Early Birthday Presents from Muireann!

All talk, no binding

Not a lot happening!
Because I somehow misjudged the amount of green and white sugar paper I had left I think I will try something different with them, which is why they are folded down; that leaves 1 sheet of white, 2 of blue, and 4 of pink, which I think I will make a little A6 sized...something!...from; plus 16 sheets of (relatively) A5 cartridge paper, which I will turn into one bigger sketch book. Maybe. If I ever get started :p

Finished child's drawing book

Done: slightly different from the pink one, though that is the same amount of canvas being used. Tragically I was a bit off the ball today, and missed a sewing hole (because I changed my mind about the pattern after I'd started), and the canvas was a little grubby :(

Maybe I'll like it more tomorrow...

Boys' drawing book

Beginning the next kiddies book, blue and white...

Spot the Sketch books!

My version of a 'nipping press', for pressing the sketch books in the hopes that any lumps n' bumps will iron themselves out...So far, so effective, and good reading too :)

Sketch books 3 and 4

Hopefully the black and grey one will look less lumpy around the binding once I've pressed it for a while. Otherwise, that's all my sketch-book blocks used up (and my patience with the 'strings' for closing them - I have no faith that any of them will last, but sshh!)

the "work" corner

buttons

lots of buttons to choose from

button hat

I'm making a chocolate brown hat and I'll sew on some sparkly buttons at varied ..probably pinks and blues

necklaces

a few simple neclaces..must buy clear glue to keep the knots together...i don't know if the bead clasps will work cause they are pretty heavy, hmmn also some of them are short enough to be considered chokers? are they still popular? its very hard to judge the lengths...

2 finished Sketch Books

Sketch-books 1 and 2, finished.

The wider spacing for the sewing on the orange book on the left helps stop the different layers from getting out of line, but I like the closer spacing too - I'll see if I can find another way to make it work. Also, the orange thread is actually multi-coloured, it goes through shades of orange from red to almost white, but it's hard to appreciate it when there is less thread being used.

The bands at the ends close the books, and I think they look well - but are actually a curse to glue in and get right, I mean taut enough to look good but loose enough to be able to slip on and off!

Sketch Book - uh oh!

Getting dark, but it was worth it - canvas cover, book block, and back board are now one! Yay!

Overnight I weighted it down under a mountain of books, which is a good idea in theory to iron out any lumps or bumps....

...But a bad idea if you accidentally turn up a corner as you are putting it away, and it comes out the next morning with a definite crease :(

Also, the binding doesn't look as well at the back, over the board - getting the awl through the 3 different layers may have skewed it slightly and put out the symmetry...I will see if I like it better later!

Sketch books

4 canvas covers, 4 small sketch book-blocks, and getting ready to cut 4 pieces of board to use as back covers.

Child's drawing book Finished :)

One kiddies drawing book, with handle!

The white bit is the secret ingredient - scraps of canvas a friend gave me to find something to do with them. So my idea had been to have canvas covers on front and back, for both the kid's and the sketch books, so people could design their own covers. But in this case the canvas I had just wasn't big enough - as a plan B I did a half 'n half job on it, on both sides...it would probably appeal more to kids this way anyway as it is more colourful, right???

Oh, for those more observant - no these are not hard-back books! It is called Japanese Stab Binding, and is quicker and less messy, as there's literally a single drop of glue involved, than the 'real deal'.

I may try a few hard-back versions...sometime...maybe!

Should I trim the little extra flap from the handle I wonder?

Final tally for the day: 4 small sketch book blocks, 1 big kids book block.

The kiddies book is alternate pink and white sugar paper sheets, and hopefully I will do the same with blue and white sheets, just to cover my bases!

(Really, is it just me who finds those stacked sheets beautiful?! I'm sure it's normal...right?!)

Next: to get them covered...

One Book Block

Stage one, book one = done :)

Happy hammering...

The holes are ready for the twisted paper to be threaded through, tied off, and hammered down flat.

(oh, that is a bread board - don't underestimate how effective these awls are! I know I won't...again!)

First stage of the first book

24 sheets of cartridge paper separated by 23 sheets of infuriating tissue paper, stacked and clamped with bulldog clips, and marked in anticipation of my banging out some of my tissue paper frustrations on it >:) !

Also my awl, a hammer (thanks Felicity), and a strip of the leftover tissue paper which will be twisted into a strong thin string and used to stabilise the book in advance of the cover being put on and my getting the hammer out again!

Cutting tissue paper

Voila: tissue paper, craft knife, a template, the finished result, and the leftovers which I will be recycling, but......cutting tissue paper is HARD! I wanted to have a sheet of tissue paper between each of my pages of cartridge, to give the impression of this being a serious...if tiny!...sketch-book, but it took an age and raised my blood pressure uncomfortably - so that's the end of the serious sketch book angle!

And as it happened, after all that work I had only produced enough for one little book, so I used it up and marked it down as a lesson learnt...

hot water bottle cover

hmmn this took ages not sure if I'll make more...

wooly wonders

Only four hats..oops must knit faster!!!! fancy design looks good but it is complicated and takes time so might stick with plain old stocking stich for the next few ones.

the wooly factor

most of my lovely wool ISNT chunky so i've had to double up to make the hats nice and wooly. This seems like a waste of wool but the result is really toasty so its worth it.

Beaded rings

a broken bracelet with nice wire and loads of beads make for some different rings..adjustable or just very loose..we'll see

beaded bracelets

all the effort of beading the little little beads..

work station

My messy work station per se, with the all important beads and 1 inch cord. some of the beads are teeny tiny so my trick is to put nail varnish on the ends of the cord, let it dry and harden and then trim the ends at an angle so its like a mini needle in itself and therefore much much easier to put on the beads.

HI I'm covering the wooly side of the stall and some jewellery..or my version of jewellery!! Will hopefully get some photos of the mess / progress I'm making !!!

Cutting the Paper

Less sunshine, one bone folder, one quite-blunt kitchen knife (the cheap man's cobbler's knife), and 3 hours later - and all my paper has been folded and cut.



All the sugar-paper is in A4 size, because I will probably use it for kiddies books. I had intended that the cartridge paper be A6 size, (i.e. a quarter of an A4 sheet) for small cute note-books; but turns out the cartridge paper wasn't quite the A1 I'd expected, so all my folding and cutting will produce even smaller books than I'd intended!


So until I know if they will also be 'cuter', I only cut the final 2 of the 4 big sheets to A5 size (i.e. half an A4, or its equivalent).


But I'm hopeful - you can't see it in that picture I don't think, but it's actually really nice quality. If I can find a hammer sometime in the next day I may know by tomorrow what kind of final product they will make :)

Getting Started

Take a sunny day, a cleared off desk, and a lot of goodies...

...cutting mat, bone paper folder, craft knife, awl, mechanical pencils, steel ruler, bulldog clips, needles, crochet hook, and glue and glue brush (in this case a cheap stencil brush :p).

...Just to start with, 6 sheets of coloured sugar paper, 4 sheets of white cartridge paper, some newsprint, a packet of tissue paper, and some scrap canvas...

...and some pretty things...

...like multi-coloured embroidery thread and some pink, green and metal beads.

Christmas Craft Stall Mission Statement!

Our mission, should we choose to accept it, is to produce enough of our hobby-stock to man a small Christmas Stall for one day...in under 3 weeks.

Selling something would be a bonus - but time is running out!