Thoughts from the Bus Stop

Birthday diorama for my (second) favourite librarian

Design and images (c) Kristen Bailey 2012
 

* SONG OF THE DAY: The Divine Comedy - The Booklovers *

Diorama for new baby: Harry

Design and image (c) Kristen Bailey 2012

Cathy and Tim moved to their new home in Canada last October while Cathy was pregnant, and they now have a baby boy, Harry. I made this for him. Harry and his mum are travelling to England this weekend so I hope to meet him soon!

* SONG OF THE DAY: Deniece Williams - Let's Hear It For The Boy *

Cabaret themed diorama for Rae's 40th birthday

I had to make something special for Rachel's 40th birthday, and once I'd remembered that her favourite film is Cabaret, and put a mood board together on Pinterest, I had the idea for this diorama, which puts Rae on stage at the Kit Kat club, complete with bowler hat.

It's cut from thin card and stitched with sequins, and folds flat for storage.

Design and images (c) Kristen Bailey 2012
 

* SONG OF THE DAY: Liza Minelli - Mein Herr (from 'Cabaret') *

Heptagonal card for Roxie's 7th birthday

Roxanne's seven-sided 7th birthday card - design and image (c) Kristen Bailey

* SONG OF THE DAY: The White Stripes - Seven National Army *

 

Diorama for new baby: Alexis

Design and image (c) Kristen Bailey 2011

Eddie and Sharry now have a baby girl, Alexis. I made this for her. Haven't met her yet but am really looking forward to it!

* SONG OF THE DAY: Stevie Wonder - Isn't She Lovely *

Birthday diorama for my favourite librarian

 

Images (c) Kristen Bailey 2010

* SONG OF THE DAY: Belle & Sebastian - Wrapped Up In Books *

Birthday diorama for The Blonde

This diorama was based on three of my sister's favourite pop songs. 'Walk On' is by U2 - she has these words tattooed on her ankle! 'Learn To Fly' is by Foo Fighters and she loves the video especially (any excuse for Dave Grohl and chums to dress up!). And that little bird sitting on the fence is a reference to 'Blackbird', her favourite Beatles song.

 

 
 
 
All images in this post (c) Kristen Bailey 2010

* SONG OF THE DAY: Juliana Hatfield - My Sister *

My First Paper Diorama

Look what I made - it's a foldable pop-up diorama! I went to a workshop (in December - yes, am crap at getting posts finished!) at Hove Museum run by lovely local artist Lizzie Thomas, who is part of the Unravelled group of craft-based artists (also lovely - the ones I've met anyway!).

Lizzie showed us several samples she'd made using the same basic principles, and although they looked scarily complex, she explained everything so clearly we all came away after two hours with complete and fairly fancypants versions of our own! All just from some pieces of card and careful scalpel work.

Mine is a secret garden. (I must re-read 'The Secret Garden'...)

 

A great tip from Lizzie was to cut all or part of the back of the diorama away and cover the aperture with artists' tracing paper. Then you get a lovely effect with diffused light shining through. You even place in in front of a candle if you were VERY careful. Maybe one of those fake LED candles would be better!

 

Since I did this I've made a few more, mainly as birthday cards, so I'll post some photos of them shortly. This is a fascinating craft, I really want to explore it further!

* SONG OF THE DAY: Dawn Penn - The First Cut Is The Deepest *

DIY Snow Globe Postcards tutorial from Giddy Giddy

Image (c) Giddy Giddy 

Via WhipUp: A wonderful tutorial from Giddy Giddy - make your own postable Snow Globe postcards. I collect snow globes, and I love sending fun stuff through the post - can't wait to give these a try!

* SONG OF THE DAY:  Belle & Sebastian – The Fox In The Snow *

Paper Cutout Animation

Video for NZBC, via YouTube

Via CraftStylish: This is a beautiful stop-motion animation, made for the New Zealand Book Council by Anderson M Studio. It's been created from the pages of a book ('Going West' by Maurice Gee) - goodness knows how long it must have taken!

It reminds me of Su Blackwell's work, especially the ad she did for Beringer wine (below). I love stop-motion animation but am in awe of the animators - I just don't think I'd have the patience (or skill!) required to produce it myself!

Beringer advert, via YouTube

Dale Maxey: Seeing London

All images in this post are from 'Seeing London' by Dale Maxey (c) Collins, 1966

I spent a few days in Kent last week seeing my old schoolfriend Sharry. The trip was mainly to do with my forthcoming bridesmaidly duties, but Sharry was lovely enough to give me my fix of charity shops, in Maidstone. The very last one we went in - and nearly didn't because at first - it seemed to be a furniture-only shop - turned up this gem of a book, Seeing London, written and illustrated by Dale Maxey, printed in 1966.

