Busy, fun week!

The kids and I have had a great week at VBS this week! But it does mean that I have not had time to make any new books, or post anything here. While I love VBS week and look forward to teaching it every year, I have had a burning desire each day to hide away in the studio and make BOOKS! I just love the whole process! Today we will be busy with getting ready to leave tomorrow to take the kids to visit my grandmother in another state, so no bookmaking this week either. When I return later this week - watch out studio! I'll be in there creating many new ideas I've been mulling over in my creative brain. Just bought some 8"X8" bookboard from someone on etsy, so I can't wait to make some mini albums in coptic stitch. Since I had no new pictures to add, I went through my iPhoto album on our Mac and found a picture of a set of albums I did for a friend's new baby last year. It's a mini album bound with ribbon in a stab bound style, an accordian album, and an altered tin that I did for her to put tiny pictures of her baby in and throw in her purse. These were so fun to make!

Back to my process postings

Here I am sewing the book together while it rests in the book cradle. I also use the book cradle for punching the holes in the signatures with the awl (didn't get a picture of that step!). I am using one needle and one loooong piece of irish linen thread to sew over the ribbon tapes. The stitches that I used on this particular book are the long stitch, the chain or coptic stitch, and the kettle stitch. I love this binding method!

The Storyteller and the Listener Online

I added a link to the Storyteller and the Listener Online because they have great essays written by storytellers that describe how storytelling has been used to promote healing, reconciliation, bridge-building, and/or peacemaking. Thank you to Holly Stevens who is the editor of this project! Be on the lookout for an essay about how Life Stories Handmade Books by Kristin have been a tool in promoting healing - coming in September! I'm excited to share!

Now, off to practice my storytelling session that I will present to the Boys and Girls Club (5-9 year olds) on Monday! My kids love it when I practice - they know the stories by heart now!

Book Swap

This is a book I completed for the Volcano Arts Book Swap. It's got 270 tiny seed beeds strung on the spine! I'll be mailing it off to Christine of Volcano Arts ASAP. I added her website to My Links in the sidebar. I buy lots of bookbinding supplies from her. She's got lots of fun photos and bookmaking (and jewelry making) ideas to look at, as well as informative articles to read!

This one has a new home today...

This one just listed on Etsy...

Coptic Book for DH

My dear husband requested that I make him this book. He wanted a notebook to take notes at work. Lots of graph paper, some copy paper, business card holders, and the cover paper were his necessities. The cover paper is from some of his aeronatical charts (he's a pilot and instructor by hobby) and the signatures were each wrapped in a sheet of white cardstock for durability (the graph paper felt so thin to me). I finished it this morning after he left for work. He'll be so happy to see it when he gets home!

An interruption of my process postings

This book has just been added to my etsy store! It's got 40 pages of Fabriano Artistico cold press 140 lb. watercolor paper and 50 blue seed beads sewn over the blue ribbon. It's one book in a series of some monochromatic color schemes I've got going on now. I've got 9 books (not all monochromatic) in progress so will be adding more photos next week as I finish them.

My husband just bought this great Canon PowerShot SD550 camera so that I can take better close-up photos of my books and he can take better digital videos. We love it! These photos are the first I've taken with the camera and I'm very happy with the macro feature! Although, I could use better photography skills, I am improving with practice!