Wedding Album

Here is one of the commissions that I was working on. It is a wedding album for a young couple. The colors of the wedding were deep red and ivory. The pages are hand torn and are Folio (250 gm) Antique. It is a beautiful paper to work with and is great for album pages. The indentation that you see on the front cover is for a 4 x 6 photo from the wedding. The covering is a Japanese Silk book cloth.

(above) The album from the front view.

There are two folios per signature and these are sewn onto an accordion folded spine with 6 mountain folds. The last signature has three folios. This amounts to 25 pages for photographs (if using the front side only) or 50 pages if you are using fronts and backs (which is not recommended for a photo album unless there are interleaves and it isn't recommended in that case either).

(above) The album from the side view.

The endsheets are a beautiful French Marbled paper that has a gold iridescence.

(above) Endsheets and hand torn pages.

The finished dimensions of the photo album are 12" by 12" which will allow two 4 by 6 photos per page (in either orientation) or one 8 by 10 photo (in either orientation). The accordion spine allows for the the album to expand once the photos are added and the extra long ribbon will keep the album shut should it splay open once it is filled.

I Haven't Fallen Off the Face of the Earth

Hello faithful readers,

No I haven't fallen off the face of the Earth. I have been extremely busy though. The theater that I am working at has opened its new show and it is called "American Idiot." The show is based upon the Green Day album of the same name. To say that my life has been chaotic is an understatement. I am also still working my day job and teaching two mornings each week as well. My class ends in two more weeks so life will be a little less chaotic very soon.

On the creative front, I have been doing some commission work, and some private swaps on swap-bot. I have also signed up to do a one month Art Journaling Challenge. The nice thing about this month' s challenge is that it is stress free. You get the prompts on Sunday for the entire week and you work a page(s) as you have time. I plan on working on one page per week. Also, I am working on the pages in a loose format and will then bind them when I am done. These pages will feature a new layout based on a different according spine binding. Each page will fold backward like a reverse matchbook. I have been developing some non-traditional sized books and journals and this new design will be featured in that collection.

Finally, here is the card that I designed for the Opening Night of American Idiot. It features the artwork from the album and show.

2010 Egg Decorating Contest Results--Part 2

Designed by Sam. "Olive You". Winner Best Decoration Category (Under 12)
Winner of Martha Stewart Award for Best Overall Design


Design by Amanda. Second Place--Best Decoration (Under 12)


Design by Amanda. Third Place--Best Decoration (Under 12)


Design by Rafael. Winner Best Technique Category


Design by Thomas. Second Place Best Technique Category


Design by Rafael. Third Place Best Technique

Design by Belinda (Under 12). Winner Best Use of Color Category

Design by Michael. Second Place Best Use of Color Category

Egg Decorating Contest Results

The following decorated eggs were awarded prizes in the Second Annual Egg Decorating Contest.

Winner Best Painted Egg--Design by Marcus. Handpainted using watercolors and sea salt.

Winner: Best Use of Dyes: Design by Holden (Under 12)

Winner: EggHeads--Little Orphan Eggie: It's A Hard-Boiled Life. Design by Jill (Under 12)

Second Place: EggHeads--Eggbert by Jill

Third Place: EggHeads--Wicked Cool by Mary Beth

Second Annual Egg Decorating Contest

It's time for the Second Annual Egg Decorating Contest. All entries are due by Sunday, April 4, 2010 at 1:00 pm. All eggs must be designed in 2010. Photos of all entries should be submitted to russellromano@yahoo.com or info@nystarcards.com. The categories for this year are:

Egg Heads
Best Fine Art (Other than Painting)
Best Decoration (under 12)
Best Use of Natural Dyes
Best Technique
Best Use of Color
Best Use of Office Supplies
Best Religious Egg
Best Painted Egg

When applicable, three winners will be designated in each category. The winners of each category will be eligible for "The Martha Stewart Award for Best Overall Design."

Weekend Class

This past weekend, I took another class at The Center for Book Arts. The course was called Short Cuts and was taught by one of the most generous and talented artists that I have met through classes. The class was taught by the amazing paper cut artist--Beatrice Coron. Her paper cuts have recently appeared at MOMA and I fell in love with her work by viewing it up close and personal at Kate's Paperie where she did Halloween Window Displays. Much to my pleasure, she is one of several artists who was chosen this year to provide artwork for Arts for Transit Program. Her poster is currently being featured on several of the subway lines. I purchased her artcard through the Arts for Transit store.

