Revolving on a Spindle

I became enamored with vintage spindles after learning paper yarn making at PBI (Paper & Book Intensive) last spring.  Aime Lee had some beautiful examples. Take a look at her knitted books.


 Found these beauties on Ebay. Very affordable.  I pulled out some of the Hanji paper we made with Aimee and did some paper yarn spinning by hand. The first step in being able to knit, crochet, or weave a piece of art.

Now on to what was underneath the spindle.

 My Queen Anne's Lace stencil is getting a lot of use. Printed on some brown linen 

to make a little zipper bag I saw in a Jen Hewitt tutorial. I adore her work. She creates her own stamps to print her fabric. Her use of multiple simple forms to create patterns really appeal to me. 

For my purposes I'm using my Shiva Paintsticks with stencils for the design on the fabric.

I'll post pictures of the pattern & progress attaching the zipper & lining next time.

The Envelope Please & You Can Make It Your Own

 I often make my own envelopes to mail special cards, store flat items in my studio, or just because I love using templates, cutting and folding. We paper artists are a strange bunch. Any catalogs or magazines with full spreads of interesting pictures are fodder.  I especially like the matte finish heavier publications you see sometimes.

 

 

 You can take any envelope you have that is a size and shape you like, and just open all the flaps to have a template. Or you can extend or contract any of the dimensions and make your own template from card stock, copy paper, or even layout bond. The larger template below is on layout bond and has extra dimensions I built in to accommodate thicker contents.

 

It helps to know what the legal limit size limits of the USPS are if you are going to be sending your envelopes in the mail. Too small, too large, or too thick costs extra. At some point years ago I got my hands on this official USPS guide. I have found it very useful. 

Over time I have saved all sorts of templates for unusual sized envelopes and boxes. 

These little Glassine beauties  are very old from my fathers stamp collection supplies. You can still find versions of them available today.

 Holiday paper art found on Houzz.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Small Ledger Page Journal

 

 

I always have a small journal of some sort with me. If it's one I made myself even better.

 

   I've had some old ledger pages in my stash for awhile & decided to use them. The cover is an old double sided mono print.  I decided to let the ledger page size dictate the size of the journal. I wanted to be sure to keep the rounded corner and the little numbers.

  

Here it is next to a traditional Moleskine journal.

 Added a pocket in the back as well. It's glued on the bottom and back edge. Comes in handy to stash those bits of paper notes.

 Inside the front.

I made the construction quick & easy by stitching on my sewing machine.  There is only one signature and not too many pages so it wouldn't be too bulky.  Guess that means I'll need to make more as it will fill up quickly with ideas.