Steampunk Lapbook and Other Stuff

Here we are, 4 months on from the last post. Doesn't time fly when your frozen!
It was a cold winter, and with no heating this year, all my plans for winter activities - including posting a winter garden walk-thru - went out the window. Or more appropriately, they sat huddled under a big furry blanket with a hot water bottle, watching TV and refusing to move unless absolutely necessary.

Now that it has started warming up, I have been getting into the craft room.
I have managed to get hold of a good number of old books and several sets of old encyclopedias, and promptly spent two weeks dissecting all the books and some of the encyclopedias. That means there are now book page paper packs, and hardcovers up in the Etsy shop.

And the making has begun. I have just finished a Steampunk lapbook, and a mini journal, as well as completing an altered planner. These I will actually keep for myself. People keep asking me about what I do and can I show them some of the stuff I make, and my answer is always "Ummm... well... I've never kept any of the stuff I make, so I don't have anything I can show you". Well, now I will have. And now I will start making things to put in the Etsy shop.
I had already started, with making the first in a set of pretty little envelopes made from book pages, but a number of people had been thru the house dropping off books, and the envelope walked off with one of them. The first naked journal for the shop has been completed though.

So lets start with the mini journal. This will become my Little Book of Information, where I can collate all those bits of information written on little bits of paper and sticky notes - what size is an A4 page in inches? Centimeters? Pixels (because the software I use for image manipulation works in pixels)? What about A5? What were the dimensions for the dividers for the larger planner? What ink does my printer take, again?

This pretty little journal consists of 4 signatures, each with 6 sheets. That means a nice 96 pages for info. All the sheets used to make the signatures were first tea dyed, giving them a wonderful look, feel, and sound.

At this point, I would like to introduce some book terminology.

Like so many other crafting areas, we have brought the skills and techniques from what was once a professional occupation into the general crafting masses, but never bothered to bring the proper terminologies with those skills. This has led to a lot of confusion about what constitutes a "page".

I read listings that say they have used 6 pages to make a signature, to give 12 pages, with 24 pages - or worse, 'writing surfaces'. I don't know about you, but when I'm discussing a book with someone I don't ask "what writing surface was that on", I ask "what page was that on". And when people are referring to the sheets used to make a signature as pages, then each side of the fold line also as pages, and then each side of those also as pages, or out of desperation to find a different word, refer to the actual pages as 'writing surfaces', it gets very confusing. 

So here is the basic terminology for SHEET – A sheet of paper

LEAF – Half of a sheet. Each sheet when folded in half, produces two leaves, one on each side of the fold line.

PAGE – One side of a leaf. Each leaf has two sides or pages

SIGNATURE – A group of sheets folded in half and stacked together

BOOK – A collection of signatures bound together

Each sheet produces 2 leaves, or 4 pages, so to determine the number of pages in a signature, multiply the number of sheets used by 4.

i.e. a 10 sheet signature has 40 pages.

And there you have it.
books:

Now onto the altered planner. All the laces on this are antique.

The lapbook was so much fun to do, but very labour-intensive and time consuming.

On the front, I put two bronze latches to keep it closed, which should prove very useful once it starts getting full.

The first journal for the Etsy shop is a naked journal. "Naked" means that it doesn't have any ephemera or embellishments inside, and "journal" - as opposed to "junk journal" means it doesn't have all the pockets and tuck spots that you find in junk journals. The only concession to those that I made was to put Venetian lace pockets on the inside of the front and back covers, and to include two naked tags in each pocket. Otherwise, the journal consist solely of pages.

The cover of this journal is an upcycled hardback book cover, covered with a soft cotton fabric from a piece of upcycled vintage clothing, and decorated with a beautiful shabby chic print collage.
The Journal itself consists of 4 signatures, each containing 9 sheets, which makes a total of 144 pages for journalling on.
Each signature is a mix of shabby chic printed sheets, and hand tea dyed papers. The paper used for both the printed sheets and tea dyed papers is an Eco product made from recycled paper. I do all the printing and hand tea dying myself.
In the center of each signature is a beautiful shabby chic printed envelop, for keeping small items, photos, etc.
The signatures are all hand sewn into the cover.

Well, that's it for this time. Cheers, all.

Of Neighbors, Skunk Cats, and Junk Journals

It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly there was a loud "BANG!"
Ooo... good start to a story!
A little background now...

