What I want today...

One of these...

Pictorial Webster's: Inspiration to Completion from John Carrera on Vimeo.

Don't forget to enter my giveaway!

Do I need to carry a sketchbook when I have an iPhone?

I'm packing to leave for Paris on the weekend. I have made my 'Perfect Journal' and am finally the owner of an iPhone 3GS. Both of these will slide into my shoulder bag and accompany me everywhere. Each has it's uses... but doesn't the iPhone win? (if there was a competition).


My iPhone is my new favourite thing. I will take a photo (at the very least) every where I go and these will be geotagged. T will be carrying a supa-dupa camera (it's his passion) and will be taking his own photos. My geotagged photos will assist him in identifying where he took his photos as he sifts through what will be thousands of shots when he gets back.

My iPhone will tell me where I am. We have a month in Paris and we are by nature wanderers. Last time we were there (which was also our first time) we frequently tossed up whether to go to ___ which is what we planned, or keep wandering because it was beautiful right where we were. (That's the thing about Paris, EVERYTHING is beautiful. You don't really have to see 'the sites' because what you are looking at every second is beautiful.)


The downside of being a wanderer is that you don't really know exactly where you are at any given time. We would get back to our apartment and find we had been just near ___ and not known, missed it completely. So our dilemma became whether to go purposefully back through our wandered territory, or go somewhere new. New always won of course, so there were things we missed. This time we will be able to wander AND to know where we are. But not only that, my iPhone will give us access to our Google Map.

We have created our own Google Map with place markers on it of all the places we would like to go "if we end up near there." We haven't put our must-see's on it, just the addresses of little shops, restaurants, markets and streets that we have read about or been told about. You know, you hear about a place and think "That sounds perfect! I must go there" and when you check the map it is way out to billy-o and it doesn't really warrant a full blown excursion just for the 'cute little ceramic shop'. But should we wander that way, we won't miss it this time!


And then there are the applications. It really is the 'apps' that makes the iPhone a winner over and above other smart phones. I have my translator app, the plan and tour app for the Palace of Versailles, lots of other travel apps. Then there are the photography apps. I was worried about the quality of the 3mpx camera, I would have like more, but the quality is surprisingly good and the sheer fun and pleasure the apps bring to taking photos is quite exhilarating. (I took these photos of my sketchbook with my iPhone!)


Oh and I can use it as a phone too. And email. And blogging and flickr and Facebook and twitter etc etc. Or listen to music. Or play games. (I wouldn't of course. I'd draw in my sketchbook instead!) So, my sexy little piece of hardware reduces the number of things I carry quite substantially; phone, camera, ipod, gps, guide book(s) and maps at the very least. And it weighs less than my ipod alone does.

My sketchbook, on the other hand, does the exact opposite. It creates more things I need to carry. I need my pens, my watercolours, water brushes, blotting paper, tissues to clean up with, glue, (and if the world was a different place) scissors or a knife; lucky I don't carry pencils and erasers any more.


The photos I intend to take are different from the ones T will take. They will be shots of patterns, details and reference shots for paintings I intend to do when I come back. I can get a lot of these shots taken in the time it takes to do a single sketch. It was the time it takes to do the sketches that surprised me last time. When you have the possibility of fitting in seeing Place Vendome this afternoon versus finishing the sketch you are doing in Place des Voges instead it actually gets a little stressful. We didn't see Place Vendome last time. It is on our list (and the Google Map) for this time.

This is part of the reason I wanted to stay for so long this time. To ease the pressure around the time it takes to sit and draw and see and experience and even wander. I don't know if we will actually have time to see everything on our list even with a month! But if I didn't take my sketchbook, if I only took my iPhone we could get around it all. I could paint from the photos I take and those photos would take me right back to the spot... or would they?

And I think that is the real difference between my sketchbook and my iPhone. When I look back through my sketchbooks I am truly transported back to that exact moment. I can see, hear, smell it all again. Vividly. When I flip back through my photos of last time I find myself thinking "where was that?"