I thoroughly enjoyed her class and will definitely repeat it when it is offered again. The beauty of the class is that there are four components (black and white cutouts, color cutouts, cutouts for stenciling and paper engineering). Beatrice allows students to pick and choose the elements they want to pursue. If a student wishes to delve deeper in one component, Beatrice allows that student to do so. It is that type of learning that I appreciated the most--both as a student and as a teacher.

You see, I hate taking classes in the creative arts. I hate getting compared to what other people are doing. I am not overly creative on the spot. I love to think about what I want to do; I plod along. Other people are much more free-form when it comes to creating and they create some wonderful things that I could never do on the spot. I like to go home and experiment with what I want to do and will usually create some nice projects based on what happened in class.

The two projects that I concentrated on were color cutouts. The assignment was to take inspiration from artwork/pictures that were published and then to turn them into paper cuts. In class, I was working on a Little Mermaid poster from a advertisement for the Broadway musical. In order to perform the colored cutouts, you are required to make several copies of the cutout in different colors. Theoretically, you are supposed to cut out all versions of the cutout simultaneously. I didn't have adequate knife skills to do that so I cut my out in batches of two. I didn't quite finish the poster in class so I am still working on it at home.

The project that I did complete was done at home. I took the advertisement for the Lion King musicals and turned it into a paper cut. It was almost cheating because the advertisement is already very similar to a paper cut. I had to add a few connections for it to work. I prepared two cutouts of the image-one in black and one in grey. I mounted them slightly apart as to create a shadow. I mounted them on yellow orange card stock to mimic the actual poster.

Art Journal Swap--Part Two

Once the text block was complete, all I had to do was prepare covers and endsheets. The structure is very easy to construct because the boards can be prepared separately. One pleat of the concertina spine is then attached to the board. The end sheet then covers this hinge.


Here are the materials that I used for this project. Davey Board, a metallic swirl paper, and marbled paper from Rhonda Miller (who was featured last Friday on Paper Fridays).

I used a five station pamphlet stitch to sew the pages to the concertina spine. As with any pamphlet stitch, you must decide where you want to place your knot. Since artwork was going to be featured on the pages, I didn't want the knot to interfere with the artwork so I decided to hide my knots in the back of the concertina.

Here is the front of the book. I can say that I am not quite pleased with my choice of paper for the covers. The small metal brad-like features of the paper aren't very amenable to handling. Some of them were rubbed away when I was burnishing the paper. I would probably use a different paper if I were to do this project again.

Here is the book opened to the front endsheet. I was hoping that I would have the perfect project in order to use this paper. This paper was grain long so it was an excellent choice for a taller book that didn't need a folded endsheet. I love the surprise you get when you open up this journal.

Here is the book in a horizontal position. You gotta love that marbled paper.

All that I have to do now is to art journal my entry for this journal before sending to the next person. I can't wait to get started. Unfortunately, I won't be able to share the results with you until the swap is completed--I don't want to ruin the surprise for the other artists.

Art Journal Swap--Part One

I joined a new swap on swap-bot for Art Journals. There are a total of five participants. Each of us is to start a journal and then send it to the other members so they can add content. Each of us is allowed to set our own theme. We could either make or buy a journal.

I decided to make my own journal. My theme is "Tell Me About Your City." After taking a class in Accordion Books and after reading the great blog by Dennis, I decided to do a concertina spine book. An accordion book is a book based on folded paper where the folds themselves become the pages. A concertina is a folded book where the folded pages become a part of the structure rather than the pages.

I called my book a Butterfly Accordion Book. The book is comprised from an accordion folded spine. The pages are long pages that are folded in quarters that fold to the center of the book. In other words, you fold a page in half and then fold the outer edges to the center. The center fold is then sewn onto the mountain folds of the concertina.

I chose 140 lb cold pressed watercolor paper for the pages and oak tag for the concertina. I have five pages for the book (one page for each participant in the exchange).

Here is one page of the journal. Each of the quarters on the left side will be folder inwards towards the center valley fold.

Here is a shot of the concertina spine with four of the pages already sewn to the mountain folds of the concertina. I had already sewn on four of the pages before I realized that I hadn't taken any pictures for the blog.

I found it easier to clip the sewn pages together while sewing the remaining pages. I also put a piece of paper between the clip and the paper so that the pages wouldn't get marred in any way.

Here is the fully opened page before it was folded and sewn onto the concertina. The beauty of this structure is that there are so many options when choosing a format to art journal. There are four continuous pages when the page is opened full. Once folded toward the center, the outer pages can be used as two sets of continuous pages or one outside page/two separate facing inner pages/one outside page. There are so many different configurations that the artist has so many options to play with.

