linenlaid&felt

Book arts classes at Watkins College

2012-01-23T09:15:00.007-05:00

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.

Chatty Crafty features independent artists in Chattanooga

2012-01-22T08:56:00.009-05:00

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.

Teaching bookbinding with The Skillery

2012-01-21T15:07:00.000-05:00

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.

Holiday shopping at Porter Flea in Nashville

2012-01-21T14:43:00.000-05:00

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.

The Skillery launches, and I'm teaching book arts

2011-12-03T08:01:00.001-05:00

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

Journals for sale at Parnassus Books in Nashville

2011-11-21T00:25:00.001-05:00

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.

A handmade baby book welcomes Liam to the world

2011-11-15T09:30:00.001-05:00

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.

Upcoming holiday shows in Tennessee

2011-11-10T10:03:00.002-05:00

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!).

For wedding books, colors make the difference

2011-11-02T08:54:00.001-04:00

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.

A photo album personalized for a man

2011-10-30T11:43:00.000-04:00

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.

Nashville's first annual handmade book festival

2011-10-21T13:02:00.000-04:00

I have only lived in Nashville for about three months, but I am already loving my new home. One of the highlights of my time here has certainly been Handmade & Bound. Earlier this month, Watkins College of Art, Design & Film hosted their first annual book arts and zine festival. It is so refreshing to live in a city with such a vibrant arts community, not to mention the thriving book arts community as well.

There were so many incredible vendors at this event, and thankfully my husband Tony was willing to man my booth throughout the day so I had a chance to explore everyone else's tables. But I think what amazed me the most was how many people attended the festival. The halls of Watkins College were packed throughout the day with people of all ages who came to learn more about handmade books. The show also got some great press: check out this article from Nashville Scene and this one from The Tennessean.

These first three photos are from The Gilded Leaf Bindery booth. Bob Roberts specializes in restoration and fine bookbinding, and his display was quite impressive. Even his set of tools was photo-worthy. You can view more of Bob's work on his blog, facebook page, and etsy shop.

The books below were made by Lesley Patterson-Marx. She uses such interesting materials in her work, like vintage wallpaper, locally dyed fabric, old stamps and envelopes, and even harmonicas. You can view a few more detailed photos of her work, as well as as well as quite a few other photos, in this album on my facebook page. Lesley will also be exhibiting at Artclectic this weekend, which I am really looking forward to checking out.

The festival also featured letterpress printing and handmade paper. Festival visitors could print their own shopping bag at the Goldsmith Press booth (left) and purchase paper made by Claudia Lee of Liberty Paper (right). I've always loved handmade paper, but even since I started making my own paper again I've been a little obsessed. Claudia's array of gorgeous, colorful papers were breathtaking. I couldn't help but post even more pictures of her paper on my facebook page.

Jennifer Knowles-McQuistion of Brown Dog Bindery demonstrated how wooden books are carved, burned, and bound. Below she's working on a Coptic bound book with wooden covers, and she had some of her gorgeous books for sale at her booth. Jennifer also taught a miniature pop-up book workshop during the day, which I attended.

I also took another workshop taught by Kim Jones called Findings & Bindings, where we made a journal using a variety of found papers like maps, paper from a player piano, old encyclopedias, and junk mail envelopes.

The photos below are from my own booth. I was displaying a variety of journals, sketchbooks, photo albums, and artists' books. My most popular books at this show were my Italian longstitch books made with leather and suede covers. While some of the leather I use for these books is new, a lot of it is reclaimed. My little red suede books are made from an upcycled pair of pants, and some of the other bits of leather came from a woman in Chicago who makes handmade shoes. I'll be binding many more leather books up in the upcoming months to prepare for my holiday art shows and to sell at some local retail shops.

I still have a few of these Handmade & Bound buttons hanging around in my studio. They're a welcome reminder of a fantastic weekend, and I can't wait until next year's festival.

Guest post: Above the fold

2011-10-03T00:02:00.001-04:00

Thanks to Katie's lessons and patience, hers were not the only books on display at the linenlaid&felt booth during the Handmade & Bound show at Watkins College this past weekend. Titled the "Husband's Corner," I showed off my newsprint books, bound in the Italian long-stitch style and featuring my favorite clippings from Sunday editions of The New York Times from 2010.

Before the show, I'd only made these books for myself and a few friends. I first got the idea when Katie made me a book from pages of Italian newspapers during her study abroad program. As a devoted reader of the Sunday edition, all these years later, I began to save page spreads.

The process for creating the books is pretty specific. In most cases, I repeatedly fold the news page in half, then tear it, and repeat until I arrive at the size seen here. This means that each sheet for the book is one-eighth of a page. Many articles and photos and spreads end up being torn into separate sheets, ultimately allowing me to juxtapose the clippings in interesting ways. On some occasions, when I didn't want to cut something in half, I would toss out the "system" and purposefully select a portion of a page to make one of my little sheets. As I answered one fair-goer on Saturday: Yes, the pages are carefully selected. Because of the style that I chose, there is a "center spread" in each signature. I put my best clippings there.

I assembled about 15 sheets per signature, and there are five signatures in each book. The covers are a cardstock that Katie and I both really like. I used simple brads and thread for enclosures.

I often found myself clipping sports and travel stories because of the amazing photography, infographics, and maps that come from those sections. Other favorites included an obituary on a tuba player, a feature on a bail bondsman for celebrities, all sorts of World Cup graphics, and a text-only movie poster for "Black Swan" ("WICKED, PYSCHO-SEXUAL THRILLER"). I tried to include all of the little things in the paper too, like the wedding announcements, the chess column, and corrections. I also selected pages with friends in mind, snagging particular baseball coaches and pop stars for their books.

At this point, I still have two books that haven't sold. But I've been saving the 2011 Sunday editions as well, and plan to bind those in the new year. I also have a special little collection of Supreme Court articles and graphics for a smaller book. And I've been thinking about some wide-format styles that could use the entire width of the broadsheet spread. A wide shape will allow me to show off the front page, as well as the six-column photos that often grace the section fronts. After all, I do call these books "Above the Fold," so I may be able to do a bit more justice to the big impact put out by the paper.

Vacation photo on display

2011-09-28T10:06:00.000-04:00

The newest addition to our new apartment in Nashville is this tropical flower canvas print. I was contacted by the folks at Easy Canvas Prints, a photos to canvas company, who asked me to review their product in exchange for a canvas print of my own.

I chose a photograph I took at Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden on a recent trip to Hilo, Hawaii for my best friend's wedding. The botanical garden was truly a wonderland, filled with waterfalls, ocean views, an orchid garden, tropical birds, and so many varieties of plants that I'd never seen before. I was snapping photos non-stop during my visit (you can see some of my other botanical photos in my flickr photostream) and I was looking for a way to display some of my favorites once returning from our trip. This canvas print was just what I needed.

Ordering a canvas from EasyCanvasPrints.com really is, as the name suggests, easy. The website is simple to use, and it guides you through the step-by-step process of designing your own canvas. And this handy guide shows all of the options and pricing so you can pick out exactly what you want.

You can choose any sized canvas (mine is 8" x 10"), and you can either upload your own photograph like I did or you can choose an image from their gallery. You also have the choice of upgrading to a thicker canvas or opting for photo retouching. For the edges of the canvas, you can have your image wrap onto the edges or you can select a solid color for the border.

I opted for a bright orange border for the edges of my canvas. My print is displayed against lime green walls in my apartment, and I wanted it to tie into colors of the room but still pop against the wall color. I debated the borders of my canvas for a while before placing my order. I really like the look of the canvases where the images continues onto the edges, and I think I would probably choose that option next time, but for this particular print the bright orange border worked out best.

The option of wrapping the image around to the edges of the canvas would be best for a picture with a background that's not crucial to the composition. If you choose this option, the photo will appear slightly larger on the front surface of the canvas so there's enough leftover to wrap. I didn't think the composition of the tropical flower photo was quite as strong once the whole image wasn't visible on the main surface of the canvas. The orange border worked out better in my case because I could better control the composition of my print, while adding an extra pop of color.

I do wish there was a better way to select the color for the edges though. It would be a nice touch if the website allowed the option to sample a color directly from your photograph, like you can with the eyedropper tool in Photoshop, rather than choosing a color and hoping it matches.

My husband and I have a fairly extensive art collection (including artwork made by friends, family, and ourselves, as well as original work by professional artists, and a collection of vintage photographs), and we're pretty particular about what we put on our walls. If we don't love it, there's just not space for it. That said, we were happy to include this canvas print into our home decor.

And another perk of this canvas is how easy it is to hang on the wall. One nail will do the trick. My husband and I have lived in four apartments since college, and we've hung our artwork on the walls of each one. This is by far one of the easiest pieces to hang.

Overall, the vibrant colors and high-quality printing makes it evident that this is a high quality product. I love having a reminder of our trip to Hawaii on display for me to see each day. The look of our particular print is contemporary and casual, which is exactly what we wanted for our vacation photo. But I think these prints could be a great choice for displaying wedding photos too, especially a larger canvas print placed in an elegant frame. If only I'd known about these two years ago!

Handmade & Bound

2011-09-27T13:12:00.001-04:00

The first annual Handmade & Bound book arts festival is just a few days away! I've been looking forward to this event for months. It was one of the first things about Nashville I found out about once we knew we'd be moving to town, and I sent in my vendor application before we'd even started packing to leave Virginia.

I thrilled to be living in a city with a book arts community, and I can't wait to be a part of this event. In addition to the various vendors selling handmade books and zines, there will be workshops and demos in bookmaking, papermaking, and printmaking, as well as a film screening, a gallery exhibit, live music and food trucks.

Handmade & Bound Nashville

September 30 and October 1

Watkins College of Art, Design & Film

Friday, September 30

6:30 pm: Opening reception of "Encoded Structures: Interpreting the Story," a juried gallery show of artists' books and zines

8:00 pm: Free Screening of “$100 and a T-shirt," an award-winning documentary on the culture of zine making

Saturday, October 1

Vendors:

10:00 am – 5:00 pm: Vendor booths exhibiting and selling artists’ books, zines, small press publications, and other handmade bookish things.

