Altered Spiral-Bound Wedding Journal

 Quite an ordinary looking spiral bound notebook... but it is being used to record special memories of how a couple met, the tale of their romance & the preparations for their wedding. I was asked to make a "special cover" for it.

The first step is to prise open the spiral spine & lose the plastic covers. If you haven't attempted this before, note how the covers fit for when you put them back.... i have been known to put the back one at the front & vice-versa!

The bride-to be wanted this lovely natural Khadi paper...  cotton rag with banana. The corners are a japanese paper with bits of leather in. It's so long since I bought it, I can't remember the name, which is frustrating... I'd love some more, but the company I bought from ceased trading years ago & several attempts to track it down have drawn a blank (so if any one knows, do get in touch & tell me!)

 I love the natural deckle edges of hand made paper. The next step was to punch holes to fit the spiral... using the original cover as a template, I decided it was easier to use a drill.

Walnut ink is the perfect compliment for the dedication page, and the book is gradually transforming into something more luxurious. On a side note, I've just spotted someone with an etsy shop who makes walnut ink... White Dragon Papers makes paper and walnut ink... just my type of shop, lol.

Remember the silks & fibres I posted about last week from Lisa at Mudhound Studio? This is what they were for.... mixed in with ribbon & leather cord to create a blend of textures.

The lettering on the front is not mine.... it's a photograph of a tattoo that the bride has on her hip... i printed it on to canvas & layered it onto the front... [I had better point out to anyone who knows me, that "my beloved steve" is not my steve, before anyone gets excited or wonders where their invitation is!]

The covers i made were thicker than the originals, & combined with photographs stuck inside the book was splaying open a bit... a couple of holes with copper eyelets through the back cover, and a length of silk with a bit of elastic joined on to form an enclosure soon sorted that out!

So... now i've got a bundle of silks that i'm itching to use on a book for myself now, so i'm on the look out for a spiral bound one with good paper in.... 

Accordion Book: Rose

This wrap around concertina/ accordion book was made to go with a 'femme' made by ambermoggie. (they're so gorgeous!). It was a special gift for a special young lady!

I chose Saunders Waterford Not, 190gsm and sloshed (technical term, lol) watercolour all over two strips torn to the same size... basically I flooded the paper with water and brushed colour into it, using several shades to match the hand-dyed colours of the femme (whose name is Rose). Rose represents the maiden aspect of the goddess... the flowering of womanhood... the goddess within... her link to the earth and generations of her female line. To echo this feeling I used flowing sweeps of the brush... curving movements...spirals...

I didn't have any preconceived ideas of what this may turn out to be, maybe a bit of collage, definitely a book, but probably smaller than it turned out... it ended up being about 4 feet long when fully stretched out, but at approx 10 inches tall & with 4" pages, it folded up nicely... substantial without feeling bulky.

I wrote a few of the phrases that amber used to describe Rose before deciding on the final size & where to fold... once I had an idea of how the layout should pan out, I made the folds & attached a second section to make the wrap around cover... then I finished the lettering.

The book looked fine as it was, but I wanted to add some collage elements... for these I used torn off bits of the background... added a bit more colour, some gestural marks & random words. I added them to look like mini-canvasses within the book. Not as 'collagey' as I had maybe thought to begin with, but definitely enough for how it developed! 

Blessing of the Apaches

This Apache Blessing is ever-popular as a wedding reading.

As an A5 card/booklet it is a lovely gift, tied with a ribbon &

decorated with co-ordinating tissue or handmade paper.

It can be made in any colour.

This can be personalised with calligraphy, adding names, date etc.

Price: £7.50 Sold