Tomorrow, I will show you the casing in process.

Just a note: Dennis' blog gave a great tutorial on making a photo album using this concertina structure. My idea was based upon his tutorial and the class at The Center for Book Arts taught by Barbara Mauriello.

Japan Journal

This is the last set of pictures for my Japan Journal. Next week's Journal Monday will continue with my Art Journal.

The Japanese love their neon and nighttime in Tokyo is absolutely stunning.

Paper Fridays

Today's entry features hand marbled papers by an artist in Canada. Rhonda Miller provides some of the most beautiful papers using classic techniques and patterns. As you already know, I am something of a paper hoarder. I collect papers of all types. I also believe in supporting independent artists in their endeavor through etsy and other venues. Rhonda's store always has something wonderful to covet and the price is very affordable.

I only know Rhonda through our interaction on etsy and she is a personable and giving artist who is always willing to listen to your requests and suggestions. He has custom made some papers for me when I asked her to combine several color combinations for a project that was in progress. Not only did she meet my request but she did so at her own expense--even though I bought the papers she supplied.

I highly recommend her shop to you and hope that you have a chance to visit it often. You can also follow her excellent blog here.

From My Library: Cover to Cover by Shereen LaPlantz

First of all, I must say that this book has one of the longest titles on my shelves--Cover to Cover: Creative Techniques for making Beautiful Books, Journals & Albums. The book was published in its first softback edition in 1998. For some reason, it has just now been brought to my attention. This book was one of those amazon.com suggested books when I purchased something else.

Unfortunately, these books are like boxes of corn flakes--the insides are all the same but the covering is different. Many of them begin with bookbinding basics: equipment, paper, grain, etc. They then go into types of books and are usually followed by a gallery of some sort.

This book falls within that realm. The subsequent chapters are: Pamphlet Stitch, Basic Codex, Stitches, Stab Bindings, Fold Books, and Combination Books. Where this book stands out is the discussion of Unusual Bindings and a chapter titled "Presentation Counts."

I find it difficult to follow directions in a book. I am much more comfortable seeing someone perform the machinations or being taught them. Once I see someone doing it, it is much easier for me to follow along in a book. The problem is that bookbinding is a three dimensional art form. Stitch patterns are very difficult in a two dimension format like print. For those people who can follow a book like this, there are numerous examples and illustrations. Many examples are made specifically for this book by the author to illustrate the different types of books. There are also numerous examples from other book artists throughout the book as well.

All in all, this is a very good reference book to have on your shelves.

Only in NYC

Yesterday, I visited a local high school to talk about my hobby--Paper Arts. I described myself as a paper artist and amateur bookbinder. Here was one of the verbal exchanges:

Eager Student: "Do you make a lot of money doing that?"

Me: "Not particularly, but I enjoy doing it."

Eager Student: "No problem. I wanna put $20 on the Jazz to beat the Lakers."

Teacher(rolling her eyes in embarrassment): "He's a bookbinder--not a bookie."

Later on during the break:

Teacher: "I wondered by he got so excited about you coming to visit. I told him that we had someone coming who makes books."

Valentine's Day Card/Spreading the Love

Here is the first manifestation of a Valentine's Day card. I am not totally pleased with it yet but I am still working on it. I am doing some cards in non-traditional colors this year not because I am being all artsy fartsy; I am doing it because I want to use up some of the cardstock that I have leftover. I am so over using red because of Christmas.

Also, I will have many Valentine's cards left over this year. Some are handmade, some are store bought, and some are like kid's valentines. Rather than have them waste away--here is what I propose. If you know someone that could use a little cheering up around this time of year (recently alone, permanently alone, etc), please send me their address via PM. I will send them one of these Valentine's Cards signed with the following--You are loved. Signed Cupid. It will be totally anonymous with a postmark from NYC. That's it. I pay the postage and handwrite the sentiment. No tricks, no gimmicks, no advertising. I do this in memory of those that I have loved in my life. So, let me help you spread some love. This will be on a first come, first served basis as long as the supplies last. I will mail out the cards as I receive the names. The last day that I will mail out will be Thursday.

Japan Journal

The is the next to last entry in my Japan Journal. This features a small shrine that is smack dab in the middle of a large industrial area outside of the Hotel Okura. I got lost leaving my hotel and ran into this small but serene setting. These pictures really represent many of the wonders that I love about visiting Japan.

