5. February 2009 by Kathy.

I am in an online journal making class taught by Sue Bleiweiss at Two Creative Studios  called Journal Making for the Fiber Artist.

Its a lot of fun.  I have finished the first project and am working on the second.  I think I am supposed to post these in the yahoo group or such.  That will have to wait until this weekend.  In the meantime here is the first journal!  Way simpler than I thought too, or else Sue is great at written instructions or perhaps both?

I love this journal!  First - the fabric is one of my favorites - it reminds me of Dad’s measuring ruler, right down the the color.  Then I used one of Superior Threads great threads - this is one their Rainbow series.  Don’t you love the way it flows through shades of yellow/gold?

Best of all I now know what a SIGNATURE is.  I learned that last summer in Josie’s classes at ArtUnraveled.  And that is probably where I got hooked on making journals too.  And here I had only signed up for her two classes to learn soldering and metal etching (one journal had a glass soldered cover and the other had an etched cover).

The next journal is great also because the ’signatures’ are removable/replaceable.  Oh - perhaps I should state that a signature is a group of papers, usually folded in half, and stitched in the middle to the book.  So as a rank beginner it seems that the # of pages in one signature might be 6 to 12 range (after folding), and that the hand made journals I have worked on or looked at might have 3 to 5 signatures in them.

Posted in class, book, fabric, ezine | 1 Comment »

17. August 2008 by Kathy.

Two classes on this day!

First class Soldered Journal with Josie (and Kay) again.

Josie had designed a great cover for the soldered journal class but I wanted to make mine into a memory book of my art classes this year so after emailing Josie for dimensions (because it was an option for all of us to design a cover ourselves if desired) I made my front image the week before class.

I had decided a map - well 6 maps - of the areas I would (or have been) in for taking classes would be good! Its a fun year - ribbonwork with my favorite Aussie - Helen Eriksson, attending Art Unraveled, attending Art and Soul, attending the International Quilt Festival. The cover shows up with my class project!

Class itself - Josie and Kay made soldering easy. Kay was a stickler on getting that tape down (burnishing). At first I thought it was overkill. But since we broke for lunch and came back to start soldering - well I could instantly see places where the tape had not STUCK! And Josie has this neat trick of tapping the surface as she goes - makes for a cleaner look. I, of course, forgot that for part of it and boy did it make a big difference!

Did I mention we patina’d? Fun and a great way for beginners like me to blend in less than perfect soldering. Thank you Josie!

Evening Class - Buckled Memories

The class description missed a few key things - mainly we were transferring the photo to LEATHER! That might have brought in a few more students. Dorothy was a great teacher - it was an evening of challenges for her for sure and she handled it like a pro.

The whole project was an interesting concept. I had thought they were just frames and so had planned on grouping three together (I still have to finish this project) into a shadow box. Everyone else were making pendants to hang on a chain. So Dorothy taught us Richard Salley’s staple method and her original method of wiring the buckles to hang on a chain also! I learned a lot that night. One thing I learned (and Dorothy did also, lol) is that the tongue of the belt buckle comes in various thicknesses and I had the thickest Dorothy had ever seen (you see you have to cut that part off!). That took me quite a while to cut off. So here is my photo - this is not a done transfer though because I had the wrong type of paper. I will post later when I have it done:

My roomie had Susan’s class on resin that day and produced this:

The first piece is actually a ring made with the resined papers - really nice! The second piece is actually Susan’s work.

Posted in book, jewelry, paper, kit | No Comments »

17. August 2008 by Kathy.

First day of classes. Mine was Copper Etched Journal with Josie C. and her able associate KAY!!! They made the etching process easier than I had been expecting - others had told me it was hard to do! Josie shared her stamps (great collection - some her design) with us and away we went.

Helpful info - did you know that tin snips can cut thru 24 ga copper? So much easier (and quicker) than using a saw. Josie says Tim Holtz’s new scissors also cut thru 24 ga.

It takes a while for the etchant to work so while that was going on I (and probably a few other students) learned that the word signature has a second meaning. Signature also means a folded section of pages in a book. The book we were making has three signatures. Josie made it all simple which I really appreciated.

What is it about a “technique” class where you get to do a project that is so rewarding? And Josie believes in student success so she had done so much prep work for us - we didn’t have to cut anything - copper, mat board, papers, linen thread. She pre drilled and punched all the holes in the covers. And she brought her able associate KAY. Thank you Josie and Kay.

The etching will be great to try with the jewelry process and making a book was fun so I might do that again!

The picture did not do the project justice. Its a tiny book - so cute! Plus I learned to etch! And here are a couple other examples and then some fellow students photos (mostly hands - I am recording hands at work this year).

oops - almost forgot Carol’s class project from Michael deMeng:

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