Working With Kraft-Tex

Of the many things I've purchased over the years and seldom if ever used is a collection of stencils. I blame the Joggles.com lady and her enticing tutorials. Thanks to the the next binding I'm tackling in my Handmade Book Club having the option of using Kraft-Tex as the cover, I'm taking this opportunity to put two of these stencil to use. 

I bought a roll of black Kraft-Tex a year or more ago, not too sure about how I would use it but everyone was talking about it so I succumbed. Bookcovers was one of my thoughts as well as using Paintstiks on it, and now I had not only instructions but a whole slew of ideas generated by the others in the club. This is not Paintstiks, but Art Crayon, a freebie from the same enticing lady. I used a stencil brush to transfer the creamy pigment from the lipstick-like tube to the Kraft-Tex. I am thrilled. 

I planned to stencil the other half of this Kraft-Tex with acrylic paint, and a few days later, on my way to the table, stencil in hand, I managed to knock over a full glass of Mango juice with beetroot powder added. Very red. Very thick and sticky. Very everywhere as it tipped and spilled onto the sewing machine table where I'd set it, the other sewing machine table next to it and my thread cabinet which sits on the floor in between, before tumbling off the table to spill the rest of its contents on the rug. Yes, rug. My studio has carpeting. Well, so much for creative endeavors THAT day. And I am still hitting the major stains with the rug shampooer which is doing a great job of pulling it up. 

Kinda took the wind out of my sails though, and I didn't get back to trying the second round of stenciling until today. (Do NOT look at the carpet . . .) This time I used a round foam dabber to pounce the paint through the stencil. The red is Liquetex acrylic paint and the more orange color is Speedball screenprinting paint. I am thrilled with this too. I expended most of the leftover paint in the space on the left that will be leftover after cutting the green stenciled area to size. Just pressed that dabber onto the Kraft-Tex to make circles.

I didn't wash this Kraft-Tex before stenciling. I wanted to maintain a smooth look rather than a more textured leather look which most prefer. It's bowing from being rolled, even though I put it under weights for several days so we'll see if that causes any problems or can be rectified some other way. I do need to cover the Art Crayon with something since, even though the manufacturer says it dries and won't smudge after 24 hours, I can rub color off a sample I did shortly after I got the Kraft-tex. I've tested a workable fixative product called SpectraFix (yes, blame that lady again) and I like how it works and doesn't show on the black like matte medium does. 

What Happened Here?

I'll tell you what happened here. I succumbed to a Facebook post by my neighborhood quilt shop showcasing these dotted batiks. Now, do I need more of these favored batiks for my stash? No. But did my brain say, oh just walk down and take a look - you might need more when you get back to your water series? Yes. And so I did. What the heck. Call it retail therapy during a dreary part of winter, or supporting your local quilt shop, or reverting to old habits. Whichever, there I was, standing amidst a wonderful array of batiks, focusing just on dotted ones, and shopping like I used to when I was actually using up fabric!

But what else happened here is taking a next step. A few weeks or more ago, I stumbled across the sketchbook designated for water series ideas, buried and so forgotten that I actually was stumped by it until I opened it. Oh yes, I should leave it out, but I didn't. Then last week, a post on Charlton Stitcher's blog reminded me of the value of working out ideas in a sketchbook, just as I had intended when I started this Water Series sketchbook. As I prepared these new batiks and some less recently purchased ones for pre-washing, I cut a strip from each one to capture on a page of the sketchbook an idea that had been formulating as I picked each of these out. And just like that, it was saved for later, and just in the handling and positioning and jotting of a few notes, my brain continued to work on possibilities. And in looking back a few pages, I found an idea that could easily be carried out by two of my new batiks. We, or at least I, become static without physical engagement.

I've mostly been what I consider puttering this week. Printing out and organizing tutorials for the next books, watching some tutorials on the use of Kraft-Tex which I plan to incorporate into the next bookbinding lesson, and working here and there on additions to the 4-needle coptic binding book. I came across the triangles and strips when cleaning up my workspace a bit. They were trimmed from the paper used to cover the boards of this book, so it seemed appropriate to find them a home in it. Here they are glued over a spread that had a teabag adhered to it. Think of the arrangement as abstract trees, trees and leaves being the overall theme of the book.

