Bookbinding - day 1

Today we have been mostly learning how to bind books.

PERFECT BINDING

Leveling the papers (Jen's one already done to the right)

Leveled and clamped

Scoring the edge (so the glue sticks better)

PVA squirted along the spine

Glue spread out (with a finger) and let dry to tacky

Piece of muslin glued on

De-clamped and cut out from clamp once dry

SEWN BINDING

Punch holes with a braddle and SEW! French Folio

Sewing two signatures together

Coptic binding - when you have more than two signatures

Clamped and glued

My own handmade sketchbook... The ones above were done with cheap paper just to practice making them. I then made up a new coptic bound book out of nice off-white thick cartridge paper.

Neatly done coptic stitches (not very neatly cut paper though!)

Closeup of my coptic stitches

Clamped and glued, ready for tomorrow - COVERS!!!

All the glued stuff is drying and tomorrow we will be doing covers for them! I'm not going to attempt to describe the processes as I find it hard to do it without showing people, live. Look round the internet of you're really interested - or better still, borrow a bookbinding book from the library...

Drawing workshop - collage

Text says "A midday donkey spits out a whole cloth full of plague and parlour art"

Text says "Put your head through the curtains What can you s e e The universe bends a n d space curves boundless expanding not expanding galaxies rushing queerer queerer than we"

Text says " 'Well', he says well thats fine" "Island citizens full of plastic memory ... ... ... ... ... ... listen."

Last week, after we all shared our self portraits and talked through them (and discussed what we'd learnt) and our collages of the portraits, we did a day long session on collages, looking at everything from Dadaism to contemporary illustrators who use collage. We watched a documentary about William Burroughs, who wrote Naked Lunch using a cut up technique where he would chop paragraphs up and then re-join them randomly to make up surreal storylines.

So we were given three different pages of text from different sources, asked to make up a text collage (using any method we wanted), and then do a picture collage from magazine cutouts to illustrate our piece of text (and encouraged to be as surreal as possible!). Most people chopped up their texts in to sentences and then re-arranged them to make some fantastical narratives ... I took a bit of a sidewards route in that I tried to keep the text connected (in sequence, and physically by cutting then out all connected), and went for short, and bit poetry-like, sentences, rather than whole paragraphs, as everyone else was doing. I think I'm the only one who has also stuck the words down as part of the collages ... its all due in this morning, so we'll see. What you see above are my three finished pieces. I'm not even going to try and explain them!

As homework we also had to do some drawings based on these collages - but using drawing exercises such as left handed and continuous-line. Below are my strange looking attempts:

Left handed

Blind (ie not looking at the drawing)

Continuous line

Left handed

And my favourite, continuous line.

I really like how the continuous line text has come out ... want to use this effect in the future ... strange things you learn from doing a collage project!

To send is better than to receive ...

To have something non-college like to do with a deadline and a bit of fun, I signed up for the Elsie Marley mobile swap. Having just done 'Disperse', I was well up for it ... but as usual I got a little over ambitious, and its taken up a lot more time (although highly enjoyable) than I had anticipated! Only just finished it today (the deadline is the 20th) and still have to work out how to wrap/post the thing tomorrow. And this whilst still working on college assignments ...

Anyways, here's a breakdown:
Stage 1: Draw on primed plywood (left over from 'Support')
Stage 2: After cutting out and sanding the edges, paint with a base coat of white acrylic.
Stage 3: Finish painting using acrylics and black marker (front and back). Then seal with a layer of PVA.
Stage 4: Drill holes for hanging, assemble with some fishing line and bamboo lengths and TA DA! One floaty space themed mobile for two little boys in Ireland (hence the two blond spacemen - and mum, dad and a friendly alien got in there too!)






More photos in my Flickr account here. And more photos of other people's mobiles here in the Mobile Swap Flickr pool.

