I told myself before my surgery that I was going to learn another bookbinding technique, and last night I cut the pages and cover. Today I watched two videos that gave step by step instructions. Here’s my first effort at Japanese Stab bookbinding. It really was very easy. I’d put the holes closer to the edge next time.
ry straight forward. The book has a whimsical feel to it, so I found a public clipart image and used it as a pattern with a piece of hand dyed fabric. For the background. I painted it nickel azo gold, let it dry, then added green swirls with a rubber stamp and Tsukineko markers. If I were doing it over, I would use a lighter or more transparent paint for the swirls. Then I attached the chair using gel medium. After it dried, I added the text. Then I put another layer of gel medium and while it was still wet, used a swirly rubber stamp sheet to give it texture. I love how this texture adds a subtle layer of interest. Paper for the chair would be easier to handle than the fabric with the gel medium.
This page took a lot of time because I just couldn't find the right images to use. I was thinking about using Sophie Nicholson's peacock image, on transfer art paper, but my printer ran out of ink in the middle of the job, spoiling the paper. So I found some wrapping paper with stylized fish and drew some birds freehand to mimic the style of the wrapping paper. I used Tsukineko fabric markers to color the birds and my favorite drawing pen, the Pitt artist fine point pen. The background was painted with Jacquard Lumiere citrine paint and a textured tissue paper was applied. After it was dry, I used white glue to attach the pictures. I added the text with the Pitt artist pen, then covered the whole project in gel medium and while it was still wet used rubber stamp sheets to give it texture.
Next time I'll experiment with a different method of adhering the foil to the fabric. For now it is holding, but I'd like more definition on the edges.
This is still a work in progress. I knew I wanted to use a freezer paper mask to create the paper dolls, so I painted the background in nickel azo gold (Golden fluid acrylic) and then ironed the freezer paper on the canvas after it dried. Then I sponged green paint on, did some rubber stamping with a darker green and added red dots. What else?
I think this was my favorite part of the book. Since I was using Liquitex modeling paste, I did a sample on a separate piece of canvas. I painted the canvas with Golden nickel azo gold fluid acrylic (my favorite acrylics). After that was dry, I mixed the same color fluid acrylic with the modeling paste and spread it on the canvas. Using a stylus (actually I used a porcupine quill) I drew the tree shape. While it was still wet, I added burnt sienna fluid acrylic to give the drawn lines color. It took about 15 hours to dry. After it dried, I sponged various shades of green on for the leaves. I liked the sample so much, I decided to use it. Since it was not attached to the book, I sewed it in using embroidery floss. You can faintly see the back of the stitching on the seas and skies page. I added a tag with a scripture from Isaiah "and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands".
For this one, I mixed Lumiere pearl blue with gloss heavy gel meduim and painted the seas. While it was still wet, I crumpled up a piece of plastic wrap and dabbed it on the wet paint to give dimension to the waters. To the leftover dark blue paint, I added pearl white and painted the skies. After this was dry, I used gesso to further define the separation between the two elements and give a spot for writing the text. I dry brushed the water with pearl white. When the sky was dry, I applied xpandaprint paint and puffed it up with a heat gun. The xpandaprint was expensive, and I had to order it. I tested it against Tulip puffy paint, and found no difference when they were applied wet and immediately heated with a heat gun.
When I painted the front cover black, it bled through to the next page, so I used white gesso to block it. Then I used some Thesaurus text about light, and torn tissue paper, adhering it with white glue. After it dried, I covered in gel medium and then I used a chunky Sharpie to write the bold text. I added a tag with a scripture from the first chapter of John about the nature of the light.