I'm adding some text here and there too, some hand written and some printed from various sources. I've been holding on to that spiral with the person in the center for a long time, having copied it from a John Berger book. So simple but it resonated somehow, and with this quotation from Shakespeare calligraphied by Susan Gaylord, I felt this was one interpretation. As you can see, I've printed out some other things to include within these pages.

When I showed this page before, I mentioned I thought I'd write something over the trees. A perfect quotation presented itself on a post by an urban sketcher: "Trees are such good companions that their size never frightens us." In fact, in my experience, the bigger the tree, the more awed I am by it and want to get in close under what feels like protection. That is, unless there is lightening and/or high winds! I wish my small children were drawn a bit better but the roughness of the watercolor paper and my lack of expertise with a brush pen fought against me. Still, I think I get my point across: These are big trees and the children do not fear but welcome their existence.

More real dried leaves are finding there way onto the pages. This one still needs adhering down with matte medium.

And I'm still playing with ink on several pages. This one is ink brushed onto dry pages with a little water added afterward and is ready for more additions while another page shows more success with the dropping of ink onto a wet page. I like the smallness of the pages so I don't have a chance to get too carried away or overwhelmed by whatever idea I'm trying out, and that indeed, it has become a place to experiment. I can spend a few minutes with it, and often can only do one quick thing because of drying time needed. It's good discipline for me. 

In Love With The French Link Binding

First off, I lied. I wanted to convince myself that the light rub of Paint Stix did the trick toning down the tissue paper and highlighting the wrinkles. But each time I came into the studio and saw it, my nose crinkled up. The rub of green just looked dirty to me. 

So I pulled out some acrylic paint after all, thinned it down, and practiced on the parts that would be the inside of the covers until I was sure I wouldn't get too dark of a layer that would totally obscure the print. You can see how much darker this front inside cover is, and the back inside cover is even darker.  I'm much happier with the outside of the covers now and it shows the texture much better.

So with all parts measured and cut and punched with sewing holes and the outside part of each cover carefully slit, it was time to thread a needle and start stitching. I had to laugh at our teacher starting out the video instruction with apologies for how long the preparation was (and I made it even longer!), but now we could get down to the fun part. And she was right. While this stitch looks complicated, it really is not, and was a joy to do.

Once all the signatures and covers were sewn together, the ribbon ends were fed through the slits to the inside of the folded covers (the long middle one also traveling back out near the edge), it was time to get fiddly again. Lots of glue to hold a piece of cardstock stiffener inside each folded cover before more glue to adhere both sides together, hiding those ribbon ends. Of course, the book, essentially finished, must quickly go under weights until the glue is firmly dried.

When I pulled it out from under the weights today, I was so pleased with how it looked, and the covers are nice and firm, almost as if they were made of bookboard. Best of all, the book lies perfectly flat as you page through it and the gaps between signatures is slight (partly because of the fineness of the thread I used). It is such a usable size at 5" x 7" and I have to tell, you, every time I open it, I just want to grab a pen and start writing! 

Prepping For Another Bookbinding

The next bookbinding in my Handmade Book club is the French Link, one that, like the coptic stitch, I've admired and wanted to learn. And it might actually be done were it not for a hitch in what to use for the soft cover. I'd planned to use more of my eco-printed watercolor paper but found that the grain ran the wrong direction. So now what? I'd already chosen the ribbon that the binding is stitched over, and the thread so wanted something that would go with them. Looking at what others had used, I considered using some of my paints and a stencil to create a cover, which suddenly felt overwhelming (I have many stencils and paint colors to choose from). Or I could just paint some paper and sponge a second color over it - I've done that before with success. Or, I could once again kill two birds with one stone and try another texture producing technique I'd bookmarked which uses tissue paper. But instead of doing it using a sturdy w/c or mixed media paper, I dug through my collection of food boxes until I found one the right size with grain running the proper direction. Yes, even cardboard has grain apparently.

I've worked a little with boxes like this and know that you need to put a coat or two of gesso over the slick printed side before proceeding.

Most of the tutorials for this technique use white tissue paper but I'd saved this printed kind and wondered if some depth could be created by layering several pieces since tissue paper is not opaque. Nothing to lose by trying.

One tutorial used PVA, another gel medium, to adhere each layer of tissue paper, doing a bit of scrunching to create wrinkles rather than smoothing out the tissue paper. I opted for slightly watered down PPA (Perfect Paper Adhesive) and used 3 layers instead of two (because I had that much tissue paper and was going for those images shadowing through). It was difficult to stop myself from smoothing each layer out. Once weighted and dry, the tissue paper is trimmed one half inch beyond the edge of the substrate so that it can be turned to the back. I used glue stick for this step because each of these will be folded in half with a piece of cardstock in between for extra stability of the covers.

