Books

I made 25 books this past weekend. Then 60 one page folded pamphlets and 6 felt books all for Christmas.

And that Bob's Fett book for the work party.

The contest

Work is having a Christmas party next week and we are exchanging White Elephant gifts. A prize goes to the geekiest but they might not realize I made geeky stuff all the time. I don't even know if this is what I'll give them, I could have more ideas before the party.

Update!!!!: I did not win. No. Just to maintain the sad truth that LIFE IS NOT FAIR, my coworker who forgot to bring something gave a circuit board clock he made and has had at his desk for the past 10 years. 

 

Print image and glue to a piece of a cereal box. Cut out image and glue to book board. 

 

 

Cut relief into Boba Fett.

   

Using a piece of a paper bag (from the grocery store), gently press into the image. 

 

Bust out that bone folder! Burnish the everloving crap out of it. 

 

 

Did I say you could stop? You stop when the glue is too dry to let you continue. And then a little bit more beyond that point. 

 

 

Copper paint. It makes it easier to see what didn't look so good burnished. 

Spray with black enamel paint. And since it's been snowing all weekend, hit it a few times and then bring it inside to dry.  After binding sand with a very fine grit of sandpaper. I probably could have used a green pot scrubber and gotten the same result.

 

Coptic bound. The effect of snowing while I sprayed the black left little dots of copper visible that I didn't have to sand. A bit sparkly but it works.

 

Super Kai

I finally finished this one! Two months, 3 different plans, sketches and ideas and I'm done.

 

 

 Quilting piles, most need black thread and then some red, green and white.

 

 All the squares individually quilted and then combined.

 

The back, usually I do a solid color so the quilting doesn't ruin anything.  

 

 

 The backside before finishing. 

 

Finished!  

 

Closeup of Thor's symbol.

 

The back finished.

 

This was not easy to quilt, too many layers and I kept breaking needles. Worth it though. 

 

 Spiderman was my favorite.

Felt books

You would not believe how many geeky quiet books are out there! That's not quite what I'm doing but I am using ideas from them.

I'm making 6 felt books and it would be nice if people could stop having such cute babies.

The other side.

For this accordion we met with mockups and discussed the utility of the format. Why an accordion? It has 2 sides, will I be using both? I like them and yes. The back needed to be a story that was weird and didn't get disturbing until the end.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pop Ups!

I took 2 semesters of book binding specifically so that I can make better gifts for nieces and nephews. With a few exceptions all of my assignments were playing with that goal. I wrote 2 meandering rhyming stories and added popup characters to each. This is the first one and I'm breaking this up into 2 posts because there are so many pictures.

Looks like an olive kinda.

 

 

 Here comes the Doctor to take you away!

 

And don't let the Sarlocc ruin your day.

 

Out in the jungle Spock tells us to run!

 

A boulder is chasing us and it weighs more than a ton.

 

Back in my room and who knocks on the door?

 

It's Jamie and Adam and behind them a roar?

 

Chewbacca comes in and we all eat a cookie

 

And then everyone goes home, except for the Wookie.

This is idea is free for non-profit/non-commerical use. 

Waiting for Godot

I usually keep it pretty simple, a few colors washing each other out or less. This might get me going on a whole other quilt but for now, this is the back.

I have no patience and the absolute worst part of this process is waiting for paint to dry. I mixed mars black with violet and covered the lower 2/3rds of the fabric. Then the waiting. I used a heat gun on it, which did almost nothing and after blotted with a paper towel. That helped. This is all after work so I only have a few hours to do the magic... ok it's really the cheese curds of my soul.

Almost Done With This One...

Yet again this is stressing me out for No Good Reason. I think I worry about how the kid will like it more than anything. I am working on the back but now I have an idea I might have to play with a little bit. He gets it this weekend so as long as I'm done screwing around by then I'll be happy. I have the squares in piles by color of thread I'm using, black was a big one. Then red, green, purple, white, grey....

More info on this after he gets it. It's not that I think a 6 year old will stumble across this blog but his parents know about it so they have to wait.

Stenciling

This is in progress since it started snowing and spray paint inside is a really bad idea.It still needs some cleanup and then sealant.

 

This is as far as I got on the first attempt. So far this is the most complex image I've stenciled as far as the number of colors and the detail. How did I miss him needing a white shirt?

The blood on the cricket bat looks amazing! The white glue was for the face. I taped it together and then glued on the paper parts of the face. Using a cutter blade I trimmed away the tape. Painted and then carefully pulled up the paper while the glue was still wet. Works beautifully.

Addicted to Ravelry

I was just going to find some ideas... but the best way to learn something is to find a project that motivates. I found the Fireside Sweater. I love the cables and it will be my 2nd ever sweater.

I used yarn from carblanket, something I crocheted a few years ago, and didn't notice the bleaching of the yarn until I was about 2/3rds finished. Oh well. That's pretty much the only way I'd keep something I made. I did end up buying more yarn but really I just didn't want to go anywhere for the first few hours I started this.

 

 

 

 

These are the buttons I made. The plastic is perfect.

  

I did a slight variation on the pattern by using a different knot. A woman who works in my building said she liked my sweater before finding out I'd knitted it! Ah! I still don't think I'm a good knitter but I plan to have a whole lot of awesome sweaters by the time I do.