still...

still working on books

still loving every minute of it

little ones this time - this one is the biggest of three being worked on at the moment and it's just 3" x 5"

my thinking is they are easier to handle during the binding process, they use up scraps of paper left over from making larger books, and they are somehow even more delightful because of their diminutive nature and i learn something new with each one i make

for this one i used some paper i painted a while ago as i was trying different ways of getting a water-like effect

golden brand fibre paste was brushed on thickly in the hopes it would resembled waves when painted over with watercolours... it was done a little too thickly so the results were not that great but good enough for this kind of learning through making

below is the front cover and there are portions of it that aren't too bad - the trick is less fibre paste and an elegant swooping motion

the paint takes to it differently which enhances the effect of whitecaps on water

the back cover was made from the same sheet of "water" paper but an area that was even less effective

 i used it here because i liked the gold... sunlight on water maybe, or perhaps a nod to the gold that lay beneath

the next one on the list is a very tiny one, measuring in at just 1 1/2" x 3"

another cast-off in my painted paper pile was one that was meant to resemble birch bark but came up a bit short

as i was looking at where to best cut the covers i noticed what looked like a squirrel or gopher hanging on to a tree 

and not far from that was an dark splotch that made me think of a small burrow in the wild grass

looking forward to getting this one done but it's so small i can't do a coptic binding, instead i'm going to use a binding technique from rachel hazel's book "bound" called "kettle stitch binding" where all you do is a kettle stitch at each end of the signatures

it's still done in the same manner as coptic binding so i'll definitely get more practice in dealing with the slip-slide of the signatures that occurs as they get added

not sure how many i'll have to make to be a proficient but i don't care

they make a charming pile