WOYWW 50: Handy Hands

Whats on YOUR Workdesk today? Well it's Wednesday and I'm once again playing WOYWW. Why you ask when there are so many people already playing. Last week when I sat out, there were 120. When I mentioned to Julia, the hostess of WOYWW, she sent me several wonderful messages encouraging me to come back because most people don't make it around to everyone. That was also the consensus of Cath, Karen, and Anne, who also play. Since all these gals were so kind, I just had to join in again. Even if I don't get to everyone's space, I can't deny my "nosy" mostly UK friends the chance to see what I'm working on this week. And to nose around their blogs, be sure to go to Julia's Stamping Ground for all the other links and to learn what WOYWWAC is all about.

Let's begin with my sewing machine. I'm sewing folios (single pages) together to make a signature (set of pages) that I will add to my Hands altered book (AB).

Now it's on to my work table, which is filled with my Hands AB. It is starting to show signs of stress. Even though it has less 3D pages than most of my ABs, this book seems to have shown signs of falling apart faster than most I've made.

In order to get ahead of the problem, I used HVAC silver tape to repair the book and in the process, created this spread called "Handy Hands." I never got a good photo of this, even after I changed the settings on my camera a dozen times. To create the words, I recycled some old foam letters from two different alphabets, both of which were given to me. I was able to hide the ugly foam letters with the tape, while using alcohol inks (AIs) for the background. Although this piece isn't finished, I wanted to show it to you today because I had planned to get it together during Earth Month, which didn't happen.

The whole point of this spread was to show how I spread my AIs. My friend Kathy's husband took a piece of scrap wood, drilled a hole in it, then added a small dowel rod for the handle. I added the velcro that the felt sits on. The wood block is the same width as the velcro, How perfect is that? And speaking of perfect, why is it that the colors are close to the book colors in these two photos, but not the overall? Lighting, maybe?


Once the felt is used, simply remove it from the velcro. So, if you don't have, or want to spend the money on one of those name brand applicators, simply get a block of scrap wood and a small dowel rod and make your own (or, if you have a handy hubby or wife instead of a cat, ask him/her to make you one).

Last week Brian asked how many pages I had left to do in my AB and the answer is I still have quite a few undecorated ones. He also asked if I had thought about other techniques. This started as a technique book, used to teach a beginning AB class. It was my way of giving back to an art community that has given so much to me.

Here are some links in case you missed any of these pages:

the story of how the class came together in words and pictures

pop out or extension pages

fabric, stamping, tape transfers

hot glue frames, folded pages

adding a zipper

using gesso as glue

a hidden pockets spread

and one of my favorite spreads, making a color wheel from magazine images.

It seems I have no photos of tag pockets, except for the hidden ones shown in the above link. I made several in different styles. I published them on my AB class blog, but not here. If I recall correctly, they are not finished and not filled, since I seem to have trouble making tags that I actually like. Hope you enjoyed this "handy" trip down memory lane and a look at what's on my work agenda desk this week.

Today's blog goes to Cath, a very sweet gal who visited me last week, even though I hadn't added my link to WOYWW. Now THAT was sweet, since there were over 120 participants. Some of you might know Cath from Kate's 365 Day Calendar Challenge. It's no secret where Cath is from. Her blog title tells it all. Cath in Cyprus is the name of the blog address, but her blog is named Notes from a Divided Island. No matter how you get there, just give her blog (and her work desk) a look today.