Wrap-up of the Hard Sided Wrapper

Hard sided wrapper, made in Andrew Huot class

The last enclosure we made in the Preservation Enclosures class was a hard sided wrapper. So it has the wrapper body,  but with a book board case. It looks great on the shelf and whatever you put inside is well protected. And it's not particularly hard to make.

Hard sided wrapper open

Right now I'm finishing up my next class - Clamshell boxes, also with Andrew Huot. There will be a post about that soon. I highly recommend him as a teacher, he's very good at demo-ing and explaining. He does sometimes teach at FOBA. And his classes will be offered again next year at Book Paper Thread.

More box making with Andrew Huot

Left: tray to store small bits of collage papers, based on corrugated clamshell box. Right: one tray in place.

I am almost done with the Preservation Enclosures class with Andrew Huot. This class has been more useful than I expected. From the title I thought some enclosures would be good for librarians, and hopefully I would get some ideas for artist's book enclosures. I had seen some enclosures friends made in a class of Andrews, so I had faith it would be a good investment. Most of what we have done has turned out to be potentially very useful. In the last post about this class I mentioned that I could adapt the corrugated clamshell box to make trays for storing collage parts. I have made nine trays so far and am very pleased. In the image above on the right you can see my old funky make-shift system with one new, lovely, perfectly fitting tray in place. (click on all images to enlarge)

Insert in cigar box. I wanted to save time and try the insert without making the box.

We also made two inserts that I think will have a lot of applications. I made the first one, above, in a cigar box to save a little time. But wouldn't it be a nice way to present a small book? A nicely made box would have a lot of presence displayed in a show, and would make a good enclosure for storage. Or of course if you have a box appropriate for the book subject, an insert like this would be perfect. Small books often disappear in a show in a large room. Maybe the book could stand up on the open box somehow? 

Insert in corrugated clamshell box.

This second insert also has potential. It occurs to me that you could present an interesting object in the insert area, place it higher in the box, and leave a space below to house an artist's book. It's also faster to make, so a good choice if you want to find a safe way to store something.

Soft sided slip case - holding a set of paper sample booklets.

We also made a soft-sided slip-case. It was pretty quick and good for holding a set of paper sample books. I have stacks of them and they tend to be in a messy pile. Mine is a little funky, but you get the idea.

Next week we will make a wrapper with a hard case. I know this will be useful. Then the class is done, but in the meantime I am starting the Clamshell Box class with Andrew. I know this one will be harder, but undeniably useful.

 I have been drawing most days for Inktober. I am also taking the Preservation Enclosures class I mentioned in my last post. Next week I will start a Clamshell box class, also with Andrew Huot. Below is a little photo essay of some of my Inktober drawings. They are all on the architect's tracing paper that I use in collage. You can see I don't keep a perfect, beautiful sketchbook. I try out ideas and experiment with things that pop into my head. I decided I needed a hard cover, that's the first photo. Because I am going to take the sketchbook apart when it's full (and use the drawings for collage)  I quickly made a temporary cover that holds the sheaf of tracing paper in place with a piece of elastic. Then I can slip another sheaf of papers in there.

Hard cover for tracing paper sketchbook made with binder's board and book tape. Judith Hoffman

Sketchbook, tests, textures. Judith Hoffman

Inktober sketchbook, patterns and doodles. Judith Hoffman

Inktober sketchbook, doodles, tests, patterns. Judith Hoffman

Inktober sketchbook, various faces and patterns. Judith Hoffman

Center spread - testing various transparent acrylics. 

Inktober sketchbook, faces and patterns.

Inktober sketchbook. I like the layered shadows.

Inktober sketchbook and cat. Everyone's a critic. 

Box making class with Andrew Huot

I over committed this month. I am doing Inktober, and also taking an online class, Preservation Enclosures, with Andrew Huot through Book Paper Thread. The website says the class will be offered again in 2021. I'm half way through the class. To start we did two kinds of wrappers and a soft sided slip case. Below is one of the wrappers and the slipcase.

