Many things

I'm working on two projects at the same time and it's been both fun and a challenge. When I get to a point where I hit a wall with one project I can just move over to the other and do some prep work there. But I have also found it hard to keep a (somewhat) neat work space. I'm not a neat freak, but I do appreciate what my chef brother refers to as "mise en place" or everything in the right place.
The first project is two blank books bound with the "Secret Belgian Binding" developed by Hedi Kyle (and taught to me by Emily Martin). It's really not a secret anymore, but it is a binding that I like for the functional yet decorative stitching that shows on the covers and spine. (I'll post a finished picture when it's complete.) You can see the text block being sewn above. The tyvek (blue) strips make it easier to sew the cover to the text block as you have to weave your needle through the thread stitches on the text block. The stitching looks decorative and it is pretty, but the linking from one signature to the other actually helps stabilize the text block. I like to wrap the text with the tyvek strips after it's sewn as then they're not flapping around annoyingly when you're working on the cover. They'll be pulled out after the cover and text are stitched together.
Here are the cover boards drilled for sewing.I'm not going to tell you too much about my second project, but here's a sneak preview.
And another with an important addition:
While I was looking for the right size wooden spools this weekend, I found this amazing box.
I can hardly pass up any red box, but this one was clearly built by hand.
I love the hook on the front, but when I opened it and saw the little shelf (and knothole) on the inside, I practically swooned. I have a rule now that I have to put something in all my boxes, otherwise what's the fun of opening them? P.S. I now have chickadees at the feeder and a woodpecker in the yard.

Winter birds

My yard is plagued with squirrels that can contort themselves in a million different ways to get at food. But a few years ago I did invest in a squirrel-proof feeder and hung it in the branches of my lilac tree just outside my dining room's bay window. I filled it up this weekend for the first time this winter, and have been enjoying the return of the bird activity. This morning there's about 20 sparrows taking turns at the feeder (some polite, some not). They perch in the branches of the lilac tree but are actually hard to see because they blend in so well with the twigs and leaves. Instead the tree is full of movement as they bustle around.
I'm blessed with two pair of cardinals who also come feed in the morning and just before sunset. The male seems to give the female preference for eating which is quite gentlemanly, I think. I'm suspecting that I may have a pair of juncos nesting under my deck. I don't spot them often but I did catch them hopping in and out of the deck fencing the other day. If it's true, I'm delighted. Their grey feathers are so beautiful contrasting with their white bellies. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology says that their conservation status is "common" but I think that they're anything but.

Thanksgiving reflection

We have our first snow today. Not much, just that poetic "dusting." But it helps the illusion that the world is quiet this morning.
A friend of a friend of mine had a benign brain tumor removed 2 weeks ago and we've all been able to keep track of her progress through the Caring Bridge web site. She's doing very well and after 10 days at a rehabilitation facility, she came home last night. It's extraordinary to me that, after all she's been through, her messages are full of words like "wonderful," "happy" and "lucky."
Yet I feel the same way. I wasn't afflicted with a brain tumor, but I have been through a deeply sad and significant life change this year and most mornings I wake up thinking I'm the luckiest person I know. As part of the Shannon Leadership Institute (on my "gratitude list" this morning) this year, I'm now preparing my renewal plan...a chance to both look back and look forward. I met with my Shannon sponsor yesterday to talk about the "bones" of my plan and ask what she thought was missing. Wonderful friend that she is, she reminded me of how critical friends are in my life and how many lovely friends I'm fortunate to have. And she's right. I delight in my friends. I count on them to make me laugh and as a place to rage against the world, even if it's just something as small and trite as the check-out line at Ikea. And when I need to unwind the problems in my life, I know I will find some of the answers with them.
So they are at the top of my gratitude list today.
Here's the complete list (in no particular order):
1. family, every single one of them
2. friends, every single one of them
3. my Minneapolis community, I've fallen in love with my city all over again
4. my health, more precious every year (and doesn't that make me sound old!)
5. Penland, I may not be able to go every year, but I love that it's there
6. my future work, still a little unclear but guided by my values and purpose
7. my creative voice, something that I've started to hear this year
8. my ability to help others thrive in this city through MLC
9. my home, a place that I've created, which nourishes me and in which I can welcome the people I love
and the bonus item:
10. the Shannon Insitute
and because I really am a shallow person and have to admit I love material things:
*Katazome paper from the Japanese Paper Place via Wet Paint
*the music of Bruce Springsteen and the iPod I have to play it on
*Dunn Bros coffee
*my MacBook
*my favorite candlestick holders

Helping kids tell their stories

When I first was introduced to book arts I felt an immediate "gut" reaction to the concept. It's still pretty hard to describe, but I knew right away that I wanted to explore all the nooks and crannies of the subject. At the time our book arts center was in the Minneapolis warehouse district. Despite cramped quarters, they did manage to provide a program for teachers who wanted to bring their kids in for the morning and make a book. Some examples were displayed around the center, along with letter press broadsides and fine edition binding. But it was the kids work that brought a little lump to my throat. Think of what it's like to tell a child...any child, no matter their literacy level...that they can make a book. What a powerful statement that is!
MCBA moved to the Open Book facility in 2000 and has a much larger and thriving school program and a phenomenal teen/mentor program called By Design. (Oh, to have had such a thing when I was in high school!) In the last few weeks, I was often at the center cutting book board, and the studios were full of the sound of young voices seemingly all talking at once.
I like to visit the web site for the San Francisco Center for the Book for inspiration. They keep a lively site going with pictures of books by teachers and students and they've done a wonderful job of engaging their hometown community.
Now I've discovered a lively blog sponsored by SFCB devoted to helping teachers use book arts in the classroom. One idea featured there now is a simple design with 3 folds and just one cut which changes a piece of paper into a 3D Storybook...and the kids take it away from there. If you're looking for inspiration, it's right there.

