Scissors & Glue

Things I have been cutting up: magazines from the 50s (Better Living), papers from my 2nd and 3rd grade box, and current science and art magazines. I really like the images from the 50s though, too bad I only had five magazines. My room is a mess again. Didn't take long. :P

Don't know exactly what I'll use any of the cutout images for yet. Just building up a stock of things to use should I want them, I suppose. Also, I found a bunch more fabric that would look awesome covering books. There is SO much fabric around! In the garage, in the barn, in my relatives' attics and basements - and I'm usually able to find things that are relatively old and sort of dated-looking, which I love. This latest fabric I found is a deep blue and rusty brown tie dye-looking fabric, with the dye-less areas being white. It probably looks a lot cooler than I'm describing it, it doesn't look like your run-of-the-mill tie-dye really. It's quite striking and almost African-looking. Anyway, I bought some board today to use for more hardcovers. I was using a bit of leftover board from a bookmaking class I took junior year, but that's all pretty much used up. The last of it went into the blue floral book in that last photo.

I really enjoy making these books, especially since I'm using cloth that isn't boring to cover them with. The only drawback is that I don't have an awl, which makes it a bit painful to put holes in the quires of paper (pages nested together). I use six sheets per quire, and shoving a sewing needle through them all six times with my bare hands gets irritating. Gnarly calluses, here I come! I think the normal number of sheets per quire is eight or twelve... but my poor fingers wouldn't do very well if I added another two or six layers of resistance. I gotta get an awl.

Rabid

Acrylic and black permanent marker. Not necessarily finished. I messed around with the colors a tiny bit but it just doesn't pop as much in digital format. Don't really know what led me to paint this, since I don't paint a whole lot these days. I think maybe I was just sick of not making things, but I actually kinda like it. Hehe.

Bookmaking

Lately I've been working on a number of cloth-bound books using old fabric I found in my aunt's attic. Here is the first one I've finished. The spine is a little less reinforced than I could have made it but since it's small and my first sort of test-run book, it's okay. The book is roughly 4" x 5.75". I didn't pay attention to the grain of the paper and board this time around, so the covers are a bit bowed from the glue in the photo, but I have since flattened it out. There are 68 pages of Canson sketch paper inside.

Jammin'

It is getting to be that time of the year - actually, what am I saying, it is smack in the middle of that time of the year (how did that happen so fast?) after the growing and harvesting is all done with and the winter holidays are rapidly approaching. I spent the first three or so hours of today making jam with my aunt. I adore making jam with my aunt. We made four batches - strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, and strawberry rhubarb. My aunt's jam is like none other, even though it has practically the same ingredients as lots of jam (sugar, fruit, pectin, and a teeny bit of butter). I don't know what makes it so superior to everything else. Maybe love, or the fact that she grows ALL the fruit herself. :) Anyway, I thought I'd share some photos of the process.

She reuses glass jars and lids to put the jam in. Wooo, green!

Yes, that is actually more sugar than fruit. I like to just focus on how great it tastes when it's done and just accept the fact that it's a LOT of sugar.

These are the two giant pots involved, with one more small pan on a back burner for heating the jar lids. The silver one on the left is what the jam is made in, and the black one on the right is full of boiling water. The jars go in this one to heat up while the jam is made, and after they are full of delicious jam and lidded they are re-immersed for about ten minutes and then finally taken out - after this final step, the jam is done and can be set aside to cool (which takes a looong time).


Et voila. Jam. :)

One More!

• NotPaper - A blog about collage. One that I just discovered tonight. And it's pretty cool.

Artist Blogs to Check Out

Today I think I'll talk up a few of the art blogs I read regularly, due to the awesomeness of the artists as well as the fact that I know some of them:

• Late Breaking Noose - the blog of Judith Schaechter, who has rapidly become one of my favorite glass artists. She works in stained glass, and each of her pieces leaves me in absolute awe. Her style is a bit dark and sometimes grotesque, yet stunningly beautiful all at once. Fantastic, and just my kind of thing.
• The GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet - This is a terrific blog that will keep you up to date on the latest and greatest happenings in the glass world. You'll discover a new glass artist at least every few posts.
• It'll Glow On You - blog of my friend and former-classmate Carolyn Kassnoff, who makes really a broad variety of things, including sharpie sketches, super fun plush lamps, photos, neon work and awesome batik silk scarves. She also talks on a regular basis about the work of artists she admires (recently Sandow Birk and Bruce Nauman, for example).
• Art Without A Net - A Boomer Tale Of Art School - blog of another friend and former classmate, LuAnn DiPaglia, who is currently hashing out I believe her final year at Alfred. She has recently been casting little bells and pendants in bronze, and also painting. This is definitely one of the more detailed and engaging blogs I've come across, periodically waxing philosophical - such is the life of an art student. Love it.

Check 'em out.