I'll carry them both. I'll let you know who wins. I suspect there actually won't be a winner, that it will be more of a truce. But I'll let you know.
ps. This time I made my perfect travel journal out of a book with the all-time perfect title. Guess how long I'm going to be in Paris!? I filled it with my favourite paper - all the one kind this time because that is how I wanted it to be. It also has some pages from an old Paris Guide Book scattered throughout. I had another Paris book with beautiful illustrations in it that I was also going to incorporate. The book is in poor condition so a prime candidate for rebinding however I discovered it is a reasonably valuable book and a first edition. I couldn't bring myself to pull it apart. It has an elastic closer and a ribbon place marker, some loose sheets of blotting paper, but that is all this time. I wanted a simple version of my usual rebound journal this time. I love it. It IS perfect!

There's some good news and there's some bad news

Last week I asked if there were any good words starting with 'F' because I wanted to change the name of my Friday posts from 'Flaunt It Friday' to something more appropriate. Well, the overwhelming silence on your part has meant I've had to go and get down my own Dictionary and check it out myself. Thank you for that! There are lots of good words starting with 'F' as it turns out. So from now on my Friday posts will be tagged with the label 'Friday' and each one will have its own excellent 'F' word as a descriptive, starting today with:

Frontier Friday

Do you know Simon? Simon first attracted my attention with his blog title Paper Curious ~ I love it! I makes me giggle every time. He blogs about bookbinding and paper making and if you are curious, he makes some really interesting stuff, including little bank note books and shredded bank not paper. So clever! I know how clever he is because he generously sent me a little book and some paper. That's the good news.


The bad news is that my parcel was opened by the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service and three of the pieces of paper Simon sent were 'ordered into quarantine' (ie confiscated) for having plant material in them. When my parcel arrived it contained a letter from the AQIS, some forms and a brochure. It seems I have 3 possible courses of action a) pay $42.50 to have the papers irradiated (there is a warning that this may cause damage), b) pay $42.50 to have the pages returned to Simon and c) pay nothing and they will be destroyed after 30 days.


All this has brought our uniquely Australian 'problem' into my mind again, so I thought I'd remind you too. We need to think about this more now that our community is ever more global every day and the handmade revolution has us buying and sending goodies all over the place.


What can't be mailed to Australia? is the title of the brochure they sent and inside it has a long list including: meat and meat products, dairy, eggs and egg products, fruit and vegetables, plants and soil, seeds and nuts, plant material, live animals and animal products and laboratory material. It is the plant material section that got my paper 'removed'. It states you can't send these things to Australia: tea containing seeds, fruit skin and fruit pieces, remedies and medicines containing herbs, seeds, bark, fungi and dried plant material, dried flower arrangements and potpourri, dried herbs or leaves, handicrafts -including wreaths and Christmas decorations- containing seeds, raw nuts, corn, pine cones, grapevines, bark, moss, straw or other plant material, wooden items with bark or signs of insects present. I've looked longingly at many items on Etsy that would have been confiscated on arrival if I had bought them. It is something we need to think of before we buy.

But we also need to be careful when we buy things that do comply with the AQIS because how they are packed can also lead to problems. The brochure advises people mailing items to Australia to:

• Fill out the declaration label clearly and correctly. Make sure you itemise everything inside the package, including any packaging materials you've used.
• Do not pack items in egg cartons, wooden boxes or cardboard boxes that have been used to hold fruit, vegetables or meat/smallgoods
• Do not pack with straw or dried plant material. Use newspaper or foam to wrap fragile goods.

There is even a section on "cultural and seasonal events and quarantine." Don't send:

• New Year - ornaments made with straw, seeds and conifer sprigs
• Valentines Day - fresh and dried flowers
• St Patricks Day - shamrock plants and seeds
• Easter - hardboiled eggs, painted eggshells and straw or hay
• Chinese Moon festival - mooncakes containing egg yolks or meat
• Spring - seeds and bulbs (northern and southern hemisphere)
• Sukkot - etrog, branches of palm, myrtle or willow
• Halloween - pumpkins, corn husk dolls
• Christmas - decorations containing pine cones, vine wreaths, spruce; hampers containing prohibited foods

And let's not forget to mention the fines of over $60,000 for a breach. There is more information here.