Self-closing wrapper and soft sided slipcase, from Andrew Huot's class, Preservation Enclosures

Then we did a corrugated clamshell box. This was much easier than I expected. These are mainly intended as preservation enclosures, as the class title says. But there are other applications. I can easily modify the clamshell box to be a tray for storage of collage parts. The materials are already ordered.

Corrugated clamshell box, from Andrew Huot's class, Preservation Enclosures

Andrew is a good teacher. He is clear and explains what he's doing plus there are handouts. I learn so much better when I can watch someone go through the process. I have not taken any formal book arts classes. I did do one intense workshop years ago with Shereen LaPlantz which was good. And of course I watch videos online. But everyone has different ways of working and I don't absorb everything the first time around. This time I have learned stuff about gluing and measuring, aside from the box techniques. Being able to go back and watch the video multiple times is helpful. The one good thing about Covid is that there is so much online now. Andrew has taught at FOBA, and I had planned to go out there next time he was teaching. But this is much better for me. I don't travel well and it's exhausting and stressful. 

These are hard times for everyone. I often feel stressed and anxious about the future. Having something to do that takes my mind off all that for awhile has been helpful. I hope you are finding this break from normal life productive, or at least not too stressful. I know some people are busier than ever, and others are at loose ends. Which ever it is, I send you my best wishes.

A New Plan for Inktober

 

Two Inktober sketchbooks made with 7 pound canary tracing paper.

In early August I planned to do my Inktober drawings in a sketchbook I made with old envelopes. (That post is here) Recently I have been drawing on a pamphlet stitched pad of yellow 7 pound tracing paper so I could use the drawings in collages. Tonight I made a sketchbook with the tracing paper to use instead of the envelope sketch books. The new one is about 7 x 9 inches, a size I usually prefer for sketching. It's also just a stack of papers pamphlet stitched together. When I am done I will cut the thread and coat all the drawings I like with matte medium.

Interesting layers of images may lead to a new idea.

There is an additional benefit to this paper. There are times when I get composition ideas from the layers of sketches. I am using d'Atramentis document inks in grey, dark red and a mixture of turquoise and brown that is very close to black. They are a little slow to dry but these colors are waterproof once they are dry.

Coating collage papers with matte medium

 

Drawings on architect's tracing paper, coated with matte medium

I have been not very energetic lately, but a good way to keep busy is to clean the studio - that hasn't happened yet - or to draw on architect's tracing paper for future use in collage. I like to draw faces or patterns. This is a low- risk activity. If I don't like a face it can be tossed, or maybe cut into pieces. Drawing patterns is very meditative. I coat the tracing paper with matte medium to pre-size it and make it more translucent. 

Drawings on architect's tracing paper, coated with matte medium

It seems to work best if I coat both sides at the same time, so I have been using old seed catalogs, painting one side of the tracing paper, flipping it over immediately and painting the other side. The seed catalog page gets pretty wet with matte medium, but I just keep going. I also use this method to coat my collage papers with a mixture of PVA and water before using so they don't curl quite as much. The inks are all d'Atramentis document inks. They are pretty waterproof and permanent. I do find the red ink smears a bit if I brush over it several times. The tracing paper is not as absorbent as drawing paper, some other inks also smear. Pitt brush pens will completely dissolve the d'Atramentis inks on this tracing paper.

Preparing for Inktober I made two small sketchbooks from envelopes

 

I have been saving envelopes for a couple of years, ever since I bought a few sketchbooks made with mail from Helen Coldwell at badbooks on etsy. I used one of Helen's books for Inktober in 2018 and enjoyed it very much. She isn't making the mailed format any more, but does have mixed paper books in several sizes. I just recently bought a couple of those, they are equally fun, and I didn't have to make them.

