Saturday, July 11, 2009

Ada S Poors Property



Years ago while on a historic district home tour, I saw what appeared to be the inside cover of a book hanging alone on the wall of a small bedroom. A childish pencil drawing of a dog was scrawled on it, and the rough edges of one side hinted that it had been torn from the binding. The pencil drawing was crude, obviously the work of a child. Scribbling on books seems to be something all children do. I was taken with the concept of using a simple thing like a marked up book cover as artwork, and loved the way it perfectly complemented the simple Shaker style furnishings of the bedroom. From that point, every time I went thrift shop shopping, I looked for old books that had been defaced in some way, so that I could make a similar wall hanging.

One day I found a cover with the inscription, "Ada's S Poors Property" written in it. I put an adhesive hanger on the back and then added this small art quilt that I had made months before. The subject seemed to fit Ada's declaration perfectly!

Saturday, July 4, 2009

All Hallow's Eve Just Around The Corner



I love doing Halloween themed stuff, especially Paper Bag Books. I don't make paper bag albums, just little books filled with ephemera, tags, dangles and bangles, anything that looks appropriate. They serve no purpose, but I love going through them occasionally.


So far, I've done three books and participated in several Halloween Chunky Book and ATC trades. I've acquired some heavy 6" X 6" paper bags, so as soon as I get my office organized and all my supplies sorted, I'll start on some more (and larger) books.



The dollar stores are good for loads of Halloween themed paper supplies and emphemera, so when they stock up, so do I.




Last fall, I held a class on paper bag book making, and the participants all made their own Halloween themed books, as well as an ATC to use as an embellishment. The results were great, and I wish now I would have taken some photos of everyone's art.

This year I'm also going to do a fabric Halloween book as a change of pace, as well as a 'Zine-type book. I've made one Halloween themed Zine so far.