And speaking of swaps, this (and bag full of delicious caramelised almonds - yum! That I ate before I managed to take a photo...) came in the post on Saturday. Its from Kerstin all the way over in Munich, Germany (wave! wave! Thank You Kerstin!!!). I offered myself for a PIF craft challenge back in October (read about it here) which has ended up as more of a swap, than a pay-it-forward. This lovely handmade box was Kerstin to me ... I still have about 300 days to return the favour!. Infact, I only had two requests. I'm still up for another 3 people to send handmade stuff to. If you want to play, go leave a message here.

Right, back to my collages (all will be revealed in a day or two...)

Make my Valentine's day!

This is what Sunshine woke up to today - I caught him a rainbow :) ! This has been one of my little projects that I've done to keep me sane from all the college projects. More pictures and details here.

Another lovely thing to have happened this week is that I've been awarded a "You Make My Day Awards" from Suzanne over at an open [sketch]book (you have to go see, this lady is just so lovely and inspiring!). So in honour of that, and of Valentines, I'm passing on the award ..

Here's the rules:
1. Write a post with links to 5 blogs that make your day.
2. Acknowledge the post of the award giver.
3. Tell the award winners that they've won by commenting on their blogs.

I'm nominating people who mean something to me and really do make my day ...

1. Camilla at Madebymilla : I came across Milla before I moved to Bristol - she's a Bristol (kindo of) based artist and I've seen her exhibit, and have recently got to know her better (and found out she went to school with Sunshine and his sister ... how spooky is that!). Gorgeous person and blog, and well worth a visit.

2. Lucy at "hello my little friend": Lucy's new to the blogging game and deserves some blog traffic ... Highly talented designer maker... and did I mention, my sister-in-law to be? ;)

3 & 4. Skully at "The art of never growing up": Skully is one of Sunhsine's friends and I didn't even realise she was such a craftser until she left a comment on my blog and I followed in back to her. As Sunshine puts it, "She's a good'n that one". She also runs "Autonomous Artisans", a blog giving advise to people setting up mini businesses for the first time via things like Etsy.

5. Last but not least, Sunshine at "The Ministry of Manipulation" : they really don't need any blog traffic as they get loads, but I have to mention it as Sunshine set this up and he and a bunch of his friends run the blog and I'm always going there to see fresh new exciting videos they have trunched up. Usually juggling or circus skills based, but you'll often get dance, magic, and all sorts of other skills based things ... oh alright then, here he is (and this is just a hobby mind you - he has a normal job being a university lecturer too!)...

Enjoy your trip into Mithi's little world ...

And HAPPY VALENTINES everyone!!!

Self portraits 28 - 30

Whoopee!!!! Finished!!!! I must say I've really enjoyed this and may now force myself to do weekly or monthly (more realistic!) self portraits as a way of trying out different techniques and media.

Number 28, very experimental - I saw someone do this somewhere and wanted to have a go. This is a print of a photo that has been then worked over with acrylics and ink (you can still see some of the photo through the paint). I'm not completely sure about it as its not very me, but it was an interesting process anyways to work out how to carve up the face into sections...

Quink ink wash, then bleach to highlight. I'd forgotten how much I love this technique - something I picked up several years ago, and should do more often.

And the piece-de-resistance, number 30, 'Mithi the thinker' complete with cogs and a light bulb! Acrylics on board plus a few other bits and bobs. I wanted to make the cogs out of some more sturdier material - I gave up as cutting the board (which would have been ideal), would have taken too long - I've got to hand all of this in first thing tomorrow morning! - but I might still come back to it and make them more solid in the future.

Part of the project was also to make a collage of parts of the portraits - since I've been scanning them all in, I decided to do it digitally, rather than chop up bits of my hard work. It also means I could resize the parts to my hearts content till everything felt right ...

All I can say is if I didn't already know my own face intimately before, I sure do now!!!

Self portraits 25 - 27

Aaaaaaahhhhh!!!! On the home stretch now ... was doing number 28 but its looking a bit dodgy, so I'm going to sleep over it and try and re-do it tomorrow. Had to stop and collect my thoughts. They're all due Thursday (day after tomorrow), as are the collages. Fortunately, since I've been scanning all the portraits, I can collage them on the computer ... Might have to start that tonight as I just can't see how I'm going to get another three portraits done, AND do a briefing, a coffee with Jen, a lecture, and a meeting about one of my other projects all in one day ... Yipes!