This year I thought I should take out the big pile of envelopes and make them into something. I did add in some graph paper, some gridded paper, a few other things. But it's 90% envelopes. The cover is an old cardboard box, covered with an envelope a dear friend sent me stuff in. (Thank you Wendy!) I lined the spine with some super to make it stronger. 

This year I plan to do a very low pressure Inktober. No pressure at all actually. I will draw with ink every day, but it may just be a 5 minute doodle and I won't feel bad about that.

Solution for warping paper with collage

Blind contour drawing on collage. Judith Hoffman 2020

 In my last post I was worried about collaged papers warping. I got a number of suggestions from my book arts group and friends online. I think I have found a solution that is not perfect but will work for my method of collaging. Most of these are in my Flickr albums.

Here are my notes, which I intend to print and hang on the wall in my studio.

• Try to have grain of substrate and major collage pieces in same direction.
• Coat back and front of substrate with Gold matte medium. (not liquid matte medium). Coat one side, allow to dry, coat other side, allow to dry. 
• Draw on tissue paper (yellow stuff I have been calling architect's tracing, but may not really be that. It's light yellow, in a roll.) - at least the blind contour can be drawn on, can also add hatching. Coat back and front of tissue paper with matte medium to increase transparency. Coat one side, allow to dry, coat other side, allow to dry.
• Make the collage using PVA for the opaque papers.
• Add the transparent papers using matte medium as the glue. The would be last or almost last to take advantage of the transparency and layers. While adding transparent papers paint the whole collage with matte medium.
• Between all stages dry under stacks of books.
• It is possible to draw on the collage with d'Atramentis inks at this stage. Adding small details and patterns.
• If the collage is still too warped when it's done, wrap in a damp dish cloth (smooth texture like the black and white ones), wrap in waxed paper, leave under a few books for 15 minutes. Put between two pieces of blotter paper, leave at least overnight. First test was about 18 hours. Things are not perfectly flat but fine with me. Things can take days or a week to dry in blotters.

Looking Back, blind contour drawing with hatching and collage. Judith Hoffman 2020

Substrates that have worked:

• Bockingford - has textured surface like cold press. 
• Rising Bristol 2 ply - very slight texture.
• Strathmore mixed media - also fairly smooth.
• Fabriano Artistico 300 lb. 

What to do - I love glue

5 x 7 postcard. Blind contour, drawing, collage. Judith Hoffman

Well, it's more like "I love PVA." I have been trying to make collages on postcard size pieces of paper. The paper tends to curl. I'm using both 90 pound papers and 300 pound papers as substrates, both coated on two sides with Matte medium. Next I collage on some background papers for texture and interest, using PVA. These are not coated before collaging. My blind contour drawings go on top of the "texture" papers. They are on tracing paper because it's pretty transparent. The tracing paper shrinks a lot when glued down, so I coat it with matte medium on both sides, allow to dry, then glue it down with more matte medium. Neither substrate stays flat. Although I think things are improved by coating both sides of the papers. My process is intuitive, and I try to be fairly fast. I don't really want to plan every step, coat all the papers and then wait for them to dry before doing the collage.

5 x 7 postcard. Blind Contour drawing, collage. Judith Hoffman

There is a method, invented by Jonathan Talbot, where you coat all your papers with gloss medium and them iron them together. I have tried it, and it works perfectly. It even works with matte medium. It's almost too perfect. You have to have a plan, coat all papers, then iron everything in place. I am resisting that at the moment. I hate ironing and planning and really like the glue process. 

Transfer test, using Talbot transfer paper

I am also experimenting with transfers, thinking I could use that method instead of the drawings on tracing papers. Above is the first test - I drew on the Talbot transfer paper, ironed it to an old book page and after wetting the page, I rubbed off the transfer paper. I think this would work okay with a stronger substrate. But again it's not a fun process. If the whole collage was sealed with matte medium, I think this would work okay. The rubbing is tedious, although the Talbot paper comes off pretty easily. I wonder why I think this is supposed to be fun? I do also like the warm yellowish tones of the tracing paper. They show a little in both the postcards above.