So last night, I sat down to binge watch the just-released, much anticipated, 6 part series "Good Omens" on Amazon Prime. The series is based on Terry Pratchett (of Discworld fame) and Neil Gamin's book. It is hilarious, and I can TOTALLY recommend it! The hallway walls of Hell have signs that say "Please don't lick the walls". Hmmm....

Halfway thru the bingeing around 8.30 pm, suddenly there was a loud banging on the back door. I NEVER get late visitors. Let's face it, I don't really get many visitors at any time of the day, but definitely not after dark!

Standing at the back door was a neighbour, proffering a head of broccoli. Apparently they were in the middle of making a fancy pasta dish from scratch, and suddenly realized that they didn't have any garlic in any form in the house, and could I please spare a clove of garlic, because all the shops were shut. Lol. Yeah... we've all been there! Just last week I was getting everything out to make cornbread, and discovered I didn't have any cornmeal. Oops! Fortunately I hadn't actually started it.

Well, it looks like winter has finally arrived (hence the dark and stormy night last night) - and right on time too. Yesterday was the first "official" day of winter here, and today it is cold, grey, wet, and VERY windy!

Definitely a good morning for a hot cup of coffee first thing. So I'm pattering out to the kitchen in my jammies, wrapped up in a long cardigan I use as a bathrobe, and POW! OMG, it smelled like a small skunk had gone off in the kitchen! Except we don't have skunks in New Zealand. 
OK, more backround...

About two months ago, the big tabby from down the back decided he didn't want to live there anymore, and he moved into my place. The owner was fine with that, as she was thinking of re-homing him anyway. His name is Frankie, and yeah, he's a bit of a mobster, but a really good mouser! Important, because I have been inundated with mice since the people in the flat next door - who did most of their cooking and had all their food storage in the garage - moved, leaving hordes of starving mice looking for a new food source. 

Frankie isn't too fond of Molly, the dog, and doesn't really like Sheba, my other cat. Sheba isn't too keen on the dog either, and really really dislikes Frankie. Molly doesn't like either of the cats, because they get attention she thinks should be going to her. So now I have three kiddies, all of them wanting to be only children. *Eyeroll*.

Anyway, it appears that Frankie, at some point in the middle of the night in his infinite cat wisdom, decided that the best way to prove once and for all that this was HIS house, was to spray the hutch and the big bag of potatoes in the kitchen. Pee-ewwww! And yes, he is neutered. Good thing I don't get a lot of visitors! Don't need a crystal ball to tell me that there is a big day of scrubbing ahead!

Sheba

Frankie

Molly

The Spirit Cloth is progressing nicely. Currently, I am doing the Boro stitching on a corner section. I love the way the Boro makes several disconnected layers of fabric look like a single piece of fabric, and I just adore the feel of it.

Boro stitching on Spirit Cloth Cover

With life getting back on track, I am looking at re-opening my Etsy shop, getting back into making my Fabric Books and Fabric Journals, and adding Art Journals, Junk Journals, and Junk Journal Planners to the inventory. Fingers crossed, I should have the first items in store in about 6 weeks. Next year, I hope to add online classes on making Fabric Books and Fabric Journals.

To whet my whistle in anticipation of getting into things, I made a toilet roll pocket book. Yup, it is exactly what it sounds like - a book of pockets made from toilet rolls (the cardboard rolls in middle of toilet paper), with tags in the pockets. 

There is an excellent video tutorial on how to make these by the wonderful LorriMarie Jenkins, a fabulous mixed-media artist. If you are interested in mixed media, her YouTube channel is really worth subscribing to.

Toilet Paper Roll Circus Pocket Book.

Mine is Teapot themed. I love teapots, and if I had the room I would collect them. It has all sorts of antique teapots - like the handmade silver camel from Morocco, and novelty teapots - like the octopus one from China. I have a bit of a Minion fetish, so the cover is a Minion tea set. My favorite teapot is the tiny toilet teapot (yes, a teapot in the shape of a toilet! Funky!)

Teapot Themed Toilet Roll Pocket Book

Camel Teapot and Octopus Teapot tags

Tiny Toilet Teapot tag

Hasta la vista - until we meet again. Cheers.

Spirit Cloth Progress

Well, here we are, heading in to the  middle of May. For those of us in the Southern Hemisphere, that means autumn is almost finished, and winter will officially be here soon. While the nights are getting quite cold, the days are unseasonably warm. Spring bulbs are already up, and many of the trees - fruit trees especially, are very confused. On the up side, it is still warm enough to plant out autumn crops, and next week I will have enough extra to afford a small seed order, so I should be able to get a few more varieties in for the winter garden. Yay!

