I hope everyone celebrating the 4th of July had a splendid holiday. It rained off and on here, so Jon and I opted to skip sitting in the wet grass to watch the fireworks show. To our happy surprise, we were able to see most (if not all) of the display from our front porch, out of the drizzle. Levi sat with us, oblivious to the noise, but as usual, unable to comprehend why HE wasn’t the center of our attention. After all, people — you were ALL placed on this planet to worship him!
I spent much of last week attempting to create better documentation of my work. As my relationship with cameras improves, I’m hoping this will make the process easier and more enjoyable. End results are great, but I can’t recall how many times now I’ve tried to recreate something from memory only to lament not taking notes on the entire process. I’m learning, though!
One of my favorite things to do is rescue paper slated for the trash bin and recycle it into notebooks. I’ve found a lot of stationary at thrift shops and yard sales, but also, wasted paper from a copy shop where I used to work, from friends, and also the closeout shelves in big chain stores. I’ve also inherited half a gazillion pounds of scrapbook paper (to augment the half I already owned) from my mother-in-law. I also have a great fondness for wallpaper sample books as well as unwanted/unused rolls.
Most of my notebooks (and journals) are comprised of both new and recycled materials. Sometimes this creates problems, especially with stitch binding, but more often than not, those problems are trivial. Explore! (pictured above) is a simple design utilizing recycled stamps, manila folders (they added structure to the covers — and, yes, that is brown duct-tape), and recycled paper (the old feeder type paper for dot matrix printers) cut in half and french folded.
Old West uses recycled leather and pages (salvaged from waste after creating menus for a local restaurant). The cover is corrugated paper board bought in packs from the craft store.
This matchbook style notebook is all recycled materials (except the hemp used to bind it). The cover is left over heavy watercolor paper I used as the text block in another project. It’s covered with a salvage piece of mulberry paper and the text block inside is more of the salvage from the above-mentioned menus).
Well folks, it’s July now — that means there should be a new issue of Polymer Café waiting for me at Barnes & Noble and I think the hubby is getting antsy to do something (besides steal all my reading material).
Happy day!
All of these are beautiful. Where do you suggest keeping a stash of papers? I can never quite figure that one out. I have so much other stuff, but not much paper anymore. Perhaps we could see a picture of your studio, etc.??? (after you finish reading all those new mags).
Susan, thank you kindly for the compliment. :) I store paper in a cool, dry, low-light environment. You probably have better climate control in your house (we have no a/c here), so anywhere which doesn’t have direct sunlight or the potential to flood or stay damp should be just ducky. Paper is also best stored flat, although since I don’t (yet!) have a flat file, I hang the larger, lightweight decorative stuff on hangers with clothespins.
And, of course, you’re welcome to come raid my paper stash any time. :)
Picture of the studio, you say? Hmm, well, I could use the practice. Yep, okay — I can do that — just give me until Friday to find the floor again. :P