My Last Workshop For The Season

Last night, I returned home from Valley Ridge Art Studio in Muscoda, Wisconsin, where I took my last workshop of the year. I usually only take metalsmithing/jewelry workshops, but this time I went 'out of the norm' and chose to take a bookmaking class by Shanna Leino. We each assembled a book, but the focus of the class was really on making different types of clasps, hinges, and other decorative metal embellishments to add to the outer covers. The books that Shanna makes are absolutely beautiful, and that is what prompted me to sign up for her class. I saw some examples of the books which were made in a workshop that she taught last year, and I couldn't believe they were completed in only 2 days! They were outstanding! Many of the people in the class had experience in bookmaking, but for me, this was a whole new world...and I really loved it.

So here are some pictures of my book, in various stages of completion...

Here is its humble beginning...the pages are in little bundles between two wooden covers, waiting to be sewn together...

I sewed the pages together, adding the heavy cord to the spine. The cord will add a wonderful look to the book when the leather is adhered over it...

The cording is in place, and the book is now ready for the leather...

This is just another view...that's the leather that's going to cover the spine....

The leather is now on, and the wood still needs to be stained, but now it's time to move onto making the clasp and other decorative touches for it. My jewelry-making experience came in handy for this part, because I cut pieces from brass sheet to embellish my cover...

And here is the finished book. I made my clasp quite small, and was very unhappy with its size, so I designed a plate to go around it. Anyone who knows me, knows that I like big and bold, not small and dainty, so I 'Jill-afied' it.

On Saturday evening. I left the studio earlier than I usually do. I was not happy with my dinky clasp, and I was tired and my shoulder hurt. I went back to the farmhouse and put on my pajamas. I decided I'd deal with book in the morning. My friend Kim Nugent, who I brought along with me for the workshop (she's never been to Valley Ridge before), came in shortly after I did and put her jammies on too. We decided to sit at the kitchen table together and work on our journals that we each brought along.

But an hour and a half later, there was still light on down in the studio, and it was bugging me what the other gals were still doing in there. I thought they were getting farther ahead of me with their books, and I guess 'curiousity killed the cat.' Kim and I headed back down to the studio in our pajamas to see what they were up to. But they were just sitting around talking. So Kim and I wandered back to the house...but not before we each grabbed a cookie to munch on. And no, we didn't plan on coordinating our sleepwear. It just happened that way!~

And finally, here's the group shot which was taken yesterday afternoon, just before we all started packing up our things to make our long drives back home.