Tag Archives: hedgehog

New Hedgehog Moleskin

Immediately after finishing my last hedgehog/ moleskin I started a new one. This one has distressed brown and black sheep hide covers, is 3.5×5.5 in size and was entirely hand made by me. It got kraft paper pages which is something new for me to work on. I used rough wrapping paper kraft paper for the pages too so it has a great texture for drawing and such.

So far it has been taking every sort of abuse I can hand to it, thus far in this book, I’ve gesso’d pages in clear and white, tinted pages with acrylic, glued in magazine pages with matte medium, sanded gesso off the pages, added layers of magazine, acrylic and ink. I’ve scraped with a pallet knife and credit cards. I’ve wiped on and off with a rag. All in all this paper is tough as nails. Unlike the 140lb printmaking paper it does cockle a bit but after drying it smooths out quite a bit. I’m very pleased with the amount of abuse that this book has taken, and to think that this books was one I deemed unsalable because I screwed up and trimmed the cover short. (Note how far the fore edge pokes out from the cover. Looks good with this but not so good when first made.)

After you get done looking at these pictures head on over to my Flickr account and see more pictures. I didn’t load them all here because it takes longer but at flicker you can see all the spreads thus far that are in the book.

Img_5411

Img_5410

Img_5413

Img_5415

Img_5422

Img_5434

Hard Cover HEdgehog Journals with Handmade paper covers

So these 3 journals are hard cover hedgehogs, covers are bookboard covered in hand made papers of various origins. The tan journal is covered in Lama li paper, the gray journal is covered in this odd gray recycled paper I found in Maine at The Craft Barn- it'[s filled with all sorts of fibers and is buffered for longevity. THe final journal is covered in one of my favorite handmade papers- thick, soft and green fiber filled textural paper. I love this paper it was really pricey but I fell in love with it and had to have it. It got a great fabric like feel to it. I want to keep this journal…

They are listed on etsy here.

Here are the pics:

Img_5117

Img_5121

Img_5125

When I was making the book blocks I forgot to trim my paper to size, so when I finished the block they were all an inch too wide. I headed to my local Staples (the one with the crabby manager) and their print shop to get the blocks trimmed. When I asked the guy if he had a paper shear he at first said no, when I pointed to the electric shear right behind him and asked what is that then? He said oh you mean the electric trimmer? I then asked if that would trim the fore edge off my blocks, and he said he didn’t think it would cut through the stack. He then asked me if I needed the spine edge cut off. I re-explained what I wanted and he got it. He still didn’t think the machine would do it, but I inisted that he try, so he did and they came out pretty good. You can see where some one tried to cut through a staple or a paper clip  as the blade had several nicks in it, but the price I paid to have 6 blocks cut down to the needed 3.5 inches was well worth it.

I’m using the last 3 blocks to make some leather hedgies. I’ve got several buckskin hides that are nice and distressed.

Mini Moleskine

So this little beauty is a miniature moleskine. It’s stitched with hand waxed cotton thread. The spine was clamped and glued by hand with acid free flexible glue. The cover is a vinyl plastic coating just like a real moleskine. Inside are 32 pages of cream colored heavy paper. The bookmark is naturally colored hemp and in the back is a pocket. Holding the whole thing shut is an elastic.

Img_5017   

Img_5019

Img_5021

Img_5022

Img_5023