Mmmm Studio Time

I finally got some studio time in the other day and just finally gave my Etsy store a little life. I just listed the first in a new line of mini photo albums.
I don't know why but I just have a thing for anything in miniature form.
These little books are 3.25" tall and have 4 little frames inside to hold photos. I was feeling rather bright and chipper so the one with the cherry ribbon got listed first. I have 3 more completed and even photographed. I just need to finish getting everything ready for Etsy's image requirements and they will be going live.

This morning also brought completion to a leather journal I had started ages ago. I still need to photograph it before it will go live. Now that I've had my fun I need to crack down and get to the homework. Just wanted to share my excitement in my new line of photo albums!

101

Fitting that post #101 should be brought to you by the highway with the same number. Today was a wonderful solo trip to the coast with my camera and tripod in hand. I'm learning the limitations on my camera and that a road trip by yourself isn't as depressing as you think it's going be as you kiss your husband goodbye for the day.

The shadowy figure on the bench is me, and while you can't really tell I'm rocking my favorite pair of baby blue headphones with the new Oakenfold release playing on my ipod. I'm sporting my black and green poofy vest- I love my poofy vest, it's down with a hood, and about the most comfortable thing I've ever owned.

I love the coast and found today to be just what I needed to get over some serious anxiety over my impending midterm on Friday. There is nothing like some salty air and crashing waves to put a girl a peace. I'm feeling rested despite all the driving I did today. I only had my ipod on for a few of the stops that were still close to the highway or had other people chatting and intruding on my serenity.

I'm off to bed, just wanted to share a glimpse of my day and how awesomely unproductive it was.

My Life in Film

Photography has been taking all of my free time. I got the first assignment done and now I'm buried in work for our second assignment. The bulk of the assignment is a series of self portraits that show who we are and what's important to us.

I started with my first few photo's in my studio. Being a binder is a large part of who I am and I hadn't had a chance to take any photo's of my birthday present to myself. My lovely finishing press!
The second photo is the beginnings of a book. My jar of tools, a weight, my 3 most used tools on the book block, some thread, 2 curved needles, a block of bee's wax, and my favorite center finding ruler- all on my cutting board.

Hopefully one of these days I'll be able to bind the book in the second photo. I'll be teaching Tuesday at our monthly bookarts meeting. I'll be teaching a small double needle coptic like Rhonda at My Handbound Books posted about last week, which is funny because we planned the meeting two months ago. I've been using her photo's to try to explain to some of our newer members what we are going to be doing. I'm excited about the meeting as it will allow me some time to bind. I've got my first "midterm" Friday as well as the self portrait assignment due so maybe next weekend I'll have some time to spend in the studio without my camera and with my tools in my hand....

Photography not made simple

As those of you who are close to me know and the rest of you may have figured out I'm a perfectionist. A total perfectionist- which is why I was so happy when I got my first digital camera! No more shooting and developing an entire roll to find out you hate every photo.
I'm taking photo 1 this term to reacquaint myself with how to use my camera. To relearn what an fstop, shutter speed controls, etc and in general to become a better photographer. We got our first assignment last week and so far I think I've shot around 100 photo's and I have 1 I like- the picture included in this post. My teacher assigns projects in 24 images so that students who are shooting film cameras fill an entire roll for one assignment. If I only had 1 roll to work with I would go crazy!
It's hard to see in the itty bitty thumbnail here but the picture rocks! With the light coming in from behind you can see the outline of the back leaf on the leaf wrapping around.

I've been burried in homework so far this term, spending hours shooting photographs and relearning how to name organic molecules. I've been wanting to get into the studio and get some binding done but it seems that something else always seems to come up. I've got a custom order that needs to be finished this weekend so it's on the front burner tomorrow morning while the fog burns off so I can go shoot more pictures to finish this first assignment tomorrow. In the last week I also became the proud owner of an old leather couch that I'm going to strip down for the leather as it's no good as a couch anymore. It's a dark green leather that has great wear and age marks on it. When I get it done and some pieces to lay out I'll try to show you- it's gonna add some great depth to the journals.
For now I'm off to bed while visons of spaghetti monsters dance in my head.

Lost in Thought

This week has been very busy and I've been doing lots of thinking. School has started and my brain is in full speed ahead in all the wrong places.

The thing I can't seem to stop thinking is about how my classes went. I think they went well, and my students had fun- but I feel like I failed as a teacher. I spent a good amount of time talking about paper grain and why it's so important. Then for the second workshop a woman showed up with a journal she made with computer paper folded in half and I cringed and explained again in great detail that paper grain is really important. Somehow I feel like them seeing that it's actually possible to make a journal with bad paper grain and it all went down hill from there. I'm not really sure why I can't seem forget it and move on but it's really bothering me.

In other news I finally finished the last of my bicycle books. This one is a concertina made with a thick print making paper. After a long debate I decided to part with it and you can find it in my Etsy shop.
I think I've also decided to keep the apple page as I really like the set up and now that school has started I don't really want to put the effort into purchasing a domain name and finding a hosting service. Yes- O-Chem is that hard already.

Small Update, Big Week

Where has the time gone? September slipped in and out faster than I think it has in years. I guess I have been very busy this month but I think I could use another week before school starts to get some things finished up.

While my camera and I still seem to be at odds with my mini earrings, I did get this lovely book to the right photographed and in the Etsy store for sale. I love the fabric it's made from and have been thinking about going back to get more to make a skirt out of, but I don't think it will hang right it's kind of a stiff fabric.... but I'm still thinking about it.

School starts Monday and I'm starting to get the first day of school jitters! Tuesday will end my current series of classes at M.E.C.C.A, which has been a great experience for me. I am thinking about offering the introduction class again as well as class on the ribbon hinge books. I need to get a hold of my school schedule first and see how often my exams are spaced out.

I've also started to work on my Portfolio for grad school application. They have changed the application criteria since I've last looked, you only get to submit 1 object and then build an image showcase of your work. You can either send a CD with images or a website- I've started work on an online gallery. I'm trying to decide if I want to keep it hosted with Mac or try to buy a domain and pay for a hosting service. The good news is I have a month or so decide before my trial with Mac is up.

Smoke & Aces

Well mostly smoke and not a lot of aces around here. We have two major fires burning in the Southern Willamette Valley and unfortunately I'm very sensitive to smoke- killer headaches and super nausea has been the story of my week. It's rather amazing in the 8 years that I've been here I've never seen anything like this, every morning I get up and brush a layer of ash off my windshields.

I feel like a total slacker but all I've gotten done lately is a few pair of earrings and for the life of me I can't seem to get any good photo's of them. I'm blaming the smoke, maybe the camera....

I got my ATC's off this week for the Book Arts Forum Swap this week, they are titled
"A Tale of Two Fishes" I will share pictures once I get my packages back as I don't want to spoil the surprise for those of you who also participated. ATC's were an interesting challenge for me, as a bookbinder I don't consider my self an artist. I struggled for awhile but finally came up with something I was proud enough to send off.
I've also been working on some new silk screen designs. I have one design with flowers I sketched up in illustrator that I'll be burning as soon as we get some sunlight again. I haven't decided if it's going to be books, bags, or both!