Book arts classes at Watkins College

After the success of Handmade & Bound, the first book arts festival in Nashville, Watkins College of Art, Design & Film is expanding their book arts and printmaking classes in their community education program. I'll be teaching two of them in the next two months.

I think I've put together a pair of really creative classes, and you can get a sneak peek below. And if you're local to Nashville, you can sign up at the Watkins community website. Books are just one part of the course offerings; view the full course catalog here. 

Decorative and functional journals

When: 1 to 5 p.m., Saturdays, Feb. 18 – March 10 (4 weeks)

Where: Watkins College, 2298 Rosa Parks Blvd., Nashville

Cost: $100, plus $20 materials fee. 

Description: Learn to bind your own unique and functional books, perfect for journaling or sketching. Beginning with simple folded and sewn structures, the class will work toward more complex bindings with exposed stitching that is both decorative and functional. The class will explore traditional techniques with an emphasis on using quality papers with interesting patterns and textures. All materials and tools will be provided.

Keepsakes turned into sculptural books

When: 6 to 9 p.m., Thursdays, March 15 – 29 (3 weeks)

Where: Watkins College, 2298 Rosa Parks Blvd., Nashville

Cost: $100, plus $20 materials fee. 

Description: Maps, postcards, ticket stubs, letters, and vintage photographs become works of art in this sculptural bookmaking class. These books may look simple when closed, but they open to reveal surprising folded structures and intricate plays of light and shadow. Binding styles include double concertina, lotus fold and flag book. All materials and tools will be provided, but students are encouraged to bring personal paper items.

   Click the image above to view the full course catalog.

Read more...

Chatty Crafty features independent artists in Chattanooga

Our first visit to Chattanooga took us downtown to Warehouse Row, a redeveloped series of buildings on the site of a former Civil War fort, and now home to boutique stores and a great event space. Chatty Crafty, typically an outdoor show, brought together more than 50 artists for holiday shopping and selling.

While wandering through the show, I especially liked the upcycling ideas by husband-and-wife duo Reuse First, including their use of alcohol bottles as succulent planters and re-purposed bingo cards and photo slides for blank books. And here's a neat connection: They grew up in a Chicago suburb not far from my hometown.

I also saw some familiar faces and friends, including fellow Nashville artist and Porter Flea founder Katie Lynne Vance. Her screen-printed T-shirt necklaces are great (I bought the polka dot necklace seen above.) I was also happy to see Liz from Liddabits (below). Liz and I are proud University of Georgia art school grads. She makes banners and notecards, but her biggest hit in Chattanooga may have been her photo booth mustache props.

This photo shows a button bouquet by The Button Florist, who we first met last spring at the Handmade Market in Raleigh.

Chatty Crafty allowed me to debut my handmade book ornaments. Because of their interesting structures, I gave many demonstrations over the weekend. To display them, we put to use an IKEA shelf from our dining room, which has perfect mesh shelves for hanging the ornaments.

Read more...

Teaching bookbinding with The Skillery

The holiday season was filled with teaching classes, selling at shows in Tennessee and wrapping up special orders to be given as gifts across the country.

In early December, I taught a one-day bookmaking workshop through a partnership with The Skillery, the new Nashville company I've mentioned before that encourages locals to teach and to learn new skills. My class about books that can hang as tree ornaments was The Skillery's first event, and it sold out! (Oddly enough, a power outage almost thwarted the whole thing. You can read about that at The Skillery blog. The workshop photos shown here are by Matt Dudley, professional photographer and founder of The Skillery.)

The two-hour workshop sent each student home with two handmade books: a hardcover pamphlet stitch book and a folded paper star book. Like in other classes, I cut paper and bookboard to size in advance to give students a head start so we could jump right into the fun of making books. Unlike some of the other classes, Matt from The Skillery wisely thought to provide wine and snacks for all students, a nice touch for a cozy night class.

The books that students made will be long-lasting keepsakes, and because of their blank pages, they work well for writing messages to family members. When visiting my husband's family just before Christmas, we used one to write memories of the weekend together, then we found a home for it on the tree.

Read more...

