October just flew by and I did not want it to. It's one of my favorite months. But what can you do...time just clicks away. I've been working on some Art Journal pages and having fun stitching coffee dyed papers. That weedy golden grass grows in my wild ass unkept garden and I have no idea what it is but I love the color. It looks like it was coffee or tea dyed so it matches the dyed pages. Collaging and stitching paper for page layouts is addictive. I would like to be able to offer some of these journals in my Shop but I'm going to have to manage my time and work out the details as to keep the prices in a good range. This sort of work can really eat up time. I just want to fill all the pages but what I need to do is find a balance with filled pages and blank ones also etc. Leaving areas for the customer to write, paint, draw, sketch, collage or do whatever they want to the pages. 

I'm still here plugging along. I'm working on some simple bindings. This one is pamphlet stitch.
And google says:pamphlet stitch is a simple binding often used to bind chapbooks. Chapbooks are inexpensively made booklets, originally sold by “chapmen” door-to-door and village-to-village.
And there is the term Chapbooks again. It just keeps popping up.

Anyway, I used pamphlet stitch and hard boards. I made a linen bookcloth for the spine. I have purchased bookcloth before and it was quite heavy so I wanted to make my own with a finer linen cloth and it turned out very nice. The weight was lighter and not so bulky. I'm going to be making more. The linen I used was a medium weight not too coarse. 

The cover boards are where I just played with collage, stitching, digital papers, pastels, and wax. I was worried that the wax would warp the boards but I put them into my handmade press and that worked. The edges that I left uncovered I painted and dyed. More experimentation with that is in order. To wrap the edges or not? It depends on the paper. If it is too thick it doesn't wrap nicely. Heavy watercolor paper for example, it looks better trimmed clean to the edge. I wonder if I lightly sprayed it with water first if I make it more pliable? Maybe. Ok off to the studio to take it out of the press. 

Well lesson learned. I forgot to put parchment paper on the top of my waxed cover before putting it in the press. It stuck to it. Ugh! Not too bad I got if off but I did lose a little wax in the process. No biggie it just adds to the wabi-sabiness of it. I had sealed it with spray varnish and I thought that would do the trick but now I know. It's always a learning process but that is what keeps things fun and interesting and never boring.

​The back cover was fine no issues with sticking there. So as you can see this is just a simple pamphlet stitch binding stitched with waxed linen thread. The paper is a 80lb drawing paper. It  takes all dry media very well. The next one I do will have mixed media paper  so you can use wet media. I love how the asemic free form stitching I did is bonded into the wax and also with the hand stitching on the back cover. I'm going to keep experimenting with the coldwax and when the weather breaks I'm firing up the Encaustic wax pot to use on some covers. I'll probably use wood or masonite boards for that. The hot wax might be too much for the book board. Ok, another day is slipping away. I've got to get back to it. Ta Ta and hope your getting some creative time today. We have a 3 day weekend coming up so maybe you will. The weather is suppose to be fine here so I'm going to head to the mountains again for some forest bathing and recharging of my batteries. 

A new project is at hand and I have a helper. My hubby is helping me make a Book Sewing Frame. I have drawn up a sketch and we have all of our supplies ready, and he is now the owner of a Router so that is going to help make the slots where the tapes and cords go etc. I will post some pics when we are done. I have wanted a sewing frame for some time now so I'm excited to make one. With all of the little copper tapestry looms that we have made we had several of the parts already on hand. It's very similar to making a little loom with the threaded rod for tension. 

As for todays work on my books and journals I have to get to the studio and see what happens. Still drinking my morning tea and getting ready for my studio time. So I'm off now and I'll be back and you won't even know that hours have passed....... 

And just like that I'm back. Didn't get pics of the new Sewing Frame yet, probably tomorrow. It's looking good, almost done. I'm loving it. So today I continued with the idea of something woven on the book cover page but I wove with paper. I pulled out my paper strip basket and used them for the warp and the weft. Then began a collage page on coffee dyed paper with linen, a little asemic stitching leftover, other fabrics and Japanese papers etc.

​Also a couple more digital paper print outs to play with. The woven paper is from a Japanese book, I love how Japanese text looks, it's like little mark making magic. It probably seems even more enchanting to me because I can't read it. Ha Ha 
This text is from a wonderful book with poems and it is translated to English as well but I'm only cutting up the Japanese text. Well, so far.

​So here are a couple of pics for you and I'm off to dinner for Friday night Sushi. If you didn't already know I'm a Sushi Monster. That's right. I love it!!!! One of my all time favorite foods. Yummy! I have my friend Ann from grad school to thank because she got me started on it and she created a Monster! Thanks Ann! Twenty some years later and I still love it. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Got to go EAT! Later Peeps. 

On my table today....stitching and painting on Japanese paper. Collage with tea bags and waxed handwoven fabric, some little tapestry weavings that I hope to use in a mixed media piece. Those are a series I'm working on.... working name is "Remnants" still figuring that all out. Some of this may end up in an art journal. That black discharge fabric is from my sash and I need to do more. I love that fabric but I have not found another black rayon that discharges this same wonderful creamy color. Still looking. I got that black in Savannah years ago when I was doing my grad studies at SCAD. Those were fun times. A great school. Only three days left in this challenge and then a bit of a break while I think about my next 30 day challenge. I have a long list of ideas for that. Here are some the ideas I have on my list. These are things that I want to work on more in a daily proactice.
1. 30 days of... Mark Making
2. Print Making
3. Encaustic
4. Book Making(bookarts)
5. Paper Making
6. Eco Dyeing 
That is my short list for now. I have many more on the list to think about.
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A couple more pics for you and I'm off to get dinner and get back to the studio tonight. Ta Ta Peeps.