To be honest, the floral motif isn't very "me" and it was a bit bright and white for the tan ribbon I have set aside. Plus the wrinkled texture wasn't really showing. The tutorials had one last step of painting their white tissue paper to bring out the texture, but I feared I'd just cover up the print too much without really highlighting the lines of the wrinkles. After much thought and experimenting with a couple of options, I decided on applying this dark green Paint Stix using my finger so that the application would remain light while still darkening the wrinkles. Kind of hard to tell from the photo but perhaps if you click for the larger view you will see the difference between the piece on the left and the piece on the right that has Paint Stix worked over it. It has done the trick to make these go better with the ribbon, but I am very much on the fence about the look of the texture and the way the flowers shadow through the top layer.

In between these various steps to prepare the covers, I folded and trimmed to size the signatures. Now at last I am ready to punch my holes in signatures and covers, add slits to the covers and start sewing it all together. 

Lingering Curiosity

Geez, what a nag! However, putting up this "GO!" sign on the outside of the door to my studio (rather than putting it up inside the studio) is having the desired effect. A little well-placed guilt can be a good motivator - lol. I've yet to set up a schedule for my activities so I know I am not getting as much done as I could, but I have been snagging bits and pieces of time to follow up on things I've had questions about or do small steps toward a bigger project, partly because of that reminder on the studio door.

We'll start with this that I'd been curious about, one of the pieces of brown paper bag that I colored with Art Graf - a water soluble graphite - in my first attempt at faux leather. I wasn't happy with the way the Art Graf worked and couldn't get the blending I expected when a wet brush was applied. But never one to waste things, I pondered how I could improve it for use covering another book board. I settled on stamping over it randomly with a commercial stamp inked with a permanent ink pad. Nice! Even though the Art Graf is supposed to be permanent after wetting, it seemed to me that bits of it had a tendency to rub off. So now that it had been stamped, I could satisfy my curiosity of how it would look if I painted a protective layer of matte medium over the entire thing. I had heard from others that although matte medium is supposed to be "matte", it often leaves a bit of shine anyway, and that was true in this case (as you might be able to see some reflection in the lower left). I think I would try something else in the future; I'm not keen on the look or feel but it will be fine to cover a book board with.

With matte medium on my brush, it was time to move to another thing I'd wondered about. I'd resolved the issue with the 4 needle coptic book not closing, thanks to a tip from a member of the handmade book club I joined (wet the folds of the watercolor signatures slightly and weight under books again), and I've been eager to work in it, inspired by those pages of eco-printing. Encouraged by the success with crumbling dry leaves onto paper before bundling for eco-printing, I wondered if those crumbles would stick to a page coated with matte medium.

It did not work so well. The dry bits would only stick if pushed into medium and trying to do it with my finger only meant that many stuck to that finger rather than the page. I finally got enough arranged and tried dabbing more matte medium over them, only to find many stuck to the paint brush as they had to my finger. I eventually got them off the brush and on the page and let it dry. Only then could I get another layer of matte medium over them to pretty much hold them in place. But they did not make a particularly interesting page, so I went on to my next bit of curiosity: could I take a dried leaf and stick it to the page? I'd read that one could do that with a pressed leaf (but no guarantees that it wouldn't decompose under the medium), but my leaf had not been pressed, still had some curl in it. Well, slather on the matte medium and see what happens. The medium somewhat hydrated the leaf so that it became soft and pliable. I coated the page where the leaf would go and coated the back of the leaf, placed it down and used a brush to add more medium while flattening the leaf. It had some spring to it though and wouldn't stay flat on the page, so I placed a piece of wax paper over it, closed up the book and put it under weights until it was dry. Everything appears to be well adhered now.

I'd been removing tea leaves from used bags and had a small stack that I decided to adhere to various pages in my book. Ohhh, they look ever so good on this watercolor paper and continue the colors of the eco-prints. There were two large ones that could span the center of a signature so down they went with matte medium (and no shine).

I tore the sealed edges off smaller ones and set them on point. Something else will be placed over them probably. Maybe more leaves? Or maybe I will doodle around them or try some watercolor paints.

