Organic Book Making

I recently had the distinct pleasure to participate in a wonderful workshop with Orly Avineri and her friend Beatriz Helton. These two beautiful women guided our group of participants through a series of creative moments to create some really magical works of art and friendship. I’m posting some photos here of part of the journey but I must say that without the more ephemeral side of being present with all the women who joined in for the class, this is only half the story. If you should ever have the opportunity to take a class from either Orly or Beatriz – grab it!

We began from the inside. We made what Orly called a ‘quilt’ with paper and fabric scraps collaged and sewn together. We then added other paper and fabrics bits along with rusty things and hibiscus petals and wrapped it all up into a small bundle. The bundle was then soaked in a hot tea bath and allowed to dry overnight.

Opening the bundles was like opening a treasure chest! We then took time to assemble pages to the size we needed, cutting or perhaps collaging, to get everything in order.

Next came embellishing. Stitching, gluing, adding, subtracting. Poke a hole to see what appears through it…

The covers were made from cereal boxes painted with black gesso and marked by tracing images we’d brought with white transfer paper between. That’s a copy of an old photo of my grandpa. Once we had the covers cut to size we attached the signature (all of the pages we had made into one) by punching through pages and spine and sewing a pamphlet stitch with waxed cord. I also added a rusty closure to each of mine and tied it with twine I had wound out of seam binding (another handy thing we learned at the workshop).

Scroll through the slider below to see the inside pages of both of my little books. The final books are about 3.5 x 5 and fit so nicely in your hand.

I hope I have inspired you to go make your own tiny books! Please share them with us at Mini Album Makers Challenge blog for a chance to win fabulous prizes. This month Our prize package is from none other than Eileen Hull! It will be a $35 gift card to her Etsy site – wheee!

Thanks again for your visit! Happy creating!