New journals, now with LINED paper

I've begun making lined paper for some of my journals. I modeled it after lined moleskines. The line weight is quite light and there are four lines per inch. I offer lined paper in three paper types:
- 25% cotton, 32lb, 30% post-consumer recycled, WHITE
- 25% cotton, 32lb, 30% post-consumer recycled, IVORY
- 100% post-consumer recycled, 24lb, WHITE

I've been making the journals entirely with lined paper and then also I've been experimenting with alternating lined and blank pages. The alternating format I think is quite useful, personally. I find that it's great for an idea book, I can sketch some of my ideas for new sewing techniques and patterns and keep notes along side. I'm sure you creative DIYers have a million ideas for how to use these alternating journals that I haven't thought of, so please leave some comments or email me with how you would use it.

I've also created a very simple month-at-a-glance section that I can add to any journal. It also comes in the same three kinds of paper as the lined.

Mini Books

This is a series of mini books I've been working on. They're great little practical and fun pieces that are great for tossing in your purse, backpack or laptop back, keeping next to the bed, in the kitchen or at the office for to-do lists, those profound yet passing thoughts, or spontaneous sketching and doodling. They are approximately the size of a check book. The covers are sturdy but pliable and the book block is made of 100lb premium Strathmore bristol illustration board, perfect for pencil or ink (even sharpies will not bleed or show through.) The pages are perforated for easy removal or using as a business card on the fly. Each book features either a lovely, textural 'caterpillar' stitch stretching from back to front cover or an elastic or button closure. The elastic covers work in the same manner as a moleskine.

I'm having a lot of fun with these -- using up some of my favorite paper remnants and playing with lots of color. They are for sale on my etsy site, for $15 each or $50 for a grab bag of four. The grab bag will have two with caterpillars and two with closures. Keep them in mind for the holidays... they're perfect gifts for co-workers, white elephant gifts, stocking stuffers or those last minute gifts even the most organized of us occasionally need. Hey, you might even need one for yourself to keep track of all your holiday shopping! (And yes, I'm aware of my shameless self-promotion here... please forgive me.)

They are archival quality, exposed spine sewn with a two needle Greek across the spine method, with waxed Irish linen thread.

Prince!

This book is made from a Prince and the Revolution "Purple Rain" record cover. The front and back covers are made with the front and back record covers, with the interior covers featuring the artwork from the record sleeve (which contains the lyrics.) The book is made with 25 pages of premium Strathmore Bristol paper, ideal for sketching, drawing, pen and ink, and heavy enough to support plenty of photos to be used as a photo album. The fly- and end-papers are made with a deep violet silk lace paper and lavender pearlescent paper. The edges are finished with purple duct tape. The book is sewn using an eight needle Greek method with purple waxed Irish linen thread. This book is for sale on my etsy site.

Cool new books

This is a collaborative series... the covers feature original linocut relief prints by none other than my awesomely talented and generally wonderful husband, Casey Sorrow. The above book features a portrait of the revolutionary Ché Guevara, simply titled, "Ché."


The first "Ché" book measures 10.5"x6.75" and is bound at the top. The image has a white border. The book block is made of premium Strathmore Bristol, a high quality artist paper for sketching and drawing with a smooth finish perfect for pen and ink drawing with no bleeding.







The second "Ché" book measures 7.75"x5.75" and is bound on the side, in a conventional journal style. The image on this book goes right to the edge. The 96 page book block is 32lb 25% cotton rag paper, a high quality writing paper.


Next is the first in a series of four books featuring Casey's artwork inspired by old war comics. All of these books are journals, measuring 7.75"x5.75" with 96 pages of 32lb 25% cotton rag paper.

Below is "Blood Groove."


The next in the series, "BOHICA." (An acronym for Bend Over Here It Comes Again)






























I especially love this next one, "A New Day."

































And finally, "Gun Bunny."


















The artwork on the front covers are original Artists Proofs of the relief prints, they are not photocopies. You're getting the real art here!

Casey's website also offers these and other prints for sale individually, ready to frame. There is a limited run of each print, but I believe he still has some for sale of each image.

All of these books are for sale on my etsy site.

May and June books

Here's what I've been working on. A book a day is my goal this summer and so far I've only fallen short on 8 days (since May 1st.) There is no reason other than inertia and a bit of laziness that I couldn't have added a new post with a new book every day. So, my obedience of Newton's first law... an object will stay at rest or continue at a constant velocity unless acted upon by an external unbalanced force. Though hard at work on my books, the law of inertia has been governing my blog. But, alas, today, some yet unidentified external unbalanced force has rocked me into movement. And, here it is... a new post, blog motion.
This sounds wonderfully more cosmic and romantic than if say, for example, I walked past my laptop and thought to myself, "shit, I have to get off my ass and post those fraking pictures." So, yeah, I'm sticking with the Newton story.

