Mosaic in the making

With bags and bags of costume jewelry and lots of hot glue I've started to make my first mosaic.  Not finished quite yet and don't look too close or you'll see all the glue strands!  Will share finished masterpiece when it is completed!

UPDATE:  It is complete - see last photo!

Found some inspiration!

Glued paper to cardboard; made a sketch and outline with beads

Not quite finished, but a good start!

The masterpiece!

Book making

How I made a book!  

Materials:

• Fabric remnants
• Paper for pages 
• Fabric and paper for book binding
• Cardboard
• Heavy Thread

Tools I used:

• Ruler
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Paper cutter
• Scorer
• Adhesive
• Needle
• Binder clips

Outside Covers: Cut two (2) pieces of cardboard 8 1/4" x 6" and two (2) pieces of fabric 10 1/4 x 8".
(Fabric is 1 inch larger than cardboard on all four sides)

Inside Covers: Cut two (2) pieces of cardboard cut 7 3/4" x 5 1/2" and two (2) pieces contrasting fabric 9 3/4 x 7 1/2"
(These pieces are 1" smaller than outside covers)

Cut paper for book pages 7 3/4" x 11".  Score and fold at middle (5 1/2" mark). Set aside for now

Cover each piece of cardboard with fabric

I started with corners

Fronts (right side) and backs (wrong side) of all four pieces of cardboard covered with fabric

Gluing wrong sides together - smaller fabric covered cardboard to larger one to make front and back book covers - see right hand side of photo for example.  You should now have two identical covers (one for front and one for back)

Inner binding created by cutting piece of material (or paper) - same height as book covers and wide enough to stick to both front and back covers with space in-between for pages to fit.  I decided on 1 1/2"

Glue inner binding to outside of book front and back leaving space between (for paper pages).
(Photo is of inside to show 1/2" space left in-between front and back)

Outside Binding:  Use card stock (or material that will not fray), cut to match height of book covers and wide enough to cover inner binding.  (I decided on 2") set aside for now

Assemble book with pages and book covers - clip ends to hold firm - poke three (3) holds through middle of paper and inside binding as shown.  Note:  Top of book on left and bottom on right in this photo.

Using heavy thread and needle, insert thread from outside book cover to inside pages in middle hole but leave a 1" tail or so. Go out through top hole; back in through middle hole; and out again through bottom hole.  Tie thread to tail and trim (this will be on outside of book)

Use outside binding, center and cover the thread and inside binding by gluing to outside of both front and back cover.

Finished book!

A book can be made with paper covers too and in any size you wish - even miniature size.  See this example!  It was made with paper covers and is actually a "book pin" as a small locking pin was glued to the back.

He Haw! Craft Class is Back in Session!

Tuesday mornings have become quite creative this year. From 9 a.m. to noon, the Milwaukee Rec Department's craft class is back in session with a new leader. Sandy is a retired art teacher and full of ideas and has a lot of patience!

We started this semester making coil baskets - something I had already discovered; however she showed us how to use clothesline instead of recycled plastic bags. It is much easier. I made a lovely small basket in the first class and sent it to my cousin in New York. No photo unfortunately; but I'm making another one - much larger and will add a photo once it is completed.  UPDATE!  It's finished and is already being put to use!

My "project" basket!

Next up was book making. This was quite interesting. After learning the basics we each made one. We'll be doing more complex book making and I plan on making mine cloth covered.

Mine is bottom right

Today we planned to continue book making, but Sandy suggested we try watercolor painting first to use for decorating the new books. We had so much fun painting we didn't get any further. I must say this was a huge surprise for me. I've never had much imagination and painting is something that makes me nervous - but Sandy showed us several techniques and was very encouraging. After playing around with the techniques, including table salt; I did three - here are the results.

My very first watercolor - not sure what it is, but I did shake table salt on it so it has some texture!

Thought about a photo I took at sunset recently for inspiration!

Sandy encouraged me to try this one - I do like it and may try more butterflies.

Weekly Photo Assignments (1 - 4)

My favorite website for photography is Digital Photography School. The moderators took a break last fall to upgrade the website and have just recently started the weekly assignments again. I enjoy participating - even though I never win. These are my 2014 entries so far.

Assignment 1 |Seasons : Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall - Show us what it is where you are.

Frozen Hudson River

Assignment 2 | New Beginnings : Something you're starting this year? Quitting coffee? Starting Yoga?

My new beginning is to be more resourceful. This gift basket, made by me, was created by using recycled plastic grocery bags and yarn.

Assignment 3 | Angles: 90° 180° -- Show us an interesting photograph with an angle.

Crayon Color Wheel

Assignment 04 | 2014 - Water - Fluid, Frozen, Splashing or Soaked… Show us an interesting photo of water.

Water - Wisconsin Style