BOS adventure continues....

It's been a lovely couple of days... sitting with piles of paper, beads,gel and ribbon up to my elbows around me, I'm totally- literally- immersed in my bookmaking!

Having finished the cover, which I decided to make rather than a whole book, simply because I know I'll fill these up quickly and I'd like to keep the same cover for a while.. (maybe a new one each year as work continues) rather than spend all this time creating it and needing a new one in a few months! 

So yesterday I worked on the section headers, the front page and dedication pages etc.

 I also managed to get some better pics in daylight....

 

 I'm happy with the outside now...so onto the insides...

  The front pocket and endpage. I saved lots of birch bark over the last few years  and loved including it in the book. I also used the soft lino cut I did a few days back to make an embossing for the centre.

 

 The first few pages are inked and are for my dedication, goals, index etc....

 In my many hours of searching and learning I came across some rather nice backgrounds, which I'm sorry to say I can't refind to add a link (thankfully I'd saved the PDF's as I found them) . Being me I didn't want to use them as unchanged pages, I always add my own work, so I collaged them with some lovely textured heavy papers.

This is how they are all laid out. I inked and stamped the titles the same as the front pages. The main area will be for detailed indexes...

Now I need to get all my notes together and start to add them in... and begin the long journey...

Can't wait, but am kinda nervous too!! Having spent so long making it just right, I don't want to mess it up... and I'd better dedicate it first.... Oh, just thought, I need to add a feather in there somewhere... a work in progress indeed!!

Materials used;

Felt, leather, ribbons, angelina, brass beads, silver beads, semi-precious crystals, cord, wool, bone,bark, vinyl, plastic, papers, cards, inks, stamps, book pages, wire and probably a few things I've forgotten!

Playing with lino...

I desperately wanted to make some stamps for several projects, and I can't find gel packs for making stamps at a reasonable price anymore, so needed an alternative.

I've lino cut before but it hurts my hands now so wanted something a bit easier to cut. A friend suggested "Easy carve" so I had a look online. My regular art shop actually had some small circles in, which saved me time and postage..woohoo! - once I decide on a project I NEED to get on with it!
So I spent yesterday cutting out symbols in the circular lino. It is almost rubbery and it is very difficult to get pencil or pen to draw on it, so accuracy with design can be a problem... even Sharpies didn't work!

Despite that, and working virtually freehand, I managed to get close enough to what I wanted... well, these things are supposed to be "irregular and personal" aren't they? If they were precision cut I may as well have bought them...

So here they are, my first 10.... I have more to do, and you can buy it in a sheet so I can get some bigger designs cut too, which will help for my calendar for next year.

Even with the drawing issue, they were quite nice to work with, and alot easier to carve than tradition hessian lino, so I would recommend them.

I've just tested them out on my Valentine ATC envelopes and they print ok too, if you use a brayer rather than an acrylic block (like normal rubber stamps)

The one thing I didn't think of though, doh!, was reversal... so my 2012 stamp is only good for embossing.... and with my new Bigshot I'm putting it to good use already- they emboss beautifully too. These little gems will be doing alot of work in the near future.

xx