DARLING LITTLE BOOKS

When I teach a Coptic books class, I always need to take sample books with me, and have been in the habit of making some miniatures (3in x 2in) because not only are they easy to carry with me, but also because there is just something very charming about having a book so small that it nestles in the palm of your hand.

I’ve found that I had rather a lot of them, and finally wrestled myself into letting them go – and have sold them on eBay (8 of them!)

As I’ve done nothing but moan about my computer for the last forever, I thought you might like to see some of my art work.
 
If you want to have a go yourself, I have tutorials for sale in my Etsy shop and also have put my first attempt at PayPal buttons on my Bookbinding page (tab under header). It’ll be interesting to see if the buttons work!


Anyhow, hope you like the little books and that they give you some ideas re decoration etc.

STUNNING BOOKBINDING VIDEO

Hold onto your hats, gang! Grab a comfortable chair, a cup of coffee, turn up the sound and prepare to be amazed...



Patience from Glowing Heads on Vimeo.


This is an INCREDIBLE example of an artist's book(s). I just had to share!

PINK SATURDAY

My alter ego...

This is my first Pink Saturday post for ages - time has a nasty habit of slipping away.

This week I'm posting early - tomorrow (Saturday) is the stamp show at Alexandra Palace in London - all I'll say about it is: bring a suitcase (on wheels) and a lot of money. Can't wait! I'm going with an open mind, which is always fatal...

Here's my current favourite display picture showing a great way to mix mirrors and pictures:

From Homes&Gardens

And the desk I'd like....

From Homes&Gardens

Just think - pull down the roller top and hide all that mess! And a nice drawer for paperwork instead of little piles here and there... Love that birdcage by the lamp (always wanted one). This is my kind of decorating: nice pieces, nice clean look. Shame I never seem to achieve it! Lots of designers say Less Is More. In my case, More Is More.

Here some pix of the most amazing chair - the chair will be translated into a album or book at some point, I'm sure.

Chair copyright Sarah Louise Dix

Chair copyright Sarah Louise Dix

I did this album (now sold) with exactly that cross-garter effect stitching.

Copyright Susie Jefferson

View from front - copyright Susie Jefferson

And this is an altered book spread I did a couple of years ago:

Left-hand page closed - copyright Susie Jefferson

Left-hand page open to show extension. Note the cross-garter ribbon effect at the top of the pockets and the right of the page. The slide mounts show a detail of the corseted woman (on the left page) and are mounted over the magazine cover.

There's definitely a theme re corsetry here... an obsession I didn't realise I had! Although I do remember going to school wearing a roll-on girdle and stockings - about two years later they introduced tights (panty hose). What a revelation! Freedom! Comfort!



Finally, please visit Beverly at How Sweet the Sound to see all the other wonderful Pink Saturday posts!

MARILYN'S ALBUM

All photographs copyright Marilyn Saunders

Marilyn Saunders (another of the ladies who took my Gerrards Cross Japanese Stab-bound albums class several weeks ago) has just sent me photos of a new album she's just made.

Beading detail on binding - beautifully matched and sized!

Closeup of beading detail on spine

Detail of clasp

I have to say that I'm wildly impressed! 

Hand-stamped cover paper, satin ribbon binding over-bound with beads... wow and double wow! (wish I'd thought of the beads....)

MARGARET'S ALBUM

Margaret (one of the ladies on my Gerrards Cross Summer School course) sent me a pic of her finished album.

Done in the class - photos copyright Margaret Isaacs

All finished with embellishments. The perfect Golden Wedding album!

Thanks so much for the photos, Margaret - this album is lovely, and I'm sure was the perfect present for a perfect day!

I particularly like the little bows you inserted along the binding - an idea I'm definitely going to pinch! Why didn't I think of that?

NEW CLASSES FOR AUTUMN ARE UP!

Altered Book class at Rainbow Silks. Copyright Susie Jefferson.

Closeup of embellishment details. Copyright Susie Jefferson.

All the new classes are up on the Blade Rubber Stamps blog and website, and also my classes at Rainbow Silks.

Fairy album - A3 size - copyright Susie Jefferson.

Closeup of stitching detail. Copyright Susie Jefferson.

Albums by students at my Gerrards Cross Summer School class last week.

Due to demand, I'm offering an extra class at Blade Rubber Stamps: a full day class on Sunday 19 September, on Japanese Stab-bound albums and journals.

This will run from 12.00pm-4.00pm - a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon! Space is strictly limited to 7 students, so if you want to come please phone BladeRubber Stamps on 020 7831 4123 to book your place.

The price will be £30.00 for the day. Full details for this class are on the BladeRubber links at the top of this post, and also on my website.

MY DELICIOUS COLOURICIOUS BOOK IS FINISHED!

Kiss Journal - all photos copyright Susie Jefferson- all rights reserved

I finally finished my book! And yes, I'm very pleased with it.