Work table testing zone

And finally a shot of my work table. It's just a big sheet of 4 by 8 plywood on shelves so I cover it with this old yellow paper I got very cheap years ago. It's the perfect surface to test whatever I am about to draw with.

I attempt a larger drawing

Two handed drawing, black ink and Pitt pen. Details done with dominant hand. Judith Hoffman, 2020

For Lori Don Levan, who suggested trying these larger. It seems to be hard for me to make a larger blind contour drawing. I think part of how I keep my place while drawing is to not move my hand much. But here is a two handed drawing. It's about 8.5 by 11 inches. Not large, really, but to me it is. In my left (dominant hand) I held a black pen, in my right hand I held a sanguine Pitt pen. After doing the drawing I used my dominant hand to finish with the hatching and other details. This was fun, I would recommend trying it if you haven't. I'm not that happy with the final result, but I like the scribbly mess. I tried to follow my dominant hand pen with the non-dominant one, but wasn't able to that well. It certainly short circuits your brain so neither line is very accurate. I think there is potential there, mostly as another way to get a weird wonky drawing to work on. Thanks Lori, fun idea.

The blind contour drawing project surprise

Go By Bus. Non dominant sketch, collage, experiment by Judith Hoffman, 2020

I am about halfway through my 100 Blind Contour project. This one counts, although it's non-dominant. They are all experiments. I am working toward using more collage with the drawings, trying to keep everything loose and fast. Just to be clear - the basic initial sketch is non dominant or blind contour. But after that I use my dominant hand, looking at the drawing, to add hatching, little details, etc.

Blind contour with hatching, collage. Judith Hoffman, 2020

I am so much loving the weird distortions most of these drawings have. The appeal is that I am surprised. Normally I tend to draw carefully and these are not at all what I expect. In this group the backgrounds are 5 x 7 pieces of heavy watercolor paper. I collage on whatever I find on my work table. The faces are drawn on architect's tracing paper, then collaged over the drawings. Then I add more hatching, texture, etc.

Blind contour drawing, hatching, collage. Judith Hoffman, 2020

This one needed some white to brighten up areas, I used a Posca pen. There are more in my Flickr albums. There are albums for my friend Eileen, my husband Jim, and now for myself. More to come as I get more photos from friends.

Art That Was Never Finished

Arguably the very best video ever posted by The Art Assignment. Extremely interesting and moving. They have disallowed posting on Facebook, so I won't put it there.

Be safe everyone, take care of yourselves and your family.

Jim Blind Contour

Jim blind contour drawing. Jim does crossword puzzles every day. 

I am not keeping a precise count. So far there may be 40 completed drawings. And many more blind contour drawings. I don't count them because they are so quick to do, and when they aren't interesting to me I don't take them further. Of course there are some completed that I am not crazy about.

So far I have learned:

• Using fluid mat medium for collage isn't good if I plan to draw on top. Mat medium is good to glue down tissue paper. Brushed over the top it makes the tissue paper more transparent. But it repels pen ink.
• I really like the tannish papers with black and white ink. 
• I got better at the blind contours so I had to switch to non-dominant blind contour. 
• I got better at remembering how many eyes I have drawn, so have started cheating at times and adding a third one. 
• I have no idea what to do with these. I keep wanting a finished project. It's my complete-ist brain.
• Adding collage takes a lot of time and thought.
• I am overwhelmed by the social part of this - blog post, Facebook, Instagram, Flickr. I need a way to streamline.

A new subject, more blind contour

Blind contour on doodled background

Jim very sweetly volunteered to be a blind contour subject. He likes the distorted effect. Above is the first blind contour, done on a book page I doodled on years ago.

Analog blind contour

This is the analog version. Compared to the digital version below, I would like to make some changes. But of course can't.