Creativity and flexibility

I'm entering an interesting period in my life. After being on sabbatical for a number of months, my calendar is filling back up. I have volunteer commitments, some teaching at MCBA, free-lance writing jobs and am continuing to look for the next and right full-time work for myself. But the sale last weekend feels a little like a dam has come down and a flood released. I have more ideas than I know what to do with and more obligations that take me away from my studio than I've had in awhile.
These are very rich commitments... ones that I love, so no one needs to feel any sympathy for me, btw. (Oh how I dislike conversations that include the standard "I've been so busy." It always feels like a competition to me. Is anyone not busy these days? Even my older, retired parents have full schedules!)
In previous years, I would get an idea for a book or box I wanted to do, run out and buy the supplies (always new supplies) which would make me feel like I was serious about the project. Then I'd lay everything out on the dining room table and stare at it for days. I couldn't actually get started and I'd feel worse and worse about it, until I just packed it away in the basement.
But something clicked over in my head in the process of getting ready for the sale. For two weeks, I worked non-stop in the dining room. While I was essentially in production on two similar box designs, I could see the next step clearly in my mind: boxes and books that were much more risky with my own visual and concrete poetry.
After the sale, I had to clear the table (I have a dinner party there tonight), but I've been very aware that I can't let this new stage get away from me. Part of the answer, I think, is to keep the work integrated into my life, like any other routine task. Like buying leaf bags in the fall in preparation for the day you rake the yard or buying groceries for the week. So yesterday, I spent another hour at the book arts center cutting board for new boxes, then came home and put the cut pieces in a storage box. I don't have time for the next step until mid-week, but then I can pull them out and glue up the board into boxes. The pieces are ready and waiting for me. And somehow that reassures me that I'll be back to that work very soon.

Christmas lights

I love Christmas lights as do most Minnesotans. I think it has something to do with how little light we have during the winter months. In the past year or two, I've seen neighbors put a string of lights in their backyard as well as any they have displayed in the front. It was an idea I loved right away.....lights that were for your alley neighbors, not just the cars driving past in front. So this afternoon...one of our first truly cold and windy days....I unwound little white lights, stringing them along the fence from my house to my garage. One of the unexpected delights is that I can see them from my workspace in the house, twinkling through the bushes.
And no, that's not snow. I still haven't raked the leaves. Is it a bad thing to put lights up before the leaves are raked?

First book arts sale

I am still processing everything that happened this weekend at my first book arts sale. After working hard for 2 weeks to get some inventory together (62 boxes done!), send out postcards to friends, figure out a display and get a tax id number, it turned out to be a real joy to sell my own work.
So many friends showed up, some just to lend support, some to buy and I loved them all. My first sale went to my table partner, an amazing artist who I had read about but never met. She claimed a business card box before I had finished setting up and that made me feel like maybe it would be all ok. In the end I sold 24 boxes and the shop at MCBA took another 10 on consignment. Two other stores in the area also want to see them for possible holiday sales. I'll post the information here if they take them.
I had quite a few questions when I went into this. Is my work sufficiently well done and interesting to attract an audience. That answer seems to be yes, and I'm relieved, particularly about the quality issue. There were a few times when I found myself rushing to get work done and I had to slow down and remember that my relationship with the new box owner would be a different one than in the past. I've given my boxes away before and because they were gifts, the receiver was not going to note a badly turned corner or a sloppy paste down. But now these boxes were being shown next to artists who have been my teachers, class mates and inspiration and technique counted as much as heart.
Another question was if I would actually enjoy the process and the answer was yes. I loved the production process. One night after Daylight Savings time changed back, I looked out the window into the dark around 5 pm. I had the local jazz station on the radio and was in the midst of some stage of covering boxes. And I had a flash that this was exactly someplace I'd always wanted to be. I loved the sale as well. It was so inspiring to be with a group of such imaginative artists for the weekend. I have pix and stories to share here soon. I learned so much from them over the weekend (and even the week before as I visited the book arts center often to cut more book board!). I never cease to be amazed at the generosity of artists.
It's definitely something I'll do again.
And now I'm trying to recover. I haven't raked a single leaf and the last city pick-up is this Friday. My glass coffee table has all the big Harry Potter books, a dictionary, a Shakespeare and various other tomes out on it, used as weights for drying board and boxes. I think I forgot to water any plants. Thank goodness, I prepay my mortgage. I'm giving a party on Saturday for my friend's birthday so that will help motivate me to clean. It's shocking how much dust working with paper creates!