Really liking the soft edges left from tearing, I tore one bag into several strips for one side and just overlapped two bags on the opposite page. Then I adhered the squiggles that are the backing paper of fusible after cutting shapes for my Sailing the Wine Dark Seas duo. My thought was I'd use a technique by Karen Stamper learned during that Sketchbook Revival course where the next step has you drench the page in different inks and possibly remove strips like the squiggles to reveal the white page underneath (scroll down about midway to read about it). But I've rather fallen in love with this page just as it is and may set up a different page for the drenching.

Speaking of ink, I thought this book might be a good place to try yet another technique I've seen the results of and thought would be fun. Perhaps you have seen this or even tried it yourself. Very simple in that you take a string or piece of yarn, coat it with paint or ink, lay it over the page in a winding back and forth manner leaving a tail, close the book over it (or place another piece of paper over it) and pull the string out. I resorted to winging it here drawing on my memory of what I'd seen awhile ago on-line and found that there IS a slight learning curve. My goal was to end up with something looking somewhat like a tree, and yeah, my first one does, somewhat. But there was perhaps too much ink on the yarn I used, or I pressed too hard holding the book together when I pulled on it, or both. 

Here's another one with the soaked yarn I used. Better but I kept ending up having to pull really hard most of the way through to get the rest of the yarn out, so again, probably holding the book closed too tightly.

So Much Ink! I kept going - waste not want not and maybe things would get better - until only faint lines were being produced. I'll go back into these - I have ideas for text over the inked parts on the darker ones for instance.

This is the last thing I tried while I was working with ink. I'd seen a tutorial using ink instead of watercolor paint to create a serendipitous landscape. Like some Procion dyes, some inks will separate into several colors when dropped onto a wet piece of watercolor paper. So first I created a sample page of the four fountain pen inks I have on hand. None separated into different colors, just lighter or darker. The black maybe did a tad but nothing like the ink in the tutorial. Still, stubborn as I am, I followed his technique on the bottom of the page with my green ink (because it fit the color theme developing in my book) before trying it for real. Ehh. The ink didn't want to move, maybe I didn't get the page wet enough. I fiddled. I decided to go ahead in the book anyway.

Not even remotely like the example in the tutorial. Seriously, follow the link above and see for yourself. Not to be totally thwarted, I plan to try again but using the black ink instead. Like I said, I'm stubborn!

More ideas, more to be curious about, more to come as I work in this little book and elsewhere. 

Winter Arrived

View from my deck

Last weekend it snowed nearly non-stop, from Friday morning until Sunday night. Only 5 inches on Friday, but more like 9 on Saturday and Sunday I lost count, checking before shoveling the walk that there was about 4 inches, one hour later another inch and by Monday morning another 4 or 5 inches.

This decorative fir of about 5 ft succumbed to the weight of the snow

I think it is safe to say that we got around 24 inches in all. So thankful my rent now includes plowing of my driveway - and the piles on either side are getting pretty high!

It's was cold most of last week as well, this being our high when I took these pictures. Overnight it was in the teens and the windchills dropped things even lower. I got out my chin to ankle down coat for my walk on Wednesday.

The apartments at the end of my street the day I ventured on a walk

And it has continued to snow, pretty much each day, if only a little or sometimes 4 or 5 inches. I took advantage of a break in storms yesterday to make a grocery run and was a bit surprised to see the main roads were still compact snow in spite of plowing and sanding. That will change as we are due for a slight warm-up this coming week.

You'd think I'd have spent a lot of time in the studio but not so. I've been watching daily updates to the Dakar Rally which is a 12 day event. I've been running out periodically to clear the snow off the satellite dish and my short walkway to the front door. I've been catching up on a little reading.

One day last week, I had a "GO" plan that was to start with some stamping. I spent nearly all my allotted time searching for the stamps which ended up being pretty much right in front of me. Definitely time to get a handle on the mess which no longer inspires but impedes creativity. The next day I set aside more time and had barely gotten started when my brother called. He'd had to beg off our weekly chat during his lunch break at work, promising to call again which I thought would be the next day's lunch break. But his wife is out of town so he called after work from home, allowing us a lot longer to share stories. So enjoyable but there went my studio time. Yesterday I had better luck, once the grocery run was out of the way, and I will soon have pictures to share of my dabbling. In the meantime, enjoy the pictures of my snow!

