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 collage for steampunk Tome

Here are a few progress shots of a collage page included in the steampunk tome,

I would like to have a video of it all but there is a lot of wasted decision time that can be a bit boring on video. 

First I stencil on a face, side profile (Jane Davenport faces stencils), then some cogs, there are lots of brands available, using ink. Then I dry brush some Gesso over the stencilling to knock it back a little. Set aside and allow to dry.

Then to add some colour, I added some Acrylic paint with a card by scraping a thin layer over the dry gesso

Add some more stencilling over the dry paint, using a darker ink, add some stamping in black and white in random spots to create some detail interest.

Paint the face in a skin tone.

Add some embellishments, paper flowers and die cut and painted cogs, placing aware of the centre fold line. 

Once this page was placed in the book, the other side was embellished with a pocket.

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. 

collage pages for journals

More collaged pages for journals, enjoy.

Creating a collage page

Here is a quick look at making a small collage page for journals,