Giveaway Winner Announcement!

Many thanks to all who entered my recent giveaway!  I selected the winner the old-fashioned way, as usual:  I wrote each name on a slip of paper, threw them all into a bowl, and reached my hand in for one without looking. 

And the winner is....

Textile Recycler!

She will be receiving the prize pack of CREATE Mixed Media Art Retreat items, including PAGES magazine, a molding mat, and a collage pack.

Please email me with your snail mail address Textile Recycler (aleakaskey@yahoo.com), and enjoy your goodies!

The CREATE Artists' Faire

It must have been a pretty great weekend, since it has taken me four blog posts to tell you all about it!  In this fourth and final post about the CREATE Mixed Media Art Retreat in Somerset, New Jersey, I will share with you some photos from the Friday night Artists' Faire and give you a peek into the mobile art studio I created in my hotel room.

The Artists' Faire comprised about twelve vendors, many of them instructors from the art retreat, offering their original works for sale.  There were also a few vendors selling artists' supplies like jewelry-making tools, books, stencils, and rubber stamps.

I had just arrived when I attended the Faire, and still a little googly-eyed about the whole experience, so I don't have a very balanced representation of the vendors.  I took a zillion photos at Lynne Suprock's booth, called Simply Pretty Stuff.  I loved every item on her table!

Here is a closer look at some of the amazing items she had available, many of which you can get another look at by visiting her blog.  Check out these amazing necklaces created from salt shakers:

 And lovely mixed-media crowns:

 Absolutely adorable resin-covered booklaces:

 Super-cool shotgun shell bezel rings:

It was at the Artists' Faire that I had my first chance to chat with Seth Apter, who would be my bookbinding instructor on Sunday morning.

 A close-up look at one of Seth's collages:

I was absolutely delighted to chat with Jodi Ohl...what a sweet woman!

I enjoyed her work so much that I just had to purchase a piece to take home with me:

I also brought home an original piece by mixed media artist Elizabeth Nixon, using a rubber stamp from Julie Nutting's designs created by Prima and sold by Scraputante.

Back in my hotel room, I reveled in the opportunity to spread my art supplies out on the table and work on an art journal page to represent my weekend.

I've seen other artists on the road turning their hotel rooms into temporary art studios, but have never had the opportunity to do it myself before this art retreat weekend.  My page was pre-painted, so I basically just played around with pens and markers.

I came to a very important conclusion:  If you are a woman and want to be an artist, perhaps you should seriously consider changing your name to something that starts with the letter "J."  I was writing about all the artists I had seen already that evening, and besides Seth (the only man), I recorded Julie (Fei Fen Balzer), Jenn (Mason), Jodi (Ohl), and Joanne (Sharpe).  Do you think I've reached a valid conclusion here?

And there you have it!  My two-night art retreat experience in four blog posts.  If you missed my entries about Jane's class, Kari's class, or Seth's class, be sure to check them out.  And if you haven't yet entered the GIVEAWAY, you have until July 31 to do so!  The winner will be announced August 1.

Basic Bookbinding for Beginners with Seth Apter

Seth Apter, at the beginning of class

My final workshop at the CREATE Mixed-Media Art Retreat was a three-hour introductory bookbinding class with Seth Apter.  I was so excited for this class, since I have been wanting to try making my own books for a long time.  Though I've purchased various books on the subject, I just really needed someone to walk me through the steps to jump-start the process.  Seth's workshop was just what I needed!

One of my classmates, at work on her binding

Seth studied bookbinding at the Center for Book Arts in New York, which trained him to be very exact and precise in the bookbinding process.  Now, though, he describes himself as "a bookbinding rebel"; when it comes to cutting with a blade as opposed to freehand cutting with scissors, for example, he said, "I can't be bothered!"  He told us that he wanted to make the process "do-able" for us, and he succeeded in doing just that.

Bookmaking in progress!

After introducing us to a list of key bookbinding terms, Seth led us through the steps needed to create accordion fold books, the pamphlet stitch, and a simple form of Japanese stab binding.  He was hoping that we would have a chance to create one book of each kind following his instructions, and then create a second book of each kind to help build our "muscle memory," so we would be more likely to remember the steps.  We did not have time to create those second books, but he sent us home with all the materials we needed to make them on our own.  And, thank goodness, I took copious notes to take me through the binding processes back here at home!

Another classmate at work on her books

To show you what an effective instructor Seth was, I will show you the books I created for the class, as well as the books I've created since coming home.  What a great craft for those of us who enjoy immediate gratification!  It didn't take me long at all to amass a whole pile of hand-bound mini-books.

First, we created an accordion-fold book, and I was able to come home with Seth's materials to create a second one:

There is no doubt that the bookmaking process is majorly facilitated by having someone pre-cut all of the necessary pieces!

Second, we learned the pamphlet stitch, which is super-simple, easy to remember, and highly useful.

It's so simple, in fact, that I quickly ended up with quite a stack of little pamphlet-stitched books!  I especially like this tiny one:

And I made my first effort to attach beads as part of my binding here:

I enjoyed digging into my stash of hand-painted papers to create my books covers!

Even my five year old got in on the book-making action, creating a half-circle book (which I thought was brilliant!) and asking me to stitch the binding for her.

Finally, after a couple "false starts," I managed to master the simple version of Japanese stab binding that we worked on in class:

I kind of love the paper I made with my gear stencil!

I used scrapbook paper as a cover for this one.

The black and white cover is the one I completed in class.

Now I've pulled out all those art books with bookbinding instructions, and I feel empowered to try them all!  I know the lingo and I understand the basic process, and I'm excited to expand my repertoire of bookbinding options.  Many thanks to Seth Apter for getting me started down this path!

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If you have not yet entered my giveaway, please visit the previous post to enter.  Please remember to include in your comment the art retreat workshop you would most enjoy taking!  I'll announce a winner on August 1, 2013.

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I have one final art retreat post to share, giving you a peek at the Artists' Faire and my hotel room art studio set-up!  See you soon.