Demonstrations:

10:00 am – 5:00 pm: Goldsmith Press Demonstration; print your own DIY bag

10:00 am – 11:00 am and 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm: Brown Dog Bindery Demonstration; Jennifer Knowles-McQuistion will demonstrate how wooden books are carved, burned, and bound

10:00 am – 5:00 pm: Gilded Leaf Bindery Demonstration; book restoration, fine bindings, blank journals, and gold tooling

10:00 am – 5:00 pm: Pamphlet Stitch Books for Kids with local printmaker and book artist Lesley Patterson-Marx

Workshops:

10:00 am to 11:00 am: Pixels, Print and Presence: How to Make the Most of Digital When It Comes to Print

This workshop is an introduction to web and digital assets for anyone from a DIY Zinester to Small Press publishers.

10:00 am – 11:00 am: Findings & Bindings

Use a discarded book, found papers both old and new, and a simple no-sew binding technique to create a one-of-a-kind handmade journal to house your creative notions.

11:00 am – 12:00pm: Zines with Kids & Teens

11:00 am – 12:00pm: Storytime for Children

Children can make paper finger puppets of the characters to take home.

12:30 pm – 1:30 pm: Miniature Accordion Popup Books

Artist Jennifer Knowles-McQuistion will lead participants through making a miniature hardback accordion book with pages that pop up, spill out, and burst from the folds.

12:30 pm – 1:30 pm: Toward A Self-Sufficient, Long-Lived Zine

Examine the nuts and bolts of what it takes to keep a serial zine alive and vital.

1:30 pm – 2:30 pm: Felt Sketchbook

Participants will design their book covers using felt and other materials, such as decorative papers, threads, and beads. Then they will assemble their sketchbooks, binding the books using posts and screws.

2:00 pm – 3:00 pm: The Art of Saying Something Worth Saving

Discussion will cover the pressure language undergoes when we seek to present it in a book arts project, and how words respond and rise to that challenge or collapse under the weight of that attention, and how we recognize it.

3:00 pm – 4:00 pm: Quadraflip or infinity card

Turning the pages of this structure changes their orientation and reveals hidden pages before taking you back to the beginning.

3:30 pm – 4:30 pm: Open Mic Zine Readings

All day: Papermaking

Book artist and instructor Annie Herlocker will guide you through pulling your own sheet of paper from pre-pulped materials.

Made with love for my dad

2011-09-15T15:18:00.051-04:00

Today is my dad's birthday, so it seems like as good a time as any to share some more details about the photo album that I gave him for Christmas.

My dad started to get interested in photography back when I was in high school taking some photography classes. I taught him some of the basics, and he started incorporating the rule of thirds into almost all of his pictures (including lots of off-centered pictures of me at graduation). But since then, he has become a really talented photographer with a great eye for capturing unusual sites around the historic city of Charleston, South Carolina.

Each time I would come to visit, my dad would pull out his camera and to show me his latest pictures. I'd flip through one by one admiring his work on the tiny camera display screen and wonder why he never made prints of any of his photos. Showing them off in this way just didn't do the pictures justice, so I decided that he needed a better way to display them.

After I gave him the book, my husband and I helped my dad pick out all of his favorite photos and we added them to the book with photo corners. He's taken some great photos like the one above where he chose to photograph the back of a statue, or some complex reflected images inspired by my photos of store window reflections. I'm glad that he now has a proper way to display his pictures, and I'm sure he'll soon be ready for a companion album to store his newest shots.

Making paper by hand

2011-09-03T14:44:00.002-04:00

I've been taking over the house once again with my latest creative project -- papermaking. (Thankfully my husband doesn't seem to mind, and he even stepped in to take some photos of the process so I could share them here.)

I met a local bookmaker, Laura, here in Nashville soon after moving to town. We then met up for coffee to chat about books and new techniques we wanted to try. We decided that papermaking should be our first project and we wasted no time with getting started. We made these lovely lavender sheets of paper last week, and we've since made a new batch of raspberry-sherbet-colored paper and have several bags of paper pulp in my fridge prepared for our next papermaking adventure.

The bowl above is filled with little torn-up scraps of paper leftover from making books. For about a week, I collected all of the little bits of paper that were too small to be reused. Then I soaked them in water for about 12 hours. Then Laura and I blended the paper scraps into pulp using her smoothie maker that she donated to the papermaking cause ("the sacrificial blender," as my husband called it).

Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the blended paper pulp this time. You might expect it to look like a gross and gooey mess. But it's surprisingly soft and has a really luxurious feel to it. It's actually quite nice to dip your hands into it during the process.

Next, we added our pulp to a large vat of water. Then we'd dip our mould and deckle (made by Laura!) into the vat to pull a sheet of paper. With each sheet I pulled, I loved seeing the assortment of speckles and flecks of paper that happened to make it onto the mould because they remind me of the books I'd made with those different decorative papers.

After pulling the sheets, we'd press them from the mould onto pieces of cloth, and eventually set them out to dry in my living room. (It's been much too humid to dry them outside.) It took about a day for the sheets to dry completely. Once dry, Laura and I got together again to gently peel our sheets of paper off of the cloths.

And here's the end result:

We experimented with using different types of cloth to press our wet sheets of paper on to dry. The textures of the cloth effects the final texture of the paper. You can see an examples of the different textures below. We used linen, felt, and cotton to achieve different textures. The sheet on the left was pressed onto felt; the sheet in the center was pressed onto linen, and the sheet on the right was pressed to a wrinkly piece of cotton. We also experimented by rolling wet sheets of paper onto plexiglass, which yielded an incredibly smooth texture.

I love textured paper. In fact, such textures are the namesake of my business: linenlaid&felt. (You can read more about that in the FAQ section of my website.) While commercially-made papers of these names are made to resemble the textures of these cloths, making paper by hand allowed for us to create these textures ourselves. Laid paper refers to the lines impressed by certain types of papermaking molds, like those that I used in Italy.

Both Laura and I have already put our new sheets of handmade paper to use. I made two Italian longstitch journals last week with suede covers and pieces of our handmade paper as decorative accents inside. It has been a while since I've made a book for myself. I'm typically busy working on custom orders, books for my shop, or gifts for friends, so I decided to take the time to make a book just for me.

The book on top is the one I've decided to keep. Because these books have the suede straps that wrap the book and keep it shut, it will be the perfect portable book to keep with me to jot down notes on the go. And as an added bonus, I'll always have an example of my work with me to show as a response to the blank stares I often get when I tell people that I'm a bookbinder. The other book that I made (the one bound with lavender thread) is now for sale in my etsy shop.

Laura kindly made a monogrammed bookmark for me using the paper that we made together. She makes the most adorable miniature books and book jewelry, and she will also be selling her work at the Handmade & Bound festival in a few weeks. I love seeing the little purple pages peeking out from the little book and knowing that our handmade paper is going to good use.

A bold and modern guest book

2011-09-02T13:07:00.000-04:00

I absolutely loved working on this wedding guest book. Everything seemed to come together perfectly, and I'm so pleased with the end result. Jill and Rich chose such a bold color scheme for their wedding. The royal blue and bright orange complemented each other so well, as did the different textures of the papers used for this book.

I designed the personalized nameplate on the cover to coordinate with their wedding invitations. I used the same colors and fonts, and the circular J+R motif was also drawn from their wedding paper goods. The couple could also attach extra copies of their invitation, ceremony program, and other printed materials into the book as a place to store their coordinated wedding keepsakes after their wedding.

Congratulations to Jill and Rich! I hope your wedding day was perfect in every way!

Handmade baby books with a personal touch

2011-08-23T17:01:00.001-04:00

Much of what I've been working on in the studio lately has been custom work. I've made quite a few wedding guest books and photo albums this summer, but personalized baby books have been keeping me busy these past few weeks. I wanted to show off a few of the details that make my baby books extra special keepsakes.

I showed a little sneak peek of this particular baby book on my blog a while ago, but never officially unveiled the final product. My husband and I collaborated to write the book, and then I designed it. I added little envelopes to hold Abigail's hospital bracelets and a lock of hair from her first haircut. I also constructed handmade photo corners from coordinating paper to hold treasured photographs in place.

Because every baby book is made individually, I can customize each detail. Parents can select the color scheme of the book, from the decorative paper used for the covers and the ribbon or thread used to bind the book together, down to the colors of the printed pages.

This particular book uses a light pink cherry blossom paper for the cover, satin ribbon for the binding, and pink printing on the pages. I've also made some baby books recently using handmade, rustic papers and using bright modern prints for a completely different feel.

I include the baby's name throughout the text of the book, creating a personal effect that can't be matched with store bought baby books. And the nameplate on the front cover can be customized to include the baby's name, birthday, or any other message.

While I have a standard selection of pages that I typically use in my baby books, I can add extra pages if there's something specific you'd like to include. I've added pages to include religious traditions, for grandparents to have extra space to share their words of wisdom, and to accommodate multiple baby shower invitations. I can add extra pages for siblings or pets. And I've even designed a special version of the book for twins.

If you're interested in ordering a custom baby book, please visit my etsy shop. Or for more information, you may e-mail me at linenlaidfelt {at} gmail {dot} com. And check back soon for photos of my other handmade baby books here and on my facebook page.

Anniversaries, the traditional way

2011-07-31T11:40:00.071-04:00

Earlier this month my husband and I celebrated our two-year wedding anniversary. We exchanged gifts made of cotton. Last year, we exchanged gifts made from paper.

We've decided that we're going to follow the year-by-year categories of traditional wedding gifts. Since I'm a bookmaker, I was especially excited about year one's paper gifts and that's probably why we started off with the tradition. I think the themes make the gift giving so much fun. The materials give us a place to start with the gift-giving brainstorming, and then we get to come up with a contemporary idea to fit within the traditional boundaries.

Last year, Tony surprised me with a little handbound book made by Ruth Bleakley. The book features hand-drawn jellyfish illustrations, which was especially fitting because jellyfish are some of my favorite creatures and they often appear in my own artwork. (Ruth is a book artist and illustrator living in Cape Cod. To see more of her work, visit her etsy shop or her blog.)

