Above are the pages of one of the two tiny books included in the bento box,

These are from the other book, the two little books were made while doing an on line class with Seth Apter in June the class was Mini Book Madness, great class.

I have a quick flip through video but for some reason it doesn't want to upload on to the blog. 

I'll try again, but I haven't had much luck tonight.

 

One more Tin

I didn't like the lid graphics on this tin so rather than sand it off or paint it I decided to cover it with textured paper.

 

Decorated the inside of the lid then added the tea stained and dyed concertina folded book into the tin.

Pages are decorated with small collages and some fabric scraps are stitched on for texture and added detail.

 

Another tin and a box for the bento box project.

Another saved tin for the project. This little old cigarette tin I found in a church fair/market for $1.00, it was painted white and stored nails or screws in it in someones work room. I stripped the old paint off, but the stripping stuff took off most of the original artwork on the front. I didn't mind the look so I've left it like this.

The pages on this particular concertina book are yet to be collaged/decorated,

the base is tea stained media paper.

A plastic doily was placed on top of the paper while drying to create some marks /patterning.

I found some concertina folded watercolour paper in my studio and didn't have a tin to fit in, so I made a box with a lid. Covered the lid with some textured paper, painted the paper then rubbed the surface with metallic rub and buff to create the look of a metal tin.

I tea stained the water colour paper then added small assorted papers to begin the collage process. 

Front

and back

 

Small clipboard created for the bento box project, plus another tin with a concertina book inside.

This is the clipboard that I made for the project, using the teabags from the paper dying process. I gathered a few together and machine stitched across the top, then stamped the pages with some text. I then covered a small mounting board from some picture framers waste with some scrapbook paper and attached the pages with a bulldog clip.

More examples of the stamping onto the teabags.

I find I like to use up scrap bits and pieces rather than throw things away, like the teabags.

once they are dried out the staining leaves great marks.

The images don't have to be text on all the pages, its was just my choice on the day that I put this together.

I must have been playing around with some other dyes this day, that could explain the colour on this page, sometimes mistakes like this have a good result.

This is another of the saved tins for this bento box project. I didn't feel the need to decorate the outside of the tin as it looked like it had had a rough time and had aged beautifully anyway.

The inside of the lid needed some sprucing up with a little collage.

This is the concertina book enclosed in the tin, with every tiny page collaged.   

 

Pack Rat Book flip through,

A quick look through this next junk journal, this time a bit different from the usual tomes that I make, this is a great way to utilise saved materials and do a little scrap busting for the pages. 

Music Junk Journal, Flip through

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Next junk journal made, music theme this time.

there is still some embellishing to add, tags, journal cards etc.

using isolation to complete some unfinished book projects

Quick flip through of six handmade journals.

These are some more journals that I've been working on during the studio down time, finished off some that had the covers created last year.

Quick Flip through, show and tell, small books

More Little Books

These are some more small books created after an amazing class in Queenscliff last September with New Zealand Artist Liz Constable, If you like what you see here check out Liz's site, bookartstudios.co.nz 

Another singer drawer filled with more 

Now I think I'm done with the little books, but I do love making them.

These are held in a wooden case made from recycled fence palings. 

Queenscliff book making class.

 I was lucky enough to get a spot in Liz Constable's class in beautiful Queenscliff, on the Bellarine Peninsular. It was four fantastic days of creating interesting pages to make nine awesome little books.

 Queenscliff is utterly beautiful with the most amazing views, buildings, cafes and shops.

Below is a selection of the students books created in the four days, contained in little bookcases made by Liz herself.

I had found an old singer drawer in a second hand store in town, that the books fitted in perfectly although it held more than nine books, so I made more after I returned home.

The class was so much fun, spending time with so many creative women.

All of us creating such great work.

I have one more empty drawer to fill and have already started making the pages to include.

The class was thoroughly enjoyable and very informative, Liz lives and teaches in New Zealand

her business is Book Art Studios. 

concertina style book with a little extra added per page.

A quick video of this experiment creating a concertina book with something different on the pages.

Progress images of the steampunk Tome

Creating the cover I decided to use a Seth Apter's Die of the large cog, I used the die again to cut another cog in heavy foil or shim to use under the zipper layer.

also used some cog die cuts to add some interest to the back cover 

I created the faux leather attachment by following tutorials on you tube, adding stamped images, a zipper, and some hand stitching.

Then auditioned various embellishments, adding and removing bits until I liked what I saw.

It took a lot longer than I had anticipated, but once I was happy I attached the bits and pieces,

The title label was still empty until I finished, looking back I think I would have been better off embellishing the cover last, after all my text block was fitted. Having such a heavily decorated cover makes it difficult to work in.

Steampunk Journal

Here it is finally, a quick flip through of me latest Tome, i will include another post of the progress images, creating the book and one of the collage pages. 

Book Stack

A few book that I have been working on recently, replacing text blocks in some and building some from scratch.

Book stack look

A quick look at the book stack books, some have had the text bloak replaced and some have been built from scratch.

Naturelle Historie Box.

I have been working on some miniature books in a couple of my last projects in the studio. This little natural history box contains  some mini books, some tiny specimens of shells and seeds and some scrolls of maps and text. I will probably be doing my next video on this project, giving a closer look. I just have to finish the cover.

Steam Punk Cover for new Journal

Here is my next Journal Cover, not sure if Im going to keep this one or sell it, once I get my Etsy store set up. With all the books and Journals that I do make, it is getting harder to hold on to all of them. I really don't have all that much to record in journalling, I guess that's why I include so many small collages on the pages in mine.

Chakra Book beginings

This is how the book began as a discarded stationary set.

It was to good to throw away and I felt it deserved a new purpose.

So it received new clothes and insides. 

Now that it it finished take a look at the following video.

Flip Through Envelope Book

Quick flip through. This envelope journal created from watching a tutorial on you tube from bohemian crafting.
Hope you like it.