My latest obsession has been mini-books. I recently taught a live-in-person class at The Ink Pad NYC, and made a bunch of samples for the shop. Then I made some during an in-person store demo. Then I made some during the class. And then I made some every day for weeks after the class because they were so cute and so much fun. Here's a few of my favorites:
I decided to give the really tiny books a rest, and try going a little bigger. And what better way to start my larger books than with my leftover scraps of Gwen Lafluer stamped images? To make it even more "Lafluerish", I added in some roses from Gwen's downloadable collage sheets, along with some book pages with foreign text.
Above are six pictures of my collage process. I started with a messy piece of painted 140 lb. watercolor paper that I had cleaned my brushes on. Next, I gathered the collage elements, then started randomly gluing them them to the paper. Once I got a lot of coverage, I used some brown acrylic and mahogany ink to age the white edges of the papers.
To add depth and unite the elements, I stamped some of my favorite natural elements from the Magnolia, India, and Wildflower stamp sets onto the collage with black and sepia archival ink.
I wanted to make a square book, so I trimmed the collage. Next, using a bone folder, I folded it in half, then ran a sepia ink pad around the sides to give it a finished look.
The collaged book cover looked really pretty and I could have stopped and left it alone, but I wanted something bolder. I selected one of my favorite Lafluer stencils, the Lotus. I carefully applied VersaMark embossing ink through the stencil, sprinkled some fine white embossing powder, brushed away the excess, and zapped it with the heat gun. I used some mahogany distress ink here and there to make the lotus pop.
It was time to add the blank signature pages...but since I used upcycled watercolor paper, the inside was a mess! Beautiful paper from Gwen's online store to the rescue. I carefully glued it in, then cut some blank pages about 1/4" smaller than the book, punched holes with my awl, and stitched the pages in.
I left the strings long and decorated them with my own handmade tyvek beads and some smaller commercial beads.
The folded edge was tearing a little, so I reinforced it with some sheer brown polka-dot ribbon.
I added grommets so that I could use sheer ribbon for a tied closure. But, I still wanted some dangling elements, so I puttered with my collection of Turkmen parts until I got the right arrangement, added a little elephant for good luck, and attached it to the closure with a rustic brad.
Here's a detail shot so you can see how pretty the dangling Turkmen charms and little elephant are.
Now the big question is: what will I fill the journal with? Photos? Poetry? Artwork? I'd love any suggestions you may have!