Assessing 2019

Early in December in preparation for composing my annual Christmas letter, I reviewed my blog posts of 2019 and was honestly surprised at what I found. Did I really do that shibori snow-dyeing this year? Finish up that dragonfly book that was a response to a recycling challenge? Play with silk fusion and stamping into hot glue? All those things felt like they'd happened the previous year and I didn't have much memory of what happened before June, when I gave machine quilting a tentative whirl. Instead, my faulty memory insisted I'd pretty much focused on sketching and various media on paper, and then got some hiking in before the weather turned. But it was enough to get me assessing my year off from quilting and exhibiting.

That's why I think it doesn't hurt to do a year-end review, and those who do have probably finished that task by now. But it's not too late to look back at the previous year and see what you can learn from it. Here's a simple tool I came across that mirrored what I'd been doing in my head but taking it a bit farther. You might like to give it a try. Simply divide a piece of paper into four quadrants, the left hand ones to list "wins" and "losses", the right hand ones to record "lessons" you learned from each of those wins and losses. The "wins" would be things that went well, that you were excited about, and even proud of. The "losses" would then be what didn't go well, what disappointed you, and what didn't go the way you wanted them to. I still need to do this written exercise but already I know a few things to go in each quadrant.

First and foremost would be to put my 2019 resolution word, "wing it" into the "wins" quadrant. I've never been very comfortable just winging it on anything, but making it my mantra gave me a freedom I'd not allowed myself very often. Not only did it help me to get up the courage to try some things without spending a lot of time researching how to do them, I quit worrying about how I would use the results of all these trials and sometimes errors. Just do it for the experience and to decide if it's worth exploring some more.

I recently read an interview with Urban Sketcher and teacher Paul Wang (January 2020 issue of Drawing Attention) where he talks about the need for "roots and wings" and I realized that my wing it approach was the wings part of his analogy, the part that has been missing a bit from my creative journey:

"One of my teaching philosophies is to have roots and wings at the same time. Some students are too rooted in (in formula). They need to fly. Experiment. Other students might benefit from grounding in principles and concepts and theories . . . When you have the balance of both, you're going to be stable yet adventurous at the same time. So today... should we fly?...Or take roots?"

Paul Wang on Instagram

So getting used to winging it should make it easier now to break out of my rootedness as I return to my art quilting.

"Roots and wings" isn't the only place where I need more balance. I've always had so many interests vying for my time and attention, and the ability to dabbled in so many of them in 2019 was surely a win. But it also pointed out my "all or nothing" nature, the tendency to focus on one thing to the exclusion of most everything else, and to let time get away from me from either lack of scheduling of my time or finding that my curiosity has taken me down an internet rabbit hole. (Working on my family history is a good example of that.) I think the key to a satisfying year for me is to find a balance in how I spend the time set aside for creativity (all those competing interests from sketching to multi-media to surface design to quilting), and to also find a balance in attention given to my other interests (reading, knitting, genealogy, organizing and digitizing the family history files, hiking). I really need to manage my time better, and with that, balance should come. After all, whenever I engaged in something with short-term daily requirements (like INKtober or all those soon to be disappearing free Sketchbook Revival videos), I WAS able to schedule the time required to keep up (a definite one for the "wins" quadrant).

To be honest, I have not missed the quilting as much as I thought I would and I'm not sure which heading that would go under. I've caught myself feeling reluctant to get back to the quilting because I'm not ready to give up the sketching and the multi-media experiments, which the quilting focus always demanded what with its constant exhibit deadlines. That may be why my 2020 resolution word rose to the top of the list and felt like an answer to this quandary of so much I want to do but running out of time to do it. If I heed this resolution to GO! at every turn, I shouldn't have to give anything up, should I? There should be a way to balance my time to include more than just one thing, to be efficient as I work, to seamlessly move from one to the other during the day or week, to schedule my days and weeks so nothing gets irretrievably left behind. Because I truly believe that everything in my life feeds into making me happy and productive and creative. Without engagement in all that variety I'm left unhappy and full of regret and longing. Time to GO!

Go!

I'm one of those "resolution word" people - so much more helpful than the old writing out of resolutions for the New Year that soon go by the wayside. A single word can help propel you, serve as a reminder of a larger yearly intent, guide you back onto your path when you think you've gotten lost. I started thinking about a word for 2020 weeks ago, even jotting a few words down as they came to me. While all were good candidates for helping shape my vision for the year, the one I kept coming back to was "GO!" So "Go!" it is. Let me explain why by starting with a recap of how 2019's word served me.

