SHOW and TELL with EMMY

 According to Wikipedia, "the hobby of collecting includes seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing, cataloging, displaying, storing, and maintaining items that are of interest to an individual collector". The May NORBAG workshop will feature Mary Elizabeth Nelson, aka Emmy, sharing her collection of artists' books. She began collecting books back in the early 1990's. After starting out as a calligrapher she quickly added bookmaking to her art projects. Working with many of the creative ways of embellishing papers and the various methods of folding and binding them into books led Emmy to collect as well as to make books. She will share some of her special books that have been created in a wide variety of print media and issued in all types of book formats. Here is a preview of some of the books she will be sharing with us.

The May workshop does not require you to have any supplies handy as this will be a "Show and Tell" event.

When:   Saturday May 8 at 10 a.m. PST

Where:  On your computer, tablet or smartphone via Zoom

RSVP:    YES, to Dolores Guffey by May 3 to receive the password and instructions

Workshop questions: Mary Elizabeth Nelson

Zoom questions: Bobbie Hayes

Contact information for everyone is in the newsletter.

CURIOSITIES and WATER IS...

 The April NORBAG workshop featured Sandy Vrem via Zoom teaching about 50 members how to make a variety of “Folded Curiosities”. These prototypes will provide us with some great ideas on how to use the structures in cards or as inserts in books. We look forward to seeing how our members use them in future projects. Thank you Sandy for giving us an inspiring workshop. Catherine von Schwind made a wonderful "Thank You" card using one of the "Curiosities" folds.

Since we don’t have any other photographs of finished projects from the “Curiosities” workshop, we’ll share some photographs of some of the books in the latest exhibition, “Water is…”, in the Sherry Grover Gallery at the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art (BIMA). According to the statement by the museum curators, the exhibit features over 50 works by different book artists meditating upon what water means to them personally—literally, figuratively, and symbolically. Some book structures employed by these artists seem to seek to contain water, while accordion books suggest eternal cycles. Cloth books soften the water’s fall and flag books create waves. We apologize for not having the names of the artists who made these beautiful books.

COLLABORATION PROJECT

* For April Curiosities Workshop Information

 scroll down below this announcement *

ANNOUNCING...WISH YOU WERE HERE

a collaborative project between book artists–coast to coast

THE PROJECT

San Diego Book Arts invites its members, and those of six other book arts organizations, to come together to

CELEBRATE “WHERE YOU LIVE” through a hand-crafted USPS-compliant postcard exchange and freestyle bookmaking project. This is a one-of-a-kind opportunity to share your love, perception, or impression of where you live, a place you likely got to know inside and out this past year, with fellow book artists. TAKE PART! What a fun way to welcome fellow artists into your home, yard, neighborhood, city, region, or state.

What a cool way to take a virtual journey through their abode or environs–from the Pacific Coast through the Southwest and up into New England.

How It Works

1. Groups of 16 artists will be matched into mini collaboratives.

2. Each artist will design and mail “where you live” themed postcards to their group members.

3. Each artist will design and craft their own “Wish You Were Here” book that displays all 16 postcards from

their group.

4. All “Wish You Were Here” books, from all groups of 16, will exhibit online and in TBA locations.

Timeline

April 1 Registration Opens

April 21 Registration Closes

May 1 Project Kickoff with Group Assignments

June 15 Deadline for Mailing Postcards

August 1 Deadline to Complete and Photograph Books

Requirements, Registration & Rules

• Participants must be a current member of a participating organization.

• Register for the Project at https://forms.gle/icwh5jt5EASKiNqK8

• Rules are posted at the above link.

• For questions from NORBAG members, please contact Edge Gerring at gerring.edge2@gmail.com or 707-733-5495 

Participants

Project Host

San Diego Book Arts (SDBA) CA https://www.sandiegobookarts.com

Project Partners

Bay Area Book Artists (BABA) CA https://www.bayareabookartists.org

North Redwoods Book Arts Guild (NORBAG) CA https://www.norbag.net

Puget Sound Book Artists (PSBA) WA www.pugetsoundbookartists.wildapricot.org

PaperWorks AZ www.PaperWorks.info

Santa Fe Book Arts Group (SFBAG) NM https://santafebag.org

New England Book Artists (NEBA) MA www.newenglandbookartists.org

FOLDED CURIOSITIES

Are you looking for ideas on what to use as inserts in books, on cards, or just for general art work? If so, then the April workshop of Folded Curiosities, taught by Sandy Vrem, is for you. These Curiosities will include: Impossible Objects, Flexagons, Quadragons, Wow Folds and a Woven Accordion Flexagon Book. We will make prototypes so you will have models that you can use to explore other possible structures and unique decorating ideas. Sandy says "be ready to measure accurately and be prepared to do some trimming!" Patterns will be sent to you with the link for Zooming when you RSVP (contact information in the newsletter). You will need to print the patterns on appropriate paper and cut them out so we can have time to put them together. 

Here is an assortment of the various structures.

These are the Impossible Objects

Materials for the impossible Objects: 

Print out the Three (3) patterns on cardstock with the same color on both sides.

