Massive etsy update!! Check it out!

Bookmaking Workshop... and other things!

In my other life, I teach middle school.

All of the students at my school are reading various Shakespeare plays in Language Arts right now-- the sixth grade is reading Twelfth Night, the seventh grade Romeo and Juliet, and the eighth grade Taming of the Shrew. To cap this off, we're having essentially a very tiny renfaire in about a week, which is going to be awesomely insane-- I have to finish repairing my costume, help kids make books, finish planning the event, and hope like heck that the singer gets back to us.

In craft-related news:

• I held a bookmaking workshop with the sixth graders! Two of them, actually: the first one was on hardbound books sewn on tapes. I should have remembered how insane that is, having done it with the seventh grade last year, but alas. None of the kids finished their books in the workshop, and I have no had time to show them how to finish the case. The second went much better-- we made perfect bound books, and everyone finished! The books were cute! The kids were happy!
• Knitting, knitting, knitting-- I sat down this weekend with a ball of yarn and ended up with a hat. I'm going to re-knit it in a size that will actually fit humans, and we'll see if we can't get some photos up.
• Cooking: oh man, have I been cooking. I know that it isn't strictly a craft, but I have been having so much fun in the kitchen. Look out for a recipe post at some point soon.

That, I believe, is all!

Wow. www.joykampia.com/fashion/hamburgerdress.html  

I unexpectedly had the day off, so I went to the Yarn Store.  I got my first Malabrigo, isn't it pretty?  I was amazed by how soft it is.  

I also got the Knitting graphic novel that has been popping up all over the internet lately.  I can't wait to start reading it!
I also bought a pound of raw wool!  It was a step towards the dream of a whole fleece for the wildwood team, but still exciting.
I'm washing it as we speak and I'll let you all know how it works out!

Hello, world!

It's totally my turn to update the blog-- I've been quite remiss! To make up for it, I finally have some pictures.

I've been on a bookmaking kick for a while now (although knitting is creeping back in with the rain and the cold), so here are some book images. The one to the left is actually a bit greener than the image makes you think it is.

This was a really fun book to make-- it's multiple signatures, sewn on tapes. I'd do a tutorial on how to make them, but there are many, many tutorials on the web that would be better than mine. Unfortunately, the spine on this book has started wearing through, so I'm thinking about breaking the book down and re-doing the spine. I might use leather, but am unsure how well that would work, since I've never done it and don't quite have the right tools. Ah well, we'll see how it turns out.

Hmmmm.... more pictures!


The above is a Very Useful Book. I am a rabid paper-buyer; I am entirely addicted to PaperSource, that place of Vilest Temptation with their awesome paper. This book is where I keep small samples of almost every sheet of cover paper I buy-- book cloth goes on one side of the accordion, and patterned paper on the other. This book is small enough that I can stick it in a pocket or in my bag when I go shopping, to compare colours and weights, etc. I also really need to update it-- I'm sort of afraid that my paper collection will soon be larger than the book!

Okay, one more project-- this one was *really* fun, and it took me a hellishly long time. You'll see why:

This is the project when it's all put together. There are actually five different components to this piece: the tie, the wrap, the top book, the box, and the interior book.

You can take everything apart into separate pieces, and it's fairly easy to put everything back together. This is essentially a mock-up of the toolbox that I'm working on; I only have the bottom half of that box completed, as it's 9"x12", and has multiple compartments. This box was an exercise, essentially. I wanted to see if I could make a top-and-bottom box that fit together well-- these really, really do. I am incredibly pleased. :)

This is what the components of the box look like when everything's been taken apart. To give you an idea of scale, the small green book (on the lower left) is about half an inch tall. Interestingly, both of the books that go with the box were accidental. I had made the box and the wrap when I realize that I had about half an inch extra vertically built into the wrap. Never one to pass up an opportunity to make a book, I decided to make a small perfect-bound book to go on top of the book. The image on the cover I did with watercolors; the interior of the book is blank. The small green book actually comes from the trimmings of the larger book-- it was originally one long strip that I cut down and covered with book cloth.

So, there you have it! That's what I've been up to in the last... while. Feel free to ask me any questions that you have.

In the works

There is a major update to the etsy store in the works. I've got several new skeins to post and am standardizing the weights of the other ones. Hedgerose also made really pretty hanging tags. We are also considering expanding the stuff we offer. Hedgerose has been offered a place in town to sell her books. We are also working on preparing for a craft fair in town. There will be more updates as all of this comes to fruition.

Happy Groundhog Day!

Happy Groundhog Day! Lookit! It has a little top hat!