So, I'm not posting every single book I make this summer, but here's a sampling:


7.5"x11" photo-journal, 10 quarto signatures, totaling 40 pages of Premium Strathmore 100lb Bristol. Sewn using two colors of waxed Irish linen thread in a variation on the classic Greek two needle method. The cover paper is made by this cool company called Iota that concentrates on recycled content, vegetable dyes, all that eco-goodness we all need to support. Check 'em out.






5.5"x7.5" journal with 12 octavo signatures for a total of 96 pages of 25% cotton rag, 32lb ivory paper. Sewn with two colors of waxed Irish linen thread using a variation on the classic Greek two needle method. The variation is basically in the length of each stitch being sewn across three signatures rather than two. This particular sewing pattern required sewing with 8 needles simultaneously. I wanted to pull someone's hair out. Not mine... I was already in enough pain trying to keep 8 threads and needles straight! The endsheets on this one are particularly nice... a Thai Banana mash -- basically a tissue weight paper made of 50/50% kozo and banana fibers in a natural wood fiber hue. This book was a commission for an avid botanist and tree lover. The cover paper is an Italian reproduction of a classic Florentine botanical print.



I made this one for my girl, Kiersten.




This, unexpectedly became one of my favorite books this summer. I freaking love the skeleton! It's an Italian reprint of a Florentine classic print.




The Tarot...




Just playing with closures on this one. It's waxed Irish linen thread braided, and a mother of pearl button.



Super cool paper handmade in Italy.



This is Nepalese Lotka paper dyed by placing a stencil and then exposing to sunlight.


The Queen of Sheba! Paper courtesy of my sister in Dublin. I tried to give the spine sewing a little art deco feel. I used a method of packing the spine sewings using a burgundy thread.


This one has a little bit of everything... maybe a little overworked. There's a closure with waxed Irish linen thread and a wooden button, it's sewn on tapes with a French herringbone stitch, and then to top it all off, I added an Ethiopian coptic style endband.


More Iota peapods...





Cool, super deco paper that reminds me of some lady's prized wallpaper. With big birds and lily of the valley.


Caterpillars!
More caterpillars!


Most of these are still available. I'm doing art fairs this summer, so I'm working diligently to keep my inventory significant. Please email me with sales requests or custom orders. Pretty much all these styles and methods can be combined, shuffled, exchanged, etc..

Let's see if Newton is as relevant while I'm in motion as when inert.

The Accordion or Back-to-Back Book

This is the accordion book. Or the back-to-back book. Whichever makes more sense to you. The book has three covers and opens in two directions. It's hard to describe, so I've added a bunch of photos, which hopefully will do what I've having trouble doing with words. The covers are made from some of my favorite paper. It's a reproduction of a William Morris wallpaper. I love the Arts and Crafts movement. I also used end papers on this book, which I don't always do. If you look at the spine view picture (3rd from the top) and the end view (last pic) you can see that each signature or section of the book is wrapped with small bits of paper just on the sewn edge. It's a classic technique. This book uses green, brown and wooden fiber paper. I think it gives the spine a unique look.

The book has a sage green grosgrain ribbon that wraps around it to keep it closed. The back-to-back book form can be used all sorts of cool ways. It can be used as a journal or a photo album. You could use it as a "before and after" book. Or for two sides of a family, two siblings, a male/female theme. Two people's version of one vacation. I think it's a form that really encourages creative uses. Plus, it just looks cool!

As it is now, the ribbon closure simply wraps around the book. If you'd prefer I can put a bone closure on it for a more fixed closure. This book and more experiments in the back-to-back or accordion style will be available at my booth at the Old Town Art Market.

Sewing on Tapes

I've been doing a bunch of books using the binding method of sewing on tapes that I learned from the Daniel Essig seminar. I guess this particular sewing technique has a bunch of names including the French Twist and the Herringbone. I figured I'd toss my hat into the ring and give it a name, too. I call it the Honeycomb.


So this book features a paper with a stylized alphabet which reminds me of Edward Gorey's work.

The front cover perfectly frames the whole alphabet A - Z, and the back cover centers this floral graphic seen above.

I have more of this paper, because I am interested in using it for a personalized book. I'd like to highlight one letter, or three like a monogram for someone. Another idea I've been toying with is to use a mica window, like in my mahogany covered book (featured in the first post in my blog), to encase one letter. So if this idea appeals to anyone, please give me a shout.

There's a detail of the binding in one of the pictures above. It's purple waxed Irish linen thread on ivory tape. The ivory tape matches the cover papers. The textblock is made with white 25% cotton 32lb paper.





Here's another "honeycomb" tape style. This one features a Florentine reproduction of an antique star chart. The tapes are made from strips of Nepalese Lotka paper in a navy blue which matches the ink on the star chart. The thread is waxed Irish linen in a dark rusty red color. The paste-downs are made from the same navy Lotka paper.

Both of these will be at my booth at the Old Town Art Market.