Book and Paper Arts Archives - Page 10 of 15

Ecoprinting with Autumn Leaves

November 14, 2019 / by Kelly

One of my favourite times of the year is autumn and one of my favourite ways to hold onto the beauty and mystery that the season holds is to make ecoprints, steaming leaves I have foraged on my hikes into paper that I then make into cards, framed prints, or book covers.

Dying with plants is an inexact science but I have been doing this one for years and here’s hoping that some of these pointers will steer you in the right direction with your attempts.

Choose a robust paper. Anything under 130 g/m is likely to tear when it is wet. I tend to use a watercolour paper that is 300 g/m. It makes for a sturdy substrate that will then be a nice weight for working into a project.

Choose your leaves! Not going to lie, this is a bit of an art, and the more batches of prints you make, the more you find from trial and error what really pops in your finished pages. I can tell you that I have the best results from leaves that had fallen from the tree – do not take them from the [read more]

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A Paper Glossary: Want to Know What Hot Pressed, Rag, & Gelantine Mean?

October 29, 2019 / by Kelly

Vintage Paper Co is one of my favourite sites for drooling over. Based in Scotland, they source hard to find handmade paper, both vintage and contemporary, as well as hand decorated paper for fine art, handmade sketchbooks, and journals. As the owner William says, “We do not sell things that are readily available from other paper merchants or art stores because what’s the point? There are businesses out there who do a brilliant job doing this and I genuinely respect what they do but I don’t want to do that.”

Earlier this year, Vintage Paper Co published a super handy glossary of paper terms to help readers and shoppers understand some of the finer points and terms used to describe their wares. If you are like me you probably pretend to understand more of these than you actually do and paper is my full time job. William was good enough to allow me to repost it, so consider the glossary below a crash course in everything you need to know about paper phraseology. Then go check out his delightful site and their inspiring wares: https://vintagepaper.co/

A PAPER GLOSSARY

A series

ISO range of paper sizes

absorbency

The degree to which paper [read more]

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Vintage Animal Engravings 1818: Free Download

October 29, 2019 / by Kelly

Recently I acquired three volumes of Oliver Goldsmith’s Earth and Animated History. This classic text was re-issued for decades and later editions had hand-painted engravings (see link below) but these were strictly black-and-white. I love how the animals look slightly off, as though the illustrator had never really seen a giraffe (camelopard !) in his life.

For a larger view, just click on any picture in the gallery. To use in your own art or journal work simply right-click on an image, then copy, then paste into Word, Paint, or any other editing program.

To see and download hand-coloured engravings of Oliver Goldsmith’s birds, go to: [read more]

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A Paper Glossary: Want to Know What Hot Pressed, Rag, and Gelatine Sized Mean?

October 29, 2019 / by Kelly

Vintage Paper Co is one of my favourite sites for drooling over. Based in Scotland, they source hard to find handmade paper, both vintage and contemporary, as well as hand decorated paper for fine art, handmade sketchbooks, and journals. As the owner William says, “We do not sell things that are readily available from other paper merchants or art stores because what’s the point? There are businesses out there who do a brilliant job doing this and I genuinely respect what they do but I don’t want to do that.”

Earlier this year, Vintage Paper Co published a super handy glossary of paper terms to help readers and shoppers understand some of the finer points and terms used to describe their wares. If you are like me you probably pretend to understand more of these than you actually do and paper is my full time job. William was good enough to allow me to repost it, so consider this a crash course in everything you need to know about paper phraseology. And then go check out his delightful site and their inspiring wares:

https://vintagepaper.co/

A Paper Glossary

A series

ISO range of paper sizes

absorbency

The degree to which paper takes up an [read more]

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What is the Best Way to Keep a Journal?

August 29, 2019 / by Kelly

Okay, now that you’re here, I might as well tell you this is a trick. Oh, we are going to talk about ways to keep journals; in the weeks and months to come, we are going to talk about it a lot: about paper and laying out a page and formatting and lettering and you name it, but today, there is no so-called best way. What matters is that you clicked on this link because you want to keep a journal or diary – maybe just with words but maybe also with drawings or doodling or gluing or something. And you don’t know how to start.

It is possible you are an experienced journal keeper and do not need outside help. I think it is more likely that you are new at this or that you began and are now stuck. Maybe you bought a blank book and have never made a mark in it because it’s too good to write in. Maybe you have a plain-old, lined notebook that cost $1.29 and you think it’s not good enough.