Simon has taken the fate of his handmade paper well. I explained to him that because Australia is an island nation there are many pests and diseases common elsewhere that haven't reached our shores and we are determined (obviously) to keep it that way. His response was gold!

That's a shame. Something I'll have to bear in mind in the future. Don't worry, they're certainly not worth 43 bucks. Let them destroy them. Quite funny in a way, me producing items that could potentially bring down a whole continent!!!!

And if that wasn't enough the whole issue brings me to worry about the Community Sketchbook book I made Something of Value which I only just finished and blogged about last week. I'm kicking myself now because I did something I don't usually do and included some handmade paper in it that does contain plant matter. I know it is not a problem as I can send that to the US which is its next stop, but it probably means the book can not return to Australia (because how can they tell that it originated here?) and what if it comes up against the quarantine laws of other similar countries on its journey? I think I have only one option and that is to pull it apart, remove the offending paper and rebind it again. Now that is a shame too.

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!

Community Sketchbook Sketchbook

Last year I saw a note on Community Sketchbook about how the group wanted to make the jump from virtual sketchbook to analogue sketchbook. I contacted Shawna and volunteered to make the book. At the time I knew I wouldn't have much time to devote to the project and Shawna assured me they were in no rush, however, I didn't realise I would keep them waiting quite so long!!!

For details of what's in this photo click here.

They have been very patient! The book I chose to rebind for the project is titled Something of Value and I'm please to say that it has finally made it into my new book press!
I've been excited to try my book press out on a rebound book, and in spite of my best intentions, this is the first time I've tried it on one of my multi-signature rebound books. I already know it works brilliantly on single signature books and other minibooks I've made lately, but this is the purpose I most want to use it for, so I'm waiting with baited breath for the time when I can unclamp it in a few days time.

You may remember from a previous post about my book press, that it has an embossing plate as it's upper plate. The solution is to add a thick sheet of plywood under the top plate. This has been notched on the ends so as to 'lock' in place on the sidebars of the press. Without these notches the plate and consequently the bookblock too, rotates with the screw as the handle is tightened - not a good thing at all!

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

I've got a book press!

I've been coveting this book press in the local antique shop for several years now. Book presses are quite expensive. I got quite excited when they were having a sale the other day, and yes, it was discounted, but still expensive enough for me to still be 'thinking about it.' Not any more! T bought it for me today! Yee haar! It's old (obviously), filthy and rusty, but the screw still works perfectly.
An hour and a half later it looks this good! I can't believe how well it came up! I'm so pleased with it. Some wet and dry sandpaper, oil and a lot of elbow grease and doesn't it look grand?!
It is missing the top plate for pressing books. I've been told the plate it has on is an embossing plate. As you can see, it's round and about 6 inches in diameter. It has a concave surface on the base. If you know what it is for I'd love to find out.
The badge says 'Edward Dunlop and Co, Importers, Sydney.' I know absolutely nothing about book presses, so if you have knowledge please let know.
The base was an interesting find, with it's regal lion emblem, and the letter 'D'. For Dunlop?
I haven't had a chance to try it yet, but I will be posting about it when I do! At this stage I plan to use it with a loose wooden plate on top of the book, under the round embossing plate. At some stage I'd like to get a metal one made to fit.

Christmas 2007

Today I've probably been doing much the same as you - writing out Christmas cards. I keep all the cards I received last year and get them out to see who to send cards to this year. It saves keeping a list. Then I recycle them and await the fun of receiving this years cards.
But today, inspired by a photo in Alisa Golden's Unique Handmade Books, I bound them all together into a little book.
There are some gorgeous handmade cards by some little people I used to work with at school in there as well as a couple from dear friends and relatives who are no longer here this Christmas. I think that was what really made me want to make the book.
I haven't actually done any binding using this method before. There are lots of mistakes and it's a bit dodgy in places, but I love it!