I know I've mentioned before that my husband loves maps. (He couldn't resist getting one of the East Nashville maps at Porter Flea a few weeks ago.) So for his paper gift last year, I got him a silkscreened world map from These Are Things. We also own their map of Europe, so between all of these we have quite the map theme developing in our home decor.

This year, the theme was cotton. Tony picked out a bird pillow for me, which is now adding a lively splash of color in our new living room. The pillow was made by Janae Easton of Platypusfile, who I met back in May at the Athens Indie Craftstravaganzaa. Each of her bird pillows is made from vibrant fabrics and a vintage button, and each one is named after an opera singer. My bird's name is Josella Ligi.

I got my husband two cotton t-shirts from Out of Print. I settled on the To Kill a Mockingbird and The Catcher in the Rye shirts, because I liked their designs best, they are some of our favorite classic novels, and because we read them together in high school back when we first started dating. The shirts from Out of Print are based on book cover designs, and with each shirt sale they donate a book to a community in need.

Next year our theme will be leather. I've already got my eye on these lovely handmade leather bags...

Congratulations, Jaclyn and Ryan!

2011-07-30T09:04:00.002-04:00

While working on this custom wedding guest book, I realized that I had a lot in common with the couple. Just like my husband and I, Jaclyn and Ryan are high school sweethearts. They started dating when they were 17, and when they finally decided to tie the knot their guests were absolutely ecstatic.

As Jaclyn and I chatted back and forth planning out the design for her book, we also enjoyed comparing notes about our relationships and noting how refreshing it is to meet someone else who met their partner at such a young age. The couple also lives in Chicago, just about a half hour away from where Tony and I grew up.

Jaclyn and Ryan were married in a rose garden, and they selected a rose theme for their invitations. I based the design of the personalized nameplate off of the same imagery to unify the look of all of their wedding paper goods.

The couple chose red and Tiffany blue as their wedding colors, so I used a red lokta paper for the covers of this book and then used a beautifully textured blue paper for the guards (the pieces of paper that wrap the sections of pages and are visible along the spine of the book) and for an accent on the book's cover.

I'm thrilled that Jaclyn loved the way the book turned out as much as I did, and I'm glad I was able to make a keepsake for the wedding of two high school sweethearts.

Packing for the art show

2011-07-29T08:56:00.001-04:00

Artists may exhibit their handmade wares in "trunk shows," but the suitcase is the real darling of art show booths. The bigger the clasps -- and the brighter the stitching -- the better. Serving as Katie's heavy box lifter, snack gopher, and bookkeeper (as the tax department refers to me) it's this sort of acute observation that I bring to the table for linenlaid&felt. I'm Tony, the newspaper reporter husband, and in this exclusive guest blog post, I bring you a special trendspotting story.

The suitcase photo that leads off this post comes direct to you from Porter Flea, a handmade market that debuted in East Nashville this month. Although not immediately involved in the displaying of crafts, its presence alone adds style to the whole affair. I am, of course, only half joking. I really do like the style of vintage suitcases, but I'm not totally sold on the best way to use them.

The pictures immediately above hail from the Athens Indie Craftstravaganza in May. The quadruple stack was something new to me, practically a monument dedicated to the indie art show suitcase. Joking aside (sort of) both of these photos show off what happens to be the most beguiling part of the suitcase: the bunchy and silky interior divider. From the first time we considered using a suitcase, that interior has always given me pause. That area is designed for storing socks, I think, and making it practical for anything else may not be possible.

This photo shows another Athens effort in putting the suitcase to work. Such displays really are handy for browsing, even if I haven't yet met a suitcase that can pull off "classy." Which is not to say that we haven't given the suitcase a chance as well, as seen below, displaying prints and photographs.

For the moment, this is the best that we've come up with. When hauling art to our booth, I love being able to easily carry considerable weight inside the suitcase. And once it's there, I think we feel obliged to work it into the display in our own booth.

We got ours for no cost at a church "free sale" back in Virginia, so there's no pressure, but I'd like to see your great ideas for putting a vintage suitcase to work, so please share links or descriptions in the comments.

A gift from her bridesmaids

2011-07-28T19:48:00.000-04:00

This book will be making its debut at a wedding in upstate New York this weekend. The cousin of the bride contacted me about placing the order for this custom photo album, and it will be a wedding gift to the couple from her and the other bridesmaids. The bride's cousin also designed the wedding invitation suite, so she supplied the artwork for the custom nameplate on this album so it would coordinate with all of the other printed materials.

Like all of my albums, this book is built with a double-thick spine. This allows for photos to be added to the pages without the book "yawning" open or appearing over-filled. I bound the album with orange waxed linen thread in the Japanese stab binding style.

I selected a light blue bookcloth for the edge of the book closest to the spine, and I used a navy paper for the covers. I actually ended up gluing a slightly transparent piece of navy paper on top of a blue lokta paper to get exactly the shade of blue I wanted for the covers.

I wish Anne and Kevin a joyous wedding day and a lifetime full of happiness. Congratulations to you both!

A book for an Irish wedding

2011-07-27T10:03:00.000-04:00

This wedding guest book was made for Raminta and Shaun, a couple in Ireland who married in May. The color scheme for their wedding was sky blue, yellow, and white, which I carried into the design of their guest book.

This was the first custom wedding book that I'd made for a couple outside of the U.S. And I'm currently working on my second international wedding guest book for a couple in Norway. It is so exciting for me to be able to share my work with people all over the world.

The book was bound in the Coptic style with yellow thread, and a matching yellow grosgrain ribbon was threaded through the covers of the book so it could be tied shut when not in use. When untied, the book will still lay flat on a table so it's easy for guests to sign.

I printed the couple's names, wedding date, and wedding location on the first page of the book. All of the interior pages were printed with matching blue lines and the word "guests" on top of each page.

I included a little matching booklet along with the guest book when I sent it off to Ireland. My husband and I used a similar little book on our Portland, Oregon honeymoon two years ago to record all of our wedding memories. While on the airplane or sitting in coffee shops, we would pass the book back and forth, taking turns recording little details we wanted to be sure not to forget. I like sending little books off to the other couples, and perhaps they'll do the same.

Porter Flea

2011-07-11T18:03:00.000-04:00

On Saturday, Tony and I discover yet another thing to love about our new neighborhood. We stopped by Porter Flea, the first of hopefully many handmade markets in East Nashville. We've only lived in Nashville for about 10 days, and we're already falling in love with this city and all that it has to offer.

The Porter Flea art show had a top-notch group of vendors selling all sorts of goods from jewelry to furniture, and everything in between. Friendly Arctic was printing awesome East Nashville map posters right then and there. Because of our love of maps and our growing collection of silkscreened map posters, Tony couldn't resist buying the very first completed print. We're looking forward to getting our new apartment set up so we can get our new poster on display.

Alongside Andy and Brendan of Friendly Arctic, the show was also organized by Katie (who makes upcycled t-shirt necklaces) and Jessica (whose linocut prints can be seen below, and in her Pine Street Makery etsy shop). Of course I'm partial to Jessica's book prints, but my husband was loving the El Camino print.

Some of my other personal favorites at the show were Modern Arks (gorgeous coffee tables and end tables made from crates and other reclaimed wood), Studio Fjord (I really enjoyed chatting with Tracey about her jewelry), and 400 Moons (they sell terrariums filled with all types of succulents). Succulents are some of my favorite plants because Tony proposed to me in a greenhouse filled with succulents, and we also used them to decorate the tables at our wedding reception -- exactly two years ago today!

Reconnecting with the past

2011-07-11T13:48:00.000-04:00

One of the best parts of starting my own business has been getting to meet so many new people, from talented artists at art shows to the inspirational bookbinders of BEST. But I've also had the chance to reconnect with people I've know for years. This journal was commissioned by one of my high school classmates, Kendra, as a birthday gift for her sister. (While working on this project for Kendra, I also got to hear more about her own business, Connected Healing, specializing in holistic horse healthcare.)

This book is a 6" x 9" leather journal, bound in yellow thread using the Italian long-stitch technique. Usually when I make smaller leather journals, like this one, I use a thin leather strap which is attached to the cover by looping it through a series of holes in the leather. However for this large journal, I felt that the book needed a thick strap to aesthetically balance the book.

This lead me to try a new way of attaching the strap, resulting in the double X stitching pattern. While certainly nothing groundbreaking, I loved the extra bit of visual interest that the simple pattern brings to the book. I wonder how it would look to continue the stitching pattern along the entire length of the strap. I may have to try that on a future book.

The inside of the book features colorful bits of paper from a vintage world atlas. I selected an assortment of maps from around the globe to wrap each section of pages. And since all of the maps I used are printed on both sides, no matter how you flip through the book you can get a little geography lesson.

linenlaid&felt studio moves to Nashville!

2011-07-09T08:33:00.001-04:00

The moving truck has not yet carried our belongings to Nashville, but we're already loving the vibrant city that we now call home. By next week, my husband will be working at the city's daily newspaper and I'll be taking this bookbinding adventure "full time." The first order of business is to organize the studio, as many exciting custom book requests have arrived in the past week.

From our apartment in East Nashville, I'll be a short walk from coffee shops where I can work on Etsy listings and blog posts, the post office for shipping orders, and art galleries to glean ideas.

The one upside of having a nearly-empty apartment this week (due to delays by our moving company) is that my husband and I have been out and about exploring our new city non-stop since last Friday. We enjoyed stopping by The Green Wagon, an eco-friendly general store, and we had some amazing ice cream at Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream. (How could you resist flavors like riesling poached pear and wildberry lavender?)

Also exciting is the news that the city's first-ever handmade book festival has been scheduled for the end of September. I was thrilled to find out about the Handmade & Bound festival hosted by Watkins College of Art, Design, and Film.

A wedding memory book for Tiffani and Nathan

2011-07-08T14:01:00.000-04:00

In my last post, I shared a few photos of this guest book that I made for my best friend's wedding. My husband was able to take a few pictures of guests signing the book at the reception, but I also wanted to include some pictures of the book's details.

