Sister’s Bookmaking Afternoon

How often do I take the opportunity to teach others cool projects? Almost never! But I’m trying to change that by inviting family and friends over to play. On Thursday morning I called my big sister in Eugene and invited her to come create a book of her choice. My sister is a quilter and maker of anything in fabric or fiber (weaving, crochet, etc..) but she had never tried her hand with books.  After showing her a bunch of book style examples, she decided to create a 20 page album with hemp-leaf binding (Asa noha toji). I worked right along side her with the same design. It took us about 5 hours to complete.  Below are some images of her working and the finished books.

Here is the happy participant ready to work.

Our basic tools:

Mitering corners:

Finished front and back cover. Beautiful paper choice Kim! She was so happy to have such a wide choice of paper to choose from.  Yes, I’m a paper junkie and she is a fabric junkie.

A happy sister with her completed book!

Our books-

Holiday Cards? Again?

Every year, since art reintroduced itself back into my life, I contemplate card designs for the winter holiday. The first design, about 10 yrs ago, was a block print on uncooperative wood. The next year was some uneventful snowflakes, silk screened on card stock. Another year it was a collaborative card with Dave, moving parts and flip-up sections. Last year was probably the nicest image combining watercolors and a lino block print. With everything thats occurred in the past couple of months, I figured this year cards probably could be purchased from a favorite artist Lynn Russel. Support a local artist! Yes! An excellent idea!

Here we are on December 1 and somehow my brain shifted gears towards creating a card.   I told myself “NO, I don’t have to do cards this year! No one is twisting my arm for a batch. It’s OK to NOT produce.” There are even eye witnesses out there, mainly family, who heard me make these comments. But what did I do yesterday? Design a card. What did I do this morning? Order more blank cards that can stand up to watercolors and printing ink. They were 40% off which helped cover shipping costs. Hell of a deal! Plus winter is an excellent time for printmaking. What better time to work with brightly colored inks indoors while its gray and rainy outside.

At least I have positive energy flowing towards the project at this point. Ask me again in a week and the story might change. Today I’ll finalize the design and figure out how many colors to use. Trying to go for simple with the least registration problems as possible. Guess my brain needed a new puzzle to figure out and this should fit.

Plus if I MAKE the cards, then Dave can WRITE them!

🙂

November Oncologist Visit

Hard to believe that yet another four weeks have passed since my dad’s last visit to the oncologist. Where has time gone this month? Lee has remained stable over the past 3 months. Late November stats: weight 162lb., hemoglobin 10.6, white blood cell 3._? (didn’t write the number down but lower than what the doctor would really like to see), kidney functions are good, platelets are good.  His medication is still doing it’s job and keeping the disease at bay. His activity level increased over the past month. He took two solo trips to Yachats after a couple of test drives to Corvallis. With the increased activity he has also asked too much from his body. There was an incident in which he tried to pull out boards stored on the back deck and he broke a rib. Certainly can’t blame him for wanting to resume his normal life but bone breaks hurt like crazy. After a week+, it does seem to be healing.  So far he is refusing to take serious pain medication.

I must admit it’s nice having him be more independent. It had been over a month since driving down on my own to Eugene. I still make daily phone calls to check in. He has several projects started for artful improvements on the coast house. New framed map to cover the electrical panel, brighter colors for the living space (pillows & rug ideas), and new stained glass designs for the sliding bedroom doors (geometric design, FLW influence). Time to liven up the space from my mothers ocean color palate (blue, green, gray). There might even be a new stove unit with an oven! He may not sell the place after all.

Lee’s 84th birthday is fast approaching. This year he claims not to want any celebration. I asked him if a nice meal plus favorite September 7th cake from the Metropole bakery would be ok. He briefly considered it and thought it a good idea. Could that man turn down chocolate???? Never!

Paper Tubes

Thanksgiving weekend. Our biggest outing was heading to Springhill Cellars for wine tasting with neighbor Gail. Otherwise Dave spent his time working on museum goodies and I played with paper.

Here are the crazy creations:

I taped a spiral of flat rattan over a tube form and glued paper over the surface. Could become lamps or containers. Not certain what yet. They remind me of Slinkies but in paper form and yes, they can be compressed! This was another process learned from the Sitka class last summer.

Shoji Birdhouse: Almost complete!

Saturday was the day for leaf work. Dave had nicely harvested four fronds from the licorice ferns at the park several days ago . Originally I was thinking about using bracken ferns, but he was unable to locate the plants. Oh well! These will do nicely.

I chose to print the leaves onto butcher paper to get a better idea of layout. After they dried, the prints aided creating cutouts on black Strathmore paper. Then the dreaded cutting began! Fortunately the paper is thinner and doesn’t require as much pressure to cut (plus changing blades really helps too!).

Here are the images from Saturday and Sunday morning.

Printing fern fronds.

The first three cutouts.

Layout of paper ferns on panels.

Next step is cutting and gluing onto the panels. This step should be completed in a couple of hours.

Shoji Birdhouse contd.

Report from Thursday:

This is where I’m at so far. Base is finished and wired. Roof is almost complete (ridgeline cap needs attaching and one more interior support to add).

To do: Figuring out corner support strips, cut paper design and a couple of other things.

Here are some photos of it lit up!

 

Shoji Birdhouse Lamp

How often have I started a project with one thing in mind only to shift towards, well, something a bit different. Since I have not posted my original ideas/drawings, you would have no idea what I’ve been thinking.  The birdhouse deadline is fast approaching and many artists have already dropped their work off. Will I get it completed in time?

The roof structure has become a thorn in this project. Initially envisioned as walnut or maple and in four sections, like a carriage lamp structure, it shifted to a trussed wood roof. Last night it shifted yet again to stay with original materials of paper and spruce/balsa wood framing. I think this is the best solution yet!

The below image is showing the interior framing of the roof structure. I would love to leave the wood exposed. Unfortunately I utilized short spans of wood rather than interlocking longer lengths. This did not provide enough support to keep it together after  attaching the backing paper. An additional cover paper will be applied. Should look lovely with the lights on!

Below image: nice shadowing from roof structure.

After covering the second roof side and gently resting on the structure.

Originally I had hoped to create a hinged roof structure but time has run out. Now I need to figure out roof trusses/support so the whole thing can be lifted off to change the bulb. That is today’s challenge. Oh, then there are the cut paper designs to work on plus a couple more finish coats to apply to the base, and electrical parts.

Will it be completed by Saturday???? We shall see!