The Chronicles of Marit 2014 – Week 9

The Chronicles of Marit 2014 – Week 10

Next is a harmonica (or ‘accordion’) book that I made inspired by a photograph of a small harmonica book-in-a-box. The photo was published in Cover to Cover – a wonderful book about bookbinding by Shereen LaPlantz. The harmonica book I was isnpired by was made by Aliza Thomas. I could not find a photo of it on the internet but if you happen to have the book Cover to Cover, the photo I refer to is on page 8 (and if you don’t have that book and love bookbinding, Cover to Cover is a musthave! I highly recommend it!)

I was very surprised to learn that today’s tangent #3 in the series Tangents and Tactics onTammy’s blog is about creating accordion books… so I will add this blogpost to her linky-list.

Little Atom-book (closed)

Little Atom-book (open)

As you can see, I made this book in a small box of which I altered the lid to make it work as a book cover.

Harmonica – or accordion – books can be made in all shapes, sizes and forms and you don’t have to have any experience in bookbinding to make one…  Tammy explains and shows how to make your own accordion book on her blog today, so hop on over to Daisy Yellow if you feel inspired to make one yourself. I’d say: it’s a nice thing to get your hands busy on this weekend.

I myself will be working on what is laying half-finished on my desk…

… small cards indeed. Business cards, to be exact. Now that I moved to another part of the country, I need new business cards as the old ones have the old address on it… and I thought it would be fun to make a stack of business cards (I rather call it ‘art cards) myself…. I handcarved a stamp with my website address (the ‘stamped blocks’ you see on the left) and I machine stitched little pieces of paper (cut from left over monoprints)  on small cards on which I also stamped some information. There’s still a lot of work left to do (like: cut out the stamped blocks – doodle some text around it – tie off the loose machine threads – glue both sides together…) but it is satisfying.

Hope you all have a creative and satisfying weekend!

P.S. If you have my old mailing address (Eindhoven) and would like to have my new mailing address (Middelburg) – for example to send me a postcard (*hint*hint*) – shoot me an email (find it on the sidemenu) and I will be happy to give it to you.

I go with the flow so today I show you my own ‘rerun’
of a little book I made for my mum in 2008
(yes, I’ve been writing haiku’s for years…)

..

Back then, I didn’t bind my own books yet.
I altered a small, chipboard children’s book and transformed it
into this little album.

(Re-reading these old haiku’s, I have the feeling that my writing has improved.
What do you think?)

Go to Haiku my Heart to read more Haiku from all over the world.

Did you notice the ‘Art Journal gids‘ logo in the side menu?
Ilse Hobbelen started an online ‘guide for art journalers’
The website is in Dutch, and is meant to be a guide for Dutch people
who want to start art journaling. The website is worth a visit.
You’ll find information about basic materials, tools, techniques
and links to inspiring other artists (Me! 😉 )
You can also leave a link to your own blog if you want.

Better weather is predicted.
Tour de France has almost reached it’s climax – finish in Paris.
I wish you all a wonderful weekend!

However, this years’ tour is thrilling and spectacular right from the beginning!
The riders seem to be nervous, and there were a lot of accidents and battles
going on in the riders platoon…

[Are you getting tired of me talking about bicycles yet?
Hang in there crafters… there’s something creative in this post too!
It’s even a video, to make up for my ‘sports-talk’]

..

‘The tour’ get’s really interesting (and scary!) though when the tour caravan
reaches the high mountains! It takes a lot of courage and sweat to climb the
‘Col du Tourmalet’ (2115 m) in the Pyrenees and the ‘Col du Galibier (2645 m)
a mountain in the French Alpes.

Heck, it even takes courage to sit on the couch in front of the TV screen…
(picture men throwing themselves from a mountain with 50 miles an hour!)

I found inspiration in the race and wrote a haiku for today’s Haiku my Heart

In my last post, I promised to spoil you today with a video that shows you
the awesome ‘thing’ I made! I keep my promises, so here it is!

This book combines two new (to me) binding techniques that are described
in the book Cover to Cover by Shereen LaPlantz.
(I know, I know – I never can seem to take the easy way!)
The little sign on the front are Japanese characters and says ‘haiku’.
I use this little book to collect all the haiku’s I make for Haiku my Heart.

There’s this special haiku in the ‘hidden section’ (behind the spine)

(‘recuerda mi corazon’ is the name of Rebecca’s ‘haiku my heart’ blog.
It is Spanish and means something like ‘remember my heart’)

It’s mid afternoon my friends… I’m off… it’s time…
Guess what I will be doing the rest of the day 😉

Enjoy your weekend!