I still haven't tired of this gorgeous marbled paper, and it was a perfect fit for her oceanside wedding ceremony in Hilo, Hawaii. I purchased a large sheet of this paper, and then carefully selected my favorite portions to use for the covers this book. I like how the swirling patterns on the front and the back of the book each seem to have a different personality.

I was pleased to see that many of the guests took the time to write lengthy, heartfelt messages. By the end of the wedding, the pages were filled with well-wishes (in several languages!). I prefer using blank pages in my guest books, instead of lined pages, because I think the blank canvas of the page invites guests to do more than just sign their names. I love flipping through books and seeing elaborate messages in elegant cursive mixed in with light-hearted doodles and more casual congratulatory notes. This variety adds such character to the book and makes it so much fun to flip through years later.

I also made a large set of photo corners to accompany this book. The opening page of the book was reserved for Tiffani and Nathan to display their favorite wedding photo. On the second page, I included one of their wedding invitations. And then on the rest of the pages that weren't filled with guests messages, they can add more photos from their wedding. I think this guest-book-plus-photo-album is the perfect solution to keep all of their wedding memories together in one handmade keepsake.

Congratulations, Tiffani and Nathan! I wish you all the best in your adventures together.

Two decades of friendship

2011-06-10T10:50:00.002-04:00

Last week my husband and I returned home after a fabulous trip to Hilo, Hawaii. From Virginia, it took us four flights and about 24 hours to get there, but nothing could have stopped me from making the trip to celebrate with my oldest friend at her wedding.

Just a few months shy of twenty years ago, I sat next to Tiffani on the school bus on our first day of kindergarten and we've been friends ever since. We even joked that I could be her "something old" on her wedding day, since she already had the new, borrowed, and blue under control.

Of course as Tiffani's oldest friend and matron of honor, I couldn't let her use a generic store-bought book as her wedding guest book. So as my gift to the couple, I made this personalized book for their wedding. The marbled paper used for the covers perfectly matches our bridesmaid dresses, and the cover is adorned with paper cutouts of two dolphins forming a heart shape. Dolphins have been Tiffani's favorite animal for as long as I can remember, and the other part of our wedding gift to Tiffani and Nathan was the chance to swim with dolphins on their honeymoon.

I'm glad my husband was able to snap a few photos of guests signing the book at the wedding. It's always nice to have some photos of my books in use. And this is also the second guest book I've made for a wedding I attended (this was the first), so I actually had the chance to write a message in my own book.

This particular book is designed to be both a guest book and a photo album to hold all of their gorgeous wedding photos. In a future post I'll share some photos I took of the book in my studio before heading to Hawaii so you can see some of the details I worked into Tiffani and Nathan's book.

Some recent blog features

2011-06-09T10:42:00.001-04:00

I feel so loved this week! In the past few days, my work has been featured on two blogs:

:: April of a thoughtful life posted an interview with me on her blog. You can learn more about why I choose to buy handmade, the awesome people I've met since starting my business, a handmade gift I made for my husband back when we were still dating, and where I'd visit if I could go back in time.

:: Ashley, a dear friend from college, also posted about my work on her blog, The Sea's Edge. She came to visit me at the Athens Indie Craftstravaganzaa last month, and wrote about it here. You can also see all of the lovely photos she took of my work (the two photos here were also taken by Ashley),

Paper samples

2011-06-08T19:51:00.000-04:00

When it comes to placing a custom order, picking out the decorative papers for the covers of the book is one of the most important decisions.

At any given time, I have dozens of different papers in my studio. I order small quantities of each to keep my work fresh and original, and my paper stash is always changing.

Here I've shared a sampling of the papers I currently have in stock. Hopefully this selection can serve as a starting point if you're considering placing a custom book order. And of course, if you don't see what you like here I can always search for something that's more to your liking.

Please note: Due to availability from my paper suppliers, I may be unable to order more of certain papers shown here. Please e-mail me if you have any questions about available papers: linenlaidfelt {at} gmail {dot} com.

Inspired in Athens

2011-06-08T01:59:00.001-04:00

While I was in Athens, GA for the Athens Indie Craftstravaganzaa I had the chance to meet some extremely talented and inspiring artists. And I'm always looking for ways to improve my own booth set up, so it was also nice to see such engaging booth designs. I've featured a few of my favorites here, ranging from fabric design to pottery, that all really appealed to my love of bright colors and bold patterns.

Sara Lee Parker

These first two images show the work of Sara Lee Parker, who designs her own patterns and handprints them in rural Georgia with the help of her husband. I first came across her work on Design Sponge back in January, and was thrilled to see it in person at the show in Athens. Her display was absolutely gorgeous; it was eye-catching yet simple and allowed her work to shine. Check out her website here and her visit her etsy shop to pick up some lovely handprinted notecards or textiles.

Platypusfile

I was a huge fan of the Platypusfile booth. Janae Easton of Tallahassee makes these amazing one-of-a-kind bird pillows from vibrant patterned fabrics and adds a vintage button as the bird's eye for a finishing touch. She also makes necklaces from small pieces of fabric, and displayed them resting on an open book. It was such a nice experience to walk into Janae's booth and to be surrounded by her cheerful aesthetic. For a similar experience, visit her etsy shop and be sure to check out her mini bird paperweights.

Jeanette Zeis Ceramics

Jeanette makes cupcake stands and cake stands that would be perfect for weddings or other celebrations, and she also makes some adorable berry bowls. She even has a special line of vegan pottery. Her booth was just a few away from mine in Athens so I had the pleasure of glancing at her work often throughout the day. For more information, visit her website and online shop.

Liddabits Design Shop

Liz Jahn (the designer behind Liddabits) and I met while studying graphic design at the University of Georgia. She was a semester ahead of me and I always really admired her work, especially the series of wrapping paper designs that she created as part of her senior thesis show. Liz launched her etsy shop earlier this year and it's been refreshing to reconnect as two small business owners. Plus, it was fun to catch up in person at the Athens Indie Craftstravaganzaa in our college town. Liz's shop features her custom banners (perfect for birthday parties and weddings), and she also designs stationary and custom invitations. And if you still need a father's day card, she has some great options in her shop.

Jordan Grace Owens

I really enjoyed chatting with Jordan when I stopped by her booth. She's an illustrator based in Greensboro, NC and she was selling quirky magnets, pins, and paper dolls. I was drawn to her work when I saw it, but it wasn't until I was back home and perusing her website that I realized that I'd come across her work before. On a trip to Greensboro not too long ago, we stopped by a coffee shop downtown called the Green Bean where some of Jordan's work was on display. If you'd like to pick up a paper doll for yourself (or even a personalized one!) be sure to visit her online shop.

Congratulations, Braeden and Chika!

2011-05-11T10:46:00.014-04:00

It's been a while since I've shared a custom book here, with all the blogging I've been doing lately about teaching workshops and exhibiting at craft shows. But I'm thrilled to show this custom wedding album that I created for Braeden and Chika, who got married last week.

The couple has been living in Japan, but flew back to the US for their wedding. Coincidentally, my best friend and her fiance have been living in Japan since last year, and they'll also be coming back to the US to tie the knot later this month. (I'll be making a book for their wedding too, using one of the marbled papers shown here.)

I used a chiyogami paper printed with a cherry blossom pattern for the covers, and the book is bound using the Japanese stab binding technique. The first page features a space for Braeden and Chika to display one of their wedding photos, as well as some flower illustrations created by me.

They also wanted to include the phrase "The best memories are made with the best people" on the opening page. What a fitting sentiment for a wedding album. My wedding day was truly one of the best days of my life, and a huge part of that was being able to spend the day with all of my favorite people. My friends and family live all over the globe, and it was amazing to have everyone I care about in the same place at the same time for one special weekend. I hope Braeden and Chika had a similar experience and were able to celebrate with everyone who means the most to them.

Braeden and Chika were planning to have a photo booth at their wedding, so they wanted a guest book that would double as a photo album to hold the photos taken of their guests. Each page of the book has space for two 4x6 photos. I made more than 300 photo corners by hand to hold all of the photos in place. The photo corners were made from the same brown cherry blossom paper that was used for the covers of the book. There is space beside each photo for guests to write a message to the bride and groom.

I'm so pleased with the way all of the details came together for this book. I love the delicate design of the pages, the one-of-a-kind photo corners, and the soft edges of the paper created by tearing each page by hand. I hope Braeden and Chika are as happy with the result as I am, and that this book will be a cherished keepsake from their wedding day for years to come.

Back to Athens for the Craftstravaganzaa

2011-05-09T10:12:00.010-04:00

This weekend we headed down to Athens, GA to set up shop at the Athens Indie Craftstravaganzaa. After graduating from the University of Georgia three years ago, I've only been back to town a handful of times so participating in this show was the perfect excuse to make another visit.

The show took place in a large parking lot right in downtown Athens on the corner of Clayton and Pulaski Streets. As all of the vendors arrived in the morning to begin setting up our booths, we found that a single car had been left in the parking lot overnight (see photo above). There was some last minute shuffling of booth locations to make room for all of the 50+ vendors, along with the lone black Toyota, but in the end it all worked out just fine. In fact, it even resulted in an extra aisle along the side of my booth so shoppers could view my work even better as they entered the show.

While sales were a little slower at this show than the others I've done over the past year (there seemed to be a lot more browsers than shoppers this weekend) we were lucky to have amazing weather and it's always great to spend a weekend in Athens. We stayed with my wonderful friend Diana while we were in town (she was a bridesmaid in my wedding two summers ago). She brought us food and drinks throughout the 9-hour art show, and then she cooked an amazing dinner for us after the show on Saturday. A few other college friends, who now live in Atlanta, made the trip over to Athens to come to the show and hang out with us on Saturday night.

Diana also introduced us to a few new restaurants when we were in town. When we got into Athens late on Friday night, she brought us to the new location of Transmetropolitan for pizza (the pizza I tried was called the Hungry Sasquatch). I must admit that I think I like the new location even better than the original one that I enjoyed throughout my years at UGA. And on our way out of town on Sunday morning we got breakfast at Mama's Boy after Diana highly recommended it as her favorite breakfast spot in Athens.

