"Chere Amie", little hand made, original accordion book.

Still enjoying the creation of my hand made books ! This little one is similar to the one I posted previously but has a couple more pages. It is collaged, drawn on, painted on and has lots of snippets of paper and ephemera glued on.

Front cover.
I created the butterfly image by using an old image from an out of copyright book and then digitally colouring it. The title page has some French text saying "Chere Amie" which I found in an old book in my possession. It means dear Friend (feminine) The spine has some really raggedy cloth  stuck on it. 

The image of the girl on the left is a copy of an image I created and have altered here. I have glued some tiny pieces of text onto the page. There is drawing on the page. On the right is a digital image of a bird which I made from another old book. Then it has been drawn on. 

Another copy of an image I previously painted which has had some collage added and it has been drawn on. The butterfly is another copy of a digital image and then added more collage and drawing.   

The little copy of a house has been stuck on the page and then the image has been drawn on. The bird is an image from a larger painting which has been drawn on and around. 

The abstract flowers are collaged and then drawn on as have the houses on the right. I stuck a piece of paper on the page which relates to snow.  

The back cover  has a page from an old hand written school book
which has a butterfly collaged on. and I have signed the back.  

Old distressed and aged paper you can write on. 

Where are the words?

There is something about holding a tiny book in your and and turning the pages that just makes my heart skip a beat. I have always wanted to create books but I was always hung up on what words I would include! I do not see myself as a writer although I love words! I finally freed myself up enough to not worry about words and simply create books of images.

Recently I created some accordion books for the first time. I have a lot of ephemera which I have collected through the years and finally I feel like I have a vehicle for using some of it! I incorporated my own imagery into the books as well; collage elements torn from previous images I have created, tiny scraps of left overs, and then I drew and painted onto the pages after they were collaged.

 I am really enjoying mixed media. Using so  many different media and techniques is very liberating. Following are some images of one of my books called "Love." This book is now available on my Etsy shop.

The cover is created from one of my paper tags and is collaged onto the cover with some ephemera. 

page 1 Collaged butterfly and ephemera and flower from my painting. Drawing.

Page 2 and 3 Collage, ephemera, paint and drawing. Bee and dragonfly were created from paper tags which I designed. 

Page 4 Collage, painting and pen drawing. Blackbird is a copy of an image I painted. 

Pages 5 and 6 Bird is another collage from a tag I created, ephemera, drawing. House is collaged from a copy of my painted design, drawing, and ephemera.

The back of the book has a gel print cover and a collaged flower and my signature. 

The back of the book is created by collaging ephemera and found paper and it can be written on like a journal if you like. The pages are edged with old fabric. 

This photo shows scale in comparison to a Penguin Classic book.

Little Hand Made Mixed Media Coptic Stitch Journal

Recently I have really been enjoying making books and journals. I am an ardent lover of books, the way they look, the way they feel and smell, and of course what is inside them! I am not a professional book binder by any means  but it is an interest of mine and it seemed like a perfect way to make use of some of the images I have produced.

 I wanted to share this journal with you and show what it looks like inside. The pages were made  from junk mail and scrap paper and I used my hand made stamps, gel prints, drawing and collaging to create the images. The signatures are of differing sizes and the paper inside for journalling on is a mixture of watercolour paper, mixed media paper and lighter paper for writing on.

The journal is 12cm by 14.5 cm. Small enough to carry with you and use when the mood strikes! The signatures are smaller than this and vary in size. I have stitched the coptic stitch with red waxed Irish linen thread.

 The images I have produced are meant to be interacted with as you doodle or draw or write on them. This is a fun journal designed for interaction and collating your thoughts! There are 43 sides with images on including the covers and inside covers. There is also the library card and tiny book which has 16 pages of 80 gsm paper).

There are 14 page sides of mixed media paper, and 16 sides of watercolour paper (which can both be used for wet media), and 92 pages of 80gsm for writing on. This paper is quite light and will need to be written or drawn on with pencil or dry media. It is cream coloured.

Cover is collage and paint with tape on right hand side.
Image is pasted to book binding board.

Spine showing the different sizes of signatures. 

Front view showing how all signatures are not the same size. 

Inside cover, gel print and fabric, right hand page gel print and drawing.

Library card inside pocket, drawn on gel print.

Stamped flower on painted background with fabric added.
Right hand side, collage and painted flowers.
Little tiny hand made book inside pocket. 

Collage on painted backgrounds with drawing.

Collaged gel print on painted background and
collage with drawn and pencil coloured flowers on right hand side.

Collage and painted background.
Right hand side has some smudging which you can develop! 

Stamped bird on gel print background and fabric.

Painted and collaged page with gel print added and drawing.

Pencil coloured flowers on collaged background.
Flower drawn and coloured on collaged gel print background. 

Collaged tree and found text on painted background.

Drawing on painted background.

Butterfly drawn on painted distressed background.
Right hand side, boxes and flower drawn over paint.

Flower drawn on painted background with text
 and scrap paper collaged on to page.

Found image collaged onto painted background and
 drawn onto.

Found text collaged onto painted background with scrap of gelprint.
Right hand page, stamped flowers, painted and decorated
boxes drawn onto page.

Drawing on painted page.

Drawing on collaged gelprint.

Drawing on painted background with small gel print scrap
collaged onto left page.

Flowers drawn  into negative space of painted background.

Same as previous page.

Flowers drawn into negative space of painted background and fabric added along with
 found text.

Bird stamped on painted background.

Flowers drawn in pen
into negative space of painted background.

Stamped distressed flowers on painted and gel
print background. Right hand side gel scrap at bottom of page
 and circles drawn into negative space of painted background.

Distressed stamping on painted background.

Same as previous page.

White flowers drawn on painted background.

Painted background with found text.

Decorated page with paint on distressed background.

Stamped flower on collaged background.
Bird in negative space of gelprint.

Back page drawn plant and leaves with tape on painted background,
 and more tape on right hand side of page.

Showing scale beside a popular penguin.