Canvas to the Imagination

I really enjoyed spending part of Saturday working in the window at Bird on a Wire Creations yesterday. I brought along a few additional finished altered books to share with people and worked away at folding the pages of a German Readers Digest to show people what I do. It was really nice chatting with people, and I made sure to entice window shoppers into the store with eye-contact and smiles to come talk with me.

Friends dropped by at different intervals to visit, and the chocolate I’d jokingly requested in my newsletter arrived in various forms (bacon chocolate chip cookies from Lauren!) It was a good window for Main Street people watching, and all the sunshine was glorious.

My table top setup at the store with work-in-progress book.

I’ll be back in the window at Bird on a Wire Creations at some point in the summer. In the meantime go visit the shop for all the lovely handmade items they carry. It was all I could do not to shop while I was there because there is so much tempting stuff I’d love to have.

For part of the day tomorrow I’ll be demoing my altered book work as the featured artist-in-the-window at Bird on a Wire Creations on Main Street. It’s a cozy little shop filled with lovely handmade and local items, so come on by for a visit and plan to stay awhile. I’ll be in the window working away on my latest altered book from 11am to 4pm. I’m hoping to bring some of the recent Fairy Tale altered books I haven’t yet shared publicly.

Please come see me and be sure to bring chocolate.

Artist Window
11am to 4pm, April 16th, 2011
Bird on a Wire Creations
2535 Main Street, between Broadway & 10th
Vancouver BC

This past weekend I was in Seattle teaching a two day altered book workshop for the Seattle Center for Book Arts. I had a really terrific group of people taking the class and everyone came away with beautiful work by the end of it. I really enjoy seeing what people do with the techniques I’ve shared, because while they’re busy getting inspired, so am I.

The two day timeframe and small class size allowed me to share a lot of information about making altered books. I did a different demo at the beginning of each day – cutting a niche and rolling pages on day one, and making folded page books on day two.

The photos included in this blog post are of the in-progress and finished work made by my students.

I really enjoy teaching and was given excellent feedback on the class itself and my style of teaching. I was happy people felt inspired by what I shared, and I’m so glad I can clearly articulate what I do.

I have one more altered book workshop coming up before I take a break from teaching until the fall. I’ll be back at Chalk Xchange on Saturday May 7th teaching a one day altered book class. Please visit the Chalk Xchange web site for further details and to sign up online.