Copper Book: Part Two

Most of the pages in the book are black scrapbook paper with a very soft finish.  I made the book to a specific square size so I could use two envelopes I had, one black and one metallic copper.  This gave me several places to put items that for whatever reason didn't fit on any of the regular pages.

The black envelope with postage stamps, bits of stamped handmade paper, and a mulberry paper with copper colored seed heads in it.



Vintage photo, vintage ticket stubs, vintage postcard, wax seal, postage stamps.



Feathers, postage stamps, top of wine bottle foil, and rubber stamping.  The crows are stamped on a little booklet with vintage drawings of roosters.



Blank greeting card embellished with metallic rubber stamping and metalic pen.  The inside is covered with bits of Japanese newsprint. 



Vintage photo in metallic photo corners on the copper envelope with small tassel attached.



Vintage page, small envelope and tags, yarn.



Some of the items in pockets: Handcolored ATC, rubber stamping, collage materials.  In the upper right is a small booklet shown at the top of the photo below.



Postage stamps, rubber stamping, vintage postcard of Paris flower seller.


My daughter is back to being a dishwater blond again, but for now, she has the Copper Book to commemorate her redheaded years.

Copper Book: Part One

The second type of book I learned to make had an accordion pleated spine with pages glued in and a ribbon binding.  From this first one, I learned that you need more than one ribbon on the binding and that folding paper into an accordion (or concertina) isn’t as easy as it looks.  I now know the secret is to fold the long sheet in half, then fold each half in half, and so on.

My beautiful daughter had gone from an entire youth spent as a blond to a dishwater blond (my genetics) with red highlights (her Dad’s genetics).  She decided to become a redhead, a startling auburn redhead.  I could not get used to her with auburn locks, even though it was a lovely color.  So in an effort to show her some support I dug out all my copper-to-sepia material, added lots of black, and made her a book.

The cover paper had copper metallic stripes and I used velvet flowers & leaves, vintage buttons, and a tassel made with ribbon, string, yarn, beads, feathers, and a copper garden tag.



Postage Stamps, vintage devotional card, metallic covered eggshells



Dictionary page, beads, rubber stamping, copper letters, copper sheet, clear disc (highlighting the word copper).



Rubber stamping, postage stamp, pressed leaves, skeleton leaf, hand lettering.



Rubber stamping, postage stamps, collage elements, hand lettering.

Wire dress, joss paper.

Vintage postcard, copper photo corners, hand lettering.

More coming soon...

My First Book

I think the first book I ever made was a simple little book made from one piece of 8 ½ X 11 card stock.  I had collected a group of stamps showing Wild Roses and wanted a way to display them.  Illustrations for this method are easily available in both books and online.  This method created a perfectly sized book for postage stamps.

 I made two of them and joined them.  Each stamp was given a page and a little decoration.  Then I covered board with some lovely black handmade paper with rose leaves (I was convinced they were wild rose leaves) and used a ribbon hinge and tie.

I was so pleased with my little book of stamps, I also made one for my second cousin (think niece) to remind her what a beautiful young lady she was.  I thought of it again recently when I watched her walk down the aisle…radiantly beautiful.

                       

http://www.danielsmith.com/content--id-128

http://www.fimp.net/makeabook.html

This year, instead of making resolutions, I decided to devote myself to a general sort of ongoing project.  I wanted a project  which would involve creativity and yet accomplish something; one with a general direction as well as specific goals.  I wanted to flex as many muscles as possible.

As I mulled over my various unfinished projects, my vast stock of unused materials, my favorite things, and my mental list of artistic ideas…all these came together in BOOKS.  Sure, I read a lot of books, but it is more than that.  I genuinely love books.  I love the look of them, the smell of them (is there anything more awfully wonderful than the smell of an old used bookstore?), and the feel of them.  My favorite artists are almost all illustrators.  The first big purchase I made for my new condo was ceiling to floor bookshelves for the living room.  I have several completed handmade books I am rather proud of and several more unfinished ones that are on my conscience.  And yet, I have never made a ‘proper book’.  Indeed then, books it is.

So I sat down and made a list of goals (see sidebar) and then a list of reference materials (see sidebar).   I have, on my always handy Excel spreadsheet, several more lists: book ideas, theme ideas, notes from my reading.  And now that this post is here for you to read I have already completed my first goal.

I plan to document both existing books and new books here as the year progresses.  Hopefully, I will have more successes than failures to share – but I promise I will honestly share them both.  You won’t find any posts about authors or illustrators, or book reviews here, those would show up in my regular blog….unless of course I think of a brilliant way to include Terry Pratchett or Anthony Trollope in a double-layer interwoven slit concertina book or perhaps a soft spine book with multisignature tacketing….hmmm, let me think about that.