The winner is...

I know this looks totally rigged, since I won Sarah's drawing this summer, but I can promise you that it was her name that came out of the green cup! I have lots of news to share from my sale this weekend, but one of my favorite boxes didn't sell and that will be on its way to Sarah this week.

100!

I had to put everything away last night around 7 and watch a DVD of "Sex and the City" TV shows. The reason? A pencil box that I had designed for the sale turned out to be a disaster. This morning I got a garbage bag and dumped all the glued up boxes into it and put it out. I've always liked to learn while doing, but this week I feel like I'm learning too much, and not in a good way (as my friend likes to put it).
However, this is my 100th post and that's something to have fun with. There is a sweet tradition in blog-land of having a give-away on this momentous occasion and I am doing the same. If you leave a comment here by Sunday night (let's say 9 pm, Minnesota time), I'll do a drawing and the winner will get one of my boxes. One of the nice ones, not one of the ones that I threw away. :-)
I have to take a moment and thank my friends from Penland, Eero and BookGirl, who encouraged me to start my own blog. There are so many blogs that have inspired me....I'd love to list them all, but I have to at least mention Little Paper Bird in England, not least because I won her 100th post give-away, but also because of her beautiful work.
This has been way more fun than I ever dreamed! Thanks for stopping by, and now back to work!

My Box making Pedagogy

As I start to have completed boxes ready for the sale this weekend, I've thought a lot about the teachers who helped me learn this craft. I'm an oldest child and am usually the person to read the directions on a box or the instructions with a new game...I usually like to have just one way to do things. But after working with 6 or 7 box making teachers, I now have a process of box making that's unique to me and uses little bits from all of them.
It's sort of amazing that I even like making boxes as my first teacher was so horrible. The class was a typical 2-day weekend class at MCBA but the teacher treated it like a final for a graduate course. She judged us on our detail work and told us that our boxes would earn a "C" if she was handing out grades. We were using book cloth to cover our boxes and being beginners, they were riddled with spots of glue everywhere so that our boxes looked slightly speckled. I left that class and thought "well, there's no way this can ever be fun."
A year or so later, MCBA brought in Mindy Dubansky to teach box construction. Mindy is a book conservator at the Metropolitan Museum in NY. Her class was a rare opportunity to meet her in MN so I signed up even though I was wary of the subject. And she changed everything. Mindy is that kind of wonderful teacher who, when a student has a problem, sees a teaching moment. I came away from that class feeling that any box problem could be solved with a little creativity. One of the boxes that she taught was a "magic box" or "Jacob's ladder box"... a box with a lid that can open from the front or back and reveals different sections in the body of the box. I was completely taken with the charm of this box and ended up making 5 or 6 as Christmas gifts that year. And nothing will teach you how to do something well as repetition.

Jacob's Ladder box with lid flipped both ways

In 2003, I spent a few days at PBI with Barbara Mauriello and made 4 different boxes in 4 days. Barbara is also a gifted teacher who has a delightful sense of humor. From her I learned two important lessons: The first is the wonder of rice paste. When she brewed a batch for us to use in class, I reacted silently: "Yeah, I'm never going to bother with cooking paste." But then I used it. Do you know the section in Harry Potter where Hagrid strokes the spine of the Monster Book and it behaves? That's what using rice paste is like. You spread it over your paper and it just does exactly what you want. (I should note that PVA is the best adhesive for gluing your book board.) The second lesson was the joy of mixing patterns and colors. Barbara's own work is a riot of color and pattern and she nudged us into that world on at least one of our boxes in that class. And I've been a convert ever since.

Sliding door box with Barbara Mauriello

I've studied with Julie Chen twice at MCBA and once at a wonderful 10-day session in Haystack. It is her technique of covering boxes that I use for most of my work. There is a bit of cutting and clipping that can be confusing at first, but once you get it, your boxes look beautiful at the end.

A box with drawer and magnetic lid from Julie Chen's class

Artist Jody Williams teaches regularly at MCBA and is famous for her "not empty boxes" (boxes with meaningful content) and working very, very small. At MCBA, she teaches "Little Boxes," "Box Making Made Easy," "Box Making Made Hard" and in one memorable class "Extreme Box Making" (we joked that that was making boxes while sky-diving). Her technique for covering boxes is one that I haven't found anywhere else. It's my opinion that it works best on small boxes and what I love about it is that it allows you to have an interior to your box that is different than your exterior (usually you use one piece of paper for your interior and exterior). Even an empty box has a surprise for you when you open it.

Small boxes from Jody Williams' class

I have a lot of gratitude to these teachers for their encouragement and generosity. I'm also reminded that there is not just one way to do things and that it's always useful to consider how else something can be done. Pretty useful lessons from a box class I believe.

Still in Church

Mary's Place declares today "Bruce Springsteen Day"

I was so touched when Bruce wrote me the anthem "Meet Me at Mary's Place." So today, I thought I'd return the favor and declare it "Bruce Springsteen Day." I'm catching up with him at the Excel Center tonight, though I understand that he's invited some other friends as well. No matter. He's still the rockin' god of my heart.