I always look at the kids' books in charity shops to see if there are any by my favourite illustrators (Janet and Allan Ahlberg, Jill Barklem's Brambly Hedge books) or that just catch my eye. This was only 50p, AND has a sort-of bus on the front cover, so I just grabbed it without much flicking through it! But when we got home and I starting looking at it properly I got more and more excited...

It's a children's guide to London, with wonderful illustrations, hand-drawn maps and lovely writing, describing six different excursions you could take from Trafalgar Square on a big red doubledecker bus, to museums, galleries and landmarks where you don't need to be with an adult to get in (you can tell it's 40 years old!). Maxey says that London's buses remind him (her?) of elephants, "lumbering along through the mist that often seems to shroud the city", and this theme runs through the illustrations.

 

The covers and endpapers are in full colour but most of the illustrations are in just black and white, sometimes with red accents. There are two full colour maps of London (click on them for larger versions)...

... and several monochrome ones, labelled with the various places visited in each excursion:

 

The pictures are bursting with life and good humour. Just look at this one, enticing you to take a dip in the Serpentine Lido. I love the girl holding her nose as she goes under the water - especially the way her hair and the skirt on her swimming costume are flying up!

I couldn't find a biog of Dale Maxey online, but he/she seems to have concentrated on children's books, including illustrations for an edition of Edward Lear's The Owl & The Pussycat.

You can find Dale Maxey images on Google. I'll carry on scanning in this book and put my images in a Dale Maxey set on Flickr, and set up a Dale Maxey group, see if anyone bites. Ateeeeeeeeeeen'shun!!!

Knit a Poem

Poet Ian McMillan (3rd from left) with Poetry Society staff (c) Poetry Society

The Poetry Society are celebrating their centenary by creating a knitted poem! They haven't yet revealed which poem it will be, but they have over 700 people at work creating the individual letter squares which will make up the 40-foot poem. It will be displayed in October.

They're still looking for volunteers to knit or crochet the blank squares between the letters and the edging of the poem - to receive your knitting or crochet pack, email Rebecka Mustajarvi: officeassistant AT poetrysociety.org.uk

Photos: Alison Friday, Hazel Buchan Cameron, Bob Coe, Tracy Farr and Megan Fernandes

6th September - EDITED TO ADD: And here's my square - a lovely soft pink blank (Rowan Pure DK in Tea Rose). They ask you to put your name, town and favourite poem on the back. - wonder if I'll be able to spot it from the front in the finished article?

 

Su Blackwell for Elle UK

Image (c) Su Blackwell for Elle UK, July 2009

The July edition of Elle arrived today and this beautiful papercut illustration by Su Blackwell jumped out at me. I've already enthused about Su Blackwell's work, and it's great to see her exposure in such a mainstream mag. It's for an article called 'The Books That Changed My Life' - "writers, designers, artists and trendsetters" talking about books which have change how they read, work and live.

* SONG OF THE DAY: Rose Cousins and Rose Polenzani - The Book Of Love *

Puzzle your postman: Envelopes by Harriet Russell

 

My friend Sarah was telling me about a woman who had posted lots of letters to herself, with her address in a variety of cryptic forms - a crossword, an eye chart, a dot-to-dot, a map with an arrow pointing at her house - to see which the Post Office would manage to deliver. What a great idea!

It was freelance illustrator Harriet Russell's great idea, and she's published a book of all the envelopes which were safely delivered - Envelopes: A Puzzling Journey Through the Royal Mail. You have to admire Harriet's creativity AND the determination of the Post Office workers who ensured that the mail got through!

* SONG OF THE DAY: Nik Kershaw - The Riddle *

Also:
The Telegraph: Harriet Russell: Pushing the envelope
The Independent: Return to sender: Artist puts Royal Mail to the test

 Images (c) Harriet Russell via Amazon.co.uk

Origami envelope: free downloads

Image (c) www.flying-pig.co.uk

Here's a simple free pattern for an origami envelope, from Flying Pig. Fold your letter into its own envelope!

