Slip Me a Book

My youngest half-sister’s birthday is coming up. She has everything money could buy, so I decided to make her a slipcase for her favorite book, The Catcher in The Rye. A slipcase is a box that protects your book from the light and air. It’s not 100% protective since you will see the spine of your book. Here is the end result so you’ll get a better idea of what it is. The box allows the book to slide (slip) right in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Materials
Davey board
Book Cloth
Lining Paper
PVA Glue

Glue Brush
X-Acto knife

Bone folder

Ruler

Cutting Board

Pencil

1.       Measure the book and add the thickness of the board on each side of book.

2.       Cut out 2 faces, 3 sides from the Davey Boards.

3.       Glue lining paper onto the Davey Boards for the inside.

4.       Glue three of the sides to one of the faces. (see below)

 

5.      Then glue the top to complete the box.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6.   Measure the book cloth by adding .5 to 1 inch on each end.

7. Glue the book cloth to the outside of the box.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8. Glue the box on both faces.

9.      Cut the end flaps at the spine.

 

   

10.     Fold the flaps in at the spine, and then fold the flaps into the box.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

11.     If there is excess book cover sticking out, cut it off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12.    Cut the ends at the opening of the box.

 

 

13.     Fold and glue everything inside the box and slip your book in when the box has dried.

This project only took me 2.5 hours. It went by fast and I felt very good about the final product. The way the book cloth feels. It made the book seem more valuable than me paying 50 cents for it at Goodwill.

Creative Practice Wk1 - You Paint Me Round, Round

Recently, I came across some images of painted stones.  The painter created a mandala pattern using white acrylic ink and a quill pen. Just looking at the painted stones made me happy. It created a desire to own something like them. With the knowledge that there has been research on how therapeutic drawing mandalas could be, I thought I would try creating my own painted stone. The initial reaction was fear –fear of creating something ugly, fear of not knowing how to create a perfect circle.

Once the ink touched the stone, it was commitment time; it was time to let go of control. I found myself calmer, more focused on trying to get the ink onto the rock. My brain ended up telling my hand to create certain patterns before I completed the previous pattern. It felt good watching the patterns gradually form.

Though this was my first mandala, I can see that my hand-eye coordination will increase and the patterns will become more creative with practice.

Materials Needed:

• Round Stone
• Acrylic Ink - Any Color
• Quill Pen or paint brush

Create your pattern on the stone, starting from center working your way out.

Final product.

I decided to do some art vandalism with  my painted stone by placing it in a planter with other rocks.

This rock is in a planter at a hospital. Hopefully someone who needs a blessing for the day will find it. They will only see the blessings if they flip the rock over.

ZenTangle Auraknot to ZenTangle

Every Tuesday nights for the last 14 weeks, I have been teaching ZenTangle to cancer survivors at a community center.  The easiest way to explain ZenTangle is by telling everyone that it is mindful doodling.  Once people hear that, they usually are intrigued, because they are so used to mindless doodling while they are on the phone or in a boring meeting.

Mindful doodling is creating repetitious patterns with an end result of something beautiful to display or offer as a gift. Most artists have been applying this method for decades, but they never had a name for it until the Founders Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas turned it into a business where you can get trained and certified as a Certified ZenTangle Teacher.  The best part about ZenTangle is how easy they made it for everyone.  It is easy-to-learn patterns; it is relaxing, and extremely fun. Your time will fly and before you know it, you have a beautiful image in front of you.

Most of the participants I have introduced ZenTangle to have constantly stated, “This is a lot more fun than I thought it would be.” Please visit www.ZenTangle.com if you are interested in learning more.

During our Tuesday night sessions, I usually show a new pattern that could seem complicated, but most of the time, I show the simple rules of how to start. You use a 3.5” square tile and draw a border lightly with a pencil. Then inside the border, you take your pencil for a walk to create a freeform shape. Within that various sections of the freeform shape, you draw patterns using a thin-nib Sakura Micron pen.  For most in-depth details, please visit: http://tanglepatterns.com/zentangles/what-is-a-zentangle

In the following YouTube, I used the Sakura Micron pen, size 02 to teach the AuraKnot pattern.  I learned that creating this video could be a form of creative practice as well. My laptop is 8 years old so the process took at least 5 hours, but if I had a new MacBook, I believe I could have made a more creative video.  In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the video and that it will inspire you to try your own ZenTangle patterns.

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFQ-ECEskOc

Music by Brain Crain, “Halellujah”