Whichever it is, you are mistaken. What you need to start your journal is this: something to write on (handmade [read more]

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Using Ink in Your Journal Work

August 29, 2019 / by Kelly

So, let’s talk about ink. It is one of the bedrock materials for use in an illustrated journal, sketchbook, art journal, junk journal, or an array of mixed-media projects. There is fountain pen ink, plant based inks, pigments, dyes, acrylic ink, and tinctures and they can all be used to create backgrounds or highlights or washes or shadows in your sketches. Here are ten ways that you can use ink in your journal work. (Go all the way down to see the video!)

– Blots. Doesn’t get simpler than this. Dribble a bit of ink on a page then blot with another sheet then allow to dry. Depending on how much ink you use, you will either have a substantial, abstract background to draw or work on top of, or a smaller blotch. The shapes created by these smaller puddles of colour often suggest a drawing with this as its base. You can also make a blot by spraying liberally with a mister than allowing to dry or by folding the pages on top of each other for a dramatic smudge.

– Asemic writing is an abstract calligraphy, scribbled lines that suggest letters and in turn, words. (To see [read more]

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La Mode Illustrée 1880

August 6, 2019 / by Kelly

Last May I bought several volumes of French fashion magazine La Mode Illustrée. This was the fashion magazine of its day. A woman would buy her weekly edition that might include engravings of hairstyles, dresses, embroidery patterns, home decorating, and hats – lots of hats. When she had a year’s worth, she would have them bound in a hardcovered volume that she could then use for inspiration or to share with friends over tea.

To see a larger version, click on the photo in the gallery.

So here’s the deal. Sadly, most of the bindings of the hardbound volumes was in too poor of shape to salvage but that just gave me permission to take out the individual signatures/editions without feeling guilty. (Whew.) I am selling them like this: three (four pages – eight sides) editions per shipment. While all of the editions of this magazine are good, some are very good and I have gone through them one at a time, making packages of three numbers that include two very good ones and one okay, still pretty darn good one. The way I see it is you can cut that one up (permission!) and either cut up and/or [read more]

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Illustrated Journal Pages: France

July 24, 2019 / by Kelly

These are some pages that I made while in Burgundy last April. (Ha. Just finished editing and photographing them.) You can see that while I enjoy sketching and painting, I am not great at it. I sketch and draw anyway. I also rely heavily on found items from brochures, menus, maps, and whatnot. My point is, if you are hesitating to work in a journal because you think you can’t draw – NO EXCUSES. (Ahem.) Now here we [read more]

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Altered Book With Encaustic

April 11, 2019 / by Kelly

This altered book uses encaustic techniques to fix tea dyed gauze and a variety of vintage ephemera to an old book. (Vintage envelope, handwritten postcard 1911, fragment of dictionary 1895, tintype 1860s, and antique skeleton key.) Please note that this book does not open but is meant to be decorative. It is wired for hanging and could also be displayed on a table or book holder. (Click on photos for a larger view.)

It measures approximately 7″ x 5. Cost is £65 GBP. Worldwide shipping is £6. Please let me know if you have any [read more]

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Free Bird and Insect Downloads, Oliver Goldsmith, 1876

April 1, 2019 / by Kelly

I recently acquired an amazing volume of Oliver Goldsmith’s A History of the Earth and Animated Nature series. There are six volunes and they tend to be crazy pricey but I have my mind made up and managed to get two of them in my budget. The most recent was volume two and it is full of coloured engravings of birds! With an occasional insect. So without further ado, please feel free to use these images. Click on an image in the gallery to enlarge then right click, copy, then paste it into Paint or Word or whatever program you use to print [read more]

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Book and Paper Arts (page 10 of 15)

Ecoprinting with Autumn Leaves

A Paper Glossary: Want to Know What Hot Pressed, Rag, & Gelantine Mean?

Vintage Animal Engravings 1818: Free Download

A Paper Glossary: Want to Know What Hot Pressed, Rag, and Gelatine Sized Mean?

What is the Best Way to Keep a Journal?

Using Ink in Your Journal Work

La Mode Illustrée 1880

Illustrated Journal Pages: France

Altered Book With Encaustic

Free Bird and Insect Downloads, Oliver Goldsmith, 1876

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