Flaunt It Friday Flat Out Friday

For this one time only Flaunt It Friday has been replaced by Flat Out Friday! This unremarkable day is being brought to you by my L5 disc bulge and from the horizontal surface of my bed. (I don't think they are going to get any ongoing sponsorship deals from this!)

Ooh la la - a French Flaunt-It Friday

The last in my mini series of posts about books from my collection. These ones I WILL be pulling apart and rebinding when I figure out what they 'need'.
From the top (above) we have Muirhead's Short Guide to Paris from 1951. It is the style of travel book I love most with lots of fold out maps and floorplans to major buildings. It is also set out as a walking guide so it tells you who or what happened in a particular building on a street and then walks you further along it and points out the next place of interest. I have found the 'recent' history very interesting as it is almost 60 years old and Paris has changed so much since then. It has other little touches that send it straight to my heart too, like a ribbon place marker and the original owners name and address penned on the endpaper (DF Woodhouse, 229 Stanley Park Road, Carshalton, Surrey, England). It's a little gem! (Open in front below.)

The second book (open at back above) is really interesting. On the spine it is titled The Silent Traveller in Paris, written and illustrated by Chiang Yee. On the front cover this information is in Chinese calligraphy. Published in 1956, the book contains beautiful watercolour and ink illustrations that are both very Parisian and very Chinese. It is a different way of seeing Paris. Unfortunately the cover is in quite bad condition so I don't know if it is a good rebinding project after all. I will use the pages at the very least though and might add them to the last book I've got here A Month in Paris by Mrs Robert Henrey (on the bottom in all three photos).

This gem of gems is from 1954. Why is it the gem of gems? It doesn't have maps, or ribbons or much in the way of illustrations (other than the portrait of Mrs Robert Henery by Honor Earl). I haven't read it yet but I will... before I spend my month in Paris later this year!!! Yes, that's what it has - the perfect title! This rebound sketchbook will be mine, all mine!

And strangely these last two books must have been in the collection of the one person before I collected them too. They both have watercolour blotches of colour on their foredges. You can see it in this last photo. There is no paint on the pages, just splashed onto the foredge. I can almost imagine the quirky studio of an travelling artist...

A Foodie Flaunt-It-Friday

Wow, it's Friday again already and I haven't managed an in between post. Oh, well - I will be posting more soon because I'm on holidays from work for a couple of weeks. In the meantime and in the newly started tradition of Flaunt It Friday, here are some books I wanted so show you.
Modern Gelatine Cookery is one of my all time favourite finds, so much so that when I found a second copy of it I snapped it up again - thinking maybe I could bear to pull it apart if I had a spare! So far it hasn't worked out that way. Let me seduce you with some culinary temptations - just remember - every single one has gelatine as it's basic ingredient! Mocha Cream Eclairs, not too bad so far; Chicken - Party Style (illustrated page 8) and no, you don't want me to show you!; Lobster Royale, why would you combine lobster and gelatine? and Jellied Borsch. There are whole chapters on Garnishing with Gelatine, Skills with Gelatine and in the Low Calorie Recipes chapter there is Fingernail Treatment, in between Weight Control and Tomato Cocktail!
The book at the front (above) is Better Homes and Gardens Salad Book. It was originally published in 1958 and my copy is its 10th printing in 1968 and yes, it encompasses the finger food of the swinging 60's. I think it was actually the inspiration for the food in the movie Mermaids! We are called to Mix grapefruit and orange sections in these inviting ways (serving suggestion) and there is of course, Summer Pineapple Platter. But wait! There is more gelatine! including Different: a "salad-sandwich" which has grapefruit sections in lemon gelatine instead of the top slice of bread! I'd better move on before I forget and mention the Grapefruit-Cheese Squares. Oops! Sorry.
Far less confronting is the book at the back Giving a Party, How to Survive while your Guests Enjoy Themselves, a hefty hardcover number published in 1980. Ah, the dinner party era! And what good news! - you will survive while they enjoy themselves! (Somehow that is not my ideal scenario for my parties.) I'm sure it has some real gems in its 245 pages. Just flipping through (no, I haven't read it) I found:

Boiled new potatoes
This familiar vegetable can be omitted for slimmers but is a delicious accompaniment to salmon. Boil the potatoes in their skins half-an-hour before guests arrive, skin them and put them in a fireproof dish with butter and a lid over them for half and hour.

Hmmm. How exciting. (Are they sure the guests will enjoy themselves?)

Sometimes I buy a book...