Holiday shopping at Porter Flea in Nashville

The photo above captures the brief calm at my book booth at Porter Flea Handmade Holiday Market in East Nashville, just before a large and lively crowd made for a busy day. With rock 'n' roll DJs keeping the beat, I met at least as many book-minded shoppers as at any other show. Great event planning and promotion by the Porter Flea folks — see their amazing screen-printed posters — have quickly made their shows a success. The holiday market was their second effort. You can look back at my write-up of their first show, and find them on Twitter and Facebook to learn of future events.

One of the unique things about this show was the diversity of handmade items on display, including a strong showing from male artists who brought their woodworking, leather, letterpress prints, poster art and T-shirts. I'm sure most shoppers found something of interest, which created a great buzz inside the East Park Community Center. You can see a full list of Porter Flea vendors online, and some crisp photos of the show by Nashville fashion blogger Under the Guise and by Sabrosa Vintage.

Read more...

The Skillery launches, and I'm teaching book arts

I'm excited to announce my latest bookmaking class and the awesome organizing force behind it: The Skillery, a new project in Nashville promoting interesting classes and lectures. The Skillery community connects people looking to teach (all sorts of things) with neighbors interested in learning.

Launched on 11/11/11, The Skillery is busy promoting four classes, including mine about miniature books as holiday ornaments. And if you're reading this today, Saturday, Dec. 3, you can use a special discount code to save 20% off the workshop price (note it's only available today). Details below.

Connecting with Matt, who launched The Skillery, is just the latest great connection that has cropped up in East Nashville. He found my work online, we grabbed coffee together, and it's been an exciting time ever since, as this project gets started. I'm pretty sure that even my husband will soon be teaching classes: Most likely juggling!

Here are the details for my class, just four days away:

INTRO TO BOOK ARTS: HOLIDAY BOOK ORNAMENTS

Wednesday, Dec. 7, 7-9 p.m.

What If Studio, 69 Trimble Street, Nashville, TN 37210

Create eye-catching miniature book Christmas ornaments in this introductory bookbinding class. We’ll make sculptural books with surprising folded structures and functional journals that can be given as gifts to friends and family. This introductory class explains the fundamentals of bookbinding, including proper techniques for folding, stitching, and gluing, as well as varied binding styles using high-quality decorative materials and traditional binding tools. All materials will be provided. This class will give you the techniques, ideas and resources to continue making handbound books.

Admission: $28, and includes all materials and supplies

Tickets available here: http://www.theskillery.com/intro-to-book-arts/

One-day promo code: PORTERFLEA

The Skillery: website | twitter | facebook

Read more...

Journals for sale at Parnassus Books in Nashville

Last night marked the much-anticipated grand opening of Parnassus Books. The city has been buzzing about this new independent bookstore for months, and it's even been making headlines nation-wide.  (There was a front-page story about the store in the New York Times last week!) 

So far it's living up to all of the hype.  The store was packed last night, as you can see in these pictures from the grand opening event.  Plus there are more pictures on my facebook page and the Parnassus facebook page.

And I'm especially excited to announce that my handbound journals are available for sale at Parnassus. I first learned about the bookstore at Handmade & Bound, Nashville's first annual book arts festival, and was later contacted by one of the co-owners to see if I'd be interested in selling my books there.  Of course I was thrilled about this opportunity.  I think this is going to be a fantastic venue for my books, and hopefully it will introduce lots of new people to my work.

I've been busy for weeks making lots of new books for the store.  I've focused on journals and sketchbooks with leather or suede covers bound in the Italian long-stitch style.  And I've also made some books with decorative paper covers sewn using the Coptic binding.  A few of the leather books feature my own handmade paper inside.  And some books are made using suede from upcycled clothing, like a blue suede jacket or a pair of red suede pants.  

If you live in Nashville, I urge you to visit Parnassus Books and consider shopping locally for your holiday gifts.  You will not be disappointed with the curated collection of books and artwork that you'll find.  

Read more...

A handmade baby book welcomes Liam to the world

This summer, I made a baby book for a little boy named Liam.  For the covers, I used a colorful paper with animal shapes, which I think is a perfect choice for a baby book.  I paired the paper with an orange bookcloth for the spine of the book, which perfectly matches the color of the lions on the paper.  To complement the orange, I bound the book with blue thread, which also coordinates with the printing on the pages and the endsheets.  And the handmade photo corners made with and orange and yellow striped paper adds a playful touch to the pages.  

