New Lino Cut Book!

I've been wanting to make a book with text in it for so long... as well as illustrations. So, this has finally come to the work table! The story is of our naughty little corgi who ran away in the dead of winter and found his way home on New Year's Day.

I've written most of the story and am on the 3rd page of carving the text only. (none of the illustrations have even been conceived yet... but, the drawings will be driven by the space and context of the words on the page. Very exciting to take on :) I've had to get out my dusty graphic design hat and think had about that golden rectangle and how to make the most of it. The book may not be perfect, but I'm having a wonderful time with the process.

Will report with more progress :) Happy almost weekend.

PS

I've added a few mini art quilts to my etsy shop. They are the ladies from the 'Saintly Women' series.

Bookmaking Weekend

Sandpoint, Idaho

Fabulous little sushi place... they served the largest glass of wine I've ever had :)

Beautiful space built over a waterway (much like Florence, Italy) ... maybe for a gallery someday??

Figuring out drum leaf book binding. It was a bit slow going for me, but I finally got it! (no diagrams... I need visuals like I need oxygen)

Instructions for the caterpillar stitch - so much fun to do. This was only a decorative embellishment for the cover. Hopefully I can learn how to bind using this stitch. I'm planning on doing more bookmaking to go with the printmaking... I need a class! Happy Sunday..we're off for a Corgi walk in the sunshine :)

Accordian Book

Here's an example of a book that's in the making... The script is Humanist Book hand and the stamps are by Rubbermoon. I made this one a while back - as a 'dummy book'. (sort of a dry run of what I want!) The poem is a great one by Ted Kooser - Flow Blue , I just love him. I may do another book in pointed italic using this poem... only with better paper and hand coloring.

A Book Today

Love the wave pattern paper... it's kind of like 'surfer paper'

Bugs and beach ladies

Dorothea portrait and the Avignon carousel

Water and bugs

Top view

Here's another book I made using a Maya Road album binder book... the book tape works like a charm. I love using the right materials, there's a satisfaction in having something function properly! :) (I guess this only comes from doing it wrong in the past.) I'm still working on some new prints and am looking for more books to work with. I might re-use a children's board book using some gesso,paints and prints.

I have put a book in my Etsy shop with a mod floral cover in earth tones... check it out! www.teaandinkstudio.etsy.com

A New Book

Here is the new book I made yesterday... it was so much fun rooting through old prints in the studio and cutting them up. I tried to use a lot of "margin paper" with the intent of writing in the book... writing around the images, in them, adding more drawings... or anything else, it's all up for grabs at this point. (actual book from Maya Road, Landscape Binder Album) I used book cloth for the spine and it worked like a dream. No more taught binding.

I started some new woodcuts based on the beach and ocean & will put them in books. These are more abstract than previous work.... much more about shapes, pattern and layering. It's very exciting to be trying some new approaches.... experimenting. I love not knowing what it will look like or quite how it will evolve.

Soon, I will try to make an actual BOOK but need to find a style that is simple and easy... (one that uses binder's tape or glue, not sewing). For now, using ready made books offers instant gratification and skipping a step. (Confession: I'm terrible at measuring which makes for a bad book-maker!)

Misbehavin' Book

I have been adding color and pattern to this alphabet accordion book lately as a way to 'do something I want' other instead of finishing up my work for the upcoming show! This kind of work is such fun, it's really just doodling and relaxing. I plan on making one (I bought this one -blank- at Island Blueprint on a visit to Victoria, B.C.) and giving them both to my kids for their own little keepsake alphabets. (Alphabet stamps by Gretchen Ehrsam, Rubbermoon Stamps).

Bleeding Hearts

Here's a page from a book I'm making and may finish after April. It is full of different prints I have done - all printed and colored in unusual and experimental ways.

Boy in a Streetcar

Crayon Rubbing of a Woodcut, colored pencil.

This little boy was being held by his Mama, but, I did not include her in the composition. I fell in love with the hat he was wearing, it looked so old world, and sitting in the wood interior of this street car in B.C. Canada... I felt he looked timeless!

To test woodcuts, I often rub the surface (paper placed over the matrix) with the side of a paper-free crayon to show how it's looking before I even do a test print. Sometimes the rubbings come out pretty good and I save them for... ??? who knows, experiments like this one. :) (this is a page in a book I'm making)