Stay tuned for a few more posts about the Athens Indie Craftstravaganzaa, including a few of my favorite artists from the show and a guest post from my husband Tony about an interesting booth design trend that he noticed.

A very special paper delivery

2011-05-03T12:04:00.002-04:00

While I was in Raleigh for The Handmade Market, I had the opportunity to meet the women behind my favorite online paper shop, Paper Mojo. They have an amazing selection of papers for sale, exceptional customer service, and a lively facebook page. So when I knew that I'd be heading down to their neck of the woods for the market, I invited them to stop by my booth to say hello. After chatting online for months, it was so nice to meet them in person. Megan even took a few pictures of my work and featured me on the Paper Mojo blog.

I also placed a new paper order with them a few days before The Handmade Market, and they happily hand-delivered my papers to me at the show. I'm incredibly excited about this newest assortment of papers. I selected a few of my tried-and-true favorites, like the gold and silver coated lokta papers and the papers printed with the metallic chrysanthemum patterns. I also picked out a few new papers, like the dramatic marbled papers shown above.

Overall, my order was pretty heavy on the blues and greens since I had a particular book in mind while making my selections. One of my best friends, who I've known since the first day of kindergarten, will be getting married at the end of May. I'll be making a very special wedding guest book for her, which will coordinate with her wedding colors. I'm really looking forward to getting started on this book for her, but most of all I'm excited to be her matron of honor and standing next to her as she marries the love of her life.

A pack rat's nest

2011-05-02T19:11:00.001-04:00

I'm sure I've mentioned a few times that I'm a bit of a pack rat. I save scraps of leather that are too small for book covers. I find ways to make even the tiniest bits of paper useful. And I even save pieces of leftover thread.

I hate the feeling of running out of thread just as I'm about to finish the binding of a Coptic journal or a Japanese stab bound photo album. And it's so much easier to tie a final knot to complete a book when you have some extra thread to work with. So I usually cut a bit more thread than I'll need when working on a more complex binding. But as a result, I'm left with short -- but still potentially useful -- pieces of thread. I've been saving these bits of thread for months in a colorful nest-like pile thinking they'd be perfect for sewing little pamphlet books, and this weekend I dove into my stash and made a bunch of new booklets.

Each of the books has a different decorative paper for the cover (all coming from my box full of leftover papers, of course). You might recognize some of these papers from previous custom orders or books in my etsy shop. These little books are perfectly pocket-sized, and small enough to fit inside an envelope to send to a friend as a little "just because" gift. I'll be bringing all of these little pamphlet books with me to Athens, GA this weekend for the Athens Indie Craftstravaganzaa. And soon I'll be selling them in my etsy shop in little color-coordinated bundles.

Leather food chain

2011-04-25T23:16:00.001-04:00

My table at The Handmade Market on Saturday was right across the aisle from Noelle of oelle m. She had a beautiful booth display and was selling her paintings, handbags, and embroidered pillows. (You can see more examples of her work on flickr.) But her leather necklaces are what really caught my eye.

After staring at these gorgeous necklaces for a few hours, it dawned on me that I might have some supplies that Noelle could use. When I make my leather journals, I often have scraps of leather left over that I just can't use. Oftentimes these pieces of leather or suede are fairly large, but if I can't cut a rectangle from them large enough to cover my pages the leather bits will just end up in my scrap pile. (And as my husband will tell you, I have a hard time parting with my scraps. I have several boxes, bowls, and bags filled with scraps of paper, fabric, and leather sitting around my studio just in case I find a use for them later.)

So I offered to send Noelle my extra bits of leather, thinking it would be a win-win for us both. She'd have some extra materials to make new necklaces, and I'd be able to clear out my studio and send my leather to a good home. And as we were leaving the show, she generously gave me one of her necklaces (the prettiest one, too!) to thank me.

I absolutely love my new necklace, and I've been wearing it both yesterday and today. I received several complements on it at work today, and I got to share the story about how I got the necklace with my co-workers. I have all of my leather scraps packaged up to send to Noelle tomorrow, and I'm glad to know I have someone to send my extra pieces to as I continue to make more leather books.

The Handmade Market

2011-04-24T16:21:00.003-04:00

Yesterday my husband and I headed down to Raleigh, NC for The Handmade Market. We woke up at 4 a.m. and hit the road soon after, coffee in hand. It was foggy and raining when we left Virginia, but by the time we arrived in North Carolina the sun started to peek out from behind the clouds and it turned out to be a beautiful day. Setting up for the show was a breeze since the tables were provided and we didn't need to worry about bringing a tent. And thanks to my busy month of bookbinding, I had more than enough books to fill my display table.

Those who stopped by my table at the show really seemed to enjoy flipping through my sculptural vintage map books and my "Cortona Clothesline" artists books. My leather journals and wedding guest books were also quite popular. And I almost sold out of my little pamphlet books (below), so I'll need to make some more of those before my show in Athens, GA next month.

I met some fantastic people at the show, including the women of Paper Mojo (the online shop where I purchase most of my decorative paper). The vendor at the table next to mine was photographer Mary Doherty, who had some photos of Charleston, SC on display (a place that's near and dear to my heart). I also saw some earrings made from vintage postage stamps, sea creature themed ceramics from Cephalopod Ink, and some gorgeous leather necklaces.

This was the first time that Tony and I had visited Raleigh, and although it was a whirlwind one-day trip we both really enjoyed the city and The Handmade Market. Before heading out of town, we had an amazing meal at The Remedy Diner (vegetarian tacos for Tony and a warm goat cheese salad for me), and spent the four-hour drive home chatting about our day at the market and listening to a few episodes of Radiolab.

Want to see more photos from the show? Visit my facebook page, or The Handmade Market flickr group.

On the front page again!

2011-04-15T11:55:00.000-04:00

I'm thrilled to announce that one of my handmade books made it to the front page of Etsy again! I was working in my studio yesterday evening making covers for some new photo albums when I happened to glance at my computer screen and notice that I was on the front page. While my first front page appearance was certainly exciting, I found out about it after the fact. This time I actually got to see it live up on the site. (My delay in posting about this on the blog had nothing to do with lack of excitement; my hands were just covered in glue last night and I wanted to keep them away from my keyboard!)

The treasury below, which includes one of my Italian longstitch books with a rust colored suede cover, was the curated collection featured on the front page yesterday. A huge thank you goes out to Martata for putting together this gorgeous treasury!

'Rust can be Minty' by Martata

sunshineartdes... $25.00	beverlyyy $5.00	SilverSmack $30.00
LAccentNou $70.00	WoolyBison $15.00	DutchTouchAnti... $795.00
shirae $20.00	sadieolive $30.00	patriciavalery $50.00
zsbekefi $15.00	honeytree $30.00	LinenLaidFelt $30.00
TheJewelryStor... $190.00	zerbamine $20.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

New products, new show, new newsletter

2011-04-10T22:42:00.001-04:00

I'm excited to finally debut my new line of spring journals. I stepped away from my more rustic leather and suede journals for a bit, and instead selected some bright shades of teal and butter yellow. Paired with vibrant thread and colorful papers inside, the result is a truly cheerful collection. Visit my etsy shop to purchase a spring journal.

New show

I just found out yesterday that I was accepted to participate in the Athens Indie Craftstravaganzaa. I'm so excited to be heading back to my college town of Athens, Georgia. Aside from what I'm sure will be a great show, I'm looking forward to seeing lots of great friends while in town. The Craftstravaganzaa is just two weeks after The Handmade Market, so I have lots of new books to make over the next few weeks to get ready for these two shows, where I'll be unveiling my newest collection of wedding guest books and photo albums.

New newsletter

The newest linenlaid&felt e-newsletter was sent out this evening. Are you on our mailing list? If not, click here to see what you've been missing. If you like what you see, you can sign up here or enter your e-mail address in the "join my newsletter" box in the right hand column of my blog. My husband Tony is the mastermind behind my newsletters, and I can't thank him enough for all of his hard work putting together these quarterly e-blasts.

New products

Taking over the house

2011-04-06T12:03:00.001-04:00

Since Saturday, our dining room has looked a little something like this.

For three days, I'd been busy cutting down sheets of decorative paper for the covers of my spring line of photo albums and wedding guest books. Since the work tables in my studio were already covered with other projects, I moved everything into the dining room and enjoyed spreading out on this big table.

Thankfully, spring weather arrived in Virginia this weekend, so my husband and I were able to eat our meals out on our front porch. And the local farmers' market just opened up, so we stocked up on some local meats and veggies and have been cooking up a storm ever since.

It's a good thing that our lack of dining table space hasn't hindered our gourmet cooking (and eating) because just as I had cleared off the table last night, I decided I needed to use it to cut down some leather for more Italian longstitch journals. Hopefully by the end of the week our dining room will be back to normal and my studio will be well-stocked with new books to work on.

All this is in preparation for the upcoming Handmade Market in Raleigh, NC. You can read a Q&A with me on the Handmade Market blog to learn more about my newest creation, my most treasured bookbinding tool, and the tunes I've been grooving to in the studio lately.

Fold, tear, glue, and sew

2011-03-31T18:48:00.002-04:00

I recently taught a two-day bookmaking workshop at the Shenandoah Valley Art Center, and I wanted to share a few photos from the class. Aside from casually teaching a few friends how to make some simple book structures, this was my first time teaching a class and everything went incredibly well.

Before the class, I talked my husband and our friend into being guinea pigs for me as I practiced teaching the four binding structures I was planning to teach in the class and got a feel for how long it would take my students to make their own books. I also cut down all of the bookboard, bookcloth, decorative paper, and leather ahead of time that we would need in the class. This was a smart move because it saved a ton of time during the actual class, and allowed us to dive right into the fun part without worrying too much about measurements.

I started off the first class with a little show-and-tell. I brought in my collection of handbound books, both made by myself and other bookbinders I admire (like erinzam and minusplusminus), to inspire my students about the possibilities of bookbinding.