There are loads of other neat designs out there, which I will add as I find them. Here:

Letter Fu: Blank, Lilac, Christmas and Valentine designs

* SONG OF THE DAY: Alison Krauss & Robert Plant - Please Read The Letter *

Rob Ryan papercut for April's Elle

Papercut by Rob Ryan for Elle Magazine, April 2009

Another beautiful papercut from Rob Ryan - this time for Elle magazine. It's to accompany an article called 'A Promise To Mothers Lost', about the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood, an international coalition which aims to ensure that pregnancy and childbirth are safe for all women and newborns in every country around the world

The Borrowers

Homily in her kitchen, by Diana Stanley, 1952, for 'The Borrowers' by Mary Norton

Looking at dolls' house furniture in Hobbycraft recently reminded me of Mary Norton's The Borrowers, the story of tiny people who live unseen in human dwellings, 'borrowing' what they need to construct their homes from us. It was a favourite when I was small, and I decided it was time to read it again!

I love reading about how the inventive Clock family - Pod, Homily and Arrietty - put their 'borrowings' to good use - sitting on cotton reels (Sylko rather than Gutermann I assume, unless they want bar stools...), papering their walls with scraps of old letters, carpeting their rooms with red blotting paper, simmering soup over a matchstick fire in a silver thimble.

And the illustations are wonderful too - the work of an artist called Diana Stanley. I tried to find out a bit more about her...

I've found some of her full-colour cover illustrations for The Borrowers and The Borrowers Afield on Flickr, and this cover picture for The Borrowers, which is the one I remember having. There's also a cover she did for Worzel Gummidge. She also coloured some of Tenniel's illustrations for a 1954 edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.

Seven Stories, the centre for children's books in Newcastle upon Tyne, has a collection of Diana Stanley drawings, watercolours, tracings & correspondence in its archive; and The Willis Museum in Basingstoke is showing an exhibition of Diana Stanley's work this spring, as she was a local. It's free and runs from 26 April to 16 May 2009.

* SONG OF THE DAY: The New Seekers - Beg, Steal Or Borrow *

The Clock family having tea, by Diana Stanley, 1952, for 'The Borrowers' by Mary Norton

150 Years of Art & Design in Brighton

'Angel', Alison Lapper. Courtesy of University of Brighton

It's 150 years since Brighton School of Art was founded, in 1859, and there's an exhibition opening soon at the current Faculty of Arts & Architecture at the University of Brighton to celebrate its history and students. And - hooray! - it's right on my doorstep! I haven't been able to cope with day trips to London since I developed M.E. so I've missed a gazillion exhibitions I'd have loved to see.

Exhibits will include fashion, textiles, 3D, illustration, fine art, architecture, performance art and graphic design items, with contributions from famous alumni such as Julien MacDonald, Quentin Blake, Alison Lapper, Rachel Whiteread, Keith Tyson, Antony Gormley, Emily Gravett and Raymond Briggs. It runs from 16 January - 14 March 2009.

Dress by Julien MacDonald. Courtesy of University of Brighton

Book Art: Su Blackwell

 
July/August 2008 issue of Crafts magazine (c) The Crafts Council

The latest issue of Crafts magazine has a lovely piece of Su Blackwell artwork (Wild Flowers, 2007) on the cover. I first saw her work in the V&A Museum Shop. It's gorgeous stuff - delicate "book-cut sculptures" of mindboggling intricacy. She takes a scalpel to a secondhand book and creates other worlds within its pages.

Alice - A Mad Tea Party (c) Su Blackwell, 2006

As with Rob Ryan's papercuts, you have to wonder - what happens if you sneeze while you're cutting a tricky bit? There's a great interview with Su, with lots of great images of her work, on the My Love For You blog. She has an exhibition at Long and Ryle in London from November 26th - December 20th, 2008.

YouTube has a video of the making of a Beringer wine commercial featuring Su and her work (below and here), as well as one of the finished article.

A book for Lisa at 30

Here, finally, is the special card/bookform I made my cousin for her 30th birthday. Yes, finished way behind schedule - she turned 30 in June - but leave me alone, I'm not well!

Lisa's my cousin, but she's also been a close friend. We were penpals from the ages of 12 and 10 - you know, back when folk used to write on paper, with a pen - and worked through a lot of teenage (and twenties!) angst together. Our correspondance went on for almost fifteen years, and is now meticulously archived in a series of shoeboxes kept on the tops of wardrobes in Galway City and Brighton.

Over the years she's acquired a husband, a house and a daughter, which I still can't quite get my head around... they grow up so fast, don't they? She's also a very busy wedding photographer, which I'm dead proud of.

These days we don't write letters to each other, just the occasional email or text. Sometimes one of us rings the other to note how crap we are at keeping in touch. But mainly we keep up with each other's news via my mum and her dad!

Dearest Lill, we are crap at keeping in touch...

