Book Trees Tutorial

We've been making a few new holiday decorations to replace the ones we lost, and these are my new favorite—trees made from old books. Here's how to do it:

Start with a paperback book and tear off the cover as well as any paper on the binding. You can make your tree as tall or short as you want, but be sure to keep the bottom of it flat, by not cutting the bottom edge of the book. This way, your tree will stand up and be sturdy. Draw your tree with a marker.

With a craft knife, begin cutting away the pages along the marker line.

You don't need to bear down too hard, just cut away a few at a time, until you have gone through the thickness of the book.

You can color the edges of the tree or leave them white. If you want to add some color, hold the book closed tightly with your hand, and press an ink pad onto the book. Crayon or marker would work just as well. (Do not use paint, as the pages will stick together once the paint is dry)

Now, the fun part—fan all the pages out. This may take a few minutes, and you might have to work on a few places where the pages want to hold together. Use a paper clip to fasten the front and back pages together. (note: There is a chance the binding will crack (as you can see in the photo below, tree in the foreground). If it does, just handle the tree gingerly. Isn't likely to break off all the way)

These are so easy to make, why stop at trees? Snowmen, Santas, and so many other shapes could be made...

What To Do

We're only a few days into summer vacation, and I have found myself scouring my favorite blogs and sites, looking for crafts to do with my girls a few times already. Turns out, there is a ridiculous amount of brilliant ideas and resources out there—tutorials, recipes, suggestions, and even more lists of things to do. Jackpot!

I've compiled a list of my favorites for you and me :

Paint a fresco (FuoriBorgo)

Make your own bug catcher (Shivaya Naturals)

Craft up some clay suns (Twig and Toadstool)

Make some Custom Drawn kid stationary (Just Something I Made)

Have your kids make their own ink Blob t-shirts (Vintage Chica)

Make mobiles from found drift wood and beads (Wise Craft)

Try some corn syrup painting (The Crafty Crow)

Make a moss terrarium (Poppytalk)

Learn block printing: tutorials Part I & Part II ( from me!)

fold up some Origami paper wallets (Future Craft Collective)

Squeeze some fresh orange juice and make sun eggs (GardenMama)

And more lists to pour over!

The Long Thread's round up of 50 Summer Crafts for Kids (check out the Stone Dolls from MayaMade)

list of great games to play with kids over at Mommy Coddle

List of outdoor summer activities at 5 Orange potatoes

list of Artful Books for Children from Quince and Quire

and this list of resources for nature-based summer learning, from The Snail's Trail

Paintings From (not so) Long Ago

It's nice to go back to art I made long ago, when my perspective was so different, yet still much the same.

With each piece I revisit, I am transported to that time—where I sat, what I was listening to, how I was feeling, even the weather that day. Such strong associations with each work of art must mean that the process for each of them was significant to me, in some way.

These laundry pictures were painted when we lived in San Diego, I was unemployed, and pondering an attempt at making a living through painting. A few weeks after these were completed, I was pregnant, employed, and feeling vulnerable from the September 11th attacks.

I wonder if, in 9 years, I will look back at my works in metal, and remember my world as it is today, in May of 2010?(A mother of 2 girls, trying to make a living as a metalsmith, and hopeful for the future of my family.)

Block Printing Tutorial: Part I

I decided to put together a block printing how-to, after getting lots of comments and emails from people expressing interest. It's a cinch to get into, as it requires only a bit of equipment to begin with. Block printing is a fascinating technique that presents new artistic opportunities to explore. Getting to the final product is a unique process that moves from sculptural to two-dimensional.

You'll need a linoleum cutting tool and some cutting tips, a few pieces of linoleum, a brayer, and some block printing ink. I found a great starter kit, which includes everything you need, here.

Draw your image directly onto the piece of linoleum. Start removing the material, little by little, always pulling away from the item you are carving, and towards your body. Keep the fingers of the other hand clear of the path of the cutter, as it can slip. Rotate the linoleum as necessary to make this easier.

The linoleum can sometimes be tricky to remove, but the way the tool is held is important and the process will go much smoother if you do it right. Hold the cutter so that the ball of the handle rests in your palm, and use your pointer finger to help guide and control the tool. Hold the tool at only a slight angle and pull gently. If you have the correct angle, you will feel the cutter doing the work and you won't have to pull so hard. It will take some time to get a feel for this. Keep a gentle grip on the cutter. It's easy to find yourself holding the cutter too tight which will result in deep cuts and a sore, tired hand.

A word about words: keep in mind that any words you include need to be carved in mirror image (see previous images), lest you end up with this.

Continue to remove the material, using a variation of cutting tips as needed to get the desired image. Explore texture and negative space, as well as composition and design, and have fun!

Linoleum pieces can also be purchased mounted on wood, and I find that the mounted pieces are a little easier for the kids to use—it's more for them to hold onto as they carve. Alternatively, you can mount a piece of linoleum onto wood yourself with some contact cement.

That's the cutting/carving portion of block printing in a nutshell. My next post will describe the inking and printing process.

Lots of Time = Lots of Projects

Whew. The loooong weekend left us with lots of time to occupy. We cooked and ate and created and read and now it's time to jump back into the swing of things. The jewelry biz is picking up for the holiday season and those bookmarks have proven to be quite popular (picture me crawling out of my cave-like basement workshop, protecting my eyes from the brightness of daylight, after making many, many bookmarks).

The last of the autumn-themed projects—delicious and simple sugar cookies.

..And the first of the Christmas crafts, beeswax ornaments (these smell so good!)

A couple of lanterns made from old jam jars. Just water down some glue and paint it over torn pieces of tissue paper to stick it right onto the glass. We tied string around the tops and took a few lantern walks around the neighborhood. Now that it gets dark around 4pm, we can do that before dinner. (We even played night hide-and-seek in the back yard, using the lanterns to light our way. Fun!)

Pomanders, which I forgot all about, but should have been started about a month ago. We figured we'd give it a shot and see what comes of them in a few short weeks.

I rejoice in the fact that Black Friday is done and over with, and we don't have to hear that term—or all the hype for another 11 months. Now, if we could only avoid all the other holiday advertising madness....

Happy Holiday Season!