what I did this weekendwhat I did this weekend

On Friday I got a call from the Danforth Museum which ended up turning into a custom book order. One of the staff is leaving and at the going away party they want to have a large book that all the guests can write messages and notes in. There will be a lot of artists attending the party so the idea is to have pages large enough that they can draw in or add drawings they’ve already done in. I had suggested using a book that was about 9″square but they wanted much larger than that. Since time was short and I needed to have it done for delivery tomorrow I took a look at what I had in my studio for paper that I could use for the inside and I determined that the largest size paper I had to use for the signatures would be 12″x24″folded in half to make a 12″square page.

Hardcover artists book 12"x12"x2 1/2"

There are 9 signatures in this book made with 70lb drawing paper and I used a gold metallic thread to sew them in. I added a nice large gusseted pocket on the back inside cover for tucking in cards and notes.

inside back cover

Since this book is going to get stuffed full of things and I’m not sure how thick the inside will get I didn’t put a closure on it. This book was definitely one of the most challenging books I’ve ever made. You’re probably thinking why is that,it’s pretty similar to the other hardcover books you’ve made. Well working in such a large scale presents several challenges. First was handling large pieces of paper that had glue applied to them. Just carrying them from the spot that I applied the glue in to the actual book to glue them to was tricky. Sewing the signatures was difficult because I had to use a much longer length of thread and the covers kept getting in the way. Definitely a challenge but I’m pleased with the way the book came out.

The other thing I did this weekend was to take a jewelry making class with Kathy. We spent a few hours at a local bead shop learning how to make a chaine maile bracelet using a Byzantine weave:

Sterling Silver Byzantine weave bracelet &earrings

The earrings were a bonus project because I had finished the bracelet before class ended. I’ve never made jewelry before so I wasn’t sure what to expect but the class was lots of fun I’m looking forward to taking another one.