How to Make a Bus Sculpture

Bus ticket sculpture © Adele Prince 2005

How to Make a Bus Sculpture is an exploration by London based artist, Adele Prince:

"When we are sitting on the bus, we often fiddle with our ticket, rolling it and folding it between our fingers, scrunching it up and then discarding it. Adele considers these paper creations to be quite beautiful, and has been documenting her own ‘Bus Sculptures’ photographically."

Check out Adele's sculptures and others made by guest artists. Might have a go at this meself when my pass expires...

Janet and Allan Ahlberg: What's in the Book?

Burglar Bill and The Jolly Postman by Janet and Allan Ahlberg

Seven Stories, The Centre for Children's Books in Newcastle, is running What's In The Book?, an exhibition about the books of Janet and Allan Ahlberg:

"He did the words, she did the pictures. Together they made the whole book, cover to cover. Like tennis players they battered (sic) the words and pictures back and forth between them till the game was over, the book finished. And when one was done, they began another; 37 books in 20 years. What's in the Book? celebrates the Alhberg's creative partnership and explores the wonderful books they made. Discover where they got their ideas and how they turned them into highly original books that are clever, funny and have massive appeal to both children and adults. Rub shoulders with classic characters like Burglar Bill and Mrs Wobble the Waitress. See beautiful original illustrations from favourites like Each Peach Pear Plum and Peepo. Listen to poems and rhymes. Write letters for The Jolly Postman. Share Ha Ha Bonk jokes and tell your own. Win a prize and enjoy sharing Janet and Allan's best loved books."

Burglar Bill was the first book I really loved, at about 4 years old. It's a great story and I was engrossed by the intricate detail in Janet's illustrations. Last year I bought it for my friends' daughter for her third birthday. Turns out she loves it too: "...'That's a nice tin of beans,' says Burglar Bill. 'I'll have that!'..." What's in the Book? is on until January 2007. Penguin: Janet and Allan Ahlberg Children's Poetry Archive: Allan Ahlberg (inc interview) Amazon.co.uk: Janet's Last Book

Fabulous: Golden Rainbow Miniature Book by Dennis Yuen

Golden Rainbow Miniature Book © 2006 Dennis Yuen

Dennis Yuen at CaiLun has come up trumps again with this gem - I look at this book and I want to put my Kylie CD on! Click on the pic to get a closer look.

How To Make Books - Free Projects

 

Hot Dog Booklet (c) Susan Kapuscinski Gaylord

Susan Kapuscinski Gaylord's lovely Making Books With Children site has a range of great free bookbinding projects, including the Who Am I Book, a Wish Scroll, a Palm Leaf Book and the intriguingly titled Hot Dog Booklet. (And now I want a hot dog...) They're aimed at kids but there's no reason why they couldn't be an inspiring starting point for a book project, whatever your age.

How To Make A Handmade Book

Red and Yellow Hardcover Books, Altered. © Dennis Yuen 2005

Thanks to Sharon at inaminuteago for flagging up a set of pdf bookmaking / bookbinding resources on the San Diego Museum of Art's website, which include instructions for accordion book, flag book, flutter book, Japanese stab binding, pop-up book, star book and tunnel book. I can't wait to try a few of them! Meanwhile, Dennis Yuen at CaiLun continues to explain the processes behind his beautiful books and bindings, and Graeme's Japanese Bookbinding site has been refurbished and is as inspiring and informative as ever.

Books Artist's Polar Wall of Ice Shortlisted for Award

Paper artist Rachel Hazell with a short section of 'Ice Cliff' (34cm)

Rachel Hazell, a book artist whose Antarctica-inspired work I've posted about before, has been nominated for a Scottish Arts Council Creative Scotland Award. Well done, lady!

BBC Radio 4: Radio and the Artist - Rachel Hazell

A Showcase Of Book Art

From the website of Fiber Arts magazine, a selection of artists' books. My favourite of the works displayed here are the pieces by Gail Smuda - they have wit and colour, not seen often enough in book art.

I've been looking into bookbinding courses again. There's a week-long summer school in July at the University of Brighton - a beginners' guide to traditional and creative methods. Or there's an evening class which runs for six months over the winter. We'll see what my funds permit after I've budgeted for my travel plans!

And finally, while we're on bookbinding, it's lovely to see that Dennis at CaiLun.info is back in production after recent setbacks.

Book Art: Curious And Cold...

