Suminagashi is the ancient art of Japanese paper marbling where calligraphy ink is floated on top of water in concentric rings and then a print is taken with handmade Japanese washi paper. I did an extra step with this paper and fanned it before taking the print, which caused the lightly jagged edges. I love […]
I have a huge weakness for decorative paper – I get stingy when it comes to buying new clothes, but the sky’s the limit when it comes to spending money on fancy handmade paper! Fortunately I can turn that fancy paper into journals, and share it (*cough* sell it) to you! The coptic stitch binding on these […]
Who doesn’t love a gorgeous map? I found these great vintage topographic maps in a shop while visiting Oregon, and they depict “Geographic Hazards of Clackmas County”. The maps we’re used to seeing are road maps (well, these days with GPS maybe we AREN’T used to seeing road maps…) but these maps show the layout […]
This little sparrow journal is the perfect handmade gift for a bird watcher or gardener. I even sewed it with a special type of bookbinding method called Coptic stitch so that it lies perfectly flat when you open it, making it easy to write in. This stitch is impossible to do with a machine, which […]
Art journaling is a fun alternative to traditional journaling with writing – if you’re an artist looking to keep your drawing or painting skills sharp, or simply experience the world more visually, keeping your memories in an artist journal by drawing or painting your daily experiences is a fun way to remember things. I made […]
Suminagashi is a gorgeous type of paper marbling invented in Japan over 1,000 years ago. I wrote a post a while ago when I taught a suminagashi marbling class at Clark University and you can see every step of the process. Basically you float rings of black sumi ink (I really like using this Yasutomo […]
I love Washi Tape! A friend from Japan sent me a huge care package of washi tape, a thin Japanese masking tape with designs printed on it ( you can even get washi tape on Amazon)- I used the tape to create this pretty striped pattern on raw book board, and then sealed the whole […]
These blue chart journals are always a huge hit at craft shows – before my Christmas fairs this year I made at least 10 and they all sold out! The bathemetry charts I used are underwater topography maps and show the elevation of the sea floor – the local NOAA office was going to recycle […]
It’s tutorial Tuesday! I am sharing great bookbinding tutorials I’ve found around the web on Tuesdays – today’s tutorial is about a very popular but tricky style called chain stitch (also known as coptic stitch). This step by step tutorial by Shelly at Cat-Sidh has tons of photos and detailed directions though – click on the […]
I made this book specially for a friend who went traveling around the national parks out in the West and wanted to document her trip. I wanted a woodsy feel so I went with raw book board – I also did a little hand-drawn woodgrain pattern on the inside with black and gold pen. The […]