...and then think "I can't pull this apart!"
I probably will 'one day', when the project is just right. But for now I keep these on my shelf and look at them occasionally - in amazement! So I thought, in the spirit of Flaunt It Friday and showing you something from 'behind the scenes' I'd showcase a couple of these books - Rude Health, Mainly for Wives and Ideal Marriage.
Rude Health, The bedside book of better body knowledge by Dennis Rooke & Alan D'Egville, published by Heinemann in 1948, asks "are you bursting with vim, verve, vigour and vitality? Are you mustard keen? Do you go about the world pushing buses over, swinging on chandeliers and leaping five-barred gates?" With chapters on exercise, the simple life, diet, alcohol, doctors, patent medices, mental health and sleep it is in in keeping with the genre of the time - bad jokes in poor taste, ah, but it is a little gem of a book!
But one of my favourite finds is Ideal Marriage by TH Van de Velde MD, published again by Heinemann - only this time the publishers name seems to be a pun!
And what a popular book it has been, not only with me! First published in 1927, my edition is from 1957. Check out the reprints!
It is a scientific look at the topic of sex in marriage. The chapters include "glimpses into the general human physiology of sex, notes on the sexual physiology of the adult woman, definitions, prelude and love play, sexual communion and hygiene of ideal marriage." The introduction begins "This book will state many things which would otherwise remain unsaid. Therefore it will have many unpleasant results for me." It was the first book of its kind. It contains "8 diagrams in colour," none of which is particularly informative about the subject.

Slightly more pointed is Mainly for Wives by Robert Chartham. When I first saw the title I wondered about the subject matter. Would it have patterns for aprons? Would it tell me how to throw a dinner party? Would it have a recipe for pickled onions? I had to turn a couple of pages before the subtitle was revealed: A Guide to Practical Love-making. Unlike the previous book in which the contents ran for 13 pages of fine print, below is the contents page for Mainly for Wives. Simple and to the point! No pictures at all. I love a book that professes to teach all about sex to the uninitiated without any pictures or diagrams! I don't know what I'll do with these books, but I'll think of something!

And while I was taking these photos I took one of a little corner of my studio. It's organised in and around some old trays that my dad made for his workshop. I love them!

If you click here you can view this image on Flickr where I've added notes to tell you what everything is. I hope you are enjoying these little forays into the studio for Flaunt It Fridays. Let me know if you are with a comment. I'd love to hear from you!

Monoprint Minibook Tutorial

This is my first post in the new series I mentioned in my last post - Flaunt It Friday. In these posts I will go behind the scenes and show you something a bit different. I'm kicking it all off with a tutorial - my first! If you find any problems with it let me know and I'll fix them.

I made these minibooks with monoprint covers. I made the monoprint in layers. The first layer was actually painted - a very large loosely painted version of the still life. The next layer a stencil of a medium size version of the same still life was cut from paper and used in the printing. In the final layer a stencil was cut of a smaller version and again printed. I loved the idea originally, but the scale of the work detracted from all the details and colour variations. So cutting it up was the best option.
These minibooks have mixed paper pages. There are local handmade papers, vintage papers, some of my prints, and offcuts of watercolour papers. I have used different sizes to make it a truly unique book that is suited to sketches, notes, stories, poems, journalling and collage. They could be a one month journal or themed artist books.
I also added a little drawing to each book.


Download the tutorial below and enjoy! And you can buy these minibooks in my Etsy shop as well.
Monoprint Minibook Tutorial

Publish at Scribd or explore others: How-To Guides & DIY notebook handmade

250th post and half a dozen ACEOs

Isn't it funny how you just get used to things. Making my 250th post has made me think again about blogging. I've really enjoyed my blog so far. It has been a much more rewarding activity than I could ever have imagined. I am passionate about the pros of it when others as me 'why?' with that aghast face. And yet somehow I managed to get used to it at the same time, and dare I say, take you, dear readers, for granted.
Well, looking at my blog with fresh eyes I've decided to make some changes! And they will be all for the better! First thing to do is to finish moving all my links (how did I get so many!??) onto my links page to clean up the visual experience here. It's a small change but worthwhile.
I might experiment with a couple of template changes too, so if you visit and it looks weird bear with me!
I'm also going to start a regular post Flaunt It Friday. On Flaunt It Fridays I will post about more than just my art. I will be including tutorials from time to time (yes, for my rebound books too!) as well as a peek into my collection of old books which is a lot more interesting than it sounds. I will feature the work of others, have interviews and more. I'm excited!
Oh, dear. I just realised - tomorrow is Friday! I wonder if I can whip up a post in time!? Here's hoping!
And back to my art... this is my latest series of ACEOs. In these tiny artworks I have explored my treasured memories of my favourite childhood games - cut-out dolls, hide and seek, hopscotch (I was good at the hopping but hopeless at the throwing) and all the other usuals. Ah, skipping stones! How good was that!?
Some of these are still available in my shop. Some sold before they hit the shop! Now that's a good feeling!