So, this is for mum who suggested I do some emotions (thanks for the idea mum!). Inspired by Elizabeth Layton (thank you Lindsay!) and also the Beatles' lyrics to Eleanor Rigby, "...wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door". If I run short of time I'll claim this as FOUR self portraits!!!! I was making faces and looking intently into one of those little concave mirrors in which you can see your whole face ... Sunshine was quite amused by my antics ;) From left; Upset Mithi, Excited Mithi, Concentrating Mithi, and Yawning Mithi. Watercolour washes worked over with coloured pencils.

Hmmm ... Sunshine says this one scares him... looks like my flesh is melting(!). Interesting technique to try. Indian ink, although I think this would work well as an etching.

Oh, I've gone a bit experimental (pun intended!) today, haven't I? I mean which parent wouldn't want their kids to learn science from this lady? ... Acrylics and Indian ink (and a hint of sillyness...).

Oh my God, I can't believe I'm still not done yet .....

Self portraits 22 - 24

Another three .... yes I've slowed down - but I've just found out I have another week ... and I've also been beavering away on another three little projects ... so for the time being, enjoy!

A collage of patterned papers (I collect nice patterns, even pictures of wallpapers from magazines!). I did this twice as the face was a flat darkish red at first and looked too flat and too dark ... much happier with it now. Took forever ... (notice the birds and flowers on my lips!)

Same image as before - I drew it in pencil first as a template for the collage, but stuck the collage down on a fresh piece of paper. So I drew over the template with Indian ink with swirly lines ... took all of about 10 minutes but I'm so much happier with this than the collage ...

Things I daydream about ... flowers and birds ... ;) Watercolour wash and Indian ink over the top.

Someone asked if they could see all the portraits together ... well you can, they're all in a set in my flickr accont here. I also have another self portrait set which includes all of these and some I did before.

Self portraits 19 - 21

Here's another three ... its been a bit slow going the last couple of days. I've been trying to get on top of the housework (3 hours cleaning the kitchen yesterday!) and need a little time for myself too really. Running a household whilst being a full time student can be quite exhausting sometimes - I don't know how those with kids manage it ... anyways .....

Here's one done very traditional children's book illustration style - I felt I wanted to see if I could do it - and am quite pleased with the result. Caricatures, let alone caricatures of myself are not my strong point ... This is what I kind of look like most of winter - with my favourite cat-eared wolly hat on (a present from Sunshine) which you might recall from this. Watercolours on cold pressed watercolour paper.

This was an experiment - the background is acrylics on primed thick board (kind of grey cardboard). Then Indian ink and colour pencils on top. Is it just me, or does it look like a Chinese propaganda poster? Wasn't the intent - but happy with it nonetheless. Those who have known me since my dancing days (and my old blog) will recognise the picture ;)

This is what I imagine Sunshine (in all of his over-6-foot-ness) sees when he looks at me (in my miniscule 5-foot midget-ness). "Hello up there! Give us a kiss!!!" . HB pencil (and some colour pencils) on smooth paper.

My old dancing buddy and wonderful painter, Claudine, made a good observation on my 30-self-portraits project -

I think working in a series like this pushes you to take more risks. You run through a lot of the more obvious solutions to the assignment early on and are forced to push the boundaries of self portrait in order to complete 30 pieces. I am seeing your images become increasingly more dynamic.

Sunshine picked up on this as well, and I hadn't initially appreciated how much good this assignment would do me. I still have another 9 to go - but I'm thoroughly enjoying the process (although feeling a little exhausted at the moment!).

Something else that Claudine mentioned was -

A self portrait can be about identity rather than a straight representation. I see you're pushing into these different ideas of content already. I wonder what parameters you have set for yourself with this assignment. You mentioned you are trying to experiment with different media, what other ideas are you interested in exploring?

