9 pieces of work - concertina book

Because I found myself a bit lost in the "forest of workshops", I wanted to take more time to explore my own artistic voice. That's why, during the summer, I set myself a challenge, to create 9 small pieces (just for myself, so no room for perfectionism or judgment), using the materials and techniques I like most. Each piece had to contain design and colours I love and words that relate to my art.  It required a bit of reflection and not a huge amount of work, so ideal for summer!

I hoped to get an insight into my own practice at this point in my life : giving myself room to think about my voice and to make choices allowed me to that.

the 9 pieces were subsequently collected into a single concertina book.

check out a short video I put on youtube here 

Sketchbooks part 2

These sketchbooks are a bit bigger than the last ones I made. I went a bit rogue here and used rather bold colours for the cover and all kinds of paper, like old calenders and other kinds of reused materials. I love bookbinding in this free way, and I think the outcome is fun and unusual.

the making of:

Handmade sketchbooks

I used different kinds of paper for these little sketchbooks : Japanese handmade paper, pages from an old book, wrappers, sketching paper, decorated paper.

The pages are handsewn together with bookbinders’ thread. 

The covers are unique designs I hand-painted with water-colour paint, sometimes with added embroidery.

The backs are covered (handsewn) with matching fabrics.

In every book I have all ready sketched a flower. 

This is a labour of love and I hope these little books will end up with people who love to sketch, write or collect stuff in them!

(I will show and sell them at this local event on Sunday July 3th : Kunst Montmartre Beveren-Waas in Belgium)

The sketches on book pages:

The covers painted:

Bookbinding:

Bookbinding

I went to an online bookbinding workshop with Ali Ferguson and I am SO excited by this new skill!

We learned how to make (stitch) a small sketchbook consisting of several sections (signatures), with an open spine and fabric taps and a fabric cover.

It’s a time-consuming process but very rewarding. I love paper and have been collecting all kinds of paper and wrappers for such a long time. It’s wonderful to put these to good use!

So far I’ve made 5 sketchbooks. I’ve used paper from the Flow book for paper lovers, notepaper, food wrappers and other assorted leaves and scraps. I embroidered onto the pages, decorated them with washi tape, little envelopes, some fabric, postcards, images and quotes. This way the sketchbooks became quite personal gifts and I hope they encourage people to continue to decorate and fill up of the pages.

Bookbinding is defenitely a craft I hope to explore more in the future!

            

some of the pages are decorated, others are still blank :