You might remember that I chose "Wing It" for 2019. I am NOT a wing it sort of person (as I explain in this post about my choice), and in my intended sabbatical year, I sensed a need and a desire to continue to break out of my usual personality type of being totally prepared before starting something. This tendency to research something to death did often keep me from wasted time and frustrations during the making, but it also could serve as encouragement to my other tendency to procrastinate. And so while I might have the proper desire to start a project or try a new technique, the discomfort of not knowing what I was doing would drive me to track down all the information I could find first rather than just plunging in and seeing what happened. Well, not so much in 2019. If something caught my interest, I had permission to give it a go with minimal information, just wing it and see what happened. And for the most part, there were many more pleasant surprises than frustrating failures. I could get to like this.

However, in looking back at the year, I know I did not always spend my time well which meant I didn't get to or make progress on too many things that I intended to. There was too much sitting and thinking and looking and wanting to do followed by I'm just too tired or I've run out of time today or a myriad of other excuses for not taking action. It is true that I still struggle with the sometimes daunting fatigue which is a frequent symptom of the auto-immune syndrome I live with and that often leaves me unable to face doing the simplest tasks. But often I'm just procrastinating again, finding simpler ways to fill my time (i.e. too much time on the internet or watching tv). And so, I came to the conclusion that instead of sighing in defeat on any given day, I needed to constantly remind myself to GO! Not just when it comes to my creative endeavors but in all parts of my life. As I general rule, I always feel so much better (both physically and emotionally) when I do. And of course, I am so much more satisfied when I'm getting things done.

So that is what I hope to do this year. When I think of something I should or need or want to be doing, I won't put it off to a better time, I'll just tell myself to GO! Even the smallest thing that I'm tempted to put off, just GO get started on it and do it. When I try to talk myself out of something, rationalize why it can wait, don't accept that, just GO! And as much as anything, re-establish some routines and schedules sorely missing in my life the last few years so the excuses of running out of time become moot, balance is established, and I approach my everyday life with this energy of GO!

**********************************************************************************

Previous resolution words:

2008 - Freedom

2009 - Calm

2010 - Focus

2011 - Refocus

2012 - Balance & Harmony

2013 - Perseverance

2014 - Explore

2015 - Fearless

2016 - Light

2017 - Endure 

2018 - Refresh

2019 - Wing It!

Post-Christmas Review

It was supposed to be a quiet Christmas, just me, my Christmas music and some holiday goodies. It's what I told everyone on the cards I sent out. And then this guy called a couple of days before Christmas, asking if I had plans. Yeah, plans to clean house because you must be headed my way! This is my nephew Darren who lives about a 5 hour drive away. He's a manager at a Trader Joe's in the Seattle area, and as such, rarely gets enough time off around any holiday to get home to his family in CA. But if he has even two days (which was the case this time) and clear roads, he asks if he can come spend them with me. How special is that?

He arrived mid-afternoon on Christmas day, bearing gifts of wine, chocolates, mini-cakes and the most fabulous apple tortes (missing from the photo because we drowned them in cream and devoured them for dessert). All selections from his Trader Joe's store. I accused him of not being able to decide what to get so he got a bit of everything!

About 24 hours later, after staying up late talking and drinking wine, and the next day bundling up to take the short walk to the neighborhood Mexican restaurant for lunch, he was loading up and heading for home.  Rolled up under his arm was the quilt he had slept under. I've pondered about giving him this quilt for quite awhile but was worried about all the pink fabric mixed into it and on the back. But when I saw his reaction when I opened it up to spread over the guest bed, the jaw drop and the "wow" and the "this is so cool" that exploded out of his mouth, well, I found myself saying, "I guess you should take it home with you then." It is so gratifying to know that this quilt is going to a new home as something desired and appreciated. I'm sure you know what I mean - there's no guarantee that a gift of a quilt will be received in the same spirit as it is given and duly appreciated. I know this one is in good hands, because before he left he quizzed me on whether it could be used and washed (he has a declawed cat) or should just go up on the wall. Well, either, I assured him. It was made with the intention that it be used, but it looks fantastic on the wall too.

