Saturday, April 26, 2008

New Sketchbooks

Front Raw Silk Handdyed Shibori with Stathmore wc signatures

Batik insides
BACK


Have had this one done for a few days but what with work and being busy and reading a book i did not get it posted. The cover is some of my hand dyed raw silk shibori...lovely stuff...the dragonfly button...ummm well i bought that as a treat at Fiber on a whim and it was TOO perfect for this book...Threads...ed a HUGE needle #16 jeans needle with a BIG eye to let all the threads through...I use the #35 buttonhole stitch...a double buttonhole stitch on my Janome 6500 ....threads were Superior Rainbows varigated in the bobbin and on top ...on top i also added a Madiera bright pink metallic and purple black core Madiera(you can get those at Fiber on a whim too)
BACK and tassel with charms
The Tassel thing...I made be sorry i put this on there but i thought if it gets in the way i can always cut it off Right?!! Its made of all kinds of ribbony stuff that i have boxes of...handdyed bias silk ribbons, silk embroidery ribbon from Michaels, Ribbon floss that i have had for years...and then i tied a bunch of charms on the thinner ribbons...have a box of those too...NO i did not use my silver charms on this...and some ripped strips of the batik polka dot lining fabric...
The whole cover spread out...dont you love this shibori?
How did i sew them on??? I gather them in a clump folded in half...well sort of folded in half:>...clipping and arranging the ends so they are different lengths...not straight across on the bottom...then i sewed them on where i had folded them at the top of the spine...

...and i also added five fringy strings of beads on the top.

extra threads-same color as the buttonhole stitch-were added at the bottom to cover the white threads on the bottom...



The stitching on the back...WHITE and NOT very pretty...I covered it with the same threads i used for the button hole stitch edge until you could not see the white thread anymore...


Yesterday i decided to make two small journals in the shape of a moleskine wc book...these are a little smaller...about 5x7...made with an assortment of strathmore papers that i picked up at michaels on the way home...Strathmore sells a pad of all their 140# wc papers and that is what these are made from.

This is how the books look without embellishing at all...with just the signatures sewn in...BYTW i did decide that although the colored thread was pretty on the outside that on the inside of these that might be used as a horizontal double spread the RED or YELLOW thread just MIGHT be distracting so i used the braided beading thread to sew them together...
Hand dyed Shibori cover with Batik lining and Fabriano Artistico signatures

This one is a made with a piece of my shibori that i made a couple of years ago and not used...Shibori is made by wrapping fabric around a pole...and scrunching it up....it can only dye in some areas due to the fabric resisting the water...aka it cant suck the dye up thru all the layers...that said this one was made with Setacolor fabric paints...to see what would happen...people either love this piece of fabric or hate it...right now i have mixed emotions about it.. I have to say that the Fabriano Artistico is the loveliest paper to touch...know it will be wonderful to use...if it just werent so darned expensive!!

This one is Batik....isnt it just a yummy color with Strathmore wc signatures..i think this one is going to need something added to the cover...like my wild woman stamp on a coordinating piece of fabric...

More fabulous Kaffe Fassett fabrics...with Strathmore wc signatures..this one i think will get embellished with alot of beads

This one is going to be a zingy happy book when its done...sorry guys a glittery girly girl journal!! over the top...

5 comments:

Anita Davies said...

OMG...I NEED the last one!!!!!!!! It is simply GORGEOUS!!!!!

Margaret Ann said...

These are simply beautiful...and very very girly...love that! You are a woman of many talents! :)

Sue Seibert said...

I love these. They're beautiful!

Margaret McCarthy Hunt said...

Thanks Sue and Margaret and Anita you are too funny ...its not done yet:>

Anita Davies said...

Is it done yet?... Is it?