i don’t have much to say today.

happy weekend!

i didn’t plan on making them.

last weekend i was playing with the idea of a brighter color palette and i covered some boards with a rich, blue bookcloth. 24 hours later, as i looked at the covered boards, i decided that the blue just wasn’t right for the original idea. and then, hello! i decided to do some punching. and then i remembered i had a sheet of pink bookcloth in my stash, which would contrast beautifully with orange thread… so there you go. it just sorta happened.

i went to my usual vintage chair haunt last saturday.

photo by jenn

the plates started their travels with a visit to the lyndale park rose garden here in minneapolis last summer. rumor has it it’s where aimee got married.

photo by me

then they made their way to new york for a fall weekend, where they got to see the empire state building.

photo by anna

back in minnesota, they went on a walking tour of saint anthony falls. it was unseasonably cold that day for october.

photo by tracy

vegas! vegas sun is so much better than october in minnesota! (i made tracy walk 3+ miles to the sign. i thought it was only a few blocks from our hotel, and we were both very hung over, so i babbled on and on to keep tracy from focusing on how much she hated me for making her walk to the stupid sign. i think i also bought her egg mcmuffin when we stopped at mcdonalds for grease and caffeine. once the photo was taken, we flagged a cab back to the hotel.)

photo by martha

the plates then rested a bit - it was a busy fall! but immediately after christmas they traveled to seattle, and they were photographed during a great afternoon photo-walk with one of my very first flickr friends.

photo by me

then up to michigan’s upper peninsula in february, to see lake superior’s icy shore. brrrrrr!

photo by kristin

summer has been fabulous in minnesota, so a photo at one of aimee’s favorite minneapolis lakes — lake of the aisles (with a view of downtown minneapolis!) — was a great way to end the plate’s tour.

and that’s it! the plates have retired from traveling.

read aimee’s perspective on the plate silliness…

it’s a 3-day weekend for us, and i’ll be avoiding the interwebs until next week. happy weekend!

i’ve got circles on my mind this week…

new wet felting pARTy post: jenn’s mobile is online, see it here! kristin’s is up, too!

i also provided drift wood and wood embroidery hoops from which to hang the felted balls, and anna’s mom donated some really great antique wood hangers.

kristin gave a demonstration on how to make wool “beads”, which was a welcome respite from rolling wool into balls.

when our hands were tired of manipulating wool, we strung the balls and beads onto fishing line to create mobiles and wall hangings. we used crimp beads under each ball/bead to keep them in place on the line, and i also provided plastic & ceramic beads and hardware that could be used to provide added texture and balance.

if you’ve ever tried to photograph a mobile in the middle of the day when the air is still and the natural light is perfect, you know that it is difficult! my attempts at photographing everyone’s finished pieces under the light of a 75 watt bulb — late in the evening — were failures. i photographed my piece the next day (it’s the one at the top of this post), and i’ve given up on trying to adjust color/lighting on the photos i did take. instead, as my friends put their work online, i’ll link to them so you can see the great pieces they’ve created. jess posted her mobile on her blog already, which you really need to see!

photo credit: nina invorm etsy shop

i also finished the design of my new hello cards, and punched a few sets! they’re in my etsy shop.

lastly, i have a table at poppytalk handmade! i put it together friday night and am excited to see it go live today. the marketplace theme is mixed tape, and there are many great artists participating… i think i’ll spend my lunch hour browsing.

how was your weekend?

i’m really excited to announce that i’ll be teaching 2 bookbinding workshops at red bow studio on saturday, october 2! red bow studio is the studio of artist and friend, patricia kaegi weiss, and is located 25 miles east of manhattan in the lovely long island town of sea cliff.  if you’re in the area, come! i’ll be teaching 2 workshops in a relaxed and friendly environment, and i’ll teach you everything you need to know to make more on your own!

the first workshop of the day: stab-binding. we’re going to re-use paper to create a journal and a photo album! we’ll be binding both books using the centuries-old japanese stab binding technique (it is not as violent as it sounds!). you will learn how to cover book boards, in addition to learning this easy, yet elegant binding technique. 10am-12pm, $25 per person + $5 materials fee

in the second workshop, i’ll be teach you how to make a hard-bound journal. you’ll create an over-size book by hand, perfect for writing or visual journaling! you’ll learn how to construct the book block, how to apply paper and book cloth to the cover boards, and how to fit it all together. you will have a variety of bookcloth colors and cover papers to chose from. 2-5pm, $25 per person + $10 materials fee

to enroll, please call (516) 676-4324 or email theredbowstudio at gmail dot com and you will receive you more information about the workshops. each workshop is limited to 10 participants. if you have any questions, leave me a comment. i’d love to see you there!

bonus: patricia interviewed me earlier this week, and if you’re dying to know more about moi, she’s posted the interview here on her blog.

happy weekend!