Art for Healing

     On February 10th my husband had a very serious surgery. I began a handmade fabric art-book of which I could work on in the many waiting rooms; the ICU; the hospital room; the hotel room; and at home the week after surgery in between times of taking care of my husband's needs. This was a work of art to keep my hands and mind busy while waiting, praying, and hanging on to hope that "this too shall pass."

     He came through the surgery fine. Tomorrow we will go to the surgeon for the post op visit. Everything is hand stitched.

The buttons are very old. The images inside are from vintage fabric. I tried to leave some of the original print showing as I embroidered some details. I used a small dowel keeps the fabric from pulling in the center as it wraps around to close.

The black fastener is covered with intricate crochet stitches.

I did not make this. It is something I found in some trim given to me by a friend.

The text is printed onto printable organza fabric.

Handmade Christmas Gifts Series I

Every Christmas I try to make some of the gifts for our family. This time, I made use of five little wooden boxes that look like books. I found them at the Goodwill store for three dollars each. The inside was a nice velvet-like surface covering both front and back.The outside was complete with hinges and a clasp but only finished with a coat of paint, and a little scuffed.  Since I love the craft of book arts, I decided to make book art "art boxes" for the five youngest grandchildren.

I began by painting the sides an iridescent color to resemble the classic book collections.

The top was slightly recessed so I planned to use this to personalize each to fit the owner.

So each began to take a personality with special handmade papers, and a variety of lettering options.

The split screen details below show how I filled each box with goodies for the children (ages 4 to 9) to make their own little books. I included a handmade book with blank pages for them to fill; and a tiny purchased book for inspiration to make miniature books; a set of colored pencils and sharpener; a #2 pencil; a set of colored and white papers already folded and punched with two holes and the waxed linen thread to bind them with; and three little packets. One of these contained small envelopes I made from recycled magazine images. These could be used for pockets in their books. Tiny envelopes with cards were in another packet, and kitty stickers was in the third packet.

Region's box cover was finished with a thick coat of Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel (UTEE) which forms a glass-like appearance.

There was so much going on at our large family gathering I only got pictures of two of the grandchildren with their boxes.

Above is Jesse discovering the contents of her art box.

Below is Nadine. Both girls love doing art with Mommy and Grandmama.

Notice how Jesse has her hand lovingly on the box while about to open other gifts.

These pictures show me it was well worth all the thought and care I put into making these personalized gifts.

Below, I was happy to see the boxes were considered prized gifts by how they held them near even while enjoying the other gifts.

Notice how Nadine was playing with her DoDollie TM  (also a handmade gift from Grandmama) using the box as a "stage".

Jesse was appreciating the details of the contents of her book art- art box.

Every artist loves to feel validated- that their creations mean something.

I am a happy artist right now.

Book Arts- Encaustic Accordian Fold

Book arts is my passion. Encaustics in my newest fascination.

Put the two together and you have an encaustic accordian book.

The board panels are joined with piano hinges.

Cords with buttons and loops provide a fastener on both

sides to keep the book from fanning out when not in use.

Side one opened out.

Side two.

Vellom pages were attached to the backs of the encaustic paintings for the narritive of the book.

Handmade paper with flower petals embedded is mounted to the back of the panel is behind each page.

The encaustic collage-paintings have moth wings and flowers embedded into the wax.

No moths were harmed for this artwork.

Detail of the button enclosure, flower, and wing with word etched into the wax.

Another detail.

Final detail.