This looks amazing: M.L. Van Nice’s installation The Library at Wadi Ben Dagh at the National Museum of Women in the Arts:

"The Library at Wadi Ben Dagh uses the book as an artistic medium to produce an insightful response in the visitor. Visually translating such popular titles as Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Joyce’s Ulysses, and Baudelaire’s Flowers of Evil, Van Nice allows the visitor to see the books and the ideas they contain in a new light..."

And in other book art browsing, I spotted this: 'Ice Bound: Antarctic Bookworks'. Book artist Rachel Hazell has produced tissue bergs and ice shelves inspired by her recent visit to Antarctica as artist-in-residence on an expedition ship which travelled 5,000 miles from South America around the Antarctic. Brrrr!!! It's weird though - lately I'm hearing a lot about trips to Antarctica... and I'm starting to think it's something I'd like to do one day, money permitting. Which is barmy - I hate the cold! I'm always cold and always wingeing about being cold! I'm even scared of walking on ice since I slipped over years ago and knackered my coccyx... I wouldn't last five minutes in Antarctica. How contrary.

Little Green Book

Sharry requested a homemade card for her 30th birthday. I didn't know what to buy her for a pressie, so I took the making of the card to The Next Level. This is made from one piece of rectangular card, simply folded and cut according to a great basic pattern from Creating Handmade Books by Alisa Golden.

I made it in her favourite colour and included a little '30' cake decoration, definitions cut from an old dictionary, maps, a stamp by Peter Howson (her favourite artist), bits of old artwork of mine (heavily endebted to Tom Phillips' A Humument), old photos and photos of 'number 30' houses in Brighton and Hove streets. The '30' on the front is made from french knitting. Then I made a simple folder with a ribbon tie and her name in letter beads. It's bits of me and bits of her and things she's into and things we've done together - since we were 12, bless!

Little boxes made of ticky-tacky...

Looking through my boss's Tridias catalogue I see items which might inspire a few new book art projects:
The Carousel Fairy Book reminds me of a beautiful copy of Sleeping Beauty I had when I was little. I loved it, it was so intricately made - like looking into tiny theatre sets - and the illustrations were full of detail, and you could open it up fully and tie the covers together and hang it up. Sigh...

The Secrets Box has drawers, notepads, postcard, stickers and picture frames inside a lockable box - I think if I'd been given this when I was eight or nine I'd have exploded with excitement. Come to think of it, if they did plain 'decorate it yourself' versions, I could get pretty hot under the collar right now.

The Ties That Bind

Handmade book with Chinese stitching and a Greco-Romanesque cover paper. Stitching magnified, signatures of grouped leaves. © 2004 Dennis Yuen

Having come across Dennis Yuen's great paper and bookmaking blog CaiLun.info, full of enthusiasm and beautiful examples of handmade books, I thought I'd revisit a few book art links:

When I was researching evening classes in bookbinding at the University of Brighton, I came across Graeme Dawes' wonderful Japanese bookbinding site. This is the original version - I see he's got a new version in progress, expanded to cover new areas, which I'm really looking forward to seeing.

One day I would like to do the MA in Book Arts at Camberwell College of Arts - which the wonderful Tom Phillips has been involved with. Time and money don't permit at the moment, but maybe one day the right situation will fall into place.

Finally, I have to recommend a fantastic book - Creating Handmade Books by Alisa Golden. It's a great, inspiring read for anyone wanting to get into creative book forms, and full of beautiful photographs.

Edited to add: Having flicked through a couple of old sketch/scrapbooks, I found clippings about the Centre for Artists' Books at the University of Dundee; the website ArtistsBooks.com (the graphics aren't pretty, but it's worth a browse); and the work of Sarah Bodman.

'Listen to me, butterfly...'

Butterfly book, Julie Cockburn, 2004

Went up to the V&A on Tuesday to review the Christopher Dresser show. While I was there I had a scoot round the shop, and saw some wonderful stuff on the Crafts Council's stand. I loved Cathy Miles' wall pieces - wittily captioned wire 'drawings' of birds, embellished with found objects, with a Southport theme.

But it was Julie Cockburn's stuff which really make me catch my breath. This woman HAS to be a Tom Philips fan - she works with books, and maps and postcards. There was an atlas whose pages she had sculpted into three dimensions, and a great piece of postcard assemblage called Man in Red seeks Women in Yellow - very reminiscent of Phillips' The Quest for Irma. (I'm not criticising here - this is the sort of stuff I'd try to produce if I was a working artist!) Her Butterfly Book is just amazing - I wish I had the £900. More examples of her work HERE.

And finally... flicking through a copy of Crafts, I see that Michael Brennand-Wood has a new exhibition (Field of Centres) on tour! Woo-hoo!