Flexagon

Materials for Flexagons:

Print out the three (3) patterns on text weight paper (computer/printer paper)

Quadragon

Materials for Quadragons:

Cut out four (4) pieces of cardstock 2" x 4" and cut out two (2) cardstock circles that are 4" in diameter.

Wow Folds

Materials for Wow Folds:

Cut out three (3) text weight paper squares 6" x 6" and cut out four (4) text weight paper squares 4" x 4".

Woven Accordion Flexagon Book

Above book opened

Materials for Woven Accordion Flexagon Book:

Cut one (1) piece of cardstock to 10" x 8" for the accordion, and two (2) pieces of text weight paper 2 1/2" x 8" for the woven strips.

Tools and other materials:

Pencil, eraser, scissors, craft knife with sharp blade, ruler, cutting mat, scoring tool, bone folder, clear tape or masking tape, glue stick, double sided tape, colored pencils or crayons in four different contrasting colors. Have a few extra sheets of text weight paper handy in case we have time to make more.

WHEN:   Saturday April 10 at 10 a.m. PST

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

RSVP:    YES! to Dolores Guffey by April 2 to receive password and instructions

Workshop questions: Sandy Vrem

Zoom questions: Bobbie Hayes

Contact information for everyone is in the newsletter.

*Exciting News*

Check back here on April 1 (No Fooling!) for information about an upcoming collaborative project opportunity.

MARCH TRIPLE WHAMMY

 Our member from England, Margaret Beech, delivered a real triple whammy of a workshop by sharing two versions of her "Triple Whammy" book/card AND a wonderful pocket envelope that can hold several different structures. Members from multiple states, Canada, and England joined the Zoom workshop. 

After the instructional part of the workshop Dolores shared this month's exchange books that were designed using the theme "Abecedarium". Once again it is a wonderful collection of beautiful books. A link to the photos will soon be available on our flickr site.

Here are some examples of the book/cards that were made.

Jill McInerney

Jill

Jill features a WOW foldout in her wrapper.

Jill's beautiful paper enhances this wrapper.

Edge Gerring

Another side of Edge's card

Michele Kamprath

Another Triple Whammy card by Michele

Molly Millman

Second side of Molly's card

Third side of Molly's Triple Whammy card

Stephanie Weigel

Side two of Stephanie's card

Side three of Stephanie's Happy Birthday card

Mary Elizabeth Nelson

A different Whammy card by Mary Elizabeth

A different side of Mary Elizabeth's first card

This photo of Mary Elizabeth's book/cards shows why
Margaret named the structure a Triple Whammy.

Sherrill Story

Second page of above card 

Sherrill's second card

Another page of the card above

Beth McIlraith

Beth used her own eco-dyed papers with birds
and flowers cut from old books.

Another page of Beth's book

Another view of Beth's book

Thank you to Margaret for another great workshop, and to everyone who attended and sent photos of their work.

TRIPLE WHAMMY FOLD

What is a Triple Whammy Fold? Is it a card, a book, or ???  Here is a preview of what our member from the UK, Margaret Beech, will be sharing with us.

We'll call this example a book because it has signatures sewn in.

Card or book?

Book or card?

Margaret said these are pretty quick to make, so we will also make a "Pocket Wrapper," a fold that can contain a signature or explosion fold as well as having pockets on the outside. The following Triple Whammy materials list will make one (or two if you wish, see note) card/book.

Materials for Triple Whammy:

• Three (3) 6" squares of colored or white construction or multi-media paper, colored one side or both. These are your pages. Please decorate them in advance of the workshop.
• Six (6) 3 3/4" x 1 3/4" strips of construction or multi-media paper. These are the decorative strips which will be added to your pages. Decorate them on one side, in advance of the workshop. To decorate, use lettering, rubber stamps, used postage stamps, punched shapes, collage, gift wrap, but nothing with any bulk. When you are decorating your pages think about what message you might like to send--you could turn it into a Random Act of Kindness. The world needs kindness more than ever.
• One (1) piece of text weight paper, 8 1/2" square for an envelope for your book/card. This book/card stands very well and would make a good greeting for a friend, hence the envelope.
• NOTE: To make a second Whammy with pamphlet stitched signatures, please have ready another three 6" squares and six 3 3/4" squares (both sides decorated to become the signatures).

Materials for Pocket Wrapper:

• Two (2) sheets letter size (8 1/2" x 11") good weight paper - decorated on both sides
• Two (2) sheets copy paper

NOTE: To see a photo of a Wrapper, go to beeches13.skyrock.com, scroll to bottom of page, and click on page 8. Scroll down to "Congratulations for Chloe").

Tools for both projects:

New glue stick, pencil, ruler, bone folder, scissors, needle and waxed thread

When:   Saturday, March 13 at 10 a.m. PST

Where:  On your computer, tablet or smartphone via Zoom

RSVP:    To Dolores Guffey by March 5 to receive password and instructions

Workshop questions: Margaret Beech

Zoom questions: Bobbie Hayes

Contact information for everyone will be in the newsletter.