Creative Inspiration

Creative inspiration came to me this weekend from my husband, Wade. Friday after he finished work, he sat at the drawing table and worked on his sketching skills. I arrived home at 6pm and found this drawing on the table.

I am marveled at his ability to look at a photograph and recreate it with a pencil and his skills. Experienced artist may look at this photo and see imperfections, or perhaps they'd see simplicity of a beginner. I look at this page of his sketchbook and I see creative inspirations. I know that creativity lives  in our home and my husband found a moment to do something that makes him happy.

Sticking to my commitment to do something creative every weekend, I ventured into the city in search of paper. Last week, I was asked to make a book for a nursery. The new parents; Mark and Angel are having a little girl in February. 

There is a great paper store in Salt Lake, so I set out on a mission to find the perfect paper for their book. Little did I know, the paper store went out of business just a few weeks ago. The next paper store I drove to closed at noon and the third store isn't open on Saturdays. I ended up at JoAnn Fabrics and found a few delights.

My first discovery was this great paper. It has the look of water drops. The texture is raised and vinyl.  It has a very sturdy feel to it, but it was very easy to maneuver.

 I also found this great floral print paper. I added five signatures that contain some of my handmade day lily paper and bound the book with a Coptic stitch.

I also found the same type of paper in brown.  A stroll down the button aisle helped me discover this fantastic hook and latch. I secured the hook to the back cover with a brown ribbon and now I have  a new latch system.

Handmade pink paper with a Coptic bind help to play up the inside covers.

The back cover is my favorite. It has a small envelop to store note cards, stamps, or small items.

Sometimes I work in the art room, other times I take everything into the living room and spread out on the coffee table. This weekend, I chose the bedroom. It wasn't the most comfortable set up, but Kitty seemed to enjoy watching.

Here's the finished book for the nursery.They are decorating in vintage white and purple with an Alice in Wonderland theme. I was hoping to find something with a cute bunny, but with my limited resources, I was lucky to find this paper. It reminds me of the Queen of Hearts.  It'll be shipped to the proud parents tomorrow. I hope it adds a creative inspiration to their new daughter.

January Project

My husband, Wade, and I want to start 2011 off on a creative path. He's committed to practice sketching and work on his drawing skills. I decided I've put my paper making on hold long enough and it's time to get creative again.

Last weekend, I made twenty sheets of paper. Here are a few photos of the paper making process. I've been making paper for over a year now, but it is still amazing to see paper go from a shredded bundle of nothing to a sheet of handmade paper.

 

Paper making is like riding a bike. Once you learn the process, it's easy. I used the recycled paper from my office, a clean yellow napkin and tap water.

I added about a tablespoon of white glue to each pulp batch. I read that glue will add extra stability to the end product. The pulp was foamy and dissolved quickly in the pool of water. 

 There wasn't any difference in the process of pulling the paper, or removing the screen.

The paper varies in thickness, depending on how much pulp is in the main vat. When the paper with the glue dried, there seemed to be a stronger feel to each sheet.

I had a very pretty piece of tissue paper that I received as a gift. I've added tissue paper to the pulp in the mixing process, but it dissolves immediately and doesn't add anything to the pulp's structure or color. I decided to lay the tissue paper on top of a wet piece of paper just before the drying process. It added a layer to the handmade paper. I want to experiment with this process more as the winter moves forward.

This weekend, I used the handmade paper to make a journal. The cover is finished in an eclectic mix of trinkets. The inside page has a pocket to store special items. Each of the five signatures contain two sheets of handmade paper and two sheets of a fine quality of regular paper. The journal is bound with a Coptic stitch, using wax thread.

January project is finished. I can't wait until next weekend.