Then we started creating ourselves by making two accordion books, while learning the basics of paper grain and folding and tearing paper. The first book was a structure similar to this style, where the softcover books are assembled without adhesive or stitching. Next, we took it a step further and created a double concertina book with a hard cover, like this.

Day two of the class focused on sewn structures. First we made a simple one-signature pamphlet book to get the sewing basics down. Then we made Italian long-stitch books with leather covers, which were certainly more complicated but also more rewarding when completed. You can see examples of my students' books in the photos directly above and below. I've heard from several students who have continued to make a few books since the class, including one who just learned the Coptic stitch! It was so much fun for me to introduce some new people to the world of handbound books.

First craft show of the season

2011-03-24T10:08:00.002-04:00

I woke up Monday morning to find an acceptance e-mail in my inbox for The Handmade Market. I'm so excited to try out a new show, and I think this will be just the motivation I need to really kick my bookmaking into high gear. Plus, this will be my first out-of-state show, and I'm looking forward to meet some new people and see some new artwork.

The Handmade Market will take place on Saturday, April 23 in Raleigh, NC. They have a round-up of the participating designers on their website, and it looks like I'll be in great company. The show organizers are going to be putting together an artist spotlight series on their blog leading up to the event. I can't wait to read more about the work of my fellow designers, and to meet them in person next month.

Rusty but trusty

2011-03-09T21:08:00.000-05:00

I've been on a roll making Italian longstitch books lately. My goal for February was to focus on making these leather journals, as well as photo albums. But once I got started with the longstitch books, I just couldn't seem to stop.

I made some with rich brown leather (like this book), and more recently with butter yellow and bright teal leather covers, but my favorite has been this rustic orange suede. I can't seem to get enough of the gorgeous color (especially when paired with mint green thread) or the soft texture. And I think the journal looks especially lovely paired with all of the "rusty but trusty" items in the treasury below.

'Rusty But Trusty' by CactusAndOlive

supplier $7.50	ellyolson $13.00	LinenLaidFelt $30.00
Evotiv $499.95	photoamato $20.00	woolcandy $24.00
JulieMagersSou... $30.00	modernSCRAPYAR... $10.95	Mechanicality $20.00
jibbyandjuna $18.00	annabelsaprons $7.00	zahavblue $78.00
LeasBoutique $11.95	chefrepublic $22.00

Treasury tool is sponsored by Lazzia.com A/B image testing.

Handmade treats for Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T19:48:00.000-05:00

My husband showered me with handmade delights this Valentine's Day. First, I got a box full of cranberry-orange gumdrops, made by fahrenheitgoods on Etsy. They are soft and delicious (I had to hide them from myself so I wouldn't eat them all this evening!), and the box was wrapped in a beautiful paper too. I'm sure that paper will make its way into a handbound book in some way or another.

He also got me a beautiful pair of copper enamel earrings from tekaandzoe, and I couldn't be more thrilled. (You might remember that I've been lusting over them for months...) I already planning my outfit for work tomorrow so I can wear my new earrings.

And last but not least, Tony picked out some handmade perfume for me from Sweet Anthem. I've been obsessed with the "Anita" scent for the past month, after ordering a perfume sampler with a gift card my friend Chase gave me for Christmas. All of the fragrances I tried were quite nice, but that particular one really stood out to me. "Anita" smells just like a peppermint mocha, my all-time favorite coffee drink. And as my sample of that scent was starting to run low, I'm excited to now have a full-sized bottle of it.

Tony and I will be staying in this evening, cooking dinner together, and watching a movie. On the menu: homemade chicken curry, chocolate souffle, and a bottle of wine we've been saving since our honeymoon. It should be the perfect evening.

I hope you've all had a very happy Valentine's Day!

Sneak peek from the studio

2011-02-07T23:00:00.004-05:00

This book likely hasn't arrived at it's new home yet, so I don't want to share photos of the completed book now and ruin the excitement. But I couldn't resist sharing a few photos taken in my studio while working on this custom baby book.

All of the pages were designed by me, and include spaces to record special memories and envelopes to preserve keepsakes. I even created handmade photo corners using the same paper used for the cover, so the parents-to-be can fill the pages of the book with photos once their little girl arrives.

New Coptic-bound journal sizes

2011-02-05T17:21:00.001-05:00

If you've been checking out my Etsy shop and facebook page lately, you might have noticed that I've introduced some new sizes into my product line. Throughout most of 2010, my sizes consisted of the large square, the medium vertical, and the mini. I've since started making my Coptic journals (which are also perfect for wedding guest books or sketchbooks) in three new sizes.

Sometimes it can be a little tricky to pick out the right size when shopping online, so I wanted to take a few photos showing all of my sizes that you can use for comparison. Hopefully this helps, and if I can answer any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. The dimensions and prices of my journals are listed below.

Sizes and prices of Coptic-bound journals:

Large Square --- 8" x 8" --- $60
Large --- 6" x 9" --- $50
Medium --- 5" x 6.5" --- $40
Medium Horizontal --- 6.5" x 5" --- $40
Small --- 3" x 4.5" --- $30
Mini --- 2.5" x 3.5" --- $25

Which size do you like best? How would you use one of my handbound journals in your favorite size?

Orange and blue guest book

2011-02-03T11:57:00.001-05:00

This Coptic-bound guest book is another custom book that was given as a Christmas gift. I can't tell you how exciting it was for me on Christmas Day to know that people all around the country -- some that I know, but mostly people I've never met -- were receiving books that I made with my own two hands. I put so much care into each and every book that I make, and I hope this makes receiving one of my books so much more special than a mass-produced item.

When Beth contacted me through my Etsy shop, she was drawn to a similar book I had made using this orange spirograph paper for the covers. (It's one of my favorite papers as well!) She wanted me to create a custom guest book for some friends but was curious if I could make a horizontal book and if I could print lines on the pages.

Up until this point, all of the books in my collection had either been vertical or square, and they all had blank pages. But I ended up loving the way that this book came out and I've made several books in a similar format since then. I'm please to announce that I will be adding this type of book to my repertoire, and the first book in my new collection has been added to my shop. Click here to see my new lined, horizontal journal in red.

Mission accomplished

2011-02-01T07:50:00.004-05:00

If you remember back to my first post of 2011, I made a New Years resolution to make at least 20 books per month. Knowing how busy I've been lately, I was a little worried that this goal might be too lofty and that I wouldn't have enough time to make all the books I'd planned to. But somehow I managed not only to reach, but to surpass this goal.

During the month of January I made the 32 books pictured here, in addition to two custom books which I will feature on my blog soon. I made 13 Coptic-bound journals (which also work well for wedding guest books and sketchbooks), five Italian Long-stitch books, and a slew of pamphlets, softcover concertina notebooks, and hardcover sculptural concertina books.

About half of these books are bound for a few local shops that sell my work, and the others will be listed in my Etsy shop over the next week.

I'm already looking forward to the books I plan to make in February. I'll be focusing on making more Italian long-stitch books with suede, leather, and cardstock covers. I'll also be making some new photo albums, which sold out during the holidays.

For the bride and groom

2011-01-31T12:22:00.001-05:00

My husband and I surprised his cousin, Joy, and her fiance, Chris, with this book a few days before their Key West wedding. I don't think Joy and Chris had any idea that I'd been working on a book for them, or that their family members had been secretly gathering photos for me to place in the book.

I chose bright tropical colors for this book, with a fun circular print inside for the endsheets, which I felt matched the tone for their sunny beach wedding. Photos are attached to all of the pages with photo corners, starting with a photo taken on their first date. I think guests enjoyed flipping through the book at the reception and seeing photos taken on their vacations abroad, their engagement weekend in Arizona, and their visits to vineyards closer to home.

Wedding guests wrote messages to Chris and Joy throughout the book next to the photos placed on the pages. My husband and I both signed near photos of them taken at our wedding a year earlier. So often when I complete a custom order, I ship the book off in pristine condition with blank pages waiting to be filled with photos and messages. This book was the first guest book I made for a wedding that I attended. It was so exciting for me to be able to see this book as it was was filled with memories, and to include my own message to the bride and groom on pages that I bound by hand.

After the wedding, there were still a few pages with room for messages. Joy and Chris had another celebration once they returned home from their wedding cruise to visit with everyone who wasn't able to make it for the big day. I imagine after that gathering this book is now filled and will hopefully be a treasured keepsake for years to come.

As my husband was helping me fill the book with photos, it was his idea to leave the last page blank so Joy and Chris could include a wedding photo in the book as well. I thought it was a great idea because now the book documents their whole journey from budding romance to wedded bliss.

Sunny yellow treasury

2011-01-30T23:45:00.000-05:00

I was just featured in a beautiful Etsy treasury, and it was too gorgeous not to share. I'm loving all of the bright sunny colors, and my yellow Italian long-stitch journal is in good company. Click on any of the photos for more info about the item. Enjoy!

'Daffodil Fields ' by sstormster1

CalebandEmilyD... $6.00	OldBaltimoreVi... $28.00	reflectionsbyd... $28.00
sstormster $25.00	katedurkin $38.00	OtisLovesOlivi... $12.00
littlebrownpen $22.00	BijouxMimi $19.00	AlpineGypsy $28.00
humboldtstreet $32.00	clairehartigan $4.50	trendyknitting $72.00
cherryandviole... $26.00	LinenLaidFelt $25.00	sunflowerexpre... $24.50

Treasury tool is sponsored by Lazzia.com.

Congratulations, Joy and Chris!

2011-01-24T10:18:00.000-05:00

On this chilly winter day, it's hard not to think back on my tropical getaway from November. My husband's cousin, Joy, planned a fabulous destination wedding and we were lucky enough to be able to attend. The whole family set sail on a cruise leaving from Charleston, SC and heading to two ports in the Bahamas before arriving in Key West. There, Joy and Chris said "I do" on a beautiful Saturday morning just a few feet away from the ocean. It was such a lovely backdrop for the ceremony (and all of the guests enjoyed dipping our toes in the water before heading off for a delicious lunch reception).

