So I spent last night finishing up my most recent Steampunk journal while re-watching a 3rd-season ep (or is it called season 2 now?) of Primeval (well, “listening” to it, anyway–it’s not easy sewing a book while watching tv, even just a pamphlet). This journal’s a bit different because I broke out of the brown/black/copper color scheme I’d been focused on and tried something quite different…

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I had an epiphany today and I don’t have them too often so I figured I should share it. I’ve been working on various ways to make the Steampunk design elements (mostly metal) work with book board, paper and leather and I think I’ve found a solution.

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Normally, I would write a post highlighting the book or doll I’ve made and give a few details (or a ton of details) about how I made it. This time I thought I would share some thoughts on the photos I used in listing this item, instead. There will still be lots of lovely images showing off the new book, I promise.

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I’m very excited to announce my inclusion in a recently published book called 1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse: Remake, Restyle, Recycle, Renew by Garth Johnson.

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I took a little vacation from my blog. My youngest started school this year which, you would think would give me more time to get things done at home. Alas, I need to go back to work so I’ve been updating my resume, writing cover letters, getting ahold of references to make sure people remember me, and job hunting. But, I’m still working on projects–the biggest one was a large art journal that was a custom order and the current one is a Halloween themed art doll for the ADO Halloween Challenge. I haven’t taken any pics of the Halloween doll yet so we’ll just focus on the journal this round.

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I have a book commission I’ve been working on for some time now, mainly because I haven’t had time to really sink my head into it. It took awhile for me to come up with a design, then I needed to make sure the customer liked it (she’s very easygoing but I still want it to be exactly what she wants), then find some materials (I needed some antique-looking buckles for it) which took a while to come up with, and finally do some last-minute discussions on the text block, etc. Here’s the main design on the front cover:

Picture of skull to be used on the front cover

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I decided to try out a new gallery plugin on my blog here but I’m not sure how the various setups on the gallery look in a post so you get to enjoy some picspam today (I’m sure everyone is faint with excitement at the thought).

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

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Some of the other ladies on the Etsy Bookbinding Team (BEST–Bookbinders of Etsy Team) were discussing how they have maps on their walls and every time they sell a book to someone in another country, they add a pin to their map. Now, while I love this idea and I really would like to have a map on my wall (I’ve always wanted to have a big old antique-looking map on my studio wall), I’ve never had the wall space for doing this.

From a 1923 Map

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Travelling Doll Journal Detail

Got a couple of commissions from a lovely, fellow dollmaker named Michelle Schafer of The Studio at Crow Haven Farm. We’re both pariticipating in a Travelling Doll Project that ADO (Art Dolls Only) is hosting. Since I also make handbound journals and someone on the ADO team outed me to the Travelling Doll people, Michelle contacted me for a journal (that turned into two journals).

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Scratch that. Reverse it. As usual, my blog gets ignored the most in all this. So where to start to catch up…. more…