Bones

I haven't made an entire, more-than-one-signature in over a year now but happily, it was like I'd never stopped! Apparently, I won't lose my bookmaking skills despite no practice. It might be because while I don't make books nowadays, I do think about making them and it was a very complicated dream in which I made a Belgian Secret Binding that made me finally make this book. It's for my master's dissertation adviser and really I ought to have given it to him back in January or February. Unfortunately, this is typical-I can go years without giving gifts out and then suddenly, really randomly, I make up for it.
Anyhow, onto the book itself!

my adviser is an archaeozoologist and though I am not, I nonetheless have the Collins bone id guide from which I traced these bones in order to cut them out of the greenish/blueish cover paper. The bones expose a light green brocade paper underneath. It's a slightly odd sized square.

the end paper is a British bought paper and was chosen b/c I admire his very methodical approaches to archaeological problems and this strikes me as a very methodical paper.

I was stymied on what binding the book wanted and ended up with my coptic zigzag-partially b/c I love it and partially b/c it put me in mind of the jagged ends of broken bones...which is what an archaeologist usually sees

Button Up Refashion

Don't mind the contrapposto...or the pink

My boyfriend recently culled his button up shirt collection. I was right next to him helping the process by going, "really?! that one?" but he was far more ruthless than I could ever be. This shirt was the first of the pile to get the refashioning treatment since I love menswear tailoring and pin tucks/ruffled pleats more than it's probably healthy.
Since L men's is rather boxy, huge, and unflattering for me I started out by tearing out the side seams and removing the sleeves (aprox. 7 inches too long for me). I let out the sleeve seam allowances to provide a bit of a cap but sewed up the sides into a more curvy silhouette. I removed the collar but sewed up the collar stand because that provided just enough of a collar to make it girly/blousy but still mensweary. I added some bust darts to take up the strange amount of fabric above the *ahem* curvy bits and added some more buttons (and buttonholes) to hide the aforementioned curvy bits. The sleeve caps got bias bound to finish them off and the bottom got cut and sewn into a new curved hem. Ta-dah! A sleeveless blouse that's long enough to cover the posterior with some fantastic pleats! (and no, it'll probably be never ironed again)

Bobbin Lace Making

two finished pieces

 I've taken up-mildly-bobbin lace making. It goes slowly (oh so slowly) mainly because it's so mindful. You can't let your mind wander too far which means it requires a full attention span-and mine ebbs and flows. I'm teaching myself the same way I taught myself to bind books- reading books. Every book about bobbin lace making I've found is published in the 1950-1960s and has the tone of a little old lady down pat. Like with book binding, I take shortcuts (for instance, I do not trace my pattern, pre-prick, and retrace the pattern again) which I'm sure are scandalous and you'll notice my cushion is not a cushion at all. I love doing traditional crafts and all but I'm still a modern individual here.

piece still on the 'cushion'

Around the house

 inspired by a picture-I made my own coat rack out of 10 bamboo sticks (from the gardening section) lashed into a semi-teepee shape which works splendidly as a simple, usable coat rack. While this is not quite a piece of furniture that I'd move with, it fills a much needed niche in my life.

I picked up this old school desk at a charity shop for under 10 quid about a year ago. It's since been used as dinner table, calligraphy table (one of my ink bottles fits perfectly in the inkwell), and we-have-so-much-stuff-table. Though obviously solid antique pine, it was not finished at all (as I gather is typical of UK school desks of the time) and so under our misuse, it had gotten stained, scratched, and water damaged. and let's not forget, this was a school desk and so inscribed by folks like D. Williams in 28/4/63 while he sat at 12 'clock 10th level french class so it's not like this desk was not already abused.

 With a bit of mineral spirits to clear off those stains, a bit of sanding to even out some of the scratches, dents, and water damage, and some penetrating resin finish....it looks better than it probably ever did and is loads more durable while still retaining the charming antique school desk look that made me buy it in the first place.

Artist Books

I have a confession to make: I've not made an involved book in over a year. The last 8 books I've made have been purpose made 1-2 signature books with very simple covers. Instead my more "artist" books have become much involved and I have 2 in progress right now.  Unusually for me-the point of these 2 books is not the book itself but what's inside. Here's a sneak peek...though I doubt I'd be able to show you much more in the next year...

Es la mañana...can you guess the poem?

I'm teaching myself non-metallic illumination. Despite my mother's insistence that I must've been a monk in a past-life, I am not good at traditional illumination. My lines waver up and down and my letter weights are not consistent. My illuminated initials (one per page) are far from symmetrical. However, this book is far from a pristine book with its individual tea dyed pages-in more than 9 different techniques and that centipede stitch keeping it together and snaking across the covers is not a symmetrical beast either so I'm embracing my inconsistencies....which fascinatingly doesn't make the process go any faster.

I've also taken up a number of other creative crafts which will make up the next few posts on this blog because like my books, my idea of how creativity can be applied has expanded and with my current unemployment, I fill my time to the lip of the glass.