Growing Up - Measure it up!

This rebound sketchbook is Growing Up, a novel by Angela Thirkell from 1945. The book has an original inscriptions inside the cover – ‘Margaret Knox’ and ‘from Jenny Xmas 1945’. So when I rebound this book I was careful to leave the endpapers and title pages just as they were – well almost!
As I carefully disassembled the book to begin the rebinding I found a small treasure hidden between the pages for 60 years! A little list Margaret had written herself. On a small page torn from a notepad is a list of music to investigate ‘Tchaikovsky concerto in B flat minor, When the heater gleams like stardust…’ I’ll leave the rest of the list for the new owner to discover themselves, which they can because I’ve bound the fragment of paper into the book so it sits with the title pages.
Included in this rebound sketchbook/journal are:
*32 original pages scattered throughout
*1 note page (see above)
*32 pages smooth 190gsm Draw & Wash paper (archival)
*20 rough Arches 185gsm watercolour paper (100% cotton rag)
Added to this is a tape measure ribbon page marker so you can measure how much you have grown! The original red book cloth cover had faded to a gorgeous rust colour. It is in pretty good condition for its age. I reinforced the spine to extend its life a little longer. Unfortunately a couple of small splits appeared while I was working on the book. The reinforcing should keep more damage from occurring but I can never be sure with such an old book. Ah, but that is part of the charm of old books – they take on a life of their own!
My rebound books make great sketchbooks or journals. I use high quality paper and archival bookbinders glue, pastes and materials. I allow each book to ‘tell’ me how it wants to be reborn so they are all very different.


And all my rebound books, including Growing Up, are part of the Etsy Black Friday - Cyber Monday sale! 10% off! But the price will go back to normal on Tues Dec 2. Check my shop for more details and browse the rest of the great sellers at Etsy for bargains in this promotion.

My word I love a library book - almost as much as a bargin!

This old school library book has been reborn as a high quality journal or sketchbook. ‘By Word of Mouth, an Anthology of Prose for reading aloud’ compiled by Clive Sansom was published in 1962.
It has the stamp of the Presbyterian Ladies College Armidale on it and a hand written notation ‘School Stock’ on the first page. The book holds a secret that shows just how valued it was by the schools pupils – the book has a flaw from it’s original binding where some pages were missed by the guillotine and are still unseparated! No reader got that far into the book or bothered to tear them open, so they are still in their original folded condition! I was careful to make sure these pages were safely returned to the book during rebinding keeping the individual charm of the book intact.


I was disappointed how this school book lacked an old library card pocket so I added one! I have a stack of original due date slips I got from a school library that still had them (using them for notepaper!) from when they changed to barcodes. I’ve purchased some envelopes just like the ones that they used. I’ve attached the library card pocket inside the back cover.
The book has a gorgeous cover, book cloth with printed turquoise and white diamond pattern with black lines. The title is printed on the cover in black on a turquoise square. The back cover also has the pattern printed on it. The cover shows some discolouration on the spine but is in good condition for its age. The rebound book now includes:

* 64 original pages (including one uncut, see above)
* 20 pages Canson Montval 185gsm medium watercolour paper
* 24 pages Arches rough 185gsm coldpressed watercolour paper
* 8 pages Arches smooth 185gsm hotpressed watercolour paper
* black elastic closer
* black & white headbands
* black textured paper endpapers
My rebound books make great sketchbooks or journals. I use high quality paper and archival bookbinders glue, pastes and materials. I allow each book to ‘tell’ me how it wants to be reborn so they are all very different. And all my rebound books, including By Word Of Mouth, are part of the Etsy Black Friday - Cyber Monday sale! 10% off! But the price will go back to normal on Tues Dec 2. Check my shop for more details and browse the rest of the great sellers at Etsy for bargains in this promotion.

Our Hearts Were Young And Gay - A Black Friday Steal!

You’ve gotta love that there was a time when this book title meant something completely different to how we read it now!