Copyright Susie Jefferson

Side view showing stitching

Poor Peter - I forced him up into the attic and refused to let him down till he handed me all my art stuff - so now we're surrounded by a sea of boxes and I'm as happy as a clam! I finished sewing the book Tuesday, but didn't have a chance to photograph it till today as yesterday (Wednesday) I taught a Japanese Stab-bound class at Gerrards Cross Summer School - more of that in another post. So I've been up against it for time.

But I digress... back to the book which is the subject of the post....

I cut it wider than needed, so that I could repeat the spine measurement for the fore edge and fold the excess back over to the front cover, then create some kind of fastening. This ended up as hinges - TWO  pieces of die cut Grungeboard - flexible and very tough. I punched holes in the ends so they could go over hitch fasteners (fasteners and Grungeboad are by Tim Holtz).

Closeup of stitching

Clopseup of hinges

Hinge detail

The hinges were postioned with a dab of glue, then fixed with eyelets. Then I wire-wrapped each piece and over-wrapped a second time with beads and brass danglies.

Inside

The fold-over edge looked rather plain, so I hole punched down the length and wire wrapped again, a basic whip stitch.

Detail showing pen holder

 The finishing touch was a spiral of the cover paper (I cut off about 1cm from the piece folding back over the cover before I did the wire wrap) which I glued down, then eyeletted top and bottom for strength.

Hope you like it!

If you want to make your own, here's the link for my tutorial on Etsy. If you want to know how I made the textured cover, read the post below. If you too would like your very own hand carved wood blocks, contact Colouricious - tell Jamie Malden or Holly I said Hi!

PINK SATURDAY - THANK HEAVENS ALBUM

As always, I'm stumped for something pink to show on Pink Saturday (it's so not my colour, but I am a great believer in getting out of my comfort zone, and pink is so warm and friendly.)

So this week I decided to toot my own horn and show a little handmade album I've made: a very girlie Brag Book for a mother, grandmother, aunt etc.

 All photos copyright Susie Jefferson

A sweet little A5 handbag-sized Japanese stab-bound album decorated inside and out: the overall size is 15cm x 10.5cm (5.75in x 4.25in) with 12 pages of marbled pink card, all bound with pink organza ribbon.

The back cover

 Inner cover

 Showing pages

Another view of the front cover

Hope you like it! (I just put it into my Etsy shop - only took me about 2 hours to list it).

My blog of choice this week is U Create - with some wonderful make-its, including shaker style boxes, a twisted fabric flower drum light shade and all sorts of lovely stuff. Do take a look!




Don’t forget to visit Beverly at How Sweet the Sound to see all the other Pink Saturday posts!

NEW CHRISTMAS HEADERS & BACKGROUNDS

I've just designed some new headers and backgrounds with Christmassy & winter themes, if you'd like to look!

Here are the backgrounds
Here are the headers, plus an email button etc

I know some of you love my freebie headers, but aren't all that with the graphics packages - so I'm offering a custom header service for you. This means I'll add your blog name and one line of text to one of my premade freebie headers for a flat fee of $5.00 (I take PayPal) . This is a new idea I'm trying out, to see if there's any demand. Full details here in my sidebar.

Otherwise, check out my Etsy shop for details of my custom blog makeover packages.

Also new on Etsy: my tutorials for Japanese Stab-bound albums (6 variations) and Single Needle Coptic stitch books. End of advert, lol.

WEBSTER'S PICTORIAL DICTIONARY - FROM START TO FINISH

I saw this on another blog - just had to take the code to share with you!


Pictorial Webster's: Inspiration to Completion from John Carrera on Vimeo.

Talk about true dedication... I am in awe!

HAPPY PINK SATURDAY - HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME & 2 GIVEAWAYS

Strictly speaking, it's my birthday Friday 31st, but as I'm writing my Pink Saturday post as we speak, it's my birthday post as well.


Peter didn't make a cake, but he did do a fruit jelly! With real strawberries!


It's funny - I have never been a lover of the colour pink, but since I started posting on Pink Saturdays I'm looking at the colour in a whole new light. And guess what - every single one of my cards were pink! Spooky...





Therefore, in honour of the day, I am giving away TWO books - a coptic book and one of my Japanese stab-bound albums. All you have to do is leave a comment, and I'll use the Random Number thingie to pick two winners. I will do the draw on Sunday, so if your time line is different from mine, it still gives you a chance to enter.

So good luck everyone - I'll announce the winners and email them for their addresses so I can send their books in the week.

Make sure there's an email address or blog address along with your comment, so that I can contact you!




Go here to visit Beverly at How Sweet The Sound and to see all the other Pink Saturday posts!

TWO NEW TUTORIALS UP ON ETSY

Copyright Susie Jefferson




Just to let interested parties know, there are two new bookbinding tutorials in my Etsy shop.

Exciting, huh? You betcha!