Our gift to the couple was a handbound wedding guest book, pictured above. The book doubles as a photo album, and Tony helped me to fill it with plenty of photos of Joy and Chris. With the help of some sneaky relatives who helped track down all of the photos, we were able to include photos of Joy and Chris's first date, their travels together around the globe, their engagement, and many more. Wedding guests enjoyed flipping through the photos and selecting which page on which to write their congratulatory messages. Check back later this week for a more in-depth post about this wedding book with lots of photos.

And now for a few more photos from our trip, as I reminisce about our tropical adventure and look forward to the warmer days ahead.

The photos above were taken in Key West as Tony and I enjoyed splashing in the ocean after the wedding ceremony.

Despite the overcast weather during our day in Freeport, Bahamas, we made the most of our day at the beach.

Before one of the formal dinners on the cruise ship, we stepped outside to take a few photos together as the sun was setting (and the wind was blowing). This is one of the only photos from that evening where we don't look completely windblown.

Saying goodbye

2011-01-19T12:20:00.006-05:00

At the end of the month, I'll be saying goodbye to my former portfolio website. Designed during my senior year of college, my website was filled with examples of my photography, graphic design, drawing, painting, and handmade books. I spent months tweaking and perfecting the design of the site, but once I graduated I neglected to update it with new work. And aside from the outdated portfolios, both the design and domain name prominently featured by maiden name. Now that I've been a happily married woman for a year and a half, it's high time for me to let go of kathryngarner.com.

Although my work will no longer be available on my former website, you can now view my updated portfolios right here at linenlaid&felt. You can access my graphic design and fine art portfolios in the links section of the left sidebar. My photography portfolio can be viewed on flickr.

I will continue to post photos of my new handbound books regularly on this blog, but you view some of the books I bound in Italy and during college as part of my Flashback series. You can also view some new photo slideshows of my work by clicking on the handmade books and custom orders tabs above.

Custom orders made easy

2011-01-17T09:41:00.006-05:00

It's now easier than ever to place an order for one of my custom books! I've created custom listings in my Etsy shop for my journals, guest books, and albums in all of my standard sizes, which you can view right here. In each of those listings, you can see examples of previous custom orders in that style to spur ideas about the possibilities.

You can pick the colors and decorative paper used for your book, and I can also design a personalized label for you that I will place in a recessed cutout in the cover. The possibilities are endless, and I will work with you to make sure you get exactly what you want.

These custom listings are just the beginning. If you have a specific idea that doesn't fit into one of the categories here, just send me an e-mail to discuss your ideas: linenlaidfelt {at} gmail {dot} com.

You can also visit my new custom order page to view a portfolio of past custom work and to read the FAQs about ordering a custom book from me.

Birds of a feather stick together

2011-01-16T12:12:00.004-05:00

The two books in this post were both custom orders that were given as Christmas gifts this year. They were ordered by two different people in different states, but both customers were drawn to this particular paper for the covers. The paper is a textured, light blue paper featuring brown and gold feathers. (Or maybe they're pine needles? Everyone seems to have a different take on the design, so it's up for debate.) Either way, this paper is one of my favorites and has the ability to make any book more elegant.

The first book, personalized with the initials "CJR," was ordered by a man as a surprise gift for his wife. They both stopped by my booth at a local craft show this fall, and stayed to chat a while about my study abroad experiences in Italy while they learned about my work. The very next day, the man e-mailed me to place an order for a Christmas gift.

The couple travels a lot, and because his wife is an artist he wanted to give her a book that she could fill with her sketches as they visit different places throughout the year. I hope this book turns out to be the perfect place for her to record their travel memories.

I used the same color scheme for both books, but varied the paper choices for the endsheets and guards, using different selections of gold and brown papers.

The second book was ordered a month later at my trunk show in South Carolina. A mother ordered this journal as a gift for her son, who has kept journals all of his life. The book was personalized on the cover with his full name.

A journal for Gail

2011-01-14T08:45:00.004-05:00

The order for this custom book was placed at my trunk show in November. After seeing a similar journal (which is now for sale in my Etsy shop), the customer wanted one just like it to give as a Christmas gift and she requested a personalized nameplate for the cover.

I used a smooth paper printed with a bold, modern floral pattern for the covers of this book. And the textured orange paper that you see along the spine? I made it by hand in Cortona, Italy! While I used some of my orange paper while still in Cortona, I brought a little stash of it back with me to the States. I recently rediscovered it and I've been putting it to good use ever since.

From fabric to metal

2011-01-11T22:37:00.000-05:00

Last week I shared a few of the handmade Christmas gifts that I gave to friends and family, and now I'd like to share a few that I received.

My husband's family gave me this fabric flower hair clip made by Esty seller PetalMix. All of the petals were cut and hand-folded from beautiful pieces of dupioni silk (my all-time favorite type of fabric), and the flower is completed with a cluster of glass pearls in the center. Petal Mix hair accessories and brooch pins are a modern twist on the Japanese art of tsumami kanzashi.

The earrings above, made by Jayme Driver, were a Christmas gift from my husband. I first met Jayme at Art in the Park last spring, where we made a trade: I gave her one of my handbound photo albums and she gave me the earrings below.

Jayme and I met up again when we were both exhibiting at the Fall Foliage Festival in October. When visiting her booth, I noticed a new pair of earrings that really caught my eye. She must have mentioned this to Tony later that day because I was both surprised and thrilled to find them under the tree on Christmas Day. These two pairs of earrings have quickly become the favorites in my collection and the go-to pieces that I wear several times a week.

Make your own books!

2011-01-09T08:23:00.009-05:00

Interested in learning bookmaking? Your chance has arrived. My first class at Shenandoah Valley Art Center, in Waynesboro, VA will meet on back-to-back Saturdays at the end of the month. I'll be teaching an introduction to bookmaking -- no experience required -- in which you'll learn multiple book structures, ranging from simple stitched books and accordion folds to more involved journals with hundreds of pages. The cost is $70 for SVAC members and $90 for non-members. For more information call the art center at (540) 949-7662 or visit their website. Sign up today, as class space is limited!

Two-day Intro to Bookbinding Workshop

When: Saturday, January 22 and Saturday, January 29; 1-4 p.m.

Where: Shenandoah Valley Art Center, 126 S. Wayne Ave., Waynesboro, VA

Inspired by the invitations

2011-01-08T10:36:00.002-05:00

Before I begin sharing all of the custom order books I made for the holidays, I want to share a few other books that I completed in 2010. I've had the honor to work on quite a few wedding guest books and photo albums since founding linenlaid&felt (and even a few before then). It is really special for me to be able to create a book for such a monumental life event, and to make something that will likely become a keepsake for years to come.

This album was commissioned by Ryan, a former co-worker of mine, who gave the book to two of his friends as a wedding gift. The design of the book was heavily influenced by the couple's wedding printed materials. When Ryan placed his order, he gave me a copy of their invitation, which I brought with me while shopping in order to perfectly match the shades of pink and green when purchasing paper.

The couple's names and pink patterned paper in the recessed nameplate on the cover actually came directly from the wedding invitation. For my custom orders, I usually design and print the label for the cover myself, but in this case I really liked being able to use a portion of the invitation to personalize the book. The book itself is classic and fairly understated, but the pop of the bright pink pattern adds just the right amount of excitement. Plus, I think it will make the book an even more memorable keepsake.

A Handmade Christmas

2011-01-06T07:25:00.004-05:00

1. TekaAndZoe :: Gypsy copper enamel earrings in turquoise
2. TekaAndZoe :: Copper enamel necklace in sunset orange
3. MonkeysAlwaysLook :: Vintage Silverware Garden Markers
4. VisuaLingual :: Midwest Seed Bombs

2010 was my first year as an Etsy seller, and in addition to running my own shop I also spent plenty of time purusing the shops of many other talented Etsy sellers. Throughout the year I discovered so many unique handmade items unlike any I'd ever seen before. I was itching to share them with the people I care about, so it was an easy decision to do most of my Christmas shopping on Etsy. Now that all of the gifts have been opened by their new recipients, I want to share some of the handmade items.

I bought two lovely pieces of jewelry from TeakaAndZoe, the turquoise earrings for my grandmother and the orange necklace for a friend of mine. I love all of the bright colors in the shop (and I hope to someday add one of these pairs of flower-shaped earrings to my own collection: in red/teal or in lime/turquoise).

The garden markers, made from hammered vintage spoons, were a gift for my mom. She's an exceptional gardener. And the Midwest seed bombs were a gift for my mother-in-law who lives in Illinois and who also enjoys spending time in her garden. The "bombs" are actually little balls formed of wildflower seeds mixed with clay. You just throw 'em and grow 'em (and add a little water too).

5. OhYum :: Sampler of homemade marshmallows
6. SpiceSpiceBaby :: Gourmet popcorn spice kit
7. HashDelectableEdible :: Candied chipotle bacon
8. ToyBreaker :: Bacon screenprinted tie

I also ordered several food items from Etsy sellers for the first time this holiday season. The best one was by far the homemade marshmallows made by OhYum! I ordered these to bring to my family's house to share with everyone for the holidays. My sampler pack included eight flavors: pistachio, lemon, cherry, chocolate, coconut, orange, vanilla, and almond. After tasting them all, the cherry and orange were my favorites. I will certainly be a repeat customer of OhYum!

I picked out a popcorn spice kit for my husband, including unique flavors like beer, southwest jalapeno, chocolate caramel, and dill pickle. We tested a few of them out at our New Year's party, and they were a hit. Also for my husband, I ordered some unique bacon treats: candied chipotle bacon, and then a sampler pack of other types of candied and chocolate-covered bacon. So far, we've just tried the candied chipotle flavor (very tasty!), and I'm sure the others will be interesting.

And continuing with the bacon theme, my husband and I selected a bacon tie for our bacon-loving and fashionable friend. If you've never visited ToyBreaker's Etsy shop, do it now! It's packed with clever and edgy neckties, bowties, and scarves, and I picked out three of them a few years back as a wedding present for my husband.