And that’s what this book is about, two friends, Cornelia Otis Skinner and Emily Kimbrough, who dedicated the book ‘to our mothers.’ Published by Dymocks Sydney 1945 this is the 3rd edition of the 1944 book. So popular was this book that it was made into a movie! ‘This edition contains illustrations from the Paramount film of the same name with Diana Lynn as Kimbrough and Gail Russell as Skinner.’ The book tells of their adventures while travelling and has a note at the beginning ‘Lest the reader should be in any doubt, we wish to state that the incidents in this book are all true and the characters completely non-fictitious.’ Ah, those were the days.
The book has a rusty red bookcloth cover with printed black text on the cover and the spine (yes, the spine printing is upside down!). It is in reasonable condition but shows some wear.
The original endpapers had nothing special about them so I could remove them which give me a much greater range of options for adding things in the rebinding process. So now this book has these inclusions:

* 44 original pages scattered throughout, some with photos or illustrations
* 4 pages vintage sheet music with fold-ins
* 12 pages mixed exercise book pages with lines, guides and/or grids
* 4 pages vintage book pages, some with my Gocco print designs
* 8 pages of my Gocco test prints, various designs, overprints
* 28 pages Arches 185gsm rough coldpressed watercolour paper
* 20 pages Canson Montval 200gsm coldpressed watercolour paper
* 12 pages Art Spectrum 190gsm smooth Draw & Wash paper
* 4 pages Mont Marte watercolour paper
* 4 small pages Arches 200gsm smooth hotpressed watercolour pages, folded
* red ribbon closer
* natural coloured textured ricepaper endpages
* yellow and white striped headbands
And if that’s not enough, I’ve reinforced the spine to keep the book going another couple of decades! My rebound books make great sketchbooks or journals. I use high quality paper and archival bookbinders glue, pastes and materials. I allow each book to ‘tell’ me how it wants to be reborn so they are all very different.
And all my rebound books, including Our Hearts Were Young and Gay, are part of the Etsy Black Friday - Cyber Monday sale! 10% off! But the price will go back to normal on Tues Dec 2. Check my shop for more details and browse the rest of the great sellers at Etsy for bargains in this promotion.

Black Friday Sale - Rough Justice

A gorgeous little book, Rough Justice by CE Montague is now a gorgeous little sketchbook or journal. The red bookcloth cover has a phoenix debossed on it, the spine has gold text and a gold floral emblem pattern as well. The front and back covers have debossed double line borders. The cover is in excellent condition but shows its age with wear at the base of the spine from where it has sat in bookcases for who knows how long.
I haven’t been able to determine how old this book is as it has not copyright date. That in itself indicates it is at least 60 years old and comes from a time before copyright dates were routinely added to the information about a book. The author has written the book in memory of ‘F.F.M. who died on October 30, 1925.’
When the endpapers in a book have nothing special about them I remove them when I rebind a book because it allows me to do more to it than I can otherwise. This book was one of these and now has a host of new additions like:

* 24 original pages scattered throughout
* 8 pages old sheet music
* 16 pages old exercise books with various lines, guides and grids
* 4 pages of my Gocco printed designs on found book pages
* 8 pages of my Gocco test prints (random designs, overprinting)
* 20 pages Arches 185 gsm smooth hotpressed watercolour paper
* 36 pages Canson Montval 200gsm medium watercolour paper
* 12 mixed Canson Montval, and Mont Marte watercoloured papers, some with bottom folds forming tuck-in pockets
* textured chartreuse ricepaper endpages
* black elastic closer
* yellow tape measure page marker
And if that’s not enough, I’ve reinforced the spine to keep the book going another couple of decades!
My rebound books make great sketchbooks or journals. I use high quality paper and archival bookbinders glue, pastes and materials. I allow each book to ‘tell’ me how it wants to be reborn so they are all very different.
And all my rebound books, including Rough Justice, are part of the Etsy Black Friday - Cyber Monday sale! 10% off! But the price will go back to normal on Tues Dec 2. Check my shop for more details and browse the rest of the great sellers at Etsy for bargains in this promotion.