Woven block

The Spirit Cloth bedcover is progressing nicely. Mostly because I am doing it to the exclusion of everything else at the moment - including most housework, lol.

A number of people recommended starting with a small section, and expanding out from there to make a large cloth, and adding other sections as you go. This was a new way of working for me. I started with the circle piece pictured in the last post. From there, not having any ideas of what to do with it, I set it aside and moved on to making a few other blocks. One was a woven block, another was a woven block with hearts, then I did a small moon piece.

Moon block

Heart block

Finally, with the Moon block, I got a little inspiration. If the moon is in the sky, then it could do with a bit of ground underneath. So I extended the cotton lawn base, and added an orange piece for the ground. It was wider than the moon piece, so I added a bit more cotton lawn base to the moon block, and extended the sky out to the left a bit. 
In the scraps basket were two narrow, long pieces left over from projects completed many years ago. I never envisioned being able to use them, but couldn't bring myself to throw them away. Now I had ideas for using them. The first one was a long straight piece which was perfect to use as a fence rail. This was embroidered over to attach it across the ground. On top of the rail, two cats came to sit. One of them decided to start singing. This is where the second piece of treasured scrap would be used. It was a long, tapering piece, with music notes on it. Perfect! However, I didn't wan't to cram it onto the existing block, I felt it would be much better to have it wandering onto another block. Once again this would entail adding another piece of cotton lawn base, then adding another foundation piece to it.

Moon block with cats

Singing cat

By this time, I was finding the constant need to extend the piece, without any clear idea of what I wanted the finished section to look like, quite frustrating. I also realized that I was unconsciously squaring the piece off each time - something I actually wanted to avoid doing. I decided to put it - along with the other blocks I had done, onto the sheet base. So I had finally ended up where I usually start. My usual way of working is to start with a whole-cloth base the size I want the completed project (in this case an old queen-sized sheet), and work from there.

I can see how the piecemeal approach would work very well for many people. Doing applique and embroidery on a smaller piece is certainly a lot easier than doing it in the middle of a humongous cloth. And if you have a vision for each section, then there is a milestone to aim for that isn't off in the forever distance. But that approach just doesn't work for me. For me personally, I find it actually stifles my creativity. We all work in different ways.

For me, the most effective and creative way to do it is - as already stated - to start with a whole-cloth base the size of the item I want. Almost always, this will be an an old sheet. From there, I lay the foundation of patches. This gives me a good overview of the project, in terms of colour and foundation composition. Even if I don't have a clear vision of the finished item, I can still plug away at the foundation. For me, the ideas of what to do wrap themselves around the structures formed by the foundation. It makes it easier to - literally - run with an idea, such as a stream or a wandering line of falling leaves going down the entire length of the cloth. It also makes it easier to have the second and third layer elements crossing over from one patch to the next.

It is still very easy to have short term, medium term, and long term goals/milestones. I lay my foundation patches along in a line from one side to the other. Of course the bottom of the line is not a straight one because of the different sized patches, but it is still a line. Each line is a milestone. Laying the patches - large, medium, and small, then filling in the spaces and gaps with strips and bits. Once the entire line is laid and pinned, then I baste it down, leaving the bottom of the line unbasted, so that the next line can be overlapped or tucked under depending on how I want the patches to be.

left side of the first line

Middle of the first line

Right side of the first line

Eventually the last line is completed, and that means the entire foundation has been laid. This is what I term the First Layer, and this is the first major milestone. From there I start adding what I term the Second Layer elements - the applique. Once all the applique has been completed, I then add the Third Layer elements, the embroidery. This where the beasties get their faces, the leaves get their veins, etc. Unlike with the Crazy Quilting, which is very heavily embroidered, the embroidery on the Spirit Cloth will be kept to a minimum. It will be used to flesh out and embellish the appliqued item, but won't be used to fill in spaces and cover the surface. I think that level of stitchwork will clash with the Kantha/Boro stitching which is the final element, the Fourth Layer.

The Fourth Layer is where the entire thing is stitched together with close running stitches to pull all the layers together into a single cloth. In India it is called Kantha, and in Japan it is known as Boro.

As you can see, I am now doing the last line. I thought I would take a picture now, while I can lay it out on the driveway (the only place big enough to lay it out). We are expecting rain over the next few days.

From the bottom looking up

From the top looking down

Until next time... cheers.