9. erinzam :: Baseball card book
10. LinenLaidFelt :: Handbound photo album
11. cuzifeltlikeit :: Greenlike fluffidermy

One of the hightlights of this handmade giftgiving was surprising my husband with this baseball card book made by erinzam. We're both really big fans of her work (see my previous post about her here). The covers of this book are made from a vintage, 1955 Bowman baseball card of Willard Marshall of the Chicago White Sox. My husband loves baseball, and is a huge White Sox fan. And coincidentally on our drive down to South Carolina before Christmas, he was talking about baseball cards, and specifically the 1955 Bowman cards that show the player surrounded in a television-like frame. I love the assortment of different papers used for the pages, and the baseball seam stitching style is especially clever. I ordered this gift in June, and I've been waiting anxiously for Christmas so I could give it to Tony.

One of the handmade gifts I gave this year was one that I made myself. My dad has become intersted in photography these past few years since moving to Charleston, SC and each time I come to visit he has a new stack of photos to show. So I decided to make him a handbound photo album for Christmas so he'd have a more elegant way to store and display his pictures (rather than the cardstock envelopes from the photo store). I'll be posting more photos of this book in a future blog post, but here's a sneak peek for now.

And last but not least, my husband picked out a faux-taxidermy creation for his younger brother. His brother's Christmas wishlist included a few books, CDs, and movies, but at the end he listed "something weird for my room." Of course Tony couldn't resist this challenge, and turned to the "everything else" and "weird" categories on Etsy to find this little critter.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-02T22:00:00.005-05:00

Last month I finished a custom wedding guest book for a couple who tied the knot yesterday, on News Year's Day. What a way to start off a new year! Congratulations to Caroline and Greg.

Their wedding guest book features plenty of shimmering gold details set off against soft cream pages and thread -- perfectly delicate and celebratory for a winter wedding. The paper used for the cover was handmade in Nepal and is printed with a contemporary chrysanthemum pattern.

I'm also pleased with how these photos came out, so I've included a few more than usual. Enjoy!

A head start

Just before the new year, on a lengthy car ride, my husband and I had the chance to talk about goals for the upcoming year for linenlaid&felt. I was so encouraged that I got a head start on one of them.

The goal was to complete at least 20 books per month to keep my Etsy shop stocked with new items while still being able to supply the local shops that sell my work. Before the ball even dropped on New Year's Eve, I had pages for 25 books awaiting covers and binding. And I feel great about it.

Moving forward

In addition to making lots more books, I'll be teaching a beginning bookbinding class at a local art center near the end of the month, and displaying my work and information about the bookmaking process at a library nearby.

In the studio, I'm working on more books with printed pages, including lined journals, baby books, and garden journals. Thanks to a Christmas gift from my husband and my grandparents, I'm the proud owner of four volumes of Keith Smith's comprehensive binding instruction books. So I expect to be experimenting with new binding styles and sculptural structures.

Rendezvous at the Wawa

2010-12-31T12:15:00.002-05:00

When working on custom books for specific events, I find it interesting to see which elements ultimately propel the design in a certain direction.

For this wedding guest book, Jessica started out open to suggestions. She worried that she wasn't being specific enough in her preferences. But it only took a couple of key decisions for us to solidify an idea: Jessica asked for eco-friendly materials and a specific color scheme.

I knew right away that Lokta paper would be a good choice to meet both goals. It is available in lots of bold colors, created with organic dyes, that allowed me to pick a bright yellow and a royal blue. Jessica had identified these colors as appropriate for her beach wedding, representing the sun and the sea.

Lokta paper, handmade in Nepal, is also sustainable. Instead of using trees, the paper is made from Daphne plant fibers and harvested in such a way to promote further growth of the plant. These standards go hand in hand with the paper's quality as a strong and acid-free material for bookbinding.

Jessica also knew she needed a quick turnaround so the book could be used for events leading up to the wedding, in addition to the big day. I've found myself encouraging other brides to follow Jessica's idea in using my wedding guest books to record messages from friends and family at engagement parties, bridal showers, and other wedding-related events.

To be married in October, Jessica ordered June 1. A week later, my husband was en route to Richmond with the book. Already scheduled to pick up a friend at the airport there, it was easy for him to deliver the book to Jessica at a corner Wawa convenient store near the airport. Although Jessica shopped in the global marketplace that is Etsy, she benefited by finding me, just an hour and a half to the west.

The Borders Within

2010-12-17T17:49:00.002-05:00

This past Sunday, the newspaper where my husband and I work published a special report called The Borders Within. For my husband Tony and our good friend Chase Purdy it was the culmination of a year's worth of reporting about the growing Hispanic population in our town.

And for me, it marked the end of an incredibly busy week spent designing the six-page section. This is undoubtedly the project I am post proud of during my two years designing for The News Virginian. I'm also quite proud of the work that Tony and Chase completed with their reporting which makes this even more meaningful to me. I don't often share my graphic design work on this blog, but I wanted to make an exception for this particular project.

Click on any of the images for a closer look at the design, or view a pdf of the full section here.

One aspect of the design that came together even better than I'd expected was the map on page two. I created a map of our small town, and used it to plot different points of significance to Waynesboro's Hispanic community, like the a church offering weekly services in Spanish and a park where many people -- including former Mexican professional league players -- play fútbol. Local and regional statistics surround the map to complete the infographic.

Everything for this section was completed by Tony, Chase, and me. Reporting, writing, photography, design -- we did it all. So we all feel a real sense of ownership about this section. The photos that Tony and Chase took turned out so well, and they drive the design for the section. I was able to use a variety of large dominant photos and truly give a face to this community that is often overlooked.

We were also all excited to see that our section had been featured on Charles Apple's The Visual Side of Journalism blog. Charles had many complimentary things to say about The Borders Within, and specifically appreciated the visual appeal of the infographics, and the design of the section overall. Reading his post truly made my day, and was ceretianly a highlight after such a hectic week (and weekend) preparing for the section's publication.

And here's a bit more about the section, in Tony's words:

At its most basic, the idea behind the reporting in this section is not new. Like many reporters, we chose to explore an unfamiliar immigrant community and one that struggles with a language barrier.

But we thought we could deliver something meaningful to readers by bringing our curiosity to Waynesboro’s Hispanic community in particular — a community nestled into a small town and one that still remembers the first who came from Mexico, Cuba, Guatemala, and elsewhere. They remember because those pioneers arrived not so long ago.

Because of the short time these families have lived here, we find them on the cusp of transition. As that population meets more frequently with the broader community, those unfamiliar words and nameless faces become harder to ignore, or to refuse to understand. Their needs have grown. Their successes are mounting.

We chose to approach in Spanish whenever possible, no matter how much we’d stumble. We focused on people, not politics, and the ordinary as often as the extreme.

This project first arose in fall 2009, but it might not have started without an unsolicited call and a soft threat. The caller told us to feature Kim Romero’s struggle to bring her husband Rigo back from Mexico, where he’d become mired in immigration bureaucracy. If we wouldn’t write the story, some other reporter would, the caller said.

The Romeros’ story turned from one chapter to the next just after midnight Sept. 10, when Rigo came legally into Kim’s arms at Dulles International Airport. We were there. Rigo has since gained residency through 2020.

Their story isn’t over. Nor is our work.

Tony and Chase had already won the International Perspectives award from the Associated Press Managing Editors contest for their coverage of the Romeros earlier this year, and I think that is just the beginning for the recognition they will receive for their work. Read all of the articles in The Borders Within series here.

Elegant album for wedding memories

2010-12-16T16:35:00.004-05:00

I'm taking a break amid the holiday rush to share a few more custom orders I completed this fall. This photo album was given as a wedding gift by Emma, one of my best customers. (She also ordered this photo album for her cousin, and this journal for a friend.)

Emma is often hands-on with the initial design process for her orders, which I enjoy because it's fun for me to see someone who is as excited about books as I am. She scoured the Paper Mojo website to find this red and gold Japanese paper for the cover. From there, I selected the cream bookcloth for the spine and the gold accents for the endsheets, giving the book an extra-special gleam. And once I had determined that the book needed to be bound with gold thread to complete the elegant look, I couldn't let the idea go until I had found the perfect option.

Emma was very pleased with the way this album turned out, and told me that the couple loved it as well. She even had them open the gift at the end of their wedding reception so they could see it right away. I hope Kathlyn and Leland enjoy filling this book with photos and memories of their married life together.

Ten years and counting

2010-12-01T22:58:00.004-05:00

Tony and I celebrated our ten-year anniversary on Saturday. We met during our freshman year of high school, back when we were just 14. He sat behind me in English class, and thanks to our assigned seats we like to say we met because of alphabetical order. The official start to our relationship came a few days after Thanksgiving, when he called to ask me a question about isosceles trapezoids (we also had geometry class together), followed by a request to join him for a movie. We went to see Bounce (it's terrible); my parents drove us to the theater because, hey, we were 14 and couldn't yet drive.

After high school, we both headed off to separate colleges; I moved to Georgia, and Tony went to school in Michigan. A four-year long-distance relationship ensued, during which we visited each other during school breaks, exchanged thousands of e-mails, and racked up our phone bills.

Tony proposed in 2008, at dusk in an exotic greenhouse in rural Michigan while I was visiting him during my spring break. I, of course, said yes. We were married the following summer in an Art Deco movie theater in Charleston, SC.

Life with Tony keeps getting better with each passing day. I look forward to all the milestones ahead of us, while cherishing all of the experiences we've shared as we've become the people we are today. Here's to many more happy years together. Happy anniversary, Tony!

Win a little leather book

2010-11-30T08:02:00.000-05:00

My journals made from a pair of red suede pants have been incredibly popular online and at art shows, and now you have a chance to win one.

Elena, one of my good friends from high school, is hosting the giveaway on her fashion blog called caffeinerd. (PS- Elena got engaged last week to an ultra-talented photographer. Congratulations to them both!) You can enter the contest right here, now through Tuesday, December 7. To enter, just leave a comment on her blog mentioning your favorite item from my etsy shop. And for three extra chances to win, you can sign up for my newsletter, follow my blog, or become a fan on facebook. Good luck!