There was more fun to come in Pittsburgh, where I returned for my annual week long workshop at the Society for Contemporary Craft. I first began teaching at SCC when I lived in Pittsburgh from 2000 to 2005; this organization is so well run, it is a pleasure to work with everyone there. Many of my students there have been coming since the beginning, and this was, I believe, our sixth year to hold the week long bookmaking workshop. So, lots of friendly familiar faces, lots of laughs, lots of great coffee from the 21st Street shop across the way, and breakfast at Pamela's almost every morning make for a fantastic environment.
Our projects for the week included four decorative spine bindings, a Japanese stab binding, the Butterfly binding, a rounded back Bradel binding, a box construction with loose fitting lid, the Blizzard and Crown books, a cereal box journal, several french fold booklets, and orizomegami, or tie dyed paper. Above are a few photos of our paper and box work. On Saturday, I taught a separate class on constructing a leather journal sewn over colorful leather tapes.
We're already making plans for next year's workshop at SCC, so watch for details. It will be in June, 2011 and it will be fabulous!
Do you have a mailing list for your workshops?
ReplyDeleteLooks like you had a fun and productive summer. Lovely pix!
ReplyDeleteLove the fabric book you wrote. I wish I could read your posts on this blog. The light blue font just doesn't show up on the very busy background.
ReplyDeleteIs anyone else having trouble reading my blog? I show light grey type on a very dark gray background, good contrast and not hard to read at all, but I'm using Safari browser on my Mac. Would love to know if others are having problems.
ReplyDeleteHow did you make the Japanese fold and dye papers?
ReplyDeleteWhat paper did you use?
What dyes?
Did you wet the paper at any point?
thanks
Linda
Hi Linda --
ReplyDeleteWe used Japanese sumi-e rice paper for this project.
The inks were mostly Culinary Colors, a collection of dyes from the yarn shop. There were also some other random inks (Dr. PhMartin, Speedball, Wiinsor Newton) used in the session.
The folded paper can be dipped in dye wet or dry. Dry gives a more defined pattern; wetting the paper first will disperse the color and make the patterns softer around the edges.
Have fun with this!