Just playing....on my work table today. What will these become? Collage? Art Journal pages? Maybe a little of both? Not sure yet but I have a few ideas swimming around in my head. It's a nice quiet Saturday afternoon and it feels good to just play with my materials. Little bits and pieces, I'm all about that lately. Finding little scraps here and there; that is perfect for collage and art journals and it feels good knowing that I'm going to use some of these bits. The journey continues and I'm on my path. Really the goal is the path don't you think? Ok, just throwing that out there into the Abyss. Going back to my play for now. Ta Ta Peeps.

I'm pretty busy working on the shop update but I did mange to get a few mixed media collages with stitch started. I also got a little time to work in my sketchbook today. I love stitching into paper so I just keep a needle in the pages of my sketchbooks so I'll have it at hand when the mood strikes me. Also working on some slow stitching pieces that I want to find a home for. I have a basket full of bits and pieces of stitching that I do usually in the morning with a cup of tea or in the evening while watching a movie. Just stitching as a meditative practice. It calms me. It helps me think or sometimes it helps me "not to think" to clear my mind of all the crazy in the world right now. 

​Here are a couple of pics from my work table. I was just able to catch some light from the window. The light in that room is best in the morning but hey I don't have anything done and ready to shoot in the morning. Just making due with what light I can find. I'm a light chaser. Ha Ha 

I'm trying to find a way to implement some of my hand stitched patches into some collaged works. Still working on this idea. ​

Moving right along on this 30 day challenge. Today I'm working on adding stitch and a tiny weaving to a mixed media painting. The last layer of the painting is finally dry. Oil and coldwax. Oil takes much longer to dry but it's worth it. I love the blending I can get with oils. That buttery effect is addictive.

Beginning layers are often done in acrylic which drys super fast. You can add oil to an acrylic base but you can't go back to acrylic once you add oils. So when you ready to go to oils you have to commit to it. I have found some water based oils that I like and they make clean up easier. I'm just starting to experiment with those.

Having stitching and weaving elements on an oil painting you might think they could rot over time but using the coldwax as a top layer similar to a varnish helps prevent that. Oil works great with coldwax and with Encaustic(hot wax). I have a little corner sit up upstairs for Encaustic work next to a window with a fan for exhaust. But it is just too hot to fire up the wax right now. So I'm waiting for Autumn(my most favorite season) for working in Encaustic wax. Well, it's my most favorite season for anything. I love it! I'm super productive in the Fall because the weather is perfect and my brain feels like it is firing on all cylinders. The cool air, the beautiful Fall colors and the sweet smell of falling leaves and wood smoke fires just makes me so happy. Can't wait. I'm drooling all over myself just thinking about it. As you can tell summer is not my thing. Ugh! Ok enough of that....back to the work.

So below are a couple of pics, this piece will be in my next shop update. That is looking like it will be Thursday August 6th, at 7pm eastern time. If that changes I'll let you know. That is the date I'm pushing for. It's time for dinner so catch ya later Peeps. 

Yesterday when l was looking thru older pieces of work that are still not done; I found some bits and pieces of some collaged and stitched works that I did a few years ago. (Some left over bits). Both of those pieces sold and I really enjoyed making them. See pics below. The backgrounds where worked on paper in watercolor then collaged with papers. The figures were painted on cloth and then collaged and stitched. I'm still using some of these methods in newer works but if the background is done on a stretched canvas you really can't put it under the machine. So hand stitching is required.

It's good to look back at older work and sometimes revisit it. You never know. Maybe I'll be moved to do a few more in a similar fashion. Well, back to work and I'll be back with more later.

I'm back and I don't have any new photos for you today. I had to run to Philly and when I got back the light was fading so my pics didn't look very good. So pics tomorrow. I was working on paintings with stitch and weaving embellishments etc. So I'll leave you for now. More tomorrow. Ta Ta Peeps. 
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Out for some fresh air and a Winter Walk for some mind clearing and inspiration. I find that I'm often ready to tackle the task at hand and get busy in the studio after a quick walk with my camera in hand. I really need that in the Winter when I find myself camping out in the studio for days on end. Today the sun came out for a bit and the temp was not so bad. I love making these collages for inspiration I often refer back to them for color ideas when dyeing yarn etc. This will probably make it over to my inspiration walks page too but sometimes I like to put them on the journal as well. 

I'm back to these small paintings when I can get a block of time away from the loom. Really pushing to finish up the current tapestry so my painting has been on hold for a bit. I'm thinking some of these small paintings might be fun to weave as well, maybe small or perhaps blown up. I'll do some scale testing and see what I like. Just looking at this pic it's already much bigger. The original is only 4 inches. It's painted on a ceramic tile. I love the texture of the tiles. These would be great woven and then shown with the original tile painting next to it. I'll post more of these soon. The more I look at this one the more I'm talking myself into weaving it. 

Warm inviting neutrals. I can't seem to get enough of them lately. Greys, taupes, creams and bronzy tones are calling to me. Is Winter having an effect? Maybe? I can never seem to have enough of them stocking my yarn shelves or in my paint stash. Time to fire up the dyepots for more greys. I love dyeing yarn in the Winter months.