Paper Fridays

Here is another of my Indian papers which features another color that I do not use much in my palette--mustard yellow (more of an ochre yellow in reality). The pattern is a large scale paisley-like pattern in navy blue. There is a definite retro feel to the entire pattern. The paper also comes in a lime green with navy blue pattern as well.

This paper is very thick, curls, and stretches in both directions.

Year of the Tiger Postcard

Here is the final postcard for the Chinese New Year celebration of Year of the Tiger. This is the cutout that was featured last week that is adhered to a crayon resist background. This card is then back onto a red cardstock in celebration of the new year. Red and gold are the traditional colors of the new year.

Technique: Crayon Resist

One of the latest techniques that I have been experimenting with is crayon resist. I have been using a variety of different papers to see what effects that I can achieve. I have also been using a variety of different crayon bases and washes to see their interaction. The first example that I will share with you is a crayola crayon resist.

The paper is Aqvarelle Arches, Cold Pressed, 100 % Cotton (140 lb).

The base is simply Crayola crayons (96 pack)

The wash (overlay) is black gesso.

I like using the Arches paper in watercolor block. I find that I have less leakage onto the other pages when using a block. Also, I believe that the paper stays flatter and dries more evenly.

The crayons are a little waxier than some of the bases that I have used. Therefore, your crayons will not spread as easily as some of the other bases. You will find that you have to press harder and almost crosshatch for good coverage.

I like the way that the black gesso evens out the finish and mutes all of the colors.

From My Library: Journal Spilling by Diana Trout

This book was mentioned on another blog (of which I can't remember at the moment). This book is a combination of mentoring and technique. If you are new to art journaling, it is a great resource on how to get over the hurdles that new, and experienced, journal writers face--the empty page.

The are a variety of different exercises that the author provides to jump start your pages. One benefit is that the author provides you with concrete and finished examples of her completed pages following the exercises she is recommending.

One of the interesting aspects of the book is her concept of journal spilling--not the esoteric explanation that she provides on page 15 but the practical exercise of putting thoughts to paper without a concern for spelling, grammar, content, or composition. The goal is a stream of consciousness writing that fills the page--big letters, cursive letters, fat looping letters--anything to fill out the page. This then becomes: a page in your journal, fodder for a collage, or confetti to be torn up and pasted down later.

The freeing aspect of this stream of consciousness writing is that it becomes liberating. More importantly, if it is too personal she provides you examples of how to cover it up so that only you know what is on the page--even as the writing becomes decorative on the page.

While the examples of journaling provided are not my personal style, the book is a valuable resource for the liberating, and often healing, aspects of art journals.

Japan Journal

As I was walking in Tokyo on a windswept day, I ducked around a corner to get away from the latest gust of wind. When I turned around, I saw this sculpture one-half block away. For a minute, I thought that I was back in NYC again.

Paper Fridays

Olive is a color that I don't particular use in any of my color palettes. While the scan on my computer shows it a little hotter (more lime-ish) than it really is, this paper is a thick paper from India that uses the colors olive, white and gold. The beauty of this paper is the fact that it does truly shimmer with the gold highlights. The downside of this paper (as with many of the Indian papers that I have) is that it curls like crazy. More importantly, it stretches in both directions. Primarily, I now us it for for paper covers for soft-covered pamphlet books.

Final Holiday Cutout card

This is a card that I am working on for Christmas 2010. As I have said before, I am not a big fan of square cards but this one works for me. I am still trying to work out the final dimensions of the branches in the top left corner. I will put it away so that I can work on other things and come back to it with fresher eyes.

So, that is all that I have for holiday cutouts. I will be sharing Valentine's cutouts soon.

Tommorrow, I hope to return to Paper Fridays.

Another Holiday Cutout

This card was developed from a sticker series as was yesterday's card. The white background is a paper liner that becomes the writing surface of the card. It is a piece of linen text weight paper that is folded in half and then glued to the inside of the back leaf of the card.

Another Christmas Cutout

Here is another Christmas card cutout that was for the 2009 season. It was developed from a series of stickers. This is an A7 sized card.

Another Cutout

Here is cutout that I designed for 2009 Christmas cards. I am not generally a fan of square cards because of the postage so I will adapt this to a reguarl sized A2 card. This was adapted from an old German cutout.

New Cutouts

Here is the first of a series of cutouts that I will be sharing online. Forgive me if I am a little gun shy about doing so, but you can't move forward until you forget about the past.