View out my front door

A front was predicted to pass through overnight, pretty much like the last Christmas he spent with me, and I was relieved to get the text later that night that he had made it safely over the pass (but not the cranberry bread I'd sent with him, he noted with a laugh). Because this is what I woke up to the next morning - a couple of inches of very wet snow that made the roads slick and icy and caused lots of accidents in the area. Since most of the snow had melted off the lawns before Christmas, only visible along the tops of mountains, I was happy to see this new bit of snow, even if it didn't come in time for Christmas. In fact, its absence was what gave me my very special Christmas this year.

View out the back

Hope you also had a special, family filled holiday! 

4 Needle Coptic Binding Book

4 needle coptic binding - signatures measuring 5 x 3-1/2 inches

I actually finished this "level-up" coptic binding book last weekend but have been almost literally sitting on it, having had it under heavy books trying to get it to behave. I was eager to make this slightly larger 4 needle version now that I'd tried the simpler version and gotten some great information about how to navigate some of the issues I had making it. Forged ahead with confidence that I would end up with a perfect book this time.

Eco-printed paper wrapped around every other signature

I decided that while learning the ropes, I'd follow as closely as possible the materials the teacher is using in her tutorials, and make my books the same sizes before I strike out on my own experimenting with alternate materials. I don't want to be the bookbinding equivalent of the beginner quilting student who comes to class with wool or polyester fabric instead of quilting cotton and bargain barrel sewing thread. But for this version, the teacher was using handmade paper which I don't have, and wrapping each signature in two different colors of it to add interest. However, she did say her paper was 140lb which is the same weight as the watercolor paper I have on hand - hopefully close enough. And I got really excited when I realized I could use some of that eco-printed watercolor paper for the wrappers. Time to start cutting!

Rather than wrapping each signature in eco-print paper, I alternated wrapping around the outside and placing it in the center

Remember me mentioning similarities to quilting I kept running into? Did I mention that you have to be cognoscente of grain direction, not only in the paper for the signatures, but in the book board and whatever you choose to cover it with? It's not an issue of stability like in fabric (different directions stretch more than others) but an issue of making folds that do not crack the paper or spring open (try it with a piece of copy paper - hold it flat in the palms of your hand and gently bend in each direction - one with resist more than the other), and cover paper that doesn't warp the boards because the grains are pulling in opposite directions. All grain in each part of the book must be going in the same direction. And so when I went to check my eco prints, I realized I couldn't fold them in half as I'd intended, but that the grain ran the long way. Wouldn't be able to use the measurements from the teacher, so got some practice figuring what mine would be based on the paper I'd be using. Definitely worth it. But in preparing to cut that 10 inch long eco-print in half for my 5 inch high signatures, I thought to check if the paper was really still 10 inches after eco-printing it. Yikes! Just like in quilting fabric, watercolor paper can shrink! I'd lost nearly a quarter of an inch in length! So glad I paused to check.

Looks much more like leather. Need to clean up around the holes.

While the signatures spent some time under heavy books (really helps to flatten them out and set the fold) I proceeded to cover my boards. I decided to use the "faux leather" paper colored with several different shades of blue paint, the result of a second round of experimentation. It just looked too flat so I tried rubbing different colors of ink pads over the wrinkles. Black was too stark. I didn't have a navy blue one. Brown didn't look right. I didn't think a lime green would likely work, but tried it anyway, and it was just the thing. I think there are more wrinkles in the pieces I used than in the first trial of this technique, I was more careful when I glued it to the boards so I didn't inadvertently smooth them out, and it definitely looks more leather-like.

When I took the signatures out from under the books, they sprung open a bit which concerned me but I decided to get them stitched together anyway. I left more of a gap between the covers and the signatures as suggested to give more breathing space for the book to close up. It all went very well, but the more signatures I added, the more I could see the signatures springing open. But I couldn't believe that more space would solve things, though I pulled and wiggled and tried to make larger gaps. After more time under books and still resistance in staying closed, my best guess is that my watercolor paper is stiffer and perhaps thicker than the teacher's handmade paper, and I probably should have used fewer pieces in each signature. I'm trying to decide if carefully removing a folio from each signature would make things better, or if I should just make a closure to hold it together.

I really do love it though. I found a piece of handmade lotka plant paper in a sampler pack my niece gave me long ago that was perfect for the endpapers. And cutting those eco-prints up and interspersing them with the blank pages changed them from too precious to know what to do with them to images sparking inspiration. I've got ideas now of how I want to fill the blank pages. Not unlike quilt fabric that sits in the stash not knowing what it can be until one gets it out and starts working with it.