Hmmm ... that's a good question. I'd spent some time thinking about it, but found that 'thinking' kept me from 'doing', so I'm just going with the flow at the moment. I was also going to do some photography - but am not too sure as this is for a module called 'Drawing from life' - photography doesn't quite fit, but its such an open brief I might do a couple anyways. Also, at the end we're meant to do a collage of ourselves using selected bits from the 30 portraits - which kind of negates self portraits that don't necessarily have an image of me in them - I'd contemplated doing a few pertaining to my height (or lack of it) where all you would see is the top of my head, or a speech bubble coming from the bottom, etc. Mostly I guess I'm exploring different media, and also different ways of representing the face (hence the slow move into caricatures...). I'm quite excited myself to see where I end up at number 30 ...

In other news, I'm on Rama Hughes' Portrait Party with all my self portraits! Thank you Rama! You should go see HIS portraits, they're WONDERFUL!

Also in the world of the internet, I got a lovely comment left on my Disperse project (read it, fourth comment, here) by Darren Di Lieto saying that it had been received safely for the Mail Me Art exhibition, Woohoo! Have a look at some of the older submissions here.

AND also a shout out to all these people who have recently mentioned me on their blogs! Hooray for site traffic!!!

Self portraits 16-18

Only managed 3 today - but at least they all have a theme - about the two sides of me, the logical scientific side; and the creative artistic side.

I've always associated myself with the Queen of Clubs - not sure why, but here you go. My teeth and eyebrows have come out a bit strange (gotta make mistakes to be learning from them) ... but I was quite pleased with the concept. Gouache on paper.

The next two are collages (the faces are ink with brush on paper). They should ideally be in a pair. Firstly, the right side of my brain, the creative, artistic side.Then the left, logical scientific side. But of course both sides influence each other - thats why all my paint brushes are so regimented and in straight lines, and my scientific images all so pretty and colourful.

Self portraits 11-15

Little Mithi (age about 1) in Big Mithi (age old enough!). Quink, and with some help from some masking fluid. Victorian influence.

Wooooo ... psychedelic 60s disco Mithi. This took a long time to work out how the colours were going to be separated. Yellow watercolour, magenta dilute acrylic paint, cyan calligraphic ink.

Three layers of cut coloured paper. Another one where it took quite a while working out the colour separations (with help from Photoshop and contrast/brightness function).

A bit more old school Mithi style - dip pen with Indian ink, then watercolours.

Finally, a portrait of a self portrait. Dip pen and Indian ink.

Phew - another 5 down, 15 still to go ...

Self portraits 6 - 10

Quick one using non-waterproof Quink ink, and a skewer.

Acrylic on primed paper. I really wanted to have a go at my hair.

Diluted Indian ink washes using a brush (this one is my favourite for today).

Coloured pencils on black thick paper - based on this photo taken by Sunshine.

By now I'm bored - dip pen in Indian ink.

Can you tell which ones are from life, and which ones from photos? Which side my hair grip is on gives a clue. Also, as you can see, I was wrapped up in my red scarf today - its been mighty cold! 10 down and another 20 to go ...

Am working at college as a 'student ambassador' the next two days - so a break from the portraits. Also, if any of my readers are potential UWE illustration students and coming for route-A interviews tomorrow, do say hello!

Self portraits 1-5

... and I've got to do 30 in total in the next week! All for the next module, "Drawing from life", which starts in a couple of weeks. The brief was "using different materials and media". We also have to then take bits of the portraits and make a collage self-portrait ...

First one, based on this photo Sunshine took of me about a year ago. Done with my favorite coloured pencils.

Inspired by Janey, whose work I just adore - from life(ie mirror), using pen and marker.

From life - continuous (mostly) line drawing done blind, ie not looking at the paper.

From life again - sitting much closer to the mirror, lines are less continuous, and I let myself look each time I put the pen back on the page.

A pixiefied version of me (I don't actually look like that!) based on a photograph taken by my very close friend Ellie about 4 years ago. The reason my hair is all over the place is because I was leaning against a wall and slowly sliding down it - so my hair is 'static-ed' to the wall!

Number 5 took just toooooo long ... I'm going to have to do easier and quicker things if I'm to get all 30 done in time (and the collage made!).