,
but cut out the entire part of the back window so you
 can still see the leaf print of the paper in front but the 
leaf shows against a plain background in the back.

Margaret Beech made her book with window inserts
that would rotate within the space.

A Gallery of Gods by Betty Steckman

Many thanks to Mary Elizabeth for presenting a great workshop. 

PIANO HINGE ACCORDION VARIATION

 If there has been anything good about the coronavirus, it's that it has provided the opportunity for out-of-town members to teach and/or attend our monthly workshops. The November Zoom workshop will feature our East coast member, Mary Elizabeth Nelson, guiding us through a variation of the piano hinge album from Hedi Kyle and Ulla Warchol's book The Art of the Fold. Using your own papers and inclusions you will create a lovely display book. The finished dimensions will be 5" x 5-1/2" (or taller depending on the size of your rod). Once you RSVP for the class, instructions will be emailed to you, along with the Zoom link & password. Please note below there are a few important preparations to do prior to the workshop.

Materials

• Accordion spine: one piece 5-1/2" x 12" sturdy paper, grain short. This spine needs a strong paper, not too thin. Paper suggestions: 120 gsm Elephant Hide or Bugra paper, available at Talas & Dick Blick; Mohawk, Superfine (80 lb. cover stock). Mary Elizabeth added that "as long as the grain direction is short and you can fold it to a 16 panel accordion, anything will work. I didn't want anyone to order stuff...you should just use what you have on hand."
• Pages: four pieces 5-1/2" x 8-1/2", grain short, cardstock or a paper similar to Mi Teintes, 160-180 gsm.
• Pockets (windows): four pieces 4-1/2" x 7" Mylar, Dura-Lar, a medium weight acetate (clear acetate page protectors).
• Covers: two pieces 5-1/2+" x 9" cover weight paper like 80 to 100# cover stock (the + sign means a smidge over 5-1/2", just so the cover will be slightly more than the pages).
• Rod: one straight twig, skewer or round pencil, less than 1/4" in diameter; 5-1/2" or taller if you prefer.
• INCLUSIONS: Four pieces to go in pockets such as dried & pressed leaves or flowers, cut-outs, or anything flat and less than 1/16" thick. These will be viewed from both sides.

Tools

• Cutting mat
• Sharp knife with extra blades
• Steel ruler
• Bone folder
• 1/4" double stick tape
• Paper clips
• Pencil - white pencil if using dark papers
• Awl
• C-Thru 2" wide ruler (handy, but not necessary)

IMPORTANT! Three to four days before workshop:

• Cut and fold the pages and covers and put them under weight
• Prepare the accordion: fold to 16 equal sections; put under weight
• Cut and fold the Mylar/acetate pockets in half, to be 4-1/2" x 3-1/2". Fold crisply with a bone folder. If your acetate is old it may crack when folded.

Workshop Details

When:    Saturday, Nov. 14 at noon, Pacific time

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

RSVP:     YES! to Dolores by Nov. 9 to receive the password and instructions

Contact information for Dolores, Mary Elizabeth, and Bobbie Hayes (Zoom questions) are in the newsletter.

MIURA FOLD WORKSHOP

At the Saturday April 12 workshop and book exchange Melissa Brown taught us the Miura Fold used by NASA for their solar displays. The fold enables an astronaut to open a small folded packet by holding the two opposite corners and simply pulling in opposite directions without having to unfold multiple times. It is also a handy way to fold a map because it refolds into its original shape easily.

Melissa supplied each of us with maps cut to 8 ½” x 11” to work with so that all of the folded paper looked the same. First we folded the page into an accordion fold with 5 panels. Using an odd number made things easier. After the first folds we had an accordion folded piece of paper that was 11” long and about 1 ¾” wide. Melissa used a huge piece of paper so that we could see what she was doing as she was walking around the room. Since we all used the same paper, there wasn't much variation to see.  

If you take the top left corner and the bottom right corner 
and pull them in opposite directions, the paper opens wide.

We progressed to fold the long accordion at not quite 90º degrees from the long side. The last step was to open the paper and refold yet again. There is no way to explain without lots of drawings and even more words. You can download a PDF file from the International Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics at https://ijpam.eu/contents/2012-79-2/8/8.pdf. Not only do you get instructions, you also receive a bit of history.

We didn't discuss how to use these in books. If you have any ideas please let us know.

Melissa told us not to bring a ruler but then she told us to make a five panel fold without the ruler. She showed us a method of using an accordion folded piece of paper that results in equidistant folds that can be applied to your project to divide it into five sections. You can use the equidistant markings on a ruler without actually using math (for example, 8 ½” paper divided by 5 equals 1.7” per colum or 1 and 11.2/16ths). Again, words cannot fully explain the process. The NORBAG Compendium of Project Pages, Volume II, page 53 shows us how to do this. 

Remember the Piano Hinge Accordion Book March workshop? We didn’t finish many of our books and a few people brought them in for display this month. Here are the pictures.

There is an opening in the cover to continue the feel of this structure made with windows.

This is a paste paper technique on acetate.

Nature bits and pieces

Decorative threads

PIANO HINGE ACCORDION BOOK WORKSHOP

The March NORBAG workshop will feature Lara Cox teaching Hedi Kyle's Piano Hinge Accordion book. This book structure is a variation of the piano hinge album. A fun part of the structure is the individual folios which feature window cut-outs filled with Mylar inserts (pockets). The Mylar allows light to pass through the pages, creating shadows, reflections and see-through parts depending on your design. This allows the maker to run wild with content such as collage material, stencils, prints, drawings and photographs to name a few options.

Tools to Bring:

• Cutting mat
• X-acto knife or similar tool
• Bone folder
• Pencil
• Double sided tape (Note: this structure uses quite a lot of tape.)
• Paper Clips

Materials to Bring:

• Content for Mylar pockets such as cutouts that produce shadows or other ideas such as mentioned in the above description. Please note that there are four pages and the see-through part of the pages will measure 3.5" tall x 5" wide.
• For the accordion hinge: One (6" x 12") piece of text weight paper (90 gsm).
• For the pages: Four (6" x 17") pieces of cover weight paper (Mi-Teintes works well).
• For the covers: Two (6" x 17.5") pieces of cover weight paper such as Mi-Teintes.

Lara will supply:

• Instructions
• For the pockets: Mylar sheets (Four pieces measuring 4.5" x 12").
• For the hinge: Wooden rod measuring 6" long

When:   Saturday, March 9, at noon
Where:  Eureka Methodist Church, Del Norte & F Streets
Bring:    See above list
Cost:     $2
RSVP:    Yes, to Lara by Wed. March 8 (contact info in the newsletter).