Journal, resistors and pin

The above photos are of some of the pages in a journal I made from my hand decorated papers and stamps. It's winging it's way to a very special lady in the US for her birthday last week.
I've added a few of my decorations and images but left the rest for her to do as she pleases.



My darling brother came to see me yesterday with this wonderful collection of resistors, gold plated connectors and other goodies. He'd been cleaning out his supply, what wonderful treasures, I just have to spend some time now sorting them out.



I made this experimental pin that can also become a necklace with the addition of the chain. I've started to make my own wire pins so I need to do some testing to make sure they hold their shape. If they are a success I'll have some in my Etsy store when I open it shortly.

There may be another altered book workshop at Hann Made Studio on Sunday November the 25th, if we can get enough interest. If you're interested in attending just email me or contact Hann Made Studio, their link is in my side bar.

Altered book workshop students

What another fabulous group of students attended my altered book workshop over the weekend. This is Ruth, such a sweet lady, so enthusiastic and eager despite having a very bad back. Ruth's pages were lovely.



Jaz is one very talented young lady, her work is lovely, she worked in a children's book and incorporated some of the images in the book into her work with terrific results.



Lyn started out thinking she was not at all creative, I think she had a different opinion by the end of the class, her work was beautiful and she produced some wonderful pages.



Janice writes and hadn't done very much art before, I think she too surprised herself. She ended up with some lovely pages. Janice intends to add writing to her book at a later stage.



What can I say about Patsy, she's such a wonderful lady and artist in so many fields. Her work is divine, this was her second class with me. Patsy doesn't waste time, she had two books on the go so that she could alternate between them whilst they dried. Patsy's enthusiasm is so contageous, she's so very inspiring.



Anne only found out about the class on Thursday, so she wasn't sure what to expect. Her mother is very sick and I think the class helped her to unwind for a few hours. Anne's work was lovely, so much texture and layers. She sent me a lovely email tonight saying how much she'd enjoyed the class. It's lovely to get feed back. The class is so full on while it's happening I'm never sure if people are having a good time, there was lots of laughing so I suppose that's a good start.



This was Nicky's second class too, another very talented lady, her book is looking delightful. As you can see from the photo she has a lovely smile and lots of enthusiasm.

Gosh reading this post back it reads like a school report, sorry ladies, I hope you don't mind, but you were all so good, I couldn't keep it to myself. Happy book altering.

Altered book workshop

I'm teaching another altered Book workshop on Sunday again, so I've been busy getting together the student kits. I try to add different papers and images to them as some of the students return for a second time.
We had another great Thursday night altered book get together this week, they are a great group of ladies all doing their own thing with some terrific results.



This is a pin I've just completed. I decorated the rusty piece of metal sometime ago and wasn't sure how I would use it. I'm starting to make my own wire pins now so this was a good chance to experiment and use my rusty piece. I'm trying to get a collection of things together to set up my etsy store, I'm still trying to work out postage.

Paperific and Altered book - last page

What a fabulous day we had yesterday. We went to Docklands, which is as the name suggest a dock and harbour area. It's only been developed recently and is still growing, lots of apartments, cafes and restaurants and boats, some very luxurious.
My husband spent the afternoon taking photos while I went to 'Paperific', a paper, stamp, embellishment, etc show. Needless to say I bought lots of 'stuff'. I met the great Jen Crossley and Julie from Collections, who Jen was demonstrating for. I also bumped into lovely Nicky who attends our altered book Thursday night get together. The photo shows me going through my loot while waiting for my husband to return, he snuck up on me.


As mentioned in the last post, I've come to the end of my current altered book. Lisa asked me in the previous comments post what sort of paper I use in my decorated papers. Well Lisa just about anything I can get my hands on, from good quality watercolour paper to bond sketching paper which is quite thin, this has the advantage that the image usually goes through to the other side, which is useful if I'm using it to make a journal. It's also nice and thin to add to my altered pages.

The photo above shows the first stage. I apply about four different colours of paint (acrylic, watercolour crayons, inks, again whatever I have available, but mainly acrylics) randomly to the two pages, usually keeping one until last for the highlights.



The next stage is to add strips of paper napkins, torn phone book pages or any thin paper. I peel the white backing off the paper napkins to make them more transparent. I use my hand made stamps to stamp images and patterns onto the pages.



I then add hand drawn lines or 'doodles', text, chocolate wrappers or anything that will add to the layers.



Finally I finish off with attachments, images, fabric or strips or cut outs from my decorated papers. Sometimes I give the two pages a wash of a very watery mix to tie the whole thing together. I leave the next two pages blank and work on the two after that, then I join the blank pages together, making the pages thicker. Quite often I come back later and add other things I find that might suit the page, it's a never ending story.

ATC's

I've never made 'real' ATC's before, only the playing card variety that we took to the retreat at Fremantle earlier in the year.
These three are on their way to Gisele this week in a three for three swap I have with her. I thoroughly enjoyed making them, they are like creating miniature journal pages.
Speaking of which, below is another page in my current altered book, I have only one more page to go then this journal is complete apart from the cover. It has taken me fourteen months to complete. I have my next one lined up and ready to go.

Altered pages

These pages all have paper napkins and my home made stamps for decoration. The bottom one has some of my handrawn images that I photo copy then use them as transfers, that way I can repeat them on other pages. I never start out with a theme, I just put down colour and go from there.



I've finished my pages in my current ABRR and sent it on today. I find when I'm working in the book, my journal pages tend to reflect the colours I'm using in the ABRR, so Ursula if you read this, your pages are quite colourful. I had to tone my colours down for Judy's book and for Marie's, but I let my hair down for Ursula's and Megan's books. I'm now waiting for my next one to arrive. There are eight of us in Australia and seven ladies from American, we receive a new book each month. We get our own book back in November 2008 so we have to be patient and not show our work until them. I'm amazed at the diverse range of styles and the fabulous work that everyone is doing, it's like receivinga present every time a new book arrives. Bring on the next one.