Ink Stained Book Arts

Book signing and giveaway at CHA

Going to the Craft & Hobby Association winter show in Anaheim? Please come by the Quayside Publishing Group booth (#1727 in the General Crafts area) on Monday, January 30th from 2  to 3 p.m., where I'll be signing copies of my new book, "Adventures in Bookbinding."

You'll also get a complimentary goodie bag filled with all kinds of fun embellishments and vintage ephemera. Even the bag it comes in is great and you can re-use it.

I love the CHA show and look forward to it every year. I know this makes me sound like a total nerd, but I love the way the convention hall smells when you first step inside.

It's wonderful to be able to see all the new products coming out and I'm always inspired by the incredible samples done by artists and crafters. Hopefully I'll be able to do some make and takes, and I'll have my trusty camera with me and promise to bring back photos of the highlights.

I also look forward to reconnecting with old friends, some of whom I only get to see at the show. So if you're one of them, or if you're a new friend, please come by on Monday, say hello, and pick up a book. 

 

Bookbinding workshop at Craftcation

I'm thrilled to be teaching at the Craftcation Indie Business &  DIY Conference in Ventura, California March 22-25. This is going to be an incredible event with an amazing lineup of people, including Cathy Callahan, Amy Tan, Evan Kleiman, Jenny Hart and my peeps from the Urban Craft Center: Angharad Jones, Christine Haynes and Megan Anderson.

I'll be teaching the book you see above in a workshop on Saturday, March 25th from 2:30 to 4 p.m. The covers are made from vintage record albums and bound using two different (but easy) stitches. The inside pages are made from nice drawing/sketching paper, but we'll also incorporate pockets and vintage ephemera such as pages from pattern books, cookbooks, ledgers and dictionaries. You'll be able to customize much of the book to suit your needs.

There is absolutely no previous bookbinding experience needed to make this book--and I mean that! All materials will be included, so you don't need to bring a thing. And if you have made books before I promise you won't be bored. This structure is really fun, and once you've made one you'll want to make more.

And just as an aside, when I was putting the sample book together I looked at the cover and noticed that the sexy dame is posed seductively with several record albums, a record player and....a large jar of jelly beans. Because nothing gets you in the mood like an enormous urn of candy.

Anyway, back to the subject at hand. I could put in my own words what the Craftcation conference is about, but the description on the web site says it best: "It's a retreat to inspire, network and build upon the independent craft business community. Our objective is to ignite the entrepreneurial business spirit, strengthen skills and abilities of both seasoned business owners and newcomers to indie craft business. This is an opportunity to network, communicate and share with your peers." The two brilliant women who put this together are Nicole Stevenson and Delilah Snell who also produce Patchwork.

If you have the opportunity to attend, go. Conferences like these are invaluable and I when I've attended retreats in the past my head is literally swimming with ideas and inspiration. I've made lifelong friends and learned so much and had an incredible amount of fun. Make it a priority. We all need a Craftcation.

I'll also be doing free make and takes with my publisher, Quarry Books and Stefanie Girard. More details on that to come, but look for the Craftside banner!

If you have any questions on the class or on Craftcation, please don't hesitate to leave a comment. I hope to see you there!

 

 

Book Arts at Photo L.A.

I spent a day and a half last weekend at Photo L.A., the annual photo show in Santa Monica. Although the show is mainly for collectors it's great to go even if you don't have tens of thousands of dollars to spend on photographs.

In addition to seeing some amazing photographs by Vivian Maier, Carleton Watkins, Rena Small, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Ruth Bernhard and others, there was also a booth of book arts, with works by Charlene Matthews, Ching Ching Cheng, Meg Madison and Susan Sironi, represented as L.A. Artist Book Arts. 

Those are Charlene's books in the top photo. She's a good friend as well as a mentor and I am always in awe of her books. When I've taken classes in her studio it's hard not to abandon what I'm doing and prowl around looking at her latest phenomenal creations.

Here's another view of Charlene's books, showing the spines.

When I first saw Ching Ching Cheng's books I thought they were made of wood; she says many people think that at first. But on closer inspection I realized they were made of books that had been carved and sanded so artfully that they looked like wood. Her work is truly amazing.

Photographs were integrated into many of the book art pieces, and it seemed the collectors were intrigued with what they saw. It's always exciting to see book arts represented and supported at events like this.

 

The Joy of Books

 

I found this wonderful stop-motion animation film "The Joy of Books" via Twitter and can't stop watching it. It reminds me of the film "This is Where We Live," which also uses stop-motion animation to convey a love of books.

This already has well over a million views on YouTube, so evidently I'm not the only fan! I hope you enjoy it. I especially love the message at the end.

Serendipitous finds

The other night my husband and I were taking a stroll after dinner and came upon two fun store displays. The one above was a window at J. Crew, and without my glasses on I couldn't tell what the circles were until I got closer....

...and discovered they were accordion pleated magazine pages that had been artfully arranged. I love coming upon things like this. I've done this technique (much smaller, of course) with printed paper, but I'm going to try it with magazine and catalog pages--they'd look great on a gift.

We then went into Anthropologie, and although the store looked a little underdressed, post-holidays, I did spot two great collages hanging on the wall. This one....

...and this one. I asked a saleswoman if I could photograph them and she cheerily replied, "Yes, of course! You can photograph anything in the store!" That was refreshing. Sorry about the blurriness, I was up on tip toes trying to get a decent shot.

I hope more retailers embrace displays like this. It makes window shopping much more interesting.