The customer came up with some great ideas for things that she wanted to include in the book, like a spot to write the story of Liam's name (what a great name, by the way!) and a page all about Thanksgiving.  I've since added both of these to my standard baby book template.  The design for my baby book continues to evolve.  I love the way that it started out last year, but with every customer I've worked with, I've come up with ideas to make the book better.  

As always, you can find more info about customized baby books in my Etsy shop.  

Read more...

Upcoming holiday shows in Tennessee

I will be out and about this holiday season selling my handmade books at several art markets in Tennessee.  

Porter Crossing Arts Market

Nashville, Tennessee

Saturday, November 12 and Saturday, December 10

Noon - 9 pm

This weekend I'll once again be a part of the Porter Crossing Arts Market, as well as the second Saturday in December.  It's taking place in the cluster of buildings right around the Family Wash in East Nashville.  My work will be in the Craftville Pop-Up Shop, where you can browse and buy the work of local artists and make an autumn wreath at the DIY station in the back of the shop.  

Porter Flea holiday market
Nashville, Tennessee
Saturday, December 3
Noon - 8 pm

Tony and I stumbled across the first ever Porter Flea just days after moving to Nashville, and I was blown away by the caliber of artists that were participating and how organized the event was.  Despite the heat, it was a perfect day for the event, which also featured food trucks, music, and live screen printing demos.  I'd been looking forward to their holiday event ever since, and I'm thrilled to announce that I will be a vendor.  This time it's taking place indoors at the East Park Community Center.  You can find out more about the event on their website, and see work by the participating artists on their facebook page.  And the Movable Type Truck will be making an appearance too!

Chatty Crafty
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Saturday, December 10 and Sunday, December 11
10 am - 6 pm

Just one week after the Porter Flea, I'll be heading down to Chattanooga for the first time to sell my handmade books at Chatty Crafty.  A few of the vendors who will be at this event were also at the Athens Indie Craftstravaganzaa this spring, including Liz (my college classmate) of Liddabits Design Shop, and Jordan Grace Owens (who designed the awesome poster below).  And I'm not the only artist from East Nashville making the trip to Chattanooga.  Katie Lynne Vance, Pine Street Makery, and Simon & Ruby will be there as well (and they're all exhibiting at Porter Flea too!).

Read more...

For wedding books, colors make the difference

I always keep an eye out for great decorative and handmade papers. Collecting papers that I like, and that I look forward to sharing with my customers, is one of my favorite parts of bookmaking. I'm just about swimming in paper in my studio, from the tall rolls sprouting from baskets and bins to elaborate swatch books from paper suppliers. When the folks from Paper Mojo visited my booth at the Handmade Market, the conversation got pretty geeky about the origin countries of different papers and the techniques used to make them.

I also find myself dreaming up different color combinations, often pinning color clusters to my bulletin board or snapping pictures to remember them for future books. Yet custom orders still come through with unique pairings that I hadn't thought of before. In those moments, despite my stockpile, I search again for the perfect papers.

When Allison approached me to make a wedding guest book, she knew she wanted seafoam green, gold, and ivory. It just so happened that I had these classic colors close at hand, which excited me. As I continue building my paper collection, I think it will be more common that I have exactly what I need for custom orders. But I look forward to encountering inspirational color combinations from my customers. And, of course, I won't stop searching for great patterns, textures, and colors in papers, as well as the interesting techniques that create each sheet.

In the feedback Allison left at my shop, she called the paper colors "perfect." I like to think so too.

Read more...

A photo album personalized for a man

I like to think of my books as being appealing to men and women alike, but for the most part, when I've worked with men on custom books, they're usually as gifts for women. I've put more attention lately to making masculine books, sometimes making leather and rustic paper choices with guys in mind.

For this book, JT knew what he wanted for himself, and a simple discussion led to his photo album. He knew right away what colors he wanted: maroon and dark purple. He also wanted black pages. I think the trio of colors work well together.

For the size, he wanted to fit 8x10 prints, which required me to make this book larger than my standard, which usually fit 4x6 and 5x7 prints. The pages in this book are 12x12, just like a standard scrapbook. After pondering various ideas for the personalized front cover, JT kept it simple, opting to use his name.

Read more...