Digital version of blind contour, done in Procreate

The blind contour was scanned and imported to Procreate where I could play with things like pen thickness and was able to erase to achieve the thin white lines. I'm trying to balance having a loose drawing with the amount of detail I like. I should have used a finer pen for the analog version. As a friend likes to say "onward."

Blind Contour Drawing Challenge

Blind contour drawing on a piece of star chart

This is part of my Eileen blind contour project, which is expanding into a larger project.

Superman's Pal, blind contour on comic book page

This current group of blind contour drawings started with 12 book pages, one piece of a star chart and one comic book page. The four here are the ones I have completed so far. I painted most of the pages with slightly watered down titanium white acrylic paint to muffle the print and images.

Blind contour, hatching, collage

Then I did the blind contour drawings with a variety of pens I had on hand. Mostly Uniball Vision Elite pens, which have black ink tinted with various colors. I am still using the photos from Eileen, but will probably branch out soon. I want to try other faces and some objects, like chairs. After doing the blind contours, I scanned all the pages and imported them to Procreate on my iPad. I can do multiple digital versions and of course one analog version. These four are the analogs.

Blind contour on book page, hatching, collage

In looking at these I think there is possibility. I like the one on the star chart, mostly I think because the eye happened to fall in that light circle. (Jupiter) But I do love dark backgrounds. And I didn't even try to add collage. The Superman's Pal is appealing to me for some reason. Lots to look at, the head floats on the page. I don't like the big white bits of paper, and that warning symbol seems pointless in that context. And the drawing and the comic book page have no theme connection. The one with the postage stamps is okay, I do like the eyes high in the face. I couldn't find anything to collage on that I liked, the stamps were the closest I could come. The last one is just okay too. But I do like the different faces, including that there is one looking away from us. And there is more room for the collage in this one. Maybe it needs a pattern in the background?

If you have thoughts, leave a comment here or on Facebook. I am always interested in other people's opinions. You probably see things differently, which can be interesting.

*"A bunch" might be more accurate. If I find something else to work on, feel I have learned what I can or just get tired of the project, I will stop. If I am loving it after 100, of course I will continue.

And yet more Zymoglyphic finds

"There's treasure everywhere"

Still working on defining Zymoglyphic. Here are the previous posts. On the wall of the Zymoglyphic Museum Jim has this Calvin and Hobbes cartoon.

This is a particularly interesting find. It's crushed aluminum, found on the street. The age, dirt and texture transforms it into something strange.

This piece of wood caught my eye because it looks so animated, like a little person. I'm very curious to see what it becomes in the museum.

Another stick that doesn't really look like a stick.

This is a piece of a tree that must have blown over in a recent storm. There was bark and moss all over the street so Jim made a nice pile of the good stuff and we continued our walk up to Mt. Tabor. When we came back down the slope we could see the tree removal team was already there. Jim can walk much faster than I can, so I said to him "rush over there and get your stuff." Jim went over and told the guy by the truck he just wanted to pick up some moss and bark. The guy said "okay." But as Jim walked away I saw him kind of roll his eyes and shrug. Very funny. I assume he was thinking "only in Portland do we get these odd balls." But Jim did recover all his bits, that's the important part. This one is about 15 inches long and 12 wide. Some of the smaller pieces with lots of moss were placed in the garden. A few years ago Jim found some pieces of a tree that had been cut down, they had ferns and moss growing on them. He brought them home and put them under a shrub. The ferns have rooted and are happily growing there. The moss didn't transplant so well, but moss is hard to move.

Here's a very nice piece of plastic. New plastic is horrible, but when weathered it can be interesting. This one looked like it had potential to be a good stand.

A large weathered piece of bone. Unfortunately I don't remember anything about finding this.

This is my most recent find - and one of my all time favorite finds. It was on the sidewalk. Can you read the photo? It's a leg from an animal statue. Really gorgeous weathering and so much potential. This is a work of art in itself.