This is a cut out that was adapted from Dover's Chinese Cut-Paper Designs. I am using it for a series of Year of the Tiger (the year 2010) projects that I am doing. Here is the cutout and I will share the final projects with you later.

Enjoy.

Not Lost. . . unless you consider my mess

Hello dear readers,

First of all, I want to thank you for all of your support during my legal quagmire. I was having a difficult time trying to still focus on the projects that were due, the legal commitments, and working at my regular jobs.

I am in full swing trying to get ready for Valentine's Day. I got behind and will sell fewer items this year but I don't mind. I still have many ideas that I will carry over until next year so I am not worried.

The biggest complaint that I have right now is that my apartment and my studio (the extra room) are a total mess. I have piles of everything spread around just waiting to be put away. It is driving me crazy but I can't get to it until the weekend. I have some wedding commissions that I need to work on and I refuse to do so until I get the studio and apartment cleaned.

There is some good news to share though:

• I submitted a prospectus for a one-man show here in NYC. My submission is called "OCD Paper" and will feature paper products that are made from multiple, compulsive type manipulations. There were 75 submissions and it was narrowed down to five--of which, I am one of the five finalists. Two submissions will be chosen to be shown.
• My accountant called and has finished the preliminary review of my taxes. Last year, I will have derived approximately 32% of my annual income from my crafting/creating which is the most I have made so far. I am very happy about this.
• I had been commissioned to create a paper cutout wallpaper for a local florist to use in his window display here in NYC. I was then approached by a major craft design company to POSSIBLY design some paper products for them.

I promise that this weekend I will post some pictures of projects that are in progress. I simply need to get organized to be able to do so.

Once again, thank you for all of your support.

The Ordeal is finally over

Well, I am glad to say that the legal ordeal with Mr. steal-my-designs is finally over. I am very happy to say that I won the case and the settlement will probably put the "thief" out of business--I am not gloating, but merely stating a fact.

I was awarded the maximum amount of damages in such a case AND Mr. Thief also has to pay my legal fees (including my attorney's fees). Literally, this will put the person out of business since he doesn't have the money to pay the damages/fees.

Mr. I-didn't-think-you-would-take-me-to court erred on a variety of different levels:

1. He wouldn't stop selling the stolen designs
2. He wouldn't stop selling the designs once I nicely asked him to
3. He wouldn't stop selling the designs once we issued a "cease and desist"
4. He underestimated the lengths that I would go to in order to make this right
5. He didn't believe that I would spend money to take him to court
6. He didn't realize that one of the designs that he stole was based on a design that was adapted by a very large sticker company
7. He didn't realize that said sticker company was going to join in the lawsuit
8. He didn't realize that I had attorney friends that were willing to spend their time and efforts to make this right.

I really don't mean to sound like I am gloating about this. I believe that I was nice to the person and gave him every opportunity to correct the situation. The person really didn't believe that I would take this issue as far as I did. In other words, he simply underestimated me and my belief in doing what is right.

So, please continue to visit for some new designs of things I was doing while this was going on.

Thanks to all of you for your support during this crazy time.

I'm at a Loss

Hello Readers,

I am sorry that I haven't posted lately but I have been in a bit of a situation that really has me flummoxed. I have been posting many of my creations online for people to appreciate and learn from in the spirit of sharing. I realized that by posting my creations on the Internet, abuses might occur but I was never fully prepared for the situation that I am in.

Some of you have asked if you could use some of my designs for personal purposes and for the most part, I have granted permission. Never did I realize that people would steal my designs and use them for their personal gain.

Some of my silhouettes have appeared in another artist's store as their own work. Not modified work but my work in its original form. I have been careful to label my work so that pictures couldn't be stolen. This "artist" simply copied my work, scanned it, and then reproduced it without asking or without any modifications.

For those of you who don't know, silhouette/paper cutting work is very meticulous and time consuming. Getting correct proportions, placements, etc is very much a trial and error process and sometimes can take hours to get correct. This person has bypassed all of this work and effort by simply stealing my designs.

Right now, I have had to spend money on getting an attorney to write a cease and desist letter which we had hoped would solve the problem. So far, this artist has refuse to abide by this letter. We are now in the process of suing this person for damages.

So, dear readers--if there are any of you left out there--that is why I haven't posted recently. I don't want to provide this person with anything else to steal. As soon as we get this resolved, I will post more pics of projects that I have been working on. Right now, I am in the middle